These factors pushed pre-tax losses up from £6m to £11m. The market responded to the better-than-expected figures and the shares closed the day up 8p at 245p. Two weeks later, however, the shares closed at 141p, as concerns over dotcom stocks increased, after boo.com went into liquidation. The introduction of a new website – allowing late deals to be targeted according to users' personal tastes – was delayed but finally unveiled on 27 November 2000. Meanwhile, on 14 August, lastminute.com announced the acquisition of Degriftour, a French online travel agent, for £27.1m cash and 19.7m new shares, worth 162p each at the previous day's close. Allan Leighton, the former head of Asda and president of the European division of Wal-Mart, joined the company as non-executive chairman on 20 October. The role was unpaid but he was granted options over 1m shares at a strike price of 137.5p. The market reacted with a 9p drop in the share price to 128p. The firm's shares sank below 100p for the first time on 8 November and closed at 80p on 10 November. Full year results to 30 September 2000, announced on 4 December, were slightly ahead of expectations. Losses increased from £4.5m to £35.7m, while transaction value increased from £2.64m to £34.2m, excluding transactions by Degriftour. The company generated more revenue from interest payments than from ongoing business activities. Shares rose 4.9% to 75p. In November 2001 the company reported a £54m loss. In November 2003, Lane-Fox announced that she would step down as managing director at the end of the year – in which the company made its first pre-tax profit of £200,000, short of analyst expectations of £4m. The company was acquired in 2005 by Sabre Holdings, owner of online travel company Travelocity, paying 165p per share, a 57 per cent premium to the share price prior to the takeover talks, but less than half the flotation price. The deal valued the company at £577 million. Up until 2005, the company had not made a net profit since it floated five years earlier. In February 2005, it reported pre-tax losses of £26.5m. Hoberman stayed with the business until spring 2006 when he handed over the reins as CEO to Ian McCaig. Post-acquisition Following acquisition, a number of Sabre/Travelocity executives joined lastminute.com between 2005 and 2007, including Ed Kamm (former CFO of Travelocity, who was to succeed McCaig as CEO at