lastminute.com Picks Managers for New Sites in Europe

Recently floated late offers company
lastminute.com has
hired two managing directors to head its operations in
Spain and the Benelux countries.

In Spain, lastminute.com has appointed Alfonso Castellano,
a former managing director of European travel group TUI.
He will work to build relationships with other organizations
involved with Spanish tourism and develop lastminute.com’s
business in the peninsula.

In the Benelux countries, lastminute.com has appointed
Alexandra Jankovich, formerly of McKinsey & Co. and
the Reed Elsevier group. At Elsevier she handled the
project with Microsoft to develop an Internet news service,
and will now focus on establishing localized services
for lastminute.com in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

Brent Hoberman, co-founder and chief executive officer of
lastminute.com, welcomed the newcomers, saying they
shared the idea that lastminute.com could be the definitive
global marketplace for all last minute services and
transactions.

Since its celebrated flotation on the London Stock
Exchange a few weeks ago, lastminute.com has received
a bad press in its home base of the U.K. The chief
complaints have been the tiny share allocation given
to small investors and the exceptionally high price
of each share.

Clearly, lastminute.com expects its European expansion
will restore its gloss. In Spain, 3.6 million people
were online by the end of last year, while in the
Netherlands 4.7 million now have Internet access.

lastminute.com’s shares stood at 322p (approx. $5)
Wednesday morning, off 11p on the day and well below
their offer price of 380p (approx. $6) at the launch.