LONDON - Shares in online discount travel agency Lastminute.com rocketed by over 40 percent on Wednesday after the former pioneer of the dot.com boom said it had received a takeover approach.
Lastminute.com shares shot up 37.8 percent to 145 pence in late afternoon trade, after earlier hitting a high point of 150 pence, while the London FTSE 100 index of leading shares lost 0.20 percent to 4,882.60 points.
"The board of Lastminute.com notes today`s share price movement and confirms that it has received an approach which may or may not result in an offer being made for the company," the group said in an official statement to the London Stock Exchange.
"A further announcement will be made as and when appropriate."
Speculation swirled about the identity of the group that made the approach, dealers said.
There was talk that Interactive Corp, which owns the largest player in the online travel group Expedia, was behind the approach, traders said.
Another potential bidder could be US-based travel and property giant Cendant, which recently built up its portfolio of assets in Europe by acquiring rival travel website ebookers in deal worth more than 200 million pounds.
Cendant is second only to Expedia in the online travel industry, with Travelocity, a unit of Sabre Holding Corp, the third largest.
"If you`re a competitor there are obviously benefits from running the businesses off one platform," Barclays Stockbrokers analyst Hilary Cook said.
"There may also be interest from private equity companies as this is a cash generative business that should be able to pay down debt quickly."
Lastminute.com specialises in selling airline tickets, hotel rooms, entertainment tickets and holidays online and has had a chequered four-year history.
The group was floated at the height of the dot.com boom in March 2000 at an offer price of 380 pence per share.
It became one of the best-known brands in e-commerce in Britain as small and institutional investors rushed to snap up the shares.
But investors soon tired of pouring money into Internet start-up companies, with little apparent prospect of making a decent return on their money, causing the price of Internet shares to plunge.
Lastminute.com survived the bursting of the dot.com bubble and in November 2002 became one of the few e-commerce pioneers to turn a profit, joining the likes of online bookstore Amazon.
Now one of the best known names in its sector, Lastminute.com provides travel and leisure offers in 13 European countries and also has two international joint ventures. It employs more than 2,000 people.
05/11/2005 15:06 GMT