Martha Lane Fox denies share buy-back claims
Martha Lane Fox has denied newspaper claims that she has offered to buy back shares in lastminute.com from friends.
The UK's Independent alleged that Ms Lane Fox had e-mailed friends earlier this month inviting them to sell their shares in the online travel firm back to her at the issue price of 380p a share.
Since the float last March, the company's share price has slumped from a peak of 487½p on its first day to 64½p this month.
But today a spokesman for lastminute.com said that the story was "completely untrue".
Asked how Ms Lane Fox, the company's chief operating officer, had reacted to the allegations, he said: "If you see something in a newspaper that's not true, you are not happy about it".
He said lastminute.com was doing very well and consistently performing ahead of analysts' expectations.
He declined to comment on whether Ms Lane Fox would demand a retraction of the Independent's claims.
In December, lastminute.com reported a big increase in the amount of business carried through its websites but admitted there was "still a lot to do".
