UK online brokerage, IG Group Holdings released its annual financial report for 2020. Financial market volatility has been elevated during the fourth quarter due to the pandemic and the broker has continued to see high levels of client trading activity.
Highlights from the report include:
Revenue for 2020 reached £649.2 million, 36.1% up from £476.9 million in 2019.
Profit before tax for 2020 was £295.9 million with 52.3% growth compared to £194.3 million in 2019.
Net own funds generated from operations reached £287.9 million, jumping 80.3% compared to £159.7 million in the previous year.
Basic earnings per share were 65.3p, compared to 43.1p last year.
When I look back at the repositioning of IG that has taken place over the last 12 months, it’s been an incredible period of both positive progress and continued strategic development. IG is now better placed than ever for the opportunities in front of us. We’ve learned some valuable lessons while making significant changes to the top team, and have and will continue to enhance our governance. We’ve also worked hard to build trust with our key stakeholders – vital steps that will make us stronger as a Board and stronger as a company.
We’ve enjoyed fantastic performance over the last four months of the financial year in particular, and demand from our clients has never been greater. High levels of market volatility gave existing and new clients unprecedented opportunities to trade our products, driving revenue generation and, importantly, growing our high-quality client base for the future. Looking at the financial year as a whole, we made significant and critical progress against the new strategy we outlined in May of last year.
June Felix, Chief Executive Officer of IG Groip, said:
June Felix
I’m proud of the progress we’ve made since our strategy launch in May last year. The solid foundations and underlying growth that we established in Q1 to Q3, in combination with the high market volatility in Q4, resulted in a record-breaking performance for the 2020 financial year. While we recognize that this period has been exceptional because of the impact of Covid-19 on our business, the underlying execution of our strategy shows that our focus on achieving sustainable growth and attractive shareholder returns remains firmly on track.
Covid-19 triggered extraordinary trading volumes during months of unprecedented market volatility. We handled a sustained surge in trading flows and onboarded a large number of new clients – drawn to us by the investment we’ve made in our platform and our reputation for delivering the best service in testing circumstances. I commend all of our people for their unwavering resilience, professionalism and commitment to serving our clients across this challenging period.
Earlier in July, the broker announced the appointment of Rakesh Bhasin as a non-executive director and a member of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) Committee of the Board. As part of the Group’s commitment to ESG, the company named its first ESG manager, Ben Hemington. At the newly created position, Hemington will lead the development of the business’s ESG agenda like managing the company’s environmental impact, ESG programmes and initiatives.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
