Member Info for MarkBellUK

He is leaving over wanting more pay and not been offered it. Remember 35% of shareholders voted against the pay rise at the last AGM.

He's not one of the founders or indeed main brains behind this operation so should easily be replaced. He did get the Athletico shirt deal though...

Yes Ive know a recurring negative (and clueless) theme from the Times regarding PLUS

Yes PLUS seems to be winning in every direction at the moment

Yes well done MrShrewd!

Generally Im a big advocate of holding and averaging down, but sometimes it get to a point where you are looking at 12 months or much longer to break even, so I had to cut my losses (which I should have done months ago, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!)

Lets put it this way the last trading update showed a revenue for Q1 that was close of the entire 2019 revenue! "Company nearly doubles its customer base in Q1, driving six-fold rise in revenue, as a market sell-off drove a boom in financial betting by retail traders at home..."

I'm looking at an ad hoc TU circa end of this month where Q2 will be off the chart and then later in the year a significant divi increase and special D announcement with more buybacks!

I had a target of 1400 but in this climate and given all of the above thats under review

Support is circa 1143 sp so if it pulls back to that its a good entry point IMHO

Apologies PFC you know I love you ;) (which just cost me a shed load!)

Too kind MrShrewd!

Im still about but I finally threw in the PFC towel (last week?) and sold at at £34k loss (@199 sp)! The only reason I was able to do that was I was £35k up in PLUS so I thought I would just cut my losses at even (PS PLUS is about announce an increased Divi, more buybacks, nearly definitely a special D and record breaking quarters revenue)

I still think PFC will come back to sensible levels but its going to be a long haul. I think the real crash is yet to come, so if you can look at hedging into a sector that IS/ Will be benefiting from that I would seriously consider it

Looks like the SP might break out tomorrow too...I have circa 1143 as the resistance point then nothing until over 1400

Someone just posted this reminder on advfn
2019-02-21 2019-07-09 H2 dividend (final) 61.91 USX
2018-08-23 2018-11-22 H1 dividend (interim) 137.86 USX
2018-02-22 2018-07-23 Special Dividend 63.5 USX
Total: 188.77 USX

And dont forget they state AT LEAST 60%

Hi mate

The divi increase is a certainty as they pledge to return a minimum of 60% back and those number are incredible (sitting on $515m and counting)

I fully expect BOTH an increase in divi and a special D

I fully expected Q2 to be off the charts as well and 2020 to be close to 2018

FT -Financials
Plus500 revenue up 500% on boom in bets
ANTONIA CUNDY

Revenue at online trading platform Plus500 jumped nearly 500 per cent in the first quarter after market volatility caused by the coronavirus pandemic spurred a boom in bets.

The London-listed broker reported revenue of $316.6m in the three months to March, far exceeding analysts’ expectations of about $185m and up from $53.9m in the same period a year earlier. The amount was equivalent to about 90 per cent of Plus500’s total revenue in 2019.

Profits for the full year are likely to be “substantially ahead” of expectations, although it is impossible to predict whether future quarters will be as dramatic as the first, Asaf Elimelech, chief executive, said yesterday.

“As we remain at an early stage in the financial year, and there are global markets uncertainties as well as ongoing regulatory changes, it remains difficult to predict the outcome for the full year,” he said.

The group reported earnings before interest, tax and depreciation of $231.6m, which it said was a 1,863 per cent year-on-year increase.

Plus500’s performance follows that of rival online trading platform IG Group, whose revenue jumped nearly a third in the first quarter after global markets began whipsawing in late February.

Israel-based Plus500 offers contracts for difference (CFDs) that allow individual traders to make bets on moves in currencies, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

The six-fold increase in revenue was driven by almost 83,000 new customers signing up in the quarter, almost four times as many as did so in the first quarter of 2019. Altogether the platform ended the period with 194,000 active users, whose average revenue rose to $1,632 — up from $550 a year earlier.

However, Stuart Duncan, analyst at Peel Hunt, warned that although volatility was likely to continue for “weeks if not months”, it was not guaranteed that customers would continue trading. “At some point customers will realise they’ve actually lost most of what they were willing to stake,” he said.

Although many companies have halted payouts to shareholders during the pandemic, Plus500 reiterated its intention to return at least 60 per cent of net profits to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

It ended the quarter with cash of about $515.6m, up from $292.9m three months earlier.

Rough markets are big plus for financial betting group

The wild swings in markets caused by the Covid-19 crisis may have wrongfooted traders, but they have helped to propel quarterly revenues at Plus500 to record levels.

Asaf Elimelech, chief executive of the financial betting business, said that it was on course to generate full-year profits “substantially ahead” of City expectations after the group enjoyed what he called an “exceptional” first quarter.

Revenues during the three months to the end of March leapt to $316.6 million from $53.9 million a year earlier, boosted by the trading losses suffered by Plus500 customers during the extreme volatility in recent weeks, which contributed about $82.3 million to the company’s top line.

Plus500 provides contracts for difference, a type of derivative that allows punters to make leveraged bets on the direction of financial markets ranging from equities and bonds to commodities and currencies. Traders betting in the derivatives market typically range from smaller, amateur retail customers to professionals from the financial services industry who trade regularly.

The company, which is based in Israel, was set up in 2008 and was listed in London seven years ago. Plus500 and its rivals, including CMC Markets and IG Group, thrive when markets are volatile because such conditions encourage customers to trade. Punters hope to make quick profits as asset prices experience dramatic swings.

Plus500 said that it had attracted 82,951 new customers during the quarter, up from 21,306 from the same period a year ago. Its active customers — those who executed at least one real money trade during the quarter — doubled to 194,024 from 97,921 a year earlier.

The company gains when its customers make the wrong bets. About 76.4 per cent of Plus500’s amateur customers lose money on derivatives, losses that can be magnified by the leverage used to increase the size of their wagers. When markets fall sharply, as they have during the pandemic, traders seeking to profit from an expected rebound typically are tempted to call the bottom. If they are caught out and markets continue to slide, their trading losses feed into Plus500’s revenues.

Such losses accounted for 26 per cent of the company’s revenues during the three-month period. However, Plus500 said: “The revenues derived from customer trading performance in the first quarter are expected to revert to their medium-term historic level of near zero over time.”

Concerns about the widespread losses suffered by inexperienced retail clients prompted European regulators to crack down on the financial betting industry in August 2018 and to impose stricter rules on derivatives providers, which hit Plus500 and its peers. The company’s pre-tax profits fell to $189.3 million last year from $503 million in 2018, which cut the earnings of Mr Elimelech, 39.

Extension at 10% 1219

Price at 1190

Dont be surprised if this pulls back a little before rocketing IMHO

Amazing results!

Online trading firm CMC Markets said on Friday its annual net trading revenue almost doubled in the year ending March 31, as the past month's selloff in financial markets due to the coronavirus boosted transaction volumes.

The company expects net trading revenue in contracts for difference to be about 214 million pounds ($264.91 million) for the year ended March 31, versus the 110.2 million pounds it reported a year earlier. (https://reut.rs/2UHtt5D)

That enabled CMC to lift its forecast for the fourth time in six months in March. ...
CMC also re-affirmed its dividend policy of paying a total annual dividend that makes up half of the year's profit after tax.

> Looks good for PLUS !

Sorry to hear about the banking dividend problems, it really is dreadful. I'd never say never but I cant see it with PLUS, in fact Im GUESSING they may well be re-introducing a special dividend or a significant increase to the current alongside more buybacks

Im havent been flowing HSBC Tom have they pulled the dividend after agreeing at an AGM and post ex divi?