Cards help Egg move into profit

PRUDENTIAL'S online bank, Egg, moved into profit for the first time in the fourth quarter of this year, meeting a target set when it floated in June 2000.

The bank, which made a loss in the third quarter of £18.4m, said its accounts for November showed that it had made a profit for the month and that it had signed up 129,300 customers in the final quarter of the year. Egg said this brought its total customer base to 1.92m people, an increase of 569,000 net so far this year.

The bank said its credit cards would be a key driver of sustainable profits in future and they had been making a positive contribution since 1 October.

Egg will report its results for the year to December 31 2001 on 25 February.

The company, Europe's largest internet bank, was floated in June 2000 by Prudential, which still has a stake of around 80%.