8 Jul 2009 11:18
08 July 2009
London Capital Group Holdings plc
Trading update
London Capital Group Holdings plc ("the Group" or "LCG"), the financial services and online spread betting company, gives the following trading update in respect of the first half of the current financial year ended 30 June 2009. LCG will announce its interim results on 18 August 2009.
As previously reported and outlined, we have experienced adverse trading conditions in the first half of 2009. While revenue from trading has increased, profits have been impacted by lower levels of interest income, and greater investment in new trading software and white labels. As a result of these factors we anticipate that profit before tax and share based payments will be approximately £3.75m, compared with £5.9m for the same period last year.
Our KPI's continue to be robust and we are experiencing strong organic growth in new client acquisitions, average daily trade volumes and client funds on deposit.
We have also recently acquired the assets of Chaucer Digital including Intellectual Property and key staff members. Chaucer Digital has been central to the development of our new proprietary trading platform software.
Cash generation has continued to be strong and the company has no bad debts during H1'09.
Although LCG's revenues have traditionally been stronger in the second half, predictability of earnings has become more difficult in the current range-bound market conditions. All the Company's divisions remain profitable and we are pleased to report that we have recently seen signs of improved performance.
Finally, it is the Board's current intention to pay an interim dividend of 2.5 pence per share which is the same as the dividend paid for the equivalent period last year. This reflects the strong underlying earnings and cash flows of the Group.
For further information, please contact:
London Capital Group Holdings plc Tel. 020 7456 7001
Frank Chapman, Chief Executive Officer
www.londoncapitalgroup.com
Smithfield Consultants Tel. 020 7360 4900
John Kiely
Notes to Editors:
London Capital Group Holdings plc (hereafter "LCGH plc" or "LCG" or "London Capital Group" or "the Group") is a rapidly growing financial services company offering online trading services. Its core activity is the provision of spread betting products on the financial markets to retail clients under the trading names Capital Spreads and FuturesBetting.com (FBc). Its other divisions provide online foreign exchange trading services to institutional and intermediate clients and also institutional derivatives broking.
London Capital Group Limited, a wholly owned trading subsidiary of LCGH plc, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Authority. It has a European passport and is a member of the London Stock Exchange. London Capital Group Limited also has access to international markets through its global clearing relationships. FBc is regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar.
LCGH plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. LCG is included in the General Financial sector (8770) and Speciality Finance sub sector (8775) and has a RIC code of LCG.L.