Former stockmarket star lastminute.com pleased weary investors by announcing it would move into the black for the first time.
The group is expecting to report a pre-tax profit for the three month period to the end of September, although the figure excludes one-off costs.
Shares surged ten per cent on the news, up 7.75p to 89p.
The group said the total value of items sold on its web site increased to £110 million during the quarter, compared with £61 million in the third quarter and £46.9 million in the comparable period last year.
Lastminute.com was one of the darlings of the technology boom, famed for turning founders Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman into paper millionaires overnight when it floated in March 2000.
But the firm became a symbol of the boom's end when shares slumped below their 380p issue price.
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