9th Jul 2015 08:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Plus500 Ltd Thursday warned that it is still subject to a "high level" of regulatory scrutiny, as the contracts-for-difference platform provider pushed back the date by which it expects to be able to onboard new customers in the UK.
Plus500, which owns a platform that allows retail customers to trade contracts for difference - products that allow individual investors to bet on which way the prices of assets such as shares, commodities and foreign exchange will move - said onboarding of new customers in the UK is now expected to recommence in August. On June 30, Plus500 had said it expected onboarding to take place in "approximately" three weeks from that point.
The company has been unable to onboard new customers in the UK after working its way through demands from authorities to tighten its anti-money laundering procedures. Plus500 has still been able to onboard customers through subsidiaries in Cyprus and Australia.
Plus500 again voiced its support for the takeover offer made by from FTSE 250 constituent Playtech PLC, which is valuing the company at about GBP459 million with a 400 pence per share bid. Shareholders are due to vote on the deal on July 16 at a meeting in London.
Plus500 reiterated that it expects margins to be "significantly lower" in 2015, although revenue is to be "similar" to that recorded in 2014, as the group continues to spend money on attracting new customers.
"The investment which we continue to make in the Plus500 brand and infrastructure has proved its value during the recent period of disruption during which we traded profitably in each month. Our superior proprietary technology and continued investment in the business position us well for continued profitable trading," Chief Executive Gal Haber said in a statement.
The company said that second-quarter revenue decreased to USD44.9 million from USD45.5 million, though first-half revenue was up to USD127.0 million from USD106.2 million.
Customers depositing for the first time amounted to 19,337 in the second quarter, making 52,217 for the first half.
The figures were up from 12,549 in the second quarter of 2014 and 32,673 in the first half of that year.
Plus500 shares were up 1.8% at 392.00 pence on Thursday morning.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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