Plus500 (PLUS) maintained its fast-growth credentials at the half-year stage. Indeed, the group - which offers an online contracts-for-difference retail trading platform - beat Liberum's already lofty earnings estimate for the second quarter by 11 per cent and that was after the broker hiked its earnings forecast by 20 per cent in April.
Such a robust performance is all the more impressive given that financial markets were subdued in the first half. Plus500 performs best when market volatility is high, as that drives trading activity. Or, as chief executive Gal Haber puts it, "customers trade more when one of their favourite companies is in the news".
Average revenue per user nevertheless climbed 20 per cent above the rolling 12-month average, helped by better-targeted online marketing. The addition of over 200 more tradable instruments also helped increase activity on the platform, as did the company's raised profile following its flotation in July last year.
For now, Liberum has left its full-year forecasts unchanged but notes there that there's “upside risk if market volatility increases, potentially due to quantitative easing winding down or rising geopolitical tensions”. It expects EPS of 74¢ for the full-year (from 44.1¢ in 2013) and a 45.1¢ dividend, rising to EPS of 80.5¢ in 2015.
PLUS500 (PLUS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 521p | MARKET VALUE: | £599m | |
| TOUCH: | 520-522p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 707p | LOW: 122p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.4% | PE RATIO: | 11 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 77¢ | NET CASH: | $115m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 44.7 | 20.5 | 15 | 7.0 |
| 2014 | 106 | 73.1 | 47 | 23.5 |
| % change | +137 | +257 | +213 | +236 |
Ex-div: 20 Aug Payment: 19 Sep £1=$1.69 | ||||
