REG - Plus500 Ltd - Q1 2025 Trading Update

Plus500Announcement

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RNS Number : 3625G  Plus500 Limited  28 April 2025

28 April 2025
 

Plus500 Ltd.

("Plus500", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

Q1 2025 Trading Update

Continued strategic, operational and financial progress delivered

FY 2025 results expected to be ahead of market expectations(( 1  (#_ftn1) ))

Plus500, a global multi-asset fintech group operating proprietary
technology-based trading platforms, announces today the following trading
update for the three months ended 31 March 2025.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500, commented:

"Plus500 has made a strong start to the year achieving strategic progress
across several important pillars of growth. Our futures business continued to
expand with the recent acquisition of Mehta Equities in India, which will
enable us to deliver valuable synergies with our US futures business as we
continue to establish our global futures offering. With the excellent start we
have made in 2025, the Board anticipates that the FY 2025 results will be
ahead of current market expectations."

Key highlights

 +        Revenue 2  (#_ftn2) in Q1 2025 increased by 13% to $205.8m (Q4 2024: $182.8m)
          and Customer Income 3  (#_ftn3) increased by 3% to $176.3m (Q4 2024: $171.9m).
 +        EBITDA 4  (#_ftn4) in Q1 2025 increased by 23% to $93.8m, equating to an
          EBITDA margin of 46% (Q4 2024: $76.2m and 42%, respectively).
 +        The contribution of the non-OTC 5  (#_ftn5) business to total revenue further
          increased to approximately 12% in Q1 2025 from approximately 10% in FY 2024,
          equating to revenue growth of c.18% in the quarter. It is anticipated that the
          annualised revenue from the non-OTC business will reach approximately $100m in
          FY 2025, highlighting the extremely successful diversification of the Group's
          operations into the US futures market.
 +        The US futures business held approximately $630m of customer segregated funds
          as of 31 March 2025, representing growth of approximately 80% versus 31
          December 2024, demonstrating its highly attractive customer proposition
          supported by the Group's best-in-class technology.
 +        The Group recently announced the conditional acquisition of Mehta Equities
          Limited ("Mehta") in India, marking an exciting opportunity for Plus500 to
          expand its global futures offering.
 +        The Group's financial position remained strong with cash balances above $885m
          as of 31 March 2025, following the payment of c.$52m during the quarter
          relating to share buyback programmes.
 +        The strength and capabilities of the Group's risk management systems, and the
          resiliency of Plus500's industry leading trading platforms, was again
          demonstrated in elevated financial market volatility during the period.

Financial KPIs (unaudited):

                Q1 2025  Q4 2024  Change %           Q1 2024  Change %

                                  (Q1 25 vs Q4 24)            (Q1 25 vs Q1 24)
 Revenue        $205.8m  $182.8m  13%                $215.6m  (5%)
 EBITDA         $93.8m   $76.2m   23%                $102.6m  (9%)
 EBITDA Margin  46%      42%      10%                48%      (4%)

Operational KPIs (unaudited):

                               Q1 2025  Q4 2024  Change %           Q1 2024  Change %

                                                 (Q1 25 vs Q4 24)            (Q1 25 vs Q1 24)
 New Customers 6  (#_ftn6)     26,897   36,329   (26%)              31,949   (16%)
 Active Customers 7  (#_ftn7)  130,514  136,658  (4%)               134,745  (3%)
 ARPU 8  (#_ftn8)              $1,577   $1,338   18%                $1,600   (1%)
 AUAC 9  (#_ftn9)              $1,205   $1,355   (11%)              $1,320   (9%)

 

Strategic overview

The Group continued to make strong progress against its strategic roadmap
objectives during the first quarter of 2025 by expanding into new markets,
launching new products and deepening engagement with customers.

Expansion into the Indian futures market with the acquisition of Mehta

On 24 March 2025, the Group announced that it had conditionally agreed to
acquire Mehta, an Indian financial services company providing, inter alia,
broking services including futures, options and cash equities trading products
(the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition represents a key strategic milestone in
the Group's global expansion strategy, enabling Plus500 to expand its
geographic footprint into India's large and well-established financial
industry, including futures trading. India represents the largest retail
futures trading market globally with over 150bn contracts traded in 2024 10 
(#_ftn10) , equating to over 75% of global transaction volumes.

Significant progress made in the US futures market, a compelling multi-year
growth opportunity

The B2B (Institutional) business delivered excellent growth during the period
and onboarded new institutional customers, driven by its strategic position
and enhanced customer offering which includes 'Plus500 Cosmos', its innovative
customer portal and holistic clearing service.

The B2C (Retail) business also made a strong start to the year as it continued
to onboard excellent levels of New Customers, supported by its 'omni-set
solution' and robust offering.

In January 2025, the Group secured a clearing membership with ICE Clear US,
part of Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE), among the world's largest
operators of exchanges and clearing houses for listed derivatives, further
enhancing its holistic clearing capabilities for current and potential new
customers.

Strategic position strengthened with enhancements to Plus500's offerings in
the UAE and Japan

In January 2025, the Group obtained a new regulatory licence in the UAE from
the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), allowing Plus500 to further
strengthen its presence in this market through an enhanced localised product
offering and tailored marketing initiatives.

In Q1 2025, Plus500 launched its multi-asset offering for the Japanese retail
market comprising new OTC products based on Indices, Equities and ETFs. This
is a significant and exciting milestone for the Group in a strategically
important market, which has the potential to drive structural growth over the
medium- to long-term.

Financial review

Revenue for Q1 2025 increased by 13% to $205.8m (Q4 2024: $182.8m), including
trading income of $191.7m (Q4 2024: $169.3m) and interest income of $14.1m (Q4
2024: $13.5m). Customer Income increased by 3% to $176.3m in Q1 2025 (Q4 2024:
$171.9m). Customer Trading Performance 11  (#_ftn11) was $15.4m in Q1 2025 (Q4
2024: $(2.6m)) reflecting Plus500's robust risk management framework and
strong technological capabilities in heightened financial market volatility
seen during the quarter.

EBITDA increased by 23% in Q1 2025 to $93.8m (Q4 2024: $76.2m), equating to an
EBITDA margin of 46% (Q4 2024: 42%). The improved EBITDA margin reflects the
flexibility of the Group's operating cost base.

The Group onboarded 26,897 New Customers during Q1 2025 (Q4 2024: 36,329) and
continued to focus on growing its overall customer base through its
disciplined approach to attracting and retaining higher value customers, as
demonstrated by the double-digit growth in ARPU and average deposit per Active
Customer quarter-on-quarter. In addition, Plus500 was able to deliver further
cost efficiencies from its customer acquisition initiatives by leveraging its
sophisticated marketing capabilities and proprietary technologies.

Average deposit per Active Customer increased by 106% to approximately $12,450
during Q1 2025 (Q4 2024: approximately $6,050), demonstrating the high level
of confidence that customers have in Plus500 and the Group's continued success
in attracting higher value customers. Customer deposits in the period amounted
to $1.6bn (Q4 2024: $0.8bn), also representing meaningful growth versus the
prior quarter.

The Group remained debt-free and once again maintained its strong financial
position during the period, with cash balances above $885m as of 31 March 2025
(31 December 2024: $890.0m).

Shareholder returns

During Q1 2025 the Company repurchased 1,512,359 shares, at an average price
of £27.41, for a total cash consideration of $52.3m. As of 31 March 2025, the
remaining number of the Company's ordinary shares in issue was 72,806,268.
Ordinary shares that are repurchased by the Company under its buyback
programmes are held in treasury and are not entitled to dividends and have no
voting rights.

Outlook

The Group has made an excellent start to the year, driven by recent
macroeconomic and financial market conditions among other factors. Therefore,
the Company's Board of Directors anticipates that the FY 2025 results will be
ahead of current market expectations.

For further details:

 Plus500 Ltd.
   Elad Even-Chen, Chief Financial Officer   +972 4 8189503

   Owen Jones, Head of Investor Relations    +44 (0) 7551 654208

                                             ir@Plus500.com (mailto:ir@Plus500.com)

 DGA Group
   James Melville-Ross                       +44 (0)20 7038 7411

   James Styles                              Plus500@dgagroup.com (mailto:Plus500@dgagroup.com)

   Methuselah Tanyanyiwa

 

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, the UAE and the Bahamas 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 60 countries and in 30 languages.

Plus500's trading platforms are accessible from multiple operating systems
(iOS, Android and Windows) 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 was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LON: PLUS) on 24
July 2013. It was admitted to the Equity Shares in Commercial Companies
("ESCC") Category of the Official List and is a constituent of the FTSE 250
Index and the STOXX Europe 600 Index. Website: www.plus500.com
(http://www.plus500.com/) .

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 of the date of this announcement. Except as required by law,
regulatory requirement, the UK 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  (#_ftnref1) Market expectations based on compiled analysts' consensus
forecasts (Source: Bloomberg). Consensus forecasts for FY 2025 revenue and
EBITDA are $719.2m and $331.3m, respectively, as of 17 February 2025

 2  (#_ftnref2) Revenue is comprised of trading income and interest income

 3  (#_ftnref3) Customer Income - 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)

 4  (#_ftnref4) EBITDA - Revenue (trading income and interest income) minus
operating expenses plus depreciation and amortisation

 5  (#_ftnref5) Non-OTC includes futures and share dealing

 6  (#_ftnref6) New Customers - Customers depositing for the first time

 7  (#_ftnref7) Active Customers - Customers who made at least one real money
trade during the period

 8  (#_ftnref8) ARPU - Average Revenue Per User

 9  (#_ftnref9) AUAC - Average User Acquisition Cost

 10  (#_ftnref10) Source: The Futures Industry Association (FIA)

 11  (#_ftnref11) Customer Trading Performance - Gains/losses on customers'
trading positions

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