Lastminute.com negotiated trips for a volume of 3.2 billion euros in 2022 and thus achieved a turnover of 305 million euros. However, the group notes a loss of 15 million euros due to provisions for Swiss partial unemployment benefits which would have been wrongly collected.
The company, listed on the Zurich Stock Exchange, operates portals such as Lastminute.com, Lastminute.de, Volagratis, Rumbo, Bravofly, Jetcost, Hotelscan and Weg.de. The group’s sales last year approached the level of 2019 at around 10%. Without the negative effect of the provisions due to the suspicion of partial unemployment fraud, a profit of 17.2 million euros would have been made.
Over the course of the case, the company’s bosses, CEO Fabio Cannavale and COO Andrea Bertoli, were temporarily arrested and resigned from their positions.
The new CEO is Luca Concone.
In the current year, Lastminute.com reports a 38% increase in sales for the first quarter with a 20% increase in bookings compared to the same period last year. The company’s share price was little changed on Thursday’s news. Newspapers rose 1.6% to 24.80 euros.
Lastminute won against Ryanair
LM confirmed in a press release that the latest round of litigation has been resolved, ending 15 years of litigation and appeals in Switzerland. Along with allowing lasminute.com to continue selling Ryanair flights, the low-cost airline was ordered to pay an additional CHF49,000 (approximately €50K) for fees already awarded to lastminute.com.
