Plus500 has posted its interim results for the first half of 2021. It has shown a slight uptick from the second half of 2020, increasing to $346.2 million. However, this is still down from the record revenue brought in during the first half of 2020, which sat at $564.2 million. Although the revenue from the comparative period in the previous year is down significantly, the overall revenue is still ahead of the levels set before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The revenue increase from the previous half-year has also seen a rise in EBITDA. For the first half of 2021, Plus500 saw an EBITDA of $187.6 million; this is compared to $154.1 million in the second half of 2020. This is a significant decrease from the record EBITDA set in the first half of 2020, which brought in $361.8 million.
The number of active customers has grown compared to both halves of 2020. It is currently 333,940, up from the first half of 2020 which saw 328,409 and a larger recovery after the customer base fell in the second half of 2020 to 278,566.
The company is also expected to see revenue continue to grow into the second half of 2021. This is due to the acquisition of Cunningham Commodities LLC. By acquiring this company, Plus500 will have access to the US futures market for the first time. As this is an important financial market, the company hopes it will lead to increases in revenue.
The positive performance of Plus500 has also led to the company announcing that it intends to continue its share buyback policy. During the first half of 2021, it bought back $42.5 million in shares throughout the course of two programmes. It has set aside an initial $12.6 million for continued share buyback. On top of this, Plus500 has put aside $60 million for dividend payouts, which will work out at $0.59 per share.
