TIDMPLUS
RNS Number : 2330N
Plus500 Limited
24 October 2016
24 October 2016
Plus500 Ltd.
("Plus500" or "the Company")
Q3 Trading Update
Plus500, a leading online service provider for retail customers
to trade CFDs internationally, provides a trading update for the
three and nine months ended 30 September 2016.
In the nine months ended 30 September 2016, revenue was $236.3m
an increase of 14% compared to the same period last year. Key
customer and revenue metrics for the three and nine month periods
ended 30 September 2016 were as follows:
3 months to 30 9 months to
FY2015 Sept* %Growth 30 Sept* %Growth
--------------- --------- ---------------- ------- ------------------ -------
2015 2016 2015 2016
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
Revenue $275.6m $80.9m $77.5m -4% $207.9m $236.3m 14%
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
Number
of new
customers(1) 84,858 17,047 25,083 47% 69,333 82,012 18%
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
Number
of active
customers(2) 136,540 52,727 69,989 33% 117,569 131,346 12%
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
ARPU(3) $2,019 $1,534 $1,107 -28% $1,769 $1,799 2%
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
AUAC(4) $1,227 $1,468 $1,300 -11% $1,142 $1,320 16%
--------------- --------- ------- ------- ------- --------- ------- -------
*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
Plus500 has reported another consistent quarter's trading, in
line with trading reported at the time of the half year results.
The Company has continued to experience strong growth in new and
active customers and has generated record revenues year to
date.
As anticipated, there was an improvement in the EBITDA margin
from 37% in H1 2016 to 43% in Q3 2016, showing the strength of the
Company's business model and its robust operating platform.
Plus500 also increased its global presence during the period. It
announced new licences in Israel (on 30 September 2016) and in New
Zealand (on 3 October 2016).
The Company is now regulated by five different regulators: FCA
in the United Kingdom, ASIC in Australia, CySEC in Cyprus, ISA in
Israel and FMA in New Zealand. This emphasises the importance the
Board puts on compliance best practice in the different
jurisdictions the Company operates in and the steps the Company has
taken in order to provide its customers with appropriately
regulated services.
Results
The Company is focused on adding high value customers, and its
marketing activity has resulted in revenue from Western European
countries being stable and accounting for 75% of total revenue in
the third quarter 2016 (Q3 2015: 75%).
In Q3 2016, ARPU stood at $1,107 compared to $1,037 in Q2 2016
and $1,534 in Q3 2015. This is due to a combination of a continuing
increase in active and new customers (as new customers do not
contribute significant revenue in the quarter they are recruited
in) and a slight decrease in customer churn which is consistent
with the previous quarter.
The Board believes that the continued growth in new customers,
reduction in churn and an increase in the life time value of
customers will have a beneficial long term effect on the Company's
income and a short term impact on ARPU. In addition, the lifetime
value of the Group's customers is increasing, as a greater
proportion of higher value customers are being added, as well as
the loyalty of customers, measured by their longevity on the
platform, is growing.
The Company's AUAC for Q3 2016 was $1,300 compared to $1,347 in
Q2 2016 and $1,468 in Q3 2015, and stands at $1,320 for the nine
months ended 30 September 2016. The Company continues to make
efforts to improve the efficiency of the Company's marketing
strategies for acquiring new customers.
Outlook
Having attracted a record number of new customers so far this
year through its investment in marketing, the Company intends to
focus on profitability for the remainder of the year and
consolidate the benefits of this expenditure. The Company has
entered Q4 2016 with positive momentum and the Board believes the
Company is on track to meet market expectations.
Asaf Elimelech, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500,
commented:
"Our third quarter continued the strong progress of the first
half, with a significant number of new customers being gained, and
margins recovering. We remain on track to achieve our expectations
for the year as a whole."
Enquiries
Plus500
---------------------------------------------------
Elad Even-Chen, Chief Financial +972 4 8189503
Officer ir@Plus500.com
--------------------------------- ----------------
Liberum - Nomad and Broker
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+44 20 3100
Clayton Bush, Josh Hughes 2222
--------------------------------- ----------------
Berenberg (Joint Broker)
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Chris Bowman, Amritha Murali, +44 20 3207
Marie Stolberg 7800
--------------------------------- ----------------
MHP Communications
---------------------------------------------------
Reg Hoare, Tim Rowntree, Kelsey +44 20 3128
Traynor 8100
--------------------------------- ----------------
About Plus500
Plus500 has developed and operates an online trading platform
for retail customers to trade CFDs internationally over more than
2,250 different underlying global financial instruments comprising
equities, indices, commodities, options, ETFs and foreign exchange.
The Company enables retail customers to trade CFDs in more than 50
countries. The trading platform is accessible from multiple
operating systems (Windows, smartphones (iOS, Android and Windows
Phone) and tablets (iOS, Android and Surface), Apple Watch and web
browsers). The Directors believe that the success of the Company to
date has been primarily due to the proprietary technology it has
developed and continues to develop to support the trading platform.
The trading platform has been designed to be as intuitive and easy
to use as possible. The trading platform has been localised into 31
languages. The Directors believe that this emphasis on technology,
together with the Company's targeted online marketing strategy, has
helped to differentiate the Company from its competitors.
www.plus500.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 24, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)