Light at end of lastminute's tunnel

ONLINE retailer lastminute.com has posted a surge in turnover and pledged it would break even in six months time. Turnover for the year to September 30 jumped from last year's £3.7m to £18.4m.

The group attributed the hike to an increase in subscribers - from 2.9m to 4.2m - although turnover was also boosted by last year's purchase of French online travel firm Degriftour.

Total transaction value across the group was up from £34.2m to £124.2m. Pre-tax losses did, however, increase - to £39.1m from £35.8m - although this was better than City expectations of £40m.

Chairman Allan Leighton said: 'Lastminute.com has delivered strong fourth quarter results completing an encouraging year as whole. These results also demonstrate that our business model is as robust in times of economic slowdown as in economic growth.'

Lastminute sells a range of cheap products, from theatre tickets to holidays. Tourism and the travel industry has been hard hit since September 11, but lastminute said the wide range of goods it sells meant it had not been affected.

Leighton said: 'Overall, we are confident of another year of sustained and improving performance building towards profitability and positive cash flow. We remain on track to deliver operational profit in our UK and French businesses in approximately two quarters time.'

Lastminute shot into the spotlight last year when its much-hyped flotation on the London Stock Exchange made papermaires of its young founders. Its share price, however, collapsed after the tech bubble burst, falling from highs of 487 1/2p to lows this year of 18 3/4p.