Plus500 published today the Trading update for the three months ended 31 March 2016 

Plus500, has issued today an announcement to inform in relation  to its trading update for the three months ended 31 March 2016.

Overview

• Record quarterly revenues of $85.2m and record number of Active Customers 68,000
• Continued market share growth in our leading markets
• Volatile market conditions were conducive to high levels of customer trading and new sign ups
• Strong new customer additions, up 85%, compared to Q4 2015

KPIs

Key customer and revenues metrics for the three months ended 31 March 2016 were as follows:

	FY 2015	Q4 2015*	Q1 2015*	Q1 2016*	% GrowthQ4 2015/ Q1 2016	% GrowthQ1 2015/ Q1 2016
Revenues	$275.6m	$67.7m	$82.1m	$85.2m	26%	4%
New customers1	84,858	15,594	32,880	28,792	85%	-12%
Active customers2	136,540	49,006	67,667	67,821	38%	0%
ARPU3	$2,019	$1,382	$1,214	$1,256	-9%	3%
AUAC4	$1,227	$1,591	$892	$1,316	-17%	47%

*Unaudited

Trading review

The Company has reported a strong first quarter’s trading with both record quarterly revenues and active customers. Additionally, the Company successfully attracted a high level of new customers, with strong cash conversion.

The Board is especially pleased with this performance relative to the strength of the first quarter of 2015 when the Group benefitted from the on-boarding of a large number of customers as a result of the exceptional movement in the Swiss Franc and its effect on the CFD industry.

Plus500UK resumed the onboarding of new customers in January 2016 and the Board is pleased with progress to date.  Although Group total Q1 2016 new customer numbers were down 12% year on year, they were 85% higher than Q4 2015 showing the underlying momentum in the business.

Dividends

As announced on 17 February 2016, the final dividend and a special dividend for the year ended 31 December 2015 are together payable on 11 May 2016, contributing to a total pay-out for 2015 of $96.6 million (2014: $92 million) which represents a pay-out of 100% of net profit for the year ended 31 December 2015.  The ex-dividend date was 24 March and the record date was 29 March.

Outlook

The Board is retaining its guidance that the Company will achieve a higher EBITDA margin than that achieved in 2015 and its confidence reflecting the progress to date in 2016 for the outcome of the year as a whole.

The Board reaffirms its base 60% pay-out ratio dividend policy, reflecting the strength of Plus500’s business model in its ability to convert net earnings into cash-flow. The Board also retains flexibility to pay special dividends or buy back shares when the Company generates surplus cash, as appropriate.

Asaf Elimelech, the new Chief Executive of Plus500, commented:

“We are very pleased with our first quarter performance which is significantly ahead of the last quarter of 2015, and compares favourably against a very strong first quarter last year. We continue to benefit from volatile market conditions which are stimulating new customer additions and trading activity.

“As we noted in February at the time of the 2015 results, we have more high value customers, an enhanced trading platform, more robust processes, a stronger brand and more routes to market, supported by a strong balance sheet. We are therefore confident that Plus500 will continue growing and believe we will have another successful year.”

Source: Plus500

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