Plus500 Regulatory News (PLUS)

10 January 2023

Plus500 Ltd.

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

Year End Trading Update

Excellent operational and financial performance throughout 2022

Plus500, a global multi-asset fintech group operating proprietary technology-based trading platforms, today issues the following trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2022.

Operational performance and financial position

The Group delivered an excellent operational and financial performance during FY 2022, in line with market expectations[1], following several upgrades to market expectations related to Plus500's financial performance during the year. This performance was achieved despite lower levels of activity across financial markets towards the end of the year, which were affected as expected by the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and consistent with previous World Cup tournaments. Plus500's strong performance during the year was fundamentally driven by the Group's proven business model, its market-leading proprietary technology and its on-going ability to attract and retain higher value, long term customers.

FY 2022 Group revenue grew to approximately $832m (FY 2021: $718.7m), supported by a strong level of Customer Income[2], a key measure of the Group's underlying performance, of approximately $639m during the year (FY 2021: $702.8m). Customer Trading Performance[3] for FY 2022 was approximately $193m (FY 2021: $15.9m), with the Company continuing to expect that its contribution will be broadly neutral over time.

This strong revenue performance, together with the Group's efficient and flexible cost base, contributed to strong growth in EBITDA to approximately $454m during the year (FY 2021: $387.1m). Basic earnings per share for FY 2022 is expected to be approximately $3.8 (FY 2021: $3.06).

The Group's base of Active Customers[4] during FY 2022 remained robust, at approximately 280,000 (FY 2021: 407,374), including a substantial amount of higher value, long term customers. Approximately 106,000 New Customers[5] were on-boarded during the year (FY 2021: 196,336), supported by Plus500's on-going investments in product development and customer engagement initiatives.

Against a challenging macro-economic environment, Plus500's balance sheet remains extremely robust, with the Group continuing to hold no debt or loans and with cash balances at 31 December 2022 increasing to more than $900m (31 December 2021: $749.5m).

Strategic Progress and Outlook

Plus500 made continued progress against its strategic roadmap in FY 2022, further driving diversification of the Group's revenue streams, geographic footprint and business model.

In the substantial US futures market, the Group is targeting several significant growth opportunities and, to this end, made excellent progress in FY 2022. This progress was supported by the Group's new sponsorship partnership with the NBA Chicago Bulls, announced during the year, which will drive brand awareness for Plus500 in the attractive US market.

In Q3 2022, Plus500 launched TradeSniper, an intuitive proprietary futures trading platform specifically tailored for the sizeable US retail trading market.

The Group also developed a strategic position as a market infrastructure provider during the year, with a view to delivering brokerage-execution and clearing services for institutional clients. This strategic position in the institutional market is supported by the Group's robust financial position, its technological capabilities and its position as a full clearing member of the CME Group exchanges and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX(, which were achieved during the year.

Plus500 further deployed its strategic roadmap in FY 2022, and executed against its global expansion plans, by completing the acquisition of a regulated entity in Japan, for which integration plans are progressing well. Over time, this will enable the Group to access the substantial Japanese trading market, where Plus500 will apply its considerable technological capabilities and financial strength to build its market position.

The Company continues to invest in product development to further deepen customer engagement, including through continued recruitment at the Company's R&D centres in Israel. Plus500 is proud to now have a latent base of over 24 million customers registered on its trading platforms since inception, which may be accessible for the Group's new retention technologies and new products.

Plus500 will continue to assess and pursue a range of additional growth opportunities, through organic investments and by actively targeting acquisitions, to build its strategic position as a global multi-asset fintech group.

The Board remains confident about the Group's prospects, particularly as a result of the significant operational progress and financial momentum achieved by Plus500 over recent years. The Board continues to expect that Plus500 will deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long term.

Shareholder Returns

The Company's shareholder returns policy continues to be to return at least 50% of net profits to shareholders through share buyback programmes and dividends, on a half yearly basis. The Board will also consider executing special share buybacks, or other distributions, on a half yearly basis.

During FY 2022, the Company repurchased 6,943,359 of its shares for a total consideration of $138.8m.

Since its first share buyback programme commenced in 2017, the Company has repurchased approximately 21.8m shares at a cost of approximately $350m, emphasising a clear validation of the Board's confidence in the Group's business model and future prospects.

Notice of Results

The Company will publish its preliminary results for FY 2022 on 14 February 2023.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"2022 was another excellent year for Plus500, providing further clear evidence of our continued successful execution against our strategic roadmap and key operational objectives. The Group's strategic, operational and financial traction continues to be primarily driven by the power of our market-leading proprietary technology and our on-going ability to attract and retain higher value customers over the long term.

"We continue to diversify and develop our business as a global multi-asset fintech group, supported by on-going growth investments in a number of areas, ensuring Plus500 remains well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long-term."

For further details

About Plus500

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

The Group retains operating licences and is regulated in the United Kingdom, Australia, Cyprus, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, the Seychelles, the United States, Estonia and Japan and through its OTC 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 its OTC products in more than 50 countries and in 30 languages. Plus500 does not permit customers located in the US to trade its OTC products.

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, OTC customers cannot be subject to negative balances. A free demo account is available on an unlimited basis for OTC trading 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 Group'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", "project", "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 Management Framework section of the Company's most recent Annual Report. These forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the Group and the environment in which it is and 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.