* IG third-quarter revenue surges 65%, shares up 4%
* Number of active clients up 60% to new record
* IG had 'unprecedented spike in new client demand'
(Adds share move, details on targets)
By Muvija M
March 11 (Reuters) - Online trading platform IG
reported a surge in third-quarter revenue on Thursday, thriving
on the retail frenzy in stock markets this year that propelled
shares in some beaten-down U.S. stocks higher.
IG, which gives retail investors leveraged access to more
than 17,000 financial markets through its platform and mobile
apps, said the number of active clients leapt 60% in the three
months to Feb. 28 from a year ago to a record 230,100.
"The group saw an unprecedented spike in new client demand,
largely in response to heightened news flow relating to certain
listed U.S. stocks," IG said in a statement on Thursday.
Shares climbed 4% to 8.4 pounds by 0835 GMT.
IG said it expected to hit its three-year revenue target of
160 million pounds ($223 million) from its "Significant
Opportunities" portfolio, which includes some U.S. and European
products, by the end of the 2021 fiscal year, a year ahead of
schedule.
Overall, IG's third-quarter revenue jumped 65% to 230.3
million pounds, even though last year's performance had already
been strong thanks to a pandemic-led selloff and a crash in oil
prices due to the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The company said it expected its deal announced in January
to buy U.S. trading platform tastytrade for $1 billion to close
in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.
While people have tried their luck in markets over the past
year under lockdowns, 2021 witnessed another dramatic surge in
retail trading as "mom-and-pop" investors joined together by
platforms such as Reddit took on deep-pocketed hedge funds.
They coordinated their buying in stocks that were heavily
shorted, fondly calling them "meme stocks", driving up prices
and leading to losses for bigger institutions that had bet the
shares would fall.
IG withdrew about 8% of the 12,000 leveraged equity products
it used to offer following the "GameStonk" frenzy, named after
U.S. video game retailer GameStop which is believed to
have been the starting point for the trend.
($1 = 0.7170 pounds)
(Reporting by Muvija M, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Indranil
Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V and David Clarke)
IG (IGG)
