Europe's biggest online travel agency, Ebookers, has announced a reduction in losses and given an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year.

The firm posted a pre-tax loss for the April to June quarter of �3.5m ($5.3m) down from a loss of �8.6m in the same period last year.

Sales grew by 46% to �71m and Ebookers said it expected to deliver more growth during the current quarter.

It added that was continuing to "actively" seek new acquisitions in order to boost sales.

Investors welcomed the numbers, and the company's shares closed 10 pence higher at 247.5p.

Tough market

Ebookers operates in 11 European countries, selling cheap air tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals.

"These results show that our online model is developing well despite weakness in the rest of the travel industry," chief executive Dinesh Dhamija said.

Ebookers chief financial officer Nigel Addison Smith said the travel industry was still struggling to emerge from its post-11 September slump.

"From what I have seen there is no indication of an improvement (in the industry)," he said.

"It is a very difficult trading environment for the airlines but when airlines are having a tough time they have to push their fares through people like ourselves."

Expansion plans

The company has snapped up a number of rival firms over the past couple of years, and the ongoing integration of the these businesses helped drive sales forward.

Ebookers said it was on the lookout for more acquisition targets to help it meet its medium-term target of �1bn of sales.

It also said it was looking to move more functions to its Indian office, which it opened last year to deal with back office issues such as e-mail sales, customer service and IT development.

Ebookers said this would help it to "service future growth at much reduced cost", while the European office concentrated on sales, product and marketing.

"We are building one of the industry's most competitive cost structures," said Mr Addison Smith.

Ebookers added it was developing a multi-lingual customer service centre in Ireland, which it said also offered a lower cost base.