Shares in lastminute.com have fallen as much as 9 per cent amid fears the online travel firm will have to spend more to attract late-booking holidaymakers and meet full-year targets in an increasingly competitive market.
Lastminute, which sells flights to hotels and theatre tickets to restaurant bookings in 13 European countries, on Thursday posted a 5 per cent rise in third-quarter core earnings but said the outlook for the rest of its financial year remained challenging.
Holidaymakers seeking cheap summer breaks were holding off for longer than usual to book, making it difficult to predict the full-year outcome, Chief Executive Brent Hoberman said.
At midday the shares were down nearly 8 percent to 116-1/4 pence, reversing earlier gains of up to 12 per cent.
Europe's peak summer holiday season, July-September, is traditionally lastminute's most important quarter, largely determining the fate of its full-year results.
The stock, battered in recent weeks by concerns over its trading environment, slumped to its lowest level in over a year on Wednesday after Expedia.com owner InterActiveCorp cut its forecast for 2004. Last week, UK rival Ebookers lost nearly a third of its market value after a profit warning.