LONDON, June 30, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- lastminute.com plc, Europe's leading independent online travel and leisure group, today announces the acquisition of the lastminute.de group of companies in Germany, which comprise Anixe Systems GmbH, Avinex AG and Cinetic Internet Touristik GmbH to create the number one online travel brand in Germany. Highlights of the transaction:
-- creates the leading online travel brand in Germany providing
product directly to consumers and to the trade
-- improves the overall lastminute.com retail gross margin
-- provides the opportunity to further develop German holiday
margins by the use of dynamic packaging to the lastminute.de
customer base
-- enhances the delivery of operating profit from the German
business for the current financial year
-- combined with lastminute.com's leading position in the UK,
France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, strengthens the lastminute.com
position as Europe's leading independent online travel and
leisure group.
This key acquisition in the largest travel market in Europe creates the leading online travel company in Germany. Following completion, lastminute.com's enlarged German group will generate pro-forma annualised TTV (Total Transaction Value) of over 150.0 million (approximately 100.0 million). The new group will have the broadest travel offering of any online company in Germany, offering product both through the trade and directly to consumers at enhanced Group retail margins.
The acquisition values the lastminute.de business at 46.7 million (approximately 31.1 million) which will be satisfied by 24.0 million (approximately 16.0 million) in cash and the issue of 8,229,156 new shares in lastminute.com plc.
The lastminute.de group of companies offers online access to package holidays and flights to German consumers to all popular travel destinations including Spain, Turkey, The Dominican Republic, Cuba and Egypt. Passenger numbers in the business have been growing since 2001 and during the year to 31 December 2003 total transaction value (TTV) amounted to 49.3 million from 115,000 customers. The lastminute.de businesses achieved gross margins of approximately 16% in the last reported financial year to 31 December 2003. For the year to 31 December 2003 lastminute.de delivered 2.6 million of profit before tax and had net assets 0.2 million.
During the current financial year lastminute.de has continued to materially grow the sale of package holidays to German customers. It is anticipated that for the financial year to 31 December 2004 TTV for German customers will amount to over 60 million.
In addition to the lastminute.de name, the acquisition includes the ownership of the domain name lastminute.tv, which will be initially licensed to a small independent tv operation. This operation is not being acquired as part of this transaction.
Application has been made to the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for the new shares to be admitted to the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's market for listed securities ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective from 8am on 2 July 2004 and dealings will commence at that time.
Commenting on the acquisition:
Brent Hoberman, Chief Executive of lastminute.com said:
"As Europe's leading independent online travel and leisure group, lastminute.com needs to have a substantial presence in Germany, the largest single European travel market. This transaction removes the confusion between the .com and .de brands and ensures that all of our marketing efforts benefit the lastminute.com businesses in Germany.
German consumers are now poised to realise the benefits of booking their travel and leisure activities online and we believe that the market in Germany is set for substantial growth over the next few years. The success of our holiday autos operations in the German market has shown us its true potential. We are now keen to build upon that base."
Nicole Bernthaler, Managing Director of lastminute.com, Germany:
"We are delighted to unite our operations with the lastminute.de group in the German market. We strongly believe our customers will be attracted by the increased product offering online and our combined business strengths in the market provides a robust platform for future growth and profitability."
Enquiries:
lastminute.com +44 (0) 20 7802 4399 Brent Hoberman - Chief Executive Officer David Howell - Chief Financial Officer
Gavin Anderson +44 (0) 20 7554 1400 Ken Cronin Mark Lunn
Notes to Editors: About lastminute.com
lastminute.com, Europe's leading online independent travel and leisure group, operates directly in thirteen European countries and participates in three international joint ventures, providing travel and leisure inspirations and solutions to customers. At 31 March 2004, lastminute.com had over 8.3 million subscribers to its weekly newsletter and had established over 16,900 supplier relationships. The business is based on the idea of matching supply and demand. lastminute.com offers consumers opportunities to acquire airline tickets, hotel rooms, holidays (both self packaged and third party packages), car hire, entertainment tickets, restaurant reservations and food delivery, speciality services, gifts and auctions.