Losses up as ebookers turns to India

EBOOKERS, arch-rival to online travel agent Lastminute.com, saw its losses increase slightly in its second quarter after investing heavily in its operations in India. The company now has 350 staff working at its low-cost site in New Delhi, running the midnight shift on telesales, customer services and ticketing as well as number-crunching functions.

Chairman Dinesh Dhamija said he was considering using the outfit as an outsourcing operation for other travel companies. He said: 'We have huge capacity there, so why not?' Pre-tax losses in the three months to 30 June were £3.6m against £3.5m in the previous quarter but they showed a dramatic improvement on the £8.6m loss for the same period last year.

The total value of products sold on its websites was £71m against £60.6m in the first quarter and £48.7 a year earlier. Analysts expect ebookers to make a profit next year.

Lastminute.com last week reported losses of £8.7m and sales of £61m for the same quarter. Margins on flights declined as airlines cut fares to fill their planes, but ebookers saw profit margins progress from 9.5% to 10.5% year-on-year as it expanded its hotels, car hire and travel insurance operations.