22nd Jul 2021 09:47
(Alliance News) - IG Group Holdings PLC on Thursday reported a record performance in annual revenue and profit, strong enough to warrant an upgrade to its guidance for its Core Markets and Significant Opportunities segments.
Also on Thursday, the London-based contracts-for-difference trading platform said Chief Commercial Officer Bridget Messer will step down at IG's annual general meeting on September 22, for family reasons.
Messer has been in her role for six years since 2015, and has been part of IG for 16 years since 2005.
"Bridget has made an invaluable contribution to the group throughout her tenure with the company. Her knowledge on commercial and regulatory matters have been greatly appreciated, as well as the role she has played in building the values and culture that have helped drive IG's success," said Chief Executive Officer June Felix.
Shares in IG Group were up 3.6% at 855.00 pence on Thursday in London.
For the financial year that ended May 31, IG posted pretax profit of GBP450.3 million, up 52% from GBP295.9 million the year before, driven by a 31% year-on-year rise in net trading revenue to GBP853.4 million from GBP649.2 million.
The group attributed the strong revenue growth to the enlarging of its client base. Active clients increased 31% over the year to 313,000 from 239,600, while OTC Leveraged client numbers grew 22% at 216,300.
New clients onboarded rose 39% to 134,000 from 96,900 the prior year.
IG declared an annual dividend of 43.2 pence per share, in line with the year before.
Looking ahead, IG has raised its guidance for its current financial year. Revenue from Core Markets+ is expected to moderate in the current year, and thereafter deliver growth of 5% to 7% per annum, raised from the previous 3% to 5% guidance.
Core Markets+ has replaced IG's former Core Markets business segment, by including the Japan, Emerging Markets and IG Prime businesses.
The Significant Opportunities segment has been replaced by High Potential Markets, by adding the recent acquisition tastytrade. This is expected to produce revenue growth of 25% to 30% per annum in the medium from the 2021 financial year.
"I am thrilled to announce a record-breaking performance for the group and the substantial achievement of the revenue target for our Significant Opportunities portfolio one year ahead of plan. This record set of results has been delivered during a global pandemic and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our people, the long-standing investments in making our technology resilient, and the strength of our client offering," CEO Felix said.
"Following a sustained period of strong acquisition, elevated demand and new client retention, IG now services a substantially larger client base, which provides a quality asset going into FY22. Today, we believe that we are in a better position than ever before."
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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