London Capital Group Holdings Regulatory News (LCG)

25 May 2006 07:01

London Capital Group Holdings PLC25 May 2006 25 May 2006 London Capital Group Holdings plc AGM Statement At the Annual General Meeting of London Capital Group Holdings plc (AIM: LCG),to be held later today, Frank Chapman, Chief Executive Officer, will give thefollowing update on trading: I am pleased to report that LCG is trading in line with market expectations. Wehave experienced strong trading in the year to date and as we continue to investin infrastructure, we look forward to the remainder of the year with confidence. Recent volatility in the financial markets has resulted in strong trading overthe last month. I am particularly encouraged by the growth in new client numbersin our spread betting division, which is currently expanding at the rate ofcirca 400 new clients per month. Client acquisition is a key growth factor inthe business and the current rate is almost double the number forecasted at thebeginning of the year. As a result of this and our generally more competitive spreads, our spreadbetting client trading volumes have continued to increase - reaching a highpoint of 8,300 bets on our busiest day this year compared to 3,900 last year.Our first quarter trading volumes were 33% higher than those in the fourthquarter of 2005; our average number of trades per day in April 2006 was 47%higher than in December 2005; and our number of live accounts on 17 May 2006 isan increase of 40% on the number at 31 December 2005. These are all veryencouraging indicators for our spread betting business and bode well for thefuture. As mentioned in our preliminary results statement released in February, we haverecently launched several new spread betting white label partnerships, includingone in Norway and others in Sweden, Denmark and Greece. In addition to ourinternational expansion, we have also signed white label agreements with TheSpectator magazine as well as two other strategic UK partners. Our other activities, foreign exchange ("FX") and derivative broking are bothperforming well. The recent volatility in the currency markets, precipitated bythe decline of the US Dollar, has assisted us greatly in increasing our FXvolumes to $5bn in April, up from $1bn in December 2005. With the expectation ofsigning further significant institutional clients, we look forward to makingcontinued progress in this division during the course of the year. Finally, we have also made good progress as regards the appointment of a FinanceDirector and expect to make an announcement shortly. For further information, please contact: www.londoncapitalgroup.com London Capital Group Holdings plc 020 7665 9400Frank Chapman, Chief Executive Officer Smithfield 020 7360 4900Sara Musgrave / George Hudson Notes to Editors: London Capital Group Holdings plc is a rapidly growing and profitable spreadbetting and financial services company offering online trading in the financialmarkets. Its core activity is the provision of spread betting products on thefinancial markets to retail clients under the trading name Capital Spreads. LCGalso provides online foreign exchange trading services to institutional andintermediate clients under the Capital Forex brand and institutional derivativesbroking under the name Capital Derivatives. Based in London, LCG is regulated and authorised by the Financial ServicesAuthority, has a European passport and is a member of the London Stock Exchange,Liffe, Eurex and Euronext, giving it direct access to all European markets. LCGalso has access to international markets through its global clearingrelationships. LCG floated on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market on 22nd December 2005 atan issue price of 82p. LCG is included in the General Financial sector (8770)and Specialty Finance sub sector (8775) and has a RIC code of LCG.L. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange