Shares in Lastminute.com continued to fall early this afternoon reaching a new low that was 50p below their 380p offer price. The company partially floated earlier this month and the offer was many times over-subscribed.
The shares initially rose sharply, but have slipped steadily back before reaching this morningís price of 330p.
Lastminute was not the only UK internet stock that took a tumble. Freeserve, QXL.com, 365 Corporation and Interactive Investor were all down.
However, the high demand for Lastminute shares has kept losses among retail investors low. Because of the huge demand, individual investors were allocated only 35 shares each making a total investment of £133.
The view emerging from analysts is that Lastminute was a much overpriced and over-hyped share issue.
The fall in internet share prices has sparked renewed speculation that the internet bubble is about to burst. Critics are focusing on the tiny revenues and lack of profits of companies such as Lastminute.com.
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