Lastcall

12 May 2005

The online travel group has a knack for being in the right time at the right place. First, it floated at the peak of the internet bubble. Now consolidation in the online travel business has lent it scarcity value and a healthy premium too.

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Sabre Holdings Corp, operator of the Travelocity.com online travel service, agreed to acquire Lastminute.com for £577m to add the UK's largest internet travel business.

Sabre will pay 165p a share for Lastminute – a 57% premium over Tuesday's closing stock price.

In its latest results, released on Thursday, Lastminute said its net loss for the first half to March 31 widened to £46m from £40m a year earlier, on a 57% rise in socalled total transaction volumes, to £512m. The company posted its first positive ebitda, of £0.1m, and positive free cash flow in the second quarter of almost £12m.

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