Egg recently decided to pull out of the French market

Egg reported a pre-tax loss of �4m ($7.37m) for the six months to 30 June, down from a �23m loss last year.

Prudential has yet to announce a buyer for its 79% shareholding in Egg, so in the meantime the bank has focused on running a tight ship.

Egg recently announced it was closing its French credit card business at an estimated cost of �113m.

Prudential was behind the decision to pull out of France, after it said no potential purchaser of Egg would be willing to invest in the operation.

The business has failed to perform since its launch in 2002 despite heavy investment. However, losses at the unit narrowed to �32.3m from �48.7m in the first-half.

Sale limbo

In the UK, Egg made a profit of �34.5m, down from �36.7m and grew its customer base by a further 292,000 to almost 3.5 million.

Rising interest rates, intense competition from rivals and the continuing uncertainty surrounding Prudential's stake has hampered Egg's progress, the company said.

Egg will now focus on its successful UK business and plans to invest further in the brand while increasing its customer base.

"Our search for a strategic partner, which was started in October last year, was superseded by Prudential considering proposals for its shareholding in Egg," said chief executive Paul Gratton.

"The past six months have been difficult for Egg with the uncertainty created by the potential sale of the group."

But he added: "The UK business has delivered a sound performance in the first half of the year despite increased competition and rising interest rates."

The front-runners to buy Egg from Prudential are rumoured to include US credit card companies such as Capital One, MBNA and JP Morgan.