TIDMPLUS
RNS Number : 6584W
Plus500 Limited
19 April 2023
19 April 2023
Plus500 Ltd.
("Plus500", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the
"Group")
Q1 2023 Trading Update
Further outstanding performance delivered
Plus500, a global multi-asset fintech group operating
proprietary technology-based trading platforms, today announces the
following trading update for the three months ended 31 March
2023.
Financial Highlights (unaudited):
Q1 2023 Q4 2022 Change %
Revenue $207.9m $126.7m 64%
-------- ------- --------
EBITDA $100.9m $46.7m 116%
-------- ------- --------
EBITDA Margin % 49% 37% 32%
-------- ------- --------
Operational Highlights (unaudited):
Q1 2023 Q4 2022 Change %
New Customers(1) 28,201 25,527 10%
-------- ------- --------
Active Customers(2) 137,053 130,865 5%
-------- ------- --------
ARPU(3) $1,517 $968 57%
-------- ------- --------
AUAC(4) $1,381 $1,462 (6%)
-------- ------- --------
Headlines
-- Another excellent operational and financial performance, with
key metrics ahead of Q4 2022, driven by the Group's on-going
investments in product innovation to attract and retain higher
value customers.
-- Significant progress made against the Group's strategic
roadmap, continuing to build on Plus500's strong position in the
substantial futures market in the US and supported by the Group's
best in class technology and its robust financial position.
-- Product diversification continued, with the launch of
'Plus500 Futures', the intuitive new generation of the Company' s
B2C proprietary trading platform, specifically tailored for the
sizeable US futures retail trading market.
-- New licence obtained in the significant high growth UAE
market, further expanding the Group's geographic footprint.
-- The Board remains confident about the Group's prospects and
continues to expect that Plus500's performance for FY 2023 will be
in line with current market expectations.
Trading overview
Plus500 produced further outstanding operational and financial
results during Q1 2023, building upon the positive momentum of
recent consecutive quarters, with key underlying metrics ahead of
Q4 2022. This performance was enabled by Plus500's differentiated,
market-leading proprietary technology, which supports customer
trading activities across an increasingly broad range of geographic
markets and products, ensuring the Group continues to attract and
retain higher value customers over the long term.
Driven by the scalability and agility of the Group's proprietary
technology and its diversified business model, revenue in Q1 2023
was $207.9m (Q4 2022: $126.7m). Customer Income(5) , a key measure
of the Group's underlying performance, remained consistently strong
at $157.8m in Q1 2023 (Q4 2022: $150.4m), highlighting continued
customer engagement on Plus500's trading platforms, as a direct
result of the Group's on-going investments in customer retention,
monetisation and activation initiatives. Customer Trading
Performance(6) during Q1 2023 stood at $50.1m, (Q4 2022: ($23.7m)).
The Company continues to expect that the contribution from Customer
Trading Performance will be broadly neutral over time.
EBITDA in Q1 2023 was $100.9m (Q4 2022: $46.7m) with an EBITDA
margin of 49% (Q4 2022: 37%), supported by the Group's lean,
flexible cost base which provides a key financial strength in an
uncertain and dynamic economic environment.
The Group delivered across all key operational metrics,
supported by its on-going focus on attracting and retaining high
value, long term customers. The Group onboarded 28,201 New
Customers in Q1 2023 (Q4 2022: 25,527) and the number of Active
Customers reached 137,053 (Q4 2022: 130,865). This performance was
supported by continued investment in the Group's diversified
marketing approach, which included its sophisticated proprietary
marketing technology and a range of strategic initiatives to drive
customer retention, monetisation and activation.
The Group's marketing initiatives included the second phase of
its major bespoke global advertising campaign, featuring actor
Kiefer Sutherland, to build brand awareness in key strategic
markets. This second phase, international, multi-channel
advertising campaign commenced in Q1 2023 and focused on the launch
of '+Insights', Plus500's proprietary big-data, analytical tool
designed to provide OTC customers with access to real-time and
historical trends, based on Plus500 ' s registered customer base of
more than 24 million registered customers .
'+Insights' is an excellent example of the Group's continued
focus on innovative ways to drive and deepen customer engagement.
This new product was launched during FY 2022 on the Group's OTC
trading platform and provides customers with cutting edge
knowledge, insights and information when accessing financial
opportunities. '+Insights' is already receiving very positive
feedback from customers. It also provides strong evidence of the
Group's continued investment in its ESG framework, given it was
developed by the Company based on feedback received from customers.
This new tool therefore demonstrates Plus500's on-going focus on
customer care and delivering on customer requirements, to continue
providing a best-in-class experience.
ARPU increased significantly in Q1 2023 to a level of $1,517 (Q4
2022: $968), and Active Customer levels remained consistent with
previous periods .
With continued investment to attract higher value customers,
AUAC in Q1 2023 was $1, 381 (Q4 2022: $1,462). The Group continues
to expect that AUAC will rise steadily over time, as the Group's
customer profile further shifts to higher value, long term
customers.
Client deposits were $0.6 bn in Q1 2023 (Q4 2022: $0.6 bn ),
highlighting the continued strong level of confidence that
customers have in Plus500 and the reliability of the Group's
trading platforms.
Shareholder returns
The Company repurchased 2,264,910 shares in Q1 2023, at an
average price of GBP18.11, for a total cash consideration of
$49.6m, as part of its most recent share buyback programme,
announced at the Company's FY 2022 preliminary results on 14
February 2023, to purchase up to $70.0m of the Company's shares ,
and its previous share buyback programme, announced at the
Company's interim results on 17 August 2022 and completed on 27
February 2023, to purchase up to $60.2m of the Company's
shares.
Strategic progress
Plus500 continued to make headway against its strategic roadmap
in Q1 2023, with the objective of further developing its position
as a diversified, global multi-asset fintech group.
The Group continued to optimise its growing position in the
substantial futures market in the US, supported by Plus500's
best-in-class technology, its robust financial position and
on-going operational investment.
During Q1 2023, Plus500 made progress in developing its B2B line
of business and strategic position as a market infrastructure
provider, delivering brokerage-execution and clearing services for
institutional clients, driven by the Group's operational
capabilities, proprietary technology and well-established financial
position.
Following the launch of 'TradeSniper' in Q3 2022, Plus500's B2C
proprietary trading platform, specifically tailored for the
sizeable US futures retail trading market, the Company subsequently
launched in Q1 2023, 'Plus500 Futures', a new proprietary trading
platform for the US futures retail trading market. 'Plus500
Futures' and 'TradeSniper' uniquely offer US customers a fully
holistic solution of onboarding, depositing and trading on futures
contracts, and will continue to be developed by Plus500 to ensure a
consistent best-in-class experience is delivered for customers.
As part of the Board's strategy to further diversify its
geographical footprint, the Group continues to target a number of
new potential markets to expand its existing OTC product offering.
In February 2023, the Group obtained a licence in the United Arab
Emirates, granted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA),
offering a major potential growth opportunity for Plus500. The
Group's operation in the UAE is already fully functioning and the
Group has made rapid progress in developing its market position and
offering for customers in this significant and high growth
market.
Plus500 will continue to invest in future growth, through
further organic investments in its proprietary technology as well
as actively target additional acquisitions, to drive further growth
and value for its shareholders.
ESG trading suite
In Q1 2023, Plus500 introduced a new ESG trading suite to its
OTC and share dealing platforms. The suite consists of ESG scores
for the Group's wide variety of stocks, and exclusive tradeable ESG
Impact Indices, tracking companies that strive for accountability
and aligning with customers' ethical investing requirements. The
Group's customers can now use its ESG trading suite to make
informed trading decisions, factoring in financial implications
that are often not included in traditional market analysis.
Financial position
Plus500's reinforced financial position and highly cash
generative business model, with cash balances of over $9 5 0m at 31
March 2023 (31 December 2022: $9 30 . 2 m), enables the Group to
make focused strategic investments as part of its disciplined
capital allocation policy, and, ultimately, drives Plus500's strong
financial performance.
The Group continues to manage its financial position, balance
sheet and cost base in a responsible manner, measuring the
performance of its financial position against a range of internal
benchmarks and KPIs. The Group continues to hold no debt or loans,
has a flexible and lean cost base which is predominantly weighted
to variable costs and financial expenses which have a relatively
low exposure to the current macro inflationary environment.
Furthermore, the Group continues to closely monitor its direct
and indirect relationships with financial institutions and has no
exposure to those financial institutions experiencing funding
challenges or liquidity issues during Q1 2023.
Outlook
With Plus500 remaining well positioned to access a range of
significant opportunities to grow and diversify its revenue
streams, geographic footprint and business model, t he Board
continues to be confident about the Group's future prospects.
To access these growth opportunities in a market with attractive
underlying growth drivers, the Group will continue to make on-going
investments in developing its position as a global multi-asset
fintech group, in particular through further organic investments in
technology, marketing and people, as well as by actively targeting
additional acquisitions.
For FY 2023, the Board continues to expect that Plus500's
performance will be in line with current market expectations(7) ,
with the Group expected to deliver sustainable growth over the
medium to long term.
David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500, commented:
"Plus500 produced another strong performance in Q1 2023, again
driven by our unique proprietary technology stack proposition,
which attracts and retains higher value customers over the long
term. We have a range of extremely exciting strategic growth
opportunities ahead of us, particularly in the US futures market,
enabling us to accelerate our development as a diversified, global
multi-asset fintech group with a highly valuable customer base and
market leading capabilities. Supported by further organic
investments and targeted acquisitions, we remain confident that
Plus500 is well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth and
strong, consistent returns over the medium to long-term."
For further details
Plus500 Ltd.
Elad Even-Chen, Chief +972 4 8189503
Financial Officer +44 7825 189088
Rob Gurner, Head of Investor ir@Plus500.com
Relations
Dentons Global Advisors
James Melville-Ross, +44 (0)20 7664 5095
James Styles, Plus500@dentonsglobaladvisors.com
Leah Dudley
About Plus500
Plus500 is a global multi-asset fintech group operating
proprietary technology-based trading platforms. Plus500 offers
customers a range of trading products, including OTC
("Over-the-Counter" products, namely Contracts for Difference
(CFDs)), share dealing, as well as futures and options on futures.
The Group retains operating licences and is regulated in the United
Kingdom, Australia, Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa,
Singapore, the Seychelles, the United States, Estonia, Japan and
the UAE and through its OTC product portfolio, offers more than
2,500 different underlying global financial instruments, comprising
equities, indices, commodities, options, ETFs, foreign exchange and
cryptocurrencies. Customers of the Group can trade its OTC products
in more than 50 countries and in 30 languages. Plus500 does not
permit customers located in the US to trade its OTC products.
Plus500 does not utilise cold calling techniques and does not offer
binary options. Plus500's trading platforms are accessible from
multiple operating systems (Windows, iOS and Android) and web
browsers. Customer care is and has always been integral to Plus500,
as such, OTC customers cannot be subject to negative balances. A
free demo account is available on an unlimited basis for OTC
trading platform users and sophisticated risk management tools are
provided free of charge to manage leveraged exposure and stop
losses to help customers protect profits, while limiting capital
losses. Plus500 shares have a premium listing on the Main Market of
the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PLUS) and are a constituent of
the FTSE 250 index. www.plus500.com .
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this
announcement via Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this
inside information is now considered to be in the public
domain.
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
Group'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", "project", "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 Management Framework section of the Company's
most recent Annual Report. These forward-looking statements are
based on numerous assumptions regarding the present and future
business strategies of the Group and the environment in which it is
and 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.
(1) Customers depositing for the first time
(2) Customers who made at least one real money trade during the
period
(3) Average Revenue Per User
(4) Average User Acquisition Cost
(5) Revenue from OTC Customer Income (customer spreads and
overnight charges) and Non-OTC Customer Income (commissions from
the Group's futures and options on futures operation and from
'Plus500 Invest', the Group's share dealing platform)
(6) gains/losses on customers' trading positions
(7) Market expectations based on compiled analysts' consensus
forecasts, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of
the Company's website. As at 18 April 2023, consensus forecasts for
FY 2023 revenue and EBITDA are $609.0m and $267.1m,
respectively.
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END
TSTSFIFMAEDSEIL
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 19, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Plus500 (AQSE:PLUS.GB)
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