Plus500 Ltd (LSE:PLUS) promised shareholders $175 million (£139m) in extra share buybacks and dividends as it posted full-year results well ahead of forecasts and said it was confident about future prospects.
Returns from the online CFD and futures broker comprise a $100 million new share buyback and dividends of $75 million, on top of the $350 million doled out to investors in 2023.
Despite lower trading volumes in global financial markets and a lower number of new customer additions, the FTSE 250-listed group hailed a strong performance in its key metrics such as customer retention, average revenue per customer and customer deposits.
Revenues hit $726.2 million for the calendar year, which was down 13% on 2022, while underlying profits (EBITDA) contracted 25% to $340.5 million.
Chief executive David Zruia said the year saw further progress on all three strategic objectives it set out three years ago to become a global, multi-asset fintech group: "we expanded our US futures businesses, launched a new retail FX OTC trading platform in Japan and extended our portfolio of global regulatory licences to 13".
He also pointed to a record high average deposit per active customer, which he said reflected an ongoing focus on higher-value customers "and the intuitive nature and reliability of our market-leading technology".
For 2024, the board expects the group's performance to be in-line with current market expectations, where consensus forecasts are for revenue of $653.8 million and EBITDA of $287.5 million.
Zruia said this would be driven by "the strength of its market position, deepening relationship with customers and successful diversification efforts in the US, Japan and UAE markets".