LONDON, December 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Online Travel Agent Number One in Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 
List

Online travel agent TravelRepublic.co.uk has topped The Sunday Times
Virgin Fast Track 100 list just four years after the company was launched, it
was announced today.

The company is the UK's fastest growing privately owned company boasting
284.23% annual sales growth. Offshore services provider Oceanteam 2000
claimed second place in the rankings with annual sales growth of 206.45%.

The Kingston-upon-Thames based business was set up in 2003 and is the
brainchild of three university friends - Paul Furner, managing director,
Chris Waite, IT director and Kane Pirie, finance and operations director.
Furner's brother Peter was also one of the original founders but left the
business earlier this year following a management buy-out.

Since its launch, TravelRepublic.co.uk's sales have increased from GBP2.8
million to GBP108 million, with the business on track for turnover of more
than GBP200 million in the current financial year. The company now employs
more than 150 staff.

Paul Furner, managing director of TravelRepublic.co.uk, said: "We are
delighted with this recognition which is an incredible reward for the
creativity and hard work of everyone who works for the company.

"Chris, Kane and I met at university but then followed very different
careers - Chris in software development, Kane in corporate finance/private
equity and me in software quality assurance. These differing backgrounds, all
outside of the travel industry, have allowed us to take a fresh new look at
the sector and become one of its leading innovators.

"However, equally important has been our commitment, from the outset, to
deliver gold standard customer service to our customers. At a time when it is
often said that there is no loyalty on the web we would beg to differ. Our
levels of repeat and recommended business suggest that we have a real
affinity with our customers which we plan to build upon in the coming
months."

Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, sponsors
of the Fast Track 100, commented: "For Virgin, a group so steeped in travel
and tourism, it is gratifying to see Travel Republic claim top spot in this
year's table."

This is the first time a travel business has topped the rankings, with
the previous best performances coming from Travel Counsellors (fourth in
1998), OctopusTravel.com (fourth in 2004) and Kew Green Hotels (second in
2006). Hotel booking agency Alpharooms is at number 20 in this year's list.

The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 is now in its eleventh year and
ranks Britain's hundred private companies with the fastest growing sales over
the last three years.

The mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, chip designer ARM and
tiling store Topps Tiles have all graduated to the quoted sector since
featuring in the first Fast Track 100 in 1997. Many more companies from the
league tables have become household names. The fashion retailers Boden and
Fat Face, Cobra Beer, DIY specialist Focus DIY, foreign exchange operator
Travelex and shoe designer Jimmy Choo have all featured in past tables.

TravelRepublic.co.uk recently appeared for the first time in the
IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shops List which ranks the UK's top 50 most popular internet
retailers, across all sectors. In the online travel agency sector
TravelRepublic.co.uk is now more popular than the likes of Opodo and
ebookers.com. Only Expedia.co.uk and lastminute.com rank higher.

Just last week TravelRepublic.co.uk was unveiled as the fastest-growing
non user-generated content brand online in the UK - growing 313% over the
last year - by analysts at research company, Nielsen Online, a service of The
Nielsen Company (see additional information below).

Furner and the team, however, are far from resting on their laurels after
these fantastic achievements.

He added: "We're about to head into the peak booking season so there's no
time for us to sit back and relax. We've got big plans for 2008 including the
launch of city breaks and the retailing of package holidays and cruises. We
are also convinced that there is a real opportunity to take the
TravelRepublic.co.uk formula into other European markets."

Notes to editors:

To see the full list of The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 go to
http://www.fasttrack.co.uk

About Travel Republic:

- TravelRepublic.co.uk caters for a broad range of customers
including families, couples and groups - mainly taking a hard earned
break in the sun. The TravelRepublic.co.uk website offers charter,
low-cost and scheduled airlines, powerful rate shopping technology for
hotel rooms and apartments, plus hotel reviews and resort guides written
by its customers.

- Customers can save up to 50% on the price of a comparable package
holiday purchased online or on the high street.

- TravelRepublic.co.uk works with over 100 different flight
operators and offers flights to more than 200 destinations in Europe, the
Caribbean, Florida and Canada, plus numerous ski resorts and exotic
destinations. The website also offers over 30,000 discounted hotels,
apartments and villas plus a wide range of other services such as taxi
transfers, airport parking and car hire. The website gives customers
complete flexibility with flights, hotels and durations.

- TravelRepublic.co.uk was one of the first UK travel agents to
offer carbon balanced flights and in addition makes significant
charitable donations every month to the World Land Trust to protect
Amazon rainforests and the important wildlife they support.

10 fastest growing online brands by UK Unique Audience (UA)(x): October
    2006 - October 2007


    Rank Brand      UK Unique      UK UA         UK UA   UK      Nature of
                    Audience       Oct 07        Oct 06  Active  service
                    Growth Oct                           Reach
                    06-Oct 07                            Oct 07

    1    RockYou!      2,106%    1,900,189       86,139   5.8%   Social
                                                                 network                
                                                                 tool

    2    Facebook      1,646%    7,825,148      448,211  23.9%   Social
                                                                 network

    3    Slide           649%    3,164,590      422,445   9.7%   Social
                                                                 network 
                                                                 tool

    4    HOT or NOT      503%      866,300      143,658   2.7%   Face rating
                                                                 / dating

    5    Veoh            399%      659,877      132,367   2.0%   Videos

    6    TravelRepublic  313%      557,231      135,007   1.7%   Travel
                                                                 agency

    7    Metro Lyrics    306%      426,679      105,005   1.3%   Music lyrics

    8    Bunnyhero Labs  297%      551,305      138,737   1.7%   Social
                                                                 network tool

    9    LinkedIn        282%      461,212      120,705   1.4%   Professional
                                                                 network

    10   About.com       265%      582,359      159,673   1.8%   Information
                                                                 / reference



- Source: Nielsen Online, UK NetView, home & work data,
including applications, October 2006-October 2007

- (x)'Minimum requirement: Oct 06 Unique Audience (greater than or equal 
to) 85,000. E.g. between Oct 06 & Oct 07, RockYou!'s UK Unique Audience grew 
by 2,106% from 86,139 to 1.9 million (now visited by 6% of Britons online)