Lastminute in £31.9m French buy

SHAREHOLDINGS in Lastminute.com are to be diluted again as a result of the group's decision today to pay £31.9m for a French online travel agency that made a £15m loss last year.

The Allan Leighton-chaired group said it would issue up to 34.6m shares to the string of venture capitalists that own Travelprice.com - equal to about one new share for every six existing ones.

Managing director Martha Lane Fox said she was 'extremely confident' that Travelprice, which has £6.4m cash, would make a profit next year. She also forecast annual synergies of more than £6m.

The acquisition of Travelprice, which also operates in Italy, Spain and Belgium, comes a month after Lastminute paid £12m for another travel provider, The Destination Holdings group.

Lane Fox defended the decision to issue more paper in a weak share market, saying Travelprice's growth prospects made this 'exactly the right time' to do the deal. Travelprice chief executive Roland Coutas will join Lastminute's executive team.

Lastminute shares, which were issued at 380p at the height of the dot com boom, have staged a partial recovery this year to trade today at 92p.