Lastminute.com's acquisition of France's biggest online travel agent, Degriftour, for £58.9m (98m euros) cash and stock will speed the growth of its French operations by 2 or 3 years, according to chief executive Brent Hoberman.

Lastminute.com, launched in October 1998, announced this morning that it would buy Degriftour for £27.1m cash, and issue 19.7m new shares at Friday's closing share price of 162pence. "It brings us 2 or 3 years ahead organically of where we would otherwise be in France," Hoberman said. "This (the acquisition) makes us the largest European e-commerce company."

Hoberman also confirmed that the acquisition should enable Lastminute.com to move into the black far sooner than anticipated, even ignoring the effect of the expected revenue synergies and cost savings.

Lastminute.com's chief operating officer, Martha Lane-Fox, said "We felt that Degriftour was the right move for us. We are very excited by the opportunity to combine our wealth and breadth of supply to offer even more for our combined customer base."

Degriftour provides a similar service to Lastminute.com, specialising in short notice travel sales. In 1999 it reported a gross profit of £9.1, with sales figures of 7#163;50.3m in package tours, airline tickets and hotel reservations.