lastminute.com increases adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2023 following Q3 growth

Firm believes we will see Adjusted EBITDA recover to 2019 pre-covid levels in 2024 as well

European technology enabled OTA lastminute.com has published its Q3 and YTD 2023 trading update (unaudited figures).

The year-to-date figures are compared to 2022. Revenues were €261.5 million, which is up +9%, with a Gross Profit of €101.6 million (+17%). This is stronger than revenues due to more efficient performance marketing spending.

Adjusted EBITDA of €37.4 million, which is an increase of +16%, while IFRS EBITDA was €31.0 million (+287%).

Net Result of €10.1 million is -€4.1 million in the previous year period.

At the end of September, Gross Cash was at €118.4 million and the Net Financial Position stood at €74 million.

Net Equity at the end of September stood at €48.6 million vs. €11.9 million at year-end of 2022, showing the effect of the results of the year and the reversal of the cancelled Freesailor transaction.

In a stable market environment between July and September, lastminute.com’s Gross Travel Value (GTV) YTD still reached €2,841 million, 13% higher than in the same period of 2022.

Revenue growth was mainly driven by Dynamic Packages (DP) which are now offered in 28 markets across Europe, 11 of which were opened in 2023.

DP year-to-date revenues grew approximately 50% vs. 2022 and now represent half of the revenues of the Group.

The product mix shift from flights to DP continued in the third quarter, as did the focus on more profitable travel services.

Cancellations were tightly managed in the third quarter through “sophisticated” pricing and had a negligible impact on EBITDA.

Following the strong results achieved by lastminute.com, the company decided to review its 2023 guidance.

It guidance include increase of adjusted EBITDA of around 25%, which was previously 10-15% and revenue growth to be around 10% compared to the previously communicated 10-15% guidance range.

Having approved the new mid-term strategic plan, and thanks to the continued strength of the business model with the successful shift towards an increased share of Dynamic Packages, the company is confident that based on organic growth it can provide guidance.

It believes that we will see Adjusted EBITDA recover to 2019 pre-covid levels in 2024, revenues increase to more than €600 million in the mid-term and improve operating leverage aiming to triple adjusted EBITDA in the mid-term.

This will be achieved by retaining and expanding the European leadership in DP, growing the APP as a key channel for consumer satisfaction and monetisation and focusing on sales for additional high-margin products.

Luca Concone, CEO of lastminute.com said: "At the beginning of the year we completely reorganised the company and shifted our focus to profitable growth.

“We made a conscious decision to accelerate investment in our Dynamic Packages services, whose profitability is significantly growing. We have de-prioritised marketing spend on flights in general, and the less profitable routes in particular.

“I am pleased to see that the results confirm the validity of our decision. Although inflation stays at elevated levels and the macroeconomic outlook remains volatile, we expect our company to show growth in both revenues and profitability in the quarters to come, benefiting from a slight improvement in the travel market next year. People remain travel hungry as ever.

"I am very pleased with the progress of the business and the commitment of our people to deliver aggressive results in the future.”

Sergio Signoretti, CFO of lastminute.com added: “We had a good 3rd quarter. I am pleased that we were able to exceed our expectations. With our strong, well-engineered travel platform, we have delivered a 63% EBITDA increase in Q3 vs Q3 last year and now feel comfortable announcing a new mid-term guidance.

“The guidance reflects our ambition to further extend our market leadership in Dynamic Packages.

“This will result in a significant growth of our revenues and an even higher growth rate of the Adjusted EBITDA.”