Plus500 (PLUS) suffered an 82 per cent drop in revenue during the first quarter as lower market volatility weighed on client trading appetite. Average revenue per user and active customer numbers were down by more than half on the same time the prior year.
The number of new customers acquired during the period was also a third of that a year earlier at 21,306, although up 10 per cent on the prior quarter. Elective professionals accounted for 49 per cent of revenue from the European Economic Area, while revenue generated outside that geographic area made up 54 per cent of the group’s total.
Management said it was “too early to draw conclusions about the full-year outcome”, but analysts downgraded their earnings forecasts for 2019. Brokerage Peel Hunt cut its adjusted pre-tax profit and EPS forecasts for the year by more than a third to $163m and 111ȼ, and downgraded its dividend forecast to 89ȼ a share.
In February management warned that revenue for 2019 would miss market expectations at the time, with tighter restrictions on the sale of leveraged products to retail investors having a more severe impact than initially anticipated.
