Phorm has made a pre-tax loss of £13.7 million for the first half of 2008, an increase of 52% from its £9.1 million loss in the same period in 2007.
However, despite the loss, the internet advertising group still has a positive cash balance due to fundraising of around £24.9 million.
Phorm rolled out its second BT trial earlier this week, offering the service to BT customers for a number of weeks before trials launch with a number of other companies, including Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse.
The government backed Phorm’s trials to the European Union earlier this month, following the initial concerns over the online ad systems legality.
In a statement released on September 17, the government said: “After conducting its enquiries with Phorm the UK authorities consider that Phorm’s products are capable of being operated in a lawful, appropriate and transparent fashion.”
Phorm’s system, which tracks web habits in order to provide better targeted ads, came under fire following claims that it had previously been trialled by BT without the consent of users.
However, the government’s statement to the EU said that in future “users will be presented with an unavoidable statement about the product and asked to exercise choice about whether to be involved”.
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