Egg makes losses, no big stink

Egg reported a pre-tax loss of £80.7m for the six months ending June 30 2000. This was in line with expectations, and compared with £69.7m the previous year. Sales were up at £33.2m, against £2.1m. The online bank said it gained 311,000 new customers during the period – making a total of 1.1m.

"Whilst we are seeing increased competition from both new entrants and incumbents, Egg has been built to prosper in a low margin era," said Egg CEO Mike Harris.

The company outlined plans to launch: an online insurance supermarket Egg Insure, a joint loyalty/credit card with Boots, e-wallet funnctionality for online shopping customers, and to make Egg services available through WAP and digital TV, all by the end of this year.

Shares in online retailer Amazon fell 14 per cent yesterday as it emerged that another top dog has quit the troubled company. Joe Galli, the president

and COO at Amazon.com announced that he is leaving to join VerticalNet, an online business to business firm. VerticalNet is based in Pennsylvania, far closer to Galli's family home than the Seattle based booksellers.

Reuters, the news and financial information provider, announced a nine per cent increase in revenues for the first half, citing its new electronic broking service as the driving force behind the rise. This segment of the company increased turnover by 50 per cent to £381 million.

The information giant also announced a partnership deal with Yahoo to provide services to companies setting up business to business concerns, as well as deals with Tibco Software and Equant, the data group to set up the company's website.

Q1 earnings at Kingston Communications fell by around a third to £6 million, leading to a fall in the Hull-based telco's share price. The drop in revenue is being blamed on ditching low margin carrier traffic and the increased investment tied in with the roll-out of broadband technology.

Granada Media is spending £20 million to own half of LiverpoolFC.com, a website for the club's supporters that will broadcast matches from next year. Granada will take half of all revenues from subscription, merchandising and advertising on the site. Granada also paid £22 million for a 9.9 per cent stake in Liverpool FC in July 1999.

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