Targeted online advertising firm Phorm Inc posted a narrower pretax loss for the first half, helped by cost cuts, and said it remained confident about its future.

The company said it was progressing well to commercially deploy its technology in a major market, with expected generation of meaningful revenues.

Pretax loss from continuing operations was $15 million for six months ended June 30, compared with $24.7 million in the year-ago period.

Sales and administrative expenses fell 48 percent to $11.2 million.

The company's cash balance was $34.4 million with no borrowings.

Phorm, which provides targeted advertising based on an Internet user's browsing history, has been criticised by privacy groups for tracking online behaviour.

In July, the company said British telecoms group BT Group had no immediate plans to use Phorm's service, while telecoms services retailer Carphone Warehouse ended their commercial agreement with it.

(Reporting by Purwa Naveen Raman in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

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