By Graham Hayday, 22 November 2002 12:30
NEWS Dot-com survivor lastminute.com has today released its fourth quarter results, and has for the first time reported a positive operating cash flow. In Q4 the company delivered pre-tax profits of £300,000. This figure does exclude one-off costs, including a £3m charge for "fundamental reorganisation", but nevertheless counts as a profit using widely accepted financial measures. When the charges are taken into account, Lastminute made a loss of £9.55m for the quarter. Its total transaction value for 2002 grew 98 per cent year-on-year to £246m. Year-on-year organic growth in Q4 amounted to 55 per cent across the Group. Gross profit for 2002 as a whole grew by 93 per cent to £33.3m. Allan Leighton, Lastiminute.com's chairman, said in a statement: "[This has] been a very successful year, delivering strong organic growth strengthened by strategic acquisitions in core countries. The new financial year has started strongly and we are confident of another year of sustained and improving performance as we continue to rapidly increase our scale and presence in targeted markets and sectors." Brent Hoberman, chief executive, added: "The integration of Degriftour in France and Travelselect.com and Destination Group in the UK are complete. The integration process of Travelprice.com is well on track and will be completed by 28 February 2003 and will provide significant operational synergies."
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