IG Group posts £20m jump in revenue after summer of volatility
ONLINE trading firm IG Group reported a 24 per cent jump in revenue during the first quarter of its 2016 financial year, up to £106m from £85.6m in the same period of last year.
Revenue in the UK and Ireland was up by 23 per cent, to £56.4m, “driven by growth in both active client activity and average revenue per client” according to the company.
The group said that, in what is traditionally a relatively quiet period for the business, “the financial markets presented a range of trading opportunities for clients, responding to news flow, including around the Greek Eurozone membership debate and the current state of the Chinese economy”.
IG noted that client activity levels were at their highest during the second half of August.
Active client numbers were ahead of the first quarter of 2015 by 19 per cent, which IG said was driven predominantly by “continued strong levels of new client recruitment”.
“This strong start to the year positions the business well to deliver against full year expectations,” the company said in a statement. “However, it is impossible to predict the market conditions for the rest of the year and therefore too early to draw many conclusions.”
Shore Capital analyst Paul McGinnis said that while IG’s £106m revenue for the quarter was a strong headline figure, “the comparator had been a particularly weak period” where net trading revenue had been down nine per cent year-on-year.
McGinnis also noted the “highly volatile markets” experienced during the period, especially in August, which meant the broker would have expected the quarter to account for 25 per cent of expected yearly revenue of £430m – over £107.5m.
“In this context we see £106m as mildly disappointing with the company reporting that it was only really the second half of August where trading activity was particularly strong,” he said.
Shares in the company were up by 2.38 per cent yesterday.