Among its UK-listed peers, Plus500 (PLUS) seems the most vulnerable to the regulatory clampdown on the marketing and selling of contracts for difference (CFD) to retail investors. True to form, customer churn was high during 2017, although it did slow during the second half. Nevertheless, the spread-betting specialist more than doubled new customer numbers to almost 247,000 – that’s against an active customer total of 317,175.
While that boosted revenue, taking on a particularly high number of new customers during the fourth quarter meant average income per customer fell by around a third. But the group did benefit from increased interest in products allowing customers to speculate on the volatility of multiple crypto-currencies, which helped lower the average customer acquisition cost by 60 per cent to $474 (£337). These products accounted for less than 15 per cent of group sales, but that may be just as well given ESMA’s review on imposing stricter leverage limits on crypto-currency CFDs.
Analysts at house broker Liberum expect adjusted pre-tax profits of $306m during the year to December 2018, giving EPS of 209.3ȼ (from $253m and 174.5ȼ in 2017).
| PLUS500 (PLUS) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 1,175p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.34bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,172-1,175p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,324p | LOW: 403p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 10.3% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 198p | NET CASH: | £242m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
| 2013 | 115 | 67 | 47 | 35.73 |
| 2014 | 229 | 138 | 89 | 80.08 |
| 2015 | 276 | 128 | 84 | 84.05 |
| 2016 | 328 | 152 | 102 | 88.52 |
| 2017 | 437 | 253 | 175 | 168.67 |
| % change | +33 | +66 | +72 | +91 |
| Ex-div: | 22 Feb | |||
| Payment: | 23 Jul | |||
| *Includes special dividends of 27.29ȼ in 2015 and 63.5ȼ in 2017 £1=$1.407 | ||||
