Bravofly Rumbo has committed to making its recently-purchased Lastminute.com name its primary pan-European consumer brand.
The Swiss-listed European OTA bought the business from Sabre for $120 million towards the end of last year.
Presenting its 2014 results last week, Bravofly Rumbo said that it will change its corporate name to lastminute.com, subject to shareholder approval.
Integrating lastminute.com will be its priority in 2015.
CEO Francesco Signoretti says:
"We are working to create quickly one single company, with one brand, one platform and one main brand."
However, while lastminute.com will become its core pan-European brand and the focus of its online and offline marketing activity, existing brands will continue to operate. In response to emailed questions, a spokesperson explained:
"We have well-known digital brands aross our markets. These will retain vital roles, focused on geographic as well as channel-specific opportunities.
"For example: Rumbo is a very well established brand in Spain while Volagratis is strong in Italy, Jetcost is a succesful meta-search website."
The exact details of the integration of all the businesses onto one platform are still to be decided.
"The acquisition was closed this month, so naturally we currently still have two technical architectures. However, our integration plan is focused on establishing one simplified architecture to enable a scalable platform for growth.
"While this is a clear priority for our group, we will not be providing details at this stage."
The importance of this decision is put into context by Bravo's long-term plan to have a gross transaction value of Euro 5,000 million by 2020, with revenues of Euro 600 million giving it an EBITDA margin of 25%.
That is a lot of transaction-handling fees heading into the coffers if it keeps with the Lastminute.com platform. Or a compelling capex argument for it to develop its own.
Its long-terms targets are ambitious, with Bravo sounding like many other OTAs: "In a complex market, size becomes increasingly important."
The growth drivers for 2020 include "continuous investment in M&A".
It explains:
"While our current priority is a fast and successful integration of lastminute.com, M&A will remain part of our strategy to drive scale and consumer diversification.
"We see opportunities by adding specific technologies, as evidenced by the recent acquisition of map2app or our Seedstars involvement, and by the strong consolidation trend in the OTA industry. "
The integration of lastminute.com during 2015 will hit profitability, it said.
For 2014, its gross travel value (GTV) was up 24.7% to Euro 1,311 million with revenues up 19.3% to Euro 147 million.
Click here to read the 2014 presentation which outlines its plans.