Strong sales in Egg's insurance arm pushed the internet bank's year end profits beyond market expectations.
Egg announced today that it made an operating profit of £74m at its year end compared with £73m last year.
Analysts had predicted that profits would be significantly lower between £67m and £71m.
Revenues had increased by almost 20% to £497m, but the banks efforts to rid itself of unsecured loans over mortgages led to a high increase in bad debt provisions, which rose 44% to £182.4m compared with the £126.7m in 2003.
Egg said general insurance sales in the fourth quarter had been “much higher” than expected, adding £1.5m to its annual revenues.
The company has endured a turbulent year with its major shareholder Prudential looking to sell of the division.
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
