Mr Paul Gratton, chief executive of Egg, said the online bank is talking to more than one potential joint venture partner for its loss-making French business. He declined to give any indications of who the bank is talking to.
Mr Gratton, who today announced the group's intention to form a joint venture in France after it has emerged that Egg would have to invest more than previously planned to turn its French business around, said he would prefer the successful conclusion of the joint venture talks to a sale of the French business.
However, he said he could "neither rule (a sale) in or out," should the joint venture talks fail. The talks are set to be concluded by the end of this year.
In the first nine months of 2003, Egg France dragged the group further into the red, with losses in France spiraling to £69.5 million sterling from a loss of £19.4 million in the previous year.
Egg UK, however, continued to sign up new customers and posted a nine-month profit of £56.7 million, up from £21 million in the year earlier period.
Mr Gratton told reporters in a conference call that he is confident that the UK business will continue to grow in future.
Overall, Egg posted a nine-month pretax loss of £24.9 milllion, up substantially from a loss of £3.9 million in the equivalent period in 2002.
AFP