Online banking company Egg made a loss of £80.7m for the first half of this year but gained 311,000 new customers.
The bank, set up by Prudential, says the financial losses are in line with expectations. They compare with losses of £69.8m for the period last year. Egg blames mounting marketing costs, which grew by £14.5m to £18m, for the downturn.
But total revenue leapt to £33.2m from £2.1m last year while total assets grew to £8.72bn from £8.17bn.
Egg is planning to offer its products and services through Wap phones and interactive television. It is launching a series of schemes, including an online insurance supermarket and a joint loyalty/credit card with Boots in September.
It is also piloting an electronic secure payment system, Egg Wallet.
Chief executive Mike Harris says: “We are delighted with the figures. They are bang on plan. We are experiencing tremendous momentum and launching lots of new products which will take us well ahead of anyone else in the UK.”
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