CMC Markets PLC (LSE:CMCX) said customers may not be trading as frenetically as they were during lockdown but its core underlying business is trending well above pre-pandemic levels.
The online trading platform operator reported net operating income in the six months to the end of September of £126.7mln. This was down 45% on the same period of 2020 (£230.9mln) but up 24% on the corresponding period of 2019 (£102.3mln).
Leveraged net trading revenue halved to £101mln but was up 19% on two years earlier while non-leveraged net trading revenues dipped 8% to £24.2mln, but up two-thirds on 2019.
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The number of active customers in the leveraged side of the business fell 9% to 53,834 from 59,082 a year earlier but was up 29% on a two-year comparison basis while the revenue per active client reduced to £1,877 from £3,392 in the first half of fiscal 2020/21.
Total client money (i.e. assets under management, or AUM) in the leveraged business stood at £557 million, which is a new period-end high.
Active clients in the non-leveraged side of the business rose 10% to 185,847 from 168,270 a year ago.
Profit before tax fell to £36.0mln from £141.1mln a year ago but was up 20% on the £30.1mln earned in the same period of pre-pandemic 2019.
An interim dividend of 3.5p has been declared, down from 9.2p a year ago. The group expects to pay a full-year dividend that is equivalent to 50% of its profit after tax.
“I'm very pleased to see the business is operating well above pre-pandemic levels across all our business lines. This is testament to the resilience and quality of our platform and offering,” said Lord Cruddas, the chief executive officer of CMC.
“Our non-leveraged business continues to offer the greatest growth potential and now represents approximately 50% of our trading revenue in Australia and nearly 20% of group net operating income,” Cruddas said.
“We are on a fast track to diversification, using our existing platform technology to win B2B [business-to-business] and B2C [business-to-consumer] non-leveraged business. This will be further boosted with the launch of our new UK investment platform planned in the early part of the next financial year, which will offer both B2C and B2B potential,” Cruddas revealed.