Public listed company: March 2000 to May 2005
Two weeks after listing, the share price had dropped to 270p.[9] In the first week of April, the shares dipped below 190p, half the issue price.[10] On Monday, 17 April 2000, after the biggest ever one-day fall in the New York stock market the preceding Friday,[11] £35bn were wiped off the value of the London Stock Exchange. By now, lastminute.com was trading at 30% of its flotation price.[12][13]
Its share price was rising again when the firm announced its first quarter's results on 6 May 2000. The company had handled £7.16m of transactions, up 68% compared with the previous period. During this period, the company had invested in a new version of the website as well as international expansions. These factors pushed pre-tax losses up from £6m to £11m. The market responded to the better-than-expected figures and the shares closed the day up 8p at 245p.[14] Two weeks later, however, the shares closed at 141p, as concerns over dotcom stocks increased, after boo.com went into liquidation.[15]
The introduction of a new website – allowing late deals to be targeted according to users' personal tastes – was delayed[16] but finally unveiled on 27 November 2000.[17]
Meanwhile, on 14 August, lastminute.com announced the acquisition of Degriftour, a French online travel agent, for £27.1m cash and 19.7m new shares, worth 162p each at the previous day's close.[18]
Allan Leighton, the former head of Asda and president of the European division of Wal-Mart, joined the company as non-executive chairman on 20 October. The role was unpaid but he was granted options over 1m shares at a strike price of 137.5p. The market reacted with a 9p drop in the share price to 128p.[19] The firm's shares sank below 100p for the first time on 8 November and closed at 80p on 10 November.[20] Full year results to 30 September 2000, announced on 4 December, were slightly ahead of expectations. Losses increased from £4.5m to £35.7m, while transaction value increased from £2.64m to £34.2m, excluding transactions by Degriftour. The company generated more revenue from interest payments than from ongoing business activities. Shares rose 4.9% to 75p.[21] In November 2001 the company reported a £54m loss.
In November 2003, Lane-Fox announced that she would step down as managing director at the end of the year – in which the company made its first pre-tax profit of £200,000, short of analyst expectations of £4m.[22] The company was acquired in 2005 by Sabre Holdings, owner of online travel company Travelocity, paying 165p per share, a 57 per cent premium to the share price prior to the takeover talks, but less than half the flotation price. The deal valued the company at £577 million.[23]
Up until 2005, the company had not made a net profit since it floated five years earlier. In February 2005, it reported pre-tax losses of £26.5m.[24] Hoberman stayed with the business until spring 2006 when he handed over the reins as CEO to Ian McCaig.[25]
