Interdealer broker ICAP released its Half Year report today (to September 30, as ICAP has a March 31 fiscal year end), detailing a 15% drop in Revenues to £620 million (about $995 million) versus the same period last year. Within its Electronic Markets group, subdued trading volumes during most of the first half of the year led to a 17% drop in Revenues at EBS to £56 million ($90 million) during 1H-2014.
The good news? It looks like the second half of the year has gotten off to a great start. And EBS Direct, the disclosed liquidity service which was launched in late 2013, did indeed grow over the period. By October 2014, ADVs on EBS Direct increased to $19 billion (versus just $11 billion in June) and subsequently reached a single day record of $28 billion in October. EBS Direct is expected to remain in investment phase over the next 12 months as additional functionality and services are added to the platform including aggregation, trade execution enhancements and the launch of FX Forwards (FX Swaps and Outright Forwards).
Michael Spencer, ICAP CEO, said:
Our first half results reflect a market environment that has remained relatively fragile; despite this, we are cautiously optimistic that we have started to see some welcome signs of activity and more positive sentiment returning in recent weeks. Having experienced multi-year lows over the past year, FX volatility recovered in September and continued into October with EBS recording its highest trading day in three years on 31 October with traded spot volume of $250 billion.
Revenues from EBS’s Electronic Markets group:
To read the complete First Half 2014 report from ICAP click here.