Q1 2019 Trading Update

RNS Number : 9774V

Plus500 Limited

12 April 2019

 

Plus500 Ltd.

("Plus500" or "the Company")

Q1 2019 Trading Update

Plus500, a leading online service provider for trading Contracts for Differences ("CFDs") internationally, today provides a trading update for the three months ended 31 March 2019.

Summary

·     Subdued financial markets in the quarter weighed on revenue for the period

·     Continued strong New Customer¹ acquisition, 21,306 (Q4 2018: 19,405)

·     54% of Group revenue from outside the EEA region (Q4 2018: 40%)

·     49% of Q1 EEA revenues from Elective Professional Clients (EPC) (Q4 2018: 49%)

Key customer and revenue metrics for the period ended 31 March 2019 were as follows:

	Q1 2019*	Q4 2018*	% change	Q1 2018*
Revenue	$53.9m	$154.8m	(65%)	$297.3m
Number of New Customers1	21,306	19,405	10%	72,960
Number of Active Customers2	97,921	101,634	(4%)	218,187
ARPU3	$550	$1,523	(64%)	$1,363
AUAC4	$1,230	$1,489	(17%)	$502

*Unaudited

[1] A customer who has deposited real money into their own account for the first time

[2] A customer who makes at least one trade using real money on the trading platform during the relevant period

[3] Average Revenue per User

[4] Average User Acquisition Cost

Overview of trading

Group revenue for the three months ended 31 March 2019 was $53.9 million (Q4 2018: $154.8 million). This was behind the recent historic run rate due to extremely subdued financial markets across most asset types. Revenue for the first quarter is stated after $28.1m of positive customer net trading performance (negative market P&L).

The low levels of volatility impacted Active Customer numbers and ARPU.  There were 97,921 Active Customers in the period, down 4% on the previous quarter. Encouragingly New Customer acquisition held up well in the quarter, at 21,306, up 10% on the previous quarter.

The Company continued to diversify beyond its EEA retail customer base. In the period, EPCs accounted for 49% of EEA Revenue and ex-EEA revenue made up 54% of Group revenue, although the revenue from these groups typically varies more with market volatility due to the higher average levels of leverage employed. The Company received 915 new applications for EPC status in the EEA, of which 16% were approved.

Share Buy Back

The Company repurchased 410,500 shares in the quarter, for a total consideration of $5.5 million.  At the end of March, the Company had completed $7.8 million of the previously announced $10 million buyback programme.

Outlook

Financial markets provided limited trading opportunities for current and new customers in the first quarter. It is impossible to predict market conditions for the rest of the year and therefore too early to draw conclusions about the full year outcome based on the Group's performance over the first three months.

Underlying operational performance and new customer acquisition remain robust. Plus500 remains extremely agile and will seek to adjust its offering and marketing investment rapidly to exploit market opportunities as they appear, and the Company's low-cost base will allow it to maximise returns from any incremental revenues. We are also working actively to extend our global footprint and to continue to diversify revenues through growth in current territories and the addition of new operating licences.

Asaf Elimelech, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500, commented: 

"Given the level of global political and economic news, financial markets were surprisingly subdued in the period, which reduced the number of trading opportunities for customers.  While revenue in the quarter was disappointing, we have much to be encouraged about.  Plus500 continued to lead the industry in new customer acquisition, both in absolute numbers and in the efficiency of the marketing spend.  Given recent regulatory changes, it is imperative to attract, engage and retain valuable customers and the Company is working on a number of initiatives to extend its reach and further improve the customer experience and the service offered."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 

For further details:

Plus500 Ltd Elad Even-Chen, Chief Financial Officer Kieran McKinney, Investors Relations [e-mail]	Tel: [phone]
Liberum - Joint Broker Bidhi Bhoma, Josh Hughes, William Hall www.liberum.com	Tel: [phone]
Berenberg - Joint Broker Chris Bowman, Mark Whitmore www.berenberg.de/en	Tel: [phone]
MHP Communications Reg Hoare, Tim Rowntree, Kelsey Traynor, Pete Lambie [e-mail]	Tel: [phone]

Forward looking statements

This announcement contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements.  All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this announcement may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the Company's future prospects, developments and strategies.

The Company does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information reported by the press or other media, nor the fairness or appropriateness of any forecasts, views or opinions express by the press or other media regarding the Group. The Company makes no representation as to the appropriateness, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any such information or publication.

Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "believe", "targets", "expects", "aim", "anticipate", "projects", "would", "could", "envisage", "estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will" or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions.  The forward looking statements in this announcement are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, those described in the risk factors.  These forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of such entity and the environment in which each will operate in the future.  All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributed to the Company or any persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement above.

Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this announcement.  Except as required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, neither the Company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Plus500

Plus500 operates an online trading platform for individual customers to trade CFDs internationally over more than 2,200 different underlying global financial instruments comprising equities, indices, commodities, options, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange. Individual customers of Plus500 can trade CFDs in more than 50 countries and in 32 languages. The trading platform is also accessible from multiple operating systems (Windows, smartphones (iOS, Android and Windows Phone), tablets (iOS, Android and Surface) and web browsers). Plus500 retains operating licences and is regulated in the United Kingdom, Australia, Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore.  Customer care is integral to Plus500: customers cannot be subject to negative balances and there are no commissions on trades. Plus500 does not utilise cold calling techniques and does not offer binary options.  A free demo account is available on an unlimited basis for platform users and sophisticated risk management tools are provided free of charge to manage your leveraged exposure and stop losses to help customers protect profits and limit capital losses.www.plus500.com

 

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