End of an era for Lastminute.com

Lastminute shares are driving off into the sunset

It's the end of an era for internet savvy holiday makers - Lastminute.com has made its last trade on the London Stock Exchange.

After making its market debut in 2000, the company has ridden the turbulence of boom and bust in the dotcom sector.

Its shares spiralled as high as £5.55 after its debut, but sank as low as 17p in the aftermath of the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks when tourists decided to stay at home.

Its shares were valued at £1.655 when it made its last trade.

Lastminute will soon come under new management: Sabre, the US owner of Travelocity, has agreed to buy it for £577m.

It seems a quiet send-off for the company that once was the darling of the dot.com era - thanks in part to the familiar face of co-founder Martha Lane Fox.

Good timing

But then again, its sale is just another example of the group's ability to ride its luck and the market.

It's a shame it was sold when it was. I would have liked to see Brent prove the sceptics wrong Robin Chhabra, analyst

The group, which specialises in short breaks and shifting excess capacity at knockdown rates, timed its launch to perfection - floating as the internet boom hit its peak in 2000.

It also expanded rapidly at its peak - acquiring 14 companies in three years.

That meant that by the time the dot.com bubble had well and truly burst, Lastminute had already crossed the line from tech start-up to retailer - an altogether more solid sector.

In recent years, it's also been in the perfect place to pick up the slack in the travel market and capitalise on the decline in long-haul travel.

Hyped up

But it still hasn't managed to turn a profit, with its last annual report revealing losses almost doubled in the year to September 2004 to £77.2m ($143.5m), from £47.7m in 2003 despite higher turnover.

At least it's still in business, unlike many other names that came and went during the heady days of the internet boom.

Ms Lane Fox quit Lastminute in 2003, but Mr Hoberman is staying on

The Journal of Interactive Marketing has some stark statistics surrounding the early days of Lastminute revealing that 130 internet firms collapsed with the loss of 8,000 jobs between January and the first half of November 2000.

Fashion retailer Boo.com - set up in the same year as Lastminute - collapsed on 18 May 2000 after two years in business and after burning through £85m.

But while the business may not have lived up to the hype, its co-founders have done very well.

Ms Lane Fox's stake will be worth £13.5m while Brent Hoberman will pocket £26m.

Last respects

As far as the City goes, there's been a mixed reaction to its final days.

Henk Potts of Barclays Stockbrokers told Sunday Express said it was unlikely the City would mourn its departure.

"When it first floated it had the turnover of a couple of pubs but was valued at more than WH Smith. That showed how far market valuations got out of kilter."

Meanwhile Hilary Cook of Barclays Stockbrokers said it marked "the end of an era".

"Lastminute symbolised the dot.com boom and proved that not all dot.com businesses were rubbish - so many based their success on the number of hits they got," she said.

"It proved it had a business model that could make money, and make money for its investors - which in the end enabled it to sell itself for a decent sum of money."

But Robin Chhabra, analyst at Evolution Securities, will be sad to see it go.

"It's a shame it was sold when it was," he says.

"I would have liked to see Brent prove the sceptics wrong. It will deliver value for Sabre and its a shame it didn't have another year to deliver for shareholders."