Shares in the online travel company leapt by 5.26% when the market opened to trade at 39.3p, as it revealed it had cut losses by 10.8% to £5.1m for the quarter. Turnover was up to £4.8m compared with £2.9m for the quarter ending December 31 last year.
Lastminute chairman Allan Leighton said: "We have maintained the important trend in substantially reducing quarter on quarter, and year on year, operating cash outflow and remain on track to deliver operational profitability in our key UK and French businesses in the April to June quarter."
Brent Hoberman, chief executive officer, said: "Lastminute.com's strong year-on-year growth demonstrates that our business model is working increasingly well."
Customer acquisition costs have fallen at the company by 61.7%, while the customer conversion rate was up to 16.1% from 8.9% for the same quarter last year.
Earlier this month, Lastminute.com announced a joint venture agreement with Kinki Nippon Tourist Company, and other Japanese travel businesses, to give it a presence in the world's second largest economy. It has also signed agreements with Lufthansa, The Way Ahead Box Office and Disneyland Paris over the last four months, to increase its product range.
In addition, it said this morning that its Australian joint venture had recorded its first monthly profit in December 2001, 16 months after it began trading.
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