UK online trading services provider London Capital Group Holdings plc (LON:LCG) has earlier today published its audited financial metrics for the year to December 31, 2015, with numbers in line with forecasts.
The company has been undergoing restructuring… As LeapRate has exclusively reported, London Capital Group commenced 2016 with a soft launch of its rebrand to just ‘LCG’ – its ticker symbol on the LSE. The rebrand includes a new website under the URL www.lcg.com, a new trading platform LCG Trader, and a new logo.
The business has gone through a phase of consolidation in 2015. This, however, has led to a lower level of trading revenue during the year as LCG limited its promotional activities in order to focus on the restructuring of the business.
London Capital Group confirmed today that the restructuring is now complete and that the company is positioned to return to a period of sustained growth.
FY 2015 revenues from continued operations fell by 32% year on year to £15.5 million.
The Group’s main business activity, UK financial spread betting and contracts for difference, saw divisional revenue decline by 21% to £15.3 million from £19.4 million in 2014 as a result of management’s decision to limit active promotional activity whilst the business focused on its restructuring activities.
New client acquisition fell from 5,615 in 2014 to 3,539 in 2015, down 37%.
Funds on deposit increased by 11% to £23.8 million (2014: £21.4 million) and average daily trading volumes increased by 48% to 29,581 (2014: 19,994).
The activities of the institutional foreign exchange business were reduced during the year whilst the Group focused its efforts on the organisational restructure and as a result, divisional revenue fell 94% to £0.2 million (2014: £3.2 million).
Adjusted loss before tax from continuing operations amounted to £13.9 million (2014 restated: profit £1.2 million).
Statutory loss before tax from continuing operations amounted to £14.5 million (2014 restated: £7.7 million)
Statutory loss after tax from continuing operations amounted to £14.9 million (2014 restated: £7.8 million).
Charles-Henri Sabet, Chief Executive Officer said:
“The Group starts the new financial year transformed. We have been successful in the integration of our new technology and are in the process of migrating our client base which we expect to be completed by the end of May.
This “brand new” LCG is centered on a new cutting-edge online trading platform and an enhanced marketing programme. We are already beginning to see the benefits and have made a strong start to 2016. I believe that all the elements are now in place for the Group to return to sustained growth.”
- Outlook
“As previously mentioned, the building blocks are in place for the business to return to growth and following the official launch of LCG Trader, the Group is ideally positioned to offer the right trading solutions to its clients at a time when it is anticipated that markets will be experiencing higher levels of volatility arising from the Brexit debate and referendum in the United Kingdom. Also, as referred to in our trading statement released on 27 January 2016, the Group will be seeking to increase its level of regulatory capital in the short term in order to take proper advantage of its new platform and to support the future growth of the business.
We will continue to invest in, and to develop, our people, products and services, to provide our clients with the service they expect in order to ensure that LCG is their provider of choice for their trading needs.”
For the full announcement from LCG, click here.