Global investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) has made filings to the London Stock Exchange indicating that it has increased its stake in retail Forex and CFD broker Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) to 9.0%, up from 7.5% previously.
JPMorgan now holds directly 10,330,061 Plus500 shares, worth £67.8 million (USD $96 million).
Plus500 shares have been on a tear ever since its planned acquisition by the parent of rival broker Markets.com, online gaming giant Playtech PLC (LON:PTEC), was called off late last year when Playtech was unable to get regulatory approval for the deal. Plus500 shares had been hovering around the £4-per-share acquisition price for a number of months, but since the Playtech deal was canceled they’ve steadily risen more than 50%, sitting now at £6.56.
Since year-end Plus500 reported fairly healthy Q4 results with quarterly revenues at $67.7 million, a new CEO and CFO, resumed onboarding customers to its UK subsidiary, and a respected industry research survey confirmed its strong position in the UK CFD trading sector. Investors seem to be cheering the changes and results.
Plus500 share price, past 3 months. Source: Google Finance.
To see the JPMorgan filing to the London Stock Exchange re its Plus500 stake click here.