Egg mulls US expansion

Egg - the UK-based Internet bank owned by Prudential - is looking to crack the US market.

The outfit is researching the possibilities of expanding into new countries and has already gone some way to test customer opinion in the US.

News that Egg remains committed to developing a global business comes as the bank reported losses for 2002 had narrowed to £16.6m, down from £87.8m in 2001.

Publishing its interim results today the company reported that group operating income rose 73 per cent to £327.3m in 2002 from £189.4m in 2001.

The ebank has now launched itself in France following last year's £3.5m acquisition of French ebank Zebank. The operation recorded a loss of £46.7m in 2002, taking the group into the red. In the UK the company recorded a profit of £34.8m, against a loss of £75.7m in 2001, and claimed 610,000 net new customers.

Shares in Egg were down 0.25p (0.22 per cent) at 113.25p in early trading. ®

Related link, story

Egg results press release
Egg gets Zebank