REG - Plus500 Ltd - Half Year 2024 Trading Update

Plus500Announcement

08/07/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 4033V  Plus500 Limited  08 July 2024

8 July 2024
 

Plus500 Ltd.

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

Half Year 2024 - Period End Trading Update

Strong H1 performance, well positioned for FY 2024 and beyond

Plus500, a global multi-asset fintech group operating proprietary
technology-based trading platforms, announces its trading update for the six
months ended 30 June 2024.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"During the first six months of 2024, Plus500 delivered excellent financial
and operational progress despite difficult market conditions. Revenue and
EBITDA increased meaningfully year-on-year, highlighting the inherent
resiliency and strength of the Group's differentiated business model. This
underpins our continued focus on our stated strategy of expanding into new
markets, developing new products and deepening relationships with our
customers. We also delivered excellent operational progress across both our
B2C (Retail) and B2B (Institutional) offerings to further reinforce our
international competitive advantage and scale.

Plus500 remains well positioned to capitalise on both short-term market
conditions and the longer-term growth trends in its end markets. In the
short-term, our increasingly diversified offering and intuitive trading
platforms allow customers to access a wide variety of products, services and
features across multiple markets. Over the medium-term, we will continue to
invest in our strategic roadmap initiatives, which are enabled by our
class-leading technology, deep customer engagements and robust financial
position."

Financial and operational highlights (unaudited)

                     H1 2024  H1 2023  Change %  Q2 2024  Q2 2023  Change %
 Revenue             $398.2m  $368.5m  8%        $182.6m  $160.6m  14%
 EBITDA 1  (#_ftn1)  $183.9m  $174.1m  6%        $81.3m   $73.2m   11%
 EBITDA Margin       46%      47%      (2%)      45%      46%      (2%)

The Group delivered an excellent operational and financial performance during
H1 2024. This performance was achieved despite lower levels of activity
across financial markets towards the end of the period, which were affected,
as expected, by the UEFA EURO 2024 Football Championship, a trend consistent
with previous tournaments. Plus500's strong performance during the period was
fundamentally driven by the Group's proven business model, innovative
technology platforms and its on-going ability to attract and retain higher
value, long-term customers.

The Group's balance sheet remained robust and its own cash balances as of 30
June 2024 were over $1bn.

The Group successfully onboarded 56,759 New Customers(( 2  (#_ftn2) )) during
H1 2024 (H1 2023: 50,449), including 24,810 in Q2 2024 (Q2 2023: 22,248). The
Group's base of Active Customers(( 3  (#_ftn3) )) was 175,909 during H1 2024
(H1 2023: 175,762), including 123,803 in Q2 2024 (Q2 2023: 122,833).

Shareholder returns

During H1 2024, Plus500 has announced shareholder returns of approximately
$175m through dividends and share buybacks, supported by its robust financial
position. During H1 2024, the Company repurchased 3,229,215 shares, at an
average price of £19.73, for a total cash consideration of $80.7m. As at 30
June 2024, the remaining number of the Company's ordinary shares in issue was
76,509,277.

The Company will announce new shareholder returns, comprising dividends and
share buybacks, consistent with its shareholder returns policy, as part of its
H1 2024 results.

Outlook

The Group remains well positioned to continue executing against its strategic
roadmap, enabled by its market-leading proprietary technology and intuitive
trading platforms, that deliver an exceptional service for the Group's
customers globally, and supported by its strong financial position. Therefore,
the Board of Directors of Plus500 remains confident in the outlook for 2024
and beyond and anticipates that Plus500's revenue and EBITDA for the current
financial year will be in-line with current market expectations 4  (#_ftn4) .

Plus500 will publish its H1 2024 results for the six months ended 30 June
2024 on 19 August 2024.

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 7664 5095

   James Styles                              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 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 (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 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  (#_ftnref1) EBITDA - Revenue (trading income and interest income) minus
operating expenses plus depreciation and amortisation

 2  (#_ftnref2) New Customers - Customers depositing for the first time

 3  (#_ftnref3) Active Customers - Customers who made at least one real money
trade during the period

 4  (#_ftnref4) Market expectations based on compiled analysts' consensus
forecasts, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of the
Company's website

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