(Alliance News) - IG Group Holdings PLC on Thursday appointed an interim chair and said that first-quarter operating performance was supported by increased client trading activity, growth in active clients, and favourable market conditions in August.
London-listed shares in IG were trading 8.3% higher at 626.51 pence each on Thursday morning in London.
Non-Executive Director Jonathan Moulds will assume the interim chair role following the company's annual general meeting on Thursday, when Andy Green will step down. The company has already identified a preferred candidate for the chair role, it said, but the appointment is subject to securing relevant regulatory approvals. IG did not name the candidate.
The online trading platform provider said it continues to search for additional non-executive directors to bring fresh perspective to board and has decided to appoint Andrew Didham as an additional non-executive director.
Didham, a former partner of accounting firm KPMG from 1990 to 1997, currently serves on the board of NM Rothschild & Co Ltd and Charles Stanley Group PLC.
On the trading front, IG recorded revenue of GBP129.1 million for the three months to August 31, broadly unchanged from GBP128.9 million in the same period a year ago.
Revenue in the core business of over-the-counter derivatives remained flat year-on-year at GBP124.0 million, but was up 13% from average GBP110.1 million revenue generated in the last three quarters of financial 2019.
The company noted that restrictions placed by the European Securities & Markets Authority on the sale of contracts-for-difference to retail clients affected just one month of trading in the first quarter of financial 2019, skewing the year-on-year comparison.
CFDs is an arrangement made in financial derivatives trading where the differences in the settlement between the open and closing trade prices are cash settled. The securities themselves are not transferred.
The European markets regulator placed restrictions on marketing, distribution or sale of CFDs to retail clients from August 1, 2018, in order to protect investors from losing more money than they put in, restrict the use of leverage and incentives, and ensure that risk warnings are provided.
IG Group has retained its previously stated target of revenue growth in the core markets of 3% to 5% per annum over the medium term. Its guidance to return to revenue growth in the year ending May 31, 2020 also remains unchanged.
