Plus500 Regulatory News (PLUS)

10 January 2022

Plus500 Ltd.

("Plus500", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

Year End Trading Update

Outstanding operational and financial performance throughout 2021

Plus500, a global multi-asset fintech group operating technology-based trading platforms, today issues the following trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2021.

Operational performance

The Group delivered an outstanding operational and financial performance throughout FY 2021, ahead of market expectations[1].

FY 2021 revenue was approximately $718m (Q4 2021: approximately $160m), supported by Customer Income[2], a key underlying growth metric for the Group, of approximately $702m (Q4 2021: approximately $166m). This exceptional Customer Income performance was driven by a consistently high level of customer trading activity throughout the year. Customer Trading Performance[3] for FY 2021 was approximately $16m (Q4 2021: approximately $(6m)), with the Company continuing to expect that the contribution from Customer Trading Performance will be broadly neutral over time. 

This revenue performance, in conjunction with the Group's lean and flexible cost base, ensured a strong level of EBITDA[4] and basic earnings per share for the year, which were ahead of market expectations1. EBITDA is expected to be approximately $387m for the year (Q4 2021: $71m) and basic earnings per share for FY 2021 is expected to be approximately $3.10.

The Group's base of Active Customers[5] during FY 2021 remained well ahead of pre-pandemic levels, at approximately 406,000 (Q4 2021: approximately 171,000), with the number of New Customers[6] on-boarded reaching approximately 196,150 (Q4 2021: approximately 33,000). This development of the Group's customer base was driven by continued significant investment in its marketing technology.

Strategic Progress and Outlook

Plus500 made excellent progress during FY 2021 on its strategic roadmap to develop its position as a global multi-asset fintech group, through organic investment and bolt-on acquisitions, which support the diversification of its revenue streams, product range and geographic footprint. The Group will continue to invest in future growth, through further organic investment and by actively targeting additional acquisitions.

The strategic progress made in FY 2021 was primarily driven by on-going investment in Plus500's market-leading proprietary CFD technology platform and its US acquisitions of Cunningham Commodities LLC., a regulated Futures Commission Merchant, and Cunningham Trading Systems LLC., a technology trading platform provider, which established the Group's position in the futures and options on futures markets in the US. In addition, the Group successfully launched an organically-developed share dealing platform, 'Plus500 Invest', which will be rolled out on more platforms and in additional target markets in the upcoming months.

The Company continued to invest in technology innovation and product development, highlighted by the Company's on-going recruitment of engineers, programmers, web designers and product managers during the year at the Company's R&D centres in Haifa and Tel-Aviv, Israel. The Company will continue to significantly invest and scale its R&D capabilities to support existing and future technology innovation and product development, in line with its strategic roadmap.

The Company made further progress in improving its approach to social responsibility and governance matters during FY 2021, with the appointment of several new Board members, including Professor Jacob A. Frenkel as the Company's new Chairman. These appointments helped to expand the range of the Board's expertise and breadth of experience and to further enhance and diversify the Company's governance credentials.

As a result of the significant operational and financial momentum achieved in recent years, supported by the Company's investment in developing Plus500's position as a global multi-asset fintech group during FY 2021, the Board continues to expect that Plus500 will deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long term.

Shareholder returns

Since the announcement of a new share buyback programme of $12.6m on 29 October 2021, the Company has repurchased 617,679 of its shares for a total consideration of $10.8m (as at market close on Friday 7 January 2022). Following the completion of this share buyback programme and the conclusion of the current closed period, a new programme will be considered by the Board.

Since its initial share buyback programme commenced in 2017, the Company has acquired approximately 14.9m shares at a cost of more than $211m.

This represents a clear validation of the Board's confidence in the Group's business model and future prospects. In addition, it highlights on-going evidence of the Board's diversified approach regarding capital returns to shareholders, which also incorporates dividend payments.

Notice of Results

The Company will publish its preliminary results for FY 2021 on 15 February 2022.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are pleased to have delivered another strong year of financial performance, as well as making significant progress with our strategic and operational plans to strengthen our position as a leading global multi-asset fintech group. With the Group having further strengthened its positioning during 2021, the Board remains confident about the future for Plus500 and continues to expect that the Group will deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long term."

About Plus500

Plus500 is a global multi-asset fintech group operating technology-based trading platforms. Plus500 offers customers a range of trading products, including Contracts for Difference ("CFDs") and share dealing, as well as futures and options on futures in the US.

The Group retains operating licenses and is regulated in the United Kingdom, Australia, Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and the Seychelles and through its CFDs product portfolio, offers more than 2,500 different underlying global financial instruments, comprising equities, indices, commodities, options, ETFs, foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies. Customers of the Group can trade CFDs in more than 50 countries and in 30 languages. Plus500 does not permit customers located in the US to trade CFDs.

In 2021, the Company acquired Cunningham Commodities LLC, a Futures Commission Merchant, and Cunningham Trading Systems LLC, a technology trading platform provider, both of which operate in the futures and options on futures market in the US, enabling Plus500 immediate access to that sizable and growing market. Also in 2021, the Company launched a new share dealing platform, 'Plus500 Invest', across a number of product offerings, including a wide range of financial instruments comprising of the world's most popular equities and ETFs, listed on major exchanges worldwide.

Plus500 does not utilise cold calling techniques and does not offer binary options. Plus500's trading platforms are accessible from multiple operating systems (Windows, iOS and Android) and web browsers. Customer care is and has always been integral to Plus500, as such, customers cannot be subject to negative balances. A free demo account is available on an unlimited basis for CFD platform users and sophisticated risk management tools are provided free of charge to manage leveraged exposure, and stop losses to help customers protect profits, while limiting capital losses.

Plus500 shares have a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PLUS) and are a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. www.plus500.com

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. 

Forward looking statements

This announcement contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this announcement may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the Company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The Company does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information reported by the press or other media, nor the fairness or appropriateness of any forecasts, views or opinions express by the press or other media regarding the Group. The Company makes no representation as to the appropriateness, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any such information or publication.

Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "believe", "targets", "expects", "aim", "anticipate", "projects", "would", "could", "envisage", "estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will" or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. The forward-looking statements in this announcement are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, those described in the risk factors. These forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of such entity and the environment in which each will operate in the future. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributed to the Company or any persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement above. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this announcement. Except as required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, neither the Company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.