16 Oct 2000

Q3 Financial Results and New Business Figures for Egg plc

Excellent Third Quarter performance confirms Egg is bang on track

Highlights:

• Over 120,000 new customers acquired during the quarter bringing the total to 1.2 million
• Over 70,000 products cross bought in the quarter bringing the total since launch of Egg to 300,000 at 30 September
• Record sales of personal loans in the three month period with disbursements of £109 million
• Egg Insure, online GI supermarket, successfully launched in August
• 'Boots Advantage Card powered by Egg' successfully launched in late September
• Launch of £3m brand advertising campaign in October 2000

The Group loss before tax for the nine month period increased by 7% to £115.1 million (30 September 1999 - £108.0 million) as Egg continued to invest in brand, marketing and the development of new products and services. The Group continues to see encouraging growth in interest margin as the business matures. The Group loss before tax for the three months to 30 September 2000 was £34.4 million (30 September 1999 - £38.2 million)

Egg has continued its strong customer acquisition in the third quarter of 2000 acquiring 120,260 new customers taking the total number of customers to 1.2 million after allowing for attrition of 12,953. The cross buying rate within our existing customer base continued to increase with over 70,000 products cross bought in the period.

We have continued to see an encouraging shift in the profile of our deposit account customer base from older postal and telephone acquired customers to younger, Internet-friendly professionals who have a higher propensity to buy other financial services products from Egg. However this has meant that, although on a net basis deposit customer numbers grew in the quarter, Egg deposit funds under management reduced by £443 million.

Egg has continued to deliver against its development programme successfully launching both its General Insurance online supermarket and its combined loyalty/credit card in partnership with Boots. Both are industry innovations, offering market-leading rates for customers.

Commenting on the last three months performance, Mike Harris, Chief Executive of Egg, said:

'We have seen good acquisition performance in the third quarter, adding over 120,000 new customers. We have continued to provide innovative new products and services that are proving attractive to our core customer base, with 70,000 new products cross-bought in the period. Our brand goes from strength to strength and we are very pleased with the early results of our new brand advertising, which is having a noticeable effect in increasing traffic to our website.

'Even the decline in total deposit balances is on the whole positive for Egg, as it reflects a transition to a more valuable customer base with a high propensity to transact over new channels, especially the Internet.

'Our results this quarter reinforce our belief that the UK businesses will break-through into profit during the fourth quarter of 2001.'

For Further Information:

Media Relations:

Press Office
Tel: 020 7526 2600

Investor Relations:

Kieran Coleman
Group Financial Controller and Head of Investor Relations, Egg
Tel: 0207 526 2648
Mobile: 07711 717 358
E-mail: kieran.coleman@egg.com

To view the full Q3 Financial Results please click here.