Plus500 strikes upbeat note on recent trading activity

Online trading company Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) has just issued a trading update noting the recent period of heightened volumes of trading across global financial markets.

The broker reports a significant increase in levels of customer trading activity. The Group’s financial performance during the first quarter to date is consequently trending substantially ahead of the last quarter of 2019, Plus500 says.

The company added, however, that it is too early to say what impact this outperformance in the current quarter will have on the outcome for 2020 given heightened levels of volatility in the market may not persist, whereas the impact of Australian regulatory changes is yet to be quantified.

More details are expected to be included in Plus500’s first quarter update which is scheduled to be issued in April.

Let’s recall that Plus500 reported total revenues of $354.5 million for 2019, down 51% from $720.4 million registered a year earlier. EBITDA for 2019 was $192.3 million (FY 2018: $506.0 million), with an EBITDA margin of 54% (FY 2018: 70%). Net profit for 2019 was $151.7 million, down 60% from $379 million registered a yea earlier. Earnings per share were $1.35 (FY 2018: $3.33).

Average User Acquisition Cost failed to deliver any positive news either, as it increased 12% on 2018 levels and reached $1,046 in 2019. Plus500 said this reflected its investment in marketing to recruit new higher value customers.