London Capital Group Holdings Regulatory News (LCG)

07 July 2010

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 2010. LCG will announce its interim results on 17 August 2010.

Following on from the second half of 2009, volatility remained at a low level during the first quarter of 2010, but it picked up significantly during the second quarter which resulted in better than expected revenues for the six month period to the end of June. Profit before tax and share based payment expense is expected to be in the region of £4.0m, which is ahead of the same period last year. This profit figure is before a previously announced exceptional impairment of capitalised software costs of £3.2m. The Group remains debt free and ended the 6 month period with a strong cash position.

During the second quarter £1.8m became due from a professional client. No provision has been made as the Directors have been advised the amount is recoverable. 

The Group's KPI's continue to be robust with strong growth in client accounts, average daily trade volumes, and net revenue per active client. Total UK financial spread betting accounts are up 28.6% to 57,890 (2009: 45,000) average trades per day increased to 31,894 (2009: 26,208) and net revenue per active client increased 75% to £1,051 (2009: £599) for the half.

Simon Denham, CEO, commented "LCG has had a strong first half with very encouraging growth in overall revenue. We are also pleased to have launched two new platforms namely our Capital CFD platform and our LCG Metatrader platform targeting the international market. We look forward to the second half with anticipation for continued growth in our client base and to delivering solid second half results"

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.

London Capital Group Limited (LCG Ltd), a wholly owned trading subsidiary of LCGH plc, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Authority. Its core activity is the provision of spread betting products on the financial markets to retail clients under the trading names Capital Spreads and Prospreads.com. Its other divisions provide online foreign exchange trading services to institutional and intermediate clients and also institutional derivatives broking. LCG Ltd is one of the leading providers of white label financial spread trading platforms and its white label partners include TradeFair, Paddy Power, PartyGaming Plc, Saxo Bank, and TD Waterhouse.

LCG Ltd 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. Prospreads.com 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.