Lastminute gets sales boost

Lastminute.com, the company many regard as the standard bearer dotcom companies, his announced losses of £17 million for the first quarter since it went public.

Lastminute.com, the company many regard as the standard bearer dotcom companies, his announced losses of £17 million for the first quarter since it went public.

The losses were not a surprise because the amount of marketing spent in the company's infancy has been phenomenal.

Lastminute.com, which provides late holiday's and spontaneous gifts, also announced first half revenues of £1.25 million, which was up on analysts expectations.

The revenue came from the sale of holidays and products worth £11.4 million.

Although Lastminute is not expected to make a profit until the year 2004, the company's hard hit investors will take some comfort in the news that the site now has 1.4 million registered users.

The company floated towards the end of March and has seen its share price fall from a launch level of 380p to just 137p at one stage. The share price had peaked at 555p shortly after launch and many investors, who were only issued 35 shares at launch price topped up their holdings shortly afterwards to be left with a huge loss as the price tumbled.

There has been a recovery lately and after news of the increased sales Lastminute stood at 250p.