Plus500 Share News (PLUS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Plus500 Ltd climbed early Tuesday as the company reported significant first-quarter revenue and earnings on the back of impressive customer growth.

Plus500 was trading at 1,520.00 pence per share in early trade on Tuesday, up 7.9%. A year ago, shares were at 485.00p.

For the three months to March, the trading platform operator posted revenue of USD297.3 million, almost four times higher than the USD77.5 million it recorded in the first quarter of 2017.

The figure for 2018's first quarter was well over half the USD437.2 million posted in the whole of 2017.

Likewise, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation for the quarter soared year-on-year to USD237.3 million from USD45.8 million, and the first quarter figure almost matched 2017's entire Ebitda of USD259.2 million.

This growth, Plus500 said, was driven by "significant" increases in new and active customers. New customers more than tripled year-on-year to 72,960 while active customers increased to 218,187 from 71,827.

Plus500's average revenue per active user fell 45% to USD502.00 year-on-year, which it said was due to cryptocurrency interest in the previous year.

Average new user acquisitions costs rose 26% to USD1,363.00, which it said benefited from new customer growth and volatile markets.

In terms of regulatory changes from the European Securities & Markets Authority, Plus500 said it is looking at whether it can reclassify its experienced traders as professional investors, which it said would allow them to trade at higher leverage and possible mitigate the impact of the changes.

Plus500, looking ahead, did caution that market conditions have normalised in the past two months and thus the "exceptional" first quarter performance will most likely not repeat.

Nevertheless, Plus500 said it has raised its own expectations for the full year, though it did not give details.

Chief Executive Asaf Elimelech said: "We are pleased to announce another record period in terms or revenues and profits; the results for this quarter reflect our competitive advantages and focus on serving our customers' trading needs.

"Having a flexible business model and a lean cost structure, enables us to optimise our performance as necessary despite the recently announced regulatory changes. Having the industry leading framework enables us to be confident about the future."