Lastminute.com, the online travel supplier, has announced it lost £17 million pounds in the last six months.

The bulk of the pre-tax losses - £11 million - were made during the second quarter, during which time the business also doubled its spending on advertising to £4.8 million.

The results were the first announced by the internet start-up, which floated on the stock exchange in March at 380 pence per share, only to see its value tumble in what many saw as the first sign of the "dot-com bubble" bursting. Last night, lastminute's shares closed at 237 pence, but rose by 10 pence following this morning's results.

The company sold a total of £11.4 million worth of goods and services during the period, from which it earned £1.25 million in commission. Although the majority of the company's business is still in travel - mostly discounted airline tickets - lastminute said that travel only accounted for 55% of its sales.

The company insisted the results were positive, pointing out during the same period last year, it had sales of only £300,000. It also claimed to have increased its number of suppliers to 2,466, and its registered users to 1.4 million. However, only 68,000 people - less than 5% of registered users - actually bought anything using the site.

Lastminute's founders, Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman, today said that the company's future was bright, despite the losses. Mr Hoberman, the company's chief executive, said lastminute's high profile among consumers would help it see off competition from a range of similar businesses, and eventually make a profit.

Ms Lane Fox also denied that the fall in share price had not meant the company was in trouble. Rather, she said, the company's stock had fallen as part of a market-wide fall affecting new technology companies.

Lastminute also announced today it was launching Britain's first restaurant booking service available through internet-enabled mobile phones. "We will continue to concentrate on the provision of last minute solutions over the Internet via a variety of platforms - personal computers, mobile, interactive digital television and personal digital assistants," the company said in a statement.