Plus500 Ltd (LSE:PLUS) said there were lower levels of activity across financial markets towards the end of the year due to the World Cup in Qatar, but its financial performance was in line with expectations.
The online CFD and futures broker finished the year with US$900mln cash and said it will consider a special share buyback or dividend, on top of its shareholder returns policy of sharing at least 50% of net profits on a half-yearly basis.
Revenue for the 2022 calendar year came in at roughly US$832mln, up 16% on the year before, with underlying profits (EBITDA) climbing 17% to US$454mln and basic earnings per share 24% to US$3.80 after a share buyback.
Customer income declined 9% to US$639mln and customer trading performance jumped twelvefold to US$193mln.
The London- and Israel-based group made several incursions into the US futures market during the year, “targeting several significant growth opportunities”.
Helped by a new shirt sponsorship partnership with the Chicago Bulls basketball team, Plus500 launched the TradeSniper futures trading platform for the retail trading market.
Targeting potential institutional clients, the company developed a “strategic position” as a market infrastructure provider, with a view to delivering brokerage-execution and clearing services, after becoming a full clearing member of the CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) exchanges and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange during the year.