5th Jun 2007 07:01
IG Group Holdings plc05 June 2007 5 June 2007 IG GROUP HOLDINGS PLC Pre-close Trading Update IG Group Holdings plc ("IG" or "the Group") issues the following trading updaterelating to the financial year ended 31 May 2007: The Group has seen continued growth across all of its businesses during thefinancial year. Trading throughout the year has been strong and recent monthshave benefited from higher market volatility and accelerated client recruitmentacross the Group's financial businesses. The Board expects to report revenue ofaround £120m (2006: £89m) representing an increase of approximately 35%. Ashighlighted at the time of the Group's interim announcement, this year has beena period of substantial investment in people and IT capability. Consequently,the Board expects that while EBITDA* margin for the second half of the financialyear will be higher than for the first half, it will be slightly lower for theyear as a whole than for the preceding financial year. Since the introduction of IG's TradeSense client education programme in January,the Group's UK Financial Spread Betting business has enjoyed an increase inclient recruitment. The CFD business has continued its rapid growth withsignificant drivers being increasing numbers of clients from introducers andincreased popularity of the L2 direct market access platform. The Group's Australian business has seen accelerating client growth, with clientrecruitment now running at more than double the rate of a year ago. The finalquarter of the 2006 financial year represented a challenging comparative for theAustralian business and, as previously reported, was followed by a muted firstquarter of the 2007 financial year. As a result of these factors, 2007 has seena level of revenue growth similar to other parts of the Financials business. The Group's recently established Singapore and German offices, its Italian deskbased in London and its specific forex offering, igforex.com, are all businessesin the early stages of their development, but all are demonstrating good levelsof client recruitment. The Group continues to pursue its strategy of geographicexpansion and plans to take advantage of the opportunities in Europe arisingfrom the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) are well advanced. The Group's Sports division has continued to make good progress throughout theyear. The Group's preliminary results for the year ended 31 May 2007 will be announcedon Monday 23 July 2007. There will be a presentation for analysts at 9.30am atthe offices of Financial Dynamics, Holborn Gate, 26 Southampton Buildings,London WC2A 1PB. A recording and transcript of that presentation will be madeavailable following the meeting on the Group's web site at www.iggroup.com. * EBITDA represents earnings before exceptional administrative costs,depreciation, amortisation charges, taxation, interest payable on debt andinterest receivable on corporate cash balances and includes interest receivableon clients' money net of interest payable to clients For further information please contact: IG Group 020 7896 0011Tim Howkins, Chief ExecutiveSteve Clutton, Finance Director Financial Dynamics 020 7269 7200Robert BailhacheNick Henderson This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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