LONDON, Sept. 16, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Prior to entering its close period at the end of September, lastminute.com (Nasdaq:LMIN) today issues a trading update covering the key Quarter 4.
Total Transaction Value (TTV) by departure date will increase to approximately 110.0 million pounds for the Quarter. This compares with TTV of 61.0 million pounds in Quarter 3 2002 and 46.9 million pounds in Quarter 4 2001, demonstrating growth rates of approximately 80 per cent and 135 per cent respectively.
Organic like-for-like growth in the Quarter will amount to at least 55 per cent compared with Quarter 4 2001. Both the U.K. and France have performed exceptionally well during this very busy period for the travel sector with organic growth rates of approximately 73 per cent and 46 per cent respectively compared with the previous year.
The Quarter also benefits from a full quarter effect of the strategic acquisitions of Travelselect.com and The Destination Group made in the U.K. and from a two-month contribution from Travelprice.com in Europe, principally in France. The growth of TTV in Travelprice.com has exceeded our expectations set during the acquisition process.
Percentage gross margins have also improved from Quarter 3 to deliver a return on TTV of approximately 13.5 per cent. This improvement comes from the increased sale of higher margin holidays during the Quarter and from an increasing contribution from the sale of advertising space and other commercial transactions.
As previously announced, the underlying cash costs for the full year will show a reduction of at least 10.0 million pounds compared with the previous financial year. Cost reductions continue to be a major focus within the businesses.
The integration of the principal travel functions of the two U.K. acquisitions and the travel categories of lastminute.com into a single travel unit based at the Farringdon offices remains on track and will be completed by September 30, 2002. This process will reduce the combined U.K. cost base by approximately 2.0 million pounds during the next financial year.
The integration of the businesses in France, following the acquisition of Travelprice SA, has now started and we remain confident that the process will be completed by February 28, 2003 and will deliver full year savings of at least EUR10.0 million.
Today, we also announce the completion of a contract with 7C (Holdings) Limited to outsource U.K. data entry and a proportion of post sales customer support. This commercial outsourcing arrangement converts a level of fixed costs into a variable cost. The full year effect of this contract will be to reduce the U.K. future cost base by approximately 2.0 million pounds.
We are also pleased to announce that for the first time lastminute.com will deliver profit before tax (excluding goodwill amortisation and exceptional items) and positive operating cashflow in this key Quarter. The Quarter 4 and preliminary results will be announced on November 22, 2002.
Brent Hoberman Chief Executive Officer
Notes to the Editors
About lastminute.com
lastminute.com is one of Europe's leading online retailers offering lifestyle products. Based on the idea of matching supply and demand, it offers consumers last minute opportunities to acquire airline tickets, hotel rooms, package holidays, entertainment tickets, restaurant reservations and home delivery, speciality services, gifts and auctions.
Operating across 11 countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, South Africa and Japan), lastminute.com had established approximately 15,300 supplier relationships and over 5.6 million subscribers to its weekly newsletter as at 30 June 2002. lastminute.com remains the leading independent European travel and leisure site across six major European countries.
About 7C
7C is a leading outsourced customer contact company. Created in July 1998, it has more than 1,450 people under management providing multi-lingual services to international clients operating in over 60 countries. 7C's solutions can be integrated across all communications channels. It works with clients to acquire, retain and grow their customer bases and to maximise the value of every customer relationship. On clients' behalf 7C interacts with over 38 million B2B or B2C customers worldwide. 7C's clients include Cisco Systems, Vodafone, UPS, Ericsson, Alitalia, Powergen and HBOS.