While the rest of the equity market was soaring in the wake of the Fed’s Wednesday rate hike, shares of Global Brokerage Inc (NASDAQ:GLBR) – recently renamed from FXCM Inc – dropped another 15% to close at $1.75 per share, its lowest closing price ever.
Global Brokerage Inc owns 50.1% of the operating company FXCM Group LLC, a retail forex brokerage, with the other 49.9% owned by Leucadia National Corp (NYSE:LUK). Leucadia acquired the direct stake in FXCM Group last fall, as part of a restructuring of its loan to the company.
FXCM (oops, we meant GLBR!) shares have been in near freefall since the company announced last month that it has been barred from the US forex market, leading to the sale of FXCM’s US clients to rival Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP), and then the resignation from the operating company (and the planned departure from the parent company) of longtime FXCM CEO Drew Niv.
The company reported a fairly steep decline in trading volumes for February, noting that FXCM’s latest round of troubles happened in early February.
It seems as though there are more sellers than buyers for the stock, leading to the continued price declines even at these low prices. And, that while the operating company keeps chugging along, not much faith is being placed in the ability of GLBR shareholders to ever see some of that value, once the operating company’s loan to Leucadia is paid off, and the company’s other debt is dealt with as well.
GLBR shares, past month. Source: CNBC.