Britain's first Internet bank, Egg, said today it would break even by the end of 2001. It asserted this despite reporting a slight increase in losses in 2000 along with falling customer deposits and asset levels.
Egg, launched in October 1998 by Prudential, said pre-tax losses had increased to £155.3 sterling (euro 246.8 million) from £149.7 million sterling (euro 237.9 million) in 1999.
Customer deposits fell £850 million to £6.7 billion (euro 10.65 million), though the number of customers increased almost 40 per cent to 1.35 million.
"2001 has started well, with over 100,000 customers acquired so far this year," added chief executive Mr Paul Gratton. "Our full year pre-tax loss is in line with our expectations, and we remain on track to break even during the fourth quarter of this year."
The price of stock in Egg, which was floated at £1.60 last June, dipped half a penny to £1.33 pence in early trading today.
AFP