Sales and earnings drop at trading platform Plus500 due to subdued markets
The London-listed firm saw shares lift in early trading after it cheered ‘further progress’ against its current strategy.
Online trading business Plus500 has revealed a slump in sales and earnings in the face of reduced trading activity.
Nevertheless, the London-listed firm cheered “further progress” against its current strategy and revealed a 120 million US dollar (£94.5 million) pay out for investors.
It said it planned to hand around 60 million dollars (£47.2 million) straight to shareholders through a dividend pay-out as well as launch a share buyback programme worth another 60 million dollars.
The investor pay-outs came despite weaker trading in the face of “quieter market conditions”.
Trading platforms have witnessed a significant slowdown against the same period last year, when activity was buoyed by volatility in the financial markets following the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, Plus500 told investors on Monday that it posted revenues of 368.5 million US dollars (£290.4 million) for the half-year to June 30, down 28% against the same period last year.
Meanwhile, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) declined by 43% to 174.1 million dollars (£137.2 million) for the period.
David Zruia, chief executive officer of Plus500, said: “In the first half of the year, we executed on our strategy to produce a strong performance, thanks to the power of Plus500’s market-leading proprietary technology and our consistent ability to attract and retain higher value customers over the long term.
“Our increasingly diversified revenue streams, broadened product offering, deep customer relationships and the structural growth drivers in our end markets, mean we are able to deliver both growth and attractive shareholder returns.
“With continued operational and financial momentum being achieved, we also made substantial progress in delivering against our strategic priorities, particularly in harnessing the attractive growth opportunities in the US futures market and obtaining new regulatory licences in the high growth UAE market and very recently in the Bahamas.”
Shares in Plus 500 were more than 5% higher after the markets opened on Monday.