The internet travel company, Lastminute.com, is buying one of its online rivals for �9m.

It will pay for Travelselect.com by issuing more than 14.5m new shares.

Lastminute says the deal will triple its volume of UK flights, and give it access to more airlines.

Lastminute's chairman, former Asda boss Allan Leighton, said it was the company's first acquisition of scale in the UK.

The company, one of the iconic dot.com businesses of the late 1990s, believes it will move into profit by June this year.