Plus500 gives shareholders a confident ‘trading update’
Israeli-based, but London-stock market listed Plus500 today said it expects annual revenue and earnings to be ahead of analysts’ estimates even as trading levels normalised from record volumes in the first half.
Plus500 said the board now expects FY 2021 revenue and EBITDA to be ahead of current compiled analysts’ consensus forecasts, which were recently upgraded following the company’s H1 2021 results.
In August, the group reported that its revenue increased from where it was in the second half of 2020, though it had fallen from $564 million to $308.3 million over the course of 2020. but has since rebounded in the H1 to $346 million.
The pattern was much the same for the EBITDA. The key metric recovered somewhat from $154.1 million in the prior half year to $187.6 million in the same period of the ongoing year, but nearly halved from $361.8 million a year earlier.
The company attributes its optimistic forecasts to a growing customer base, which is beginning to increase again after the Covid-19 had a mixed impact on its onboarding levels throughout the year.
Notably, the group continued to add more active accounts, saying that they had seen increased levels of trading activity in the third quarter, and that revenue from customer income had been strong.
“The Company delivered further positive momentum during Q3 2021, despite more stable market conditions when compared to recent quarters. This positive momentum was highlighted by the consistent strength of Customer Income[2], a key underlying growth metric for Plus500, which has supported a strong revenue performance during the year to date,” Plus500 said.
The CFDs broker was also encouraged by its entry into the futures and trading markets following acquisitions of Cunningham Commodities, a futures commission merchant, and CTS, a technology trading platform partner.
“Plus500’s Active Customer[3] base has grown significantly during the last few years, with the Group achieving on-going success in onboarding New Customers[4] during the year to date. This has been delivered as a result of significant investment in the Company’s marketing technology to drive attractive return-on-investment, which will continue to be made, in order to drive further platform engagement in the future,” the company said.
Plus500 had a strong underlying performance earlier in the pandemic, which was enhanced by increased market activity in the first quarter. The company saw its shares shine earlier this year as the online trading platform operator doubled its annual net trading revenue, bolstered by the coronavirus-induced volatility.
The company will issue further announcements as appropriate, with its Q3 2021 results, for the period ended September 30, scheduled to be issued on October 25.
