TravelMole Interview: Clive Jacobs, Lastminute.com

Lastminute.com’s Clive Jacobs has said the recent slump in the company’s share price will not last because it is based on what he says is an “inaccurate” analyst’s report. The company’s shares have fallen in value by around 25% since it announced its annual results earlier this month and currently stand at 220 pence. But Mr Jacobs said the evaluation by stockbroker Collins Stewart, which called Lastminute’s stock “ridiculously overvalued” was fundamentally wrong. And he said that Lastminute has written to the Financial Services Authority to complain. But he said the company was unlikely to resort to legal action, saying that “litigation benefited nobody except the lawyers.” He told TravelMole: “We’ve asked them for a retraction. At no point did an analyst speak to anyone at the company and check their facts and figures. They were factually incorrect on a number of key issues. All analysts are entitled to their opinion but to say things like we have changed our accounting policy when we haven’t is very concerning to us.” Mr Jacobs also joined Vic Darvey from OTC in defending dynamic packaging, which has come under fire in recent days most notably from Sunvil Holiday’s Noel Josephides. Mr Jacobs told TravelMole: “He [Mr Josephides] has a very small business way of looking at things. Pretty much every commentator in the last two years has said that dynamic packaging is the way forward. There’s been a massive change in customer buying habits which lends itself to the flexibility of dynamic packaging.” He claimed that some critics were running scared by Lastminute’s assertion following its purchase of Med Hotels that it was going to bring dynamic packaging to agents. He said: “There’s quite a few nervous people out there and that’s good. They should have woken up four or five years ago when I was saying people had to get online and get their acts together because the market was changing.”