British multinational electronic trading firm IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG) has today issued a trading update, detailing its results for the third quarter of the financial year, which in the case of IG Group represnets the three months to 28 February 2015. The trends and figures highlighted below refer to this period and the corresponding period last year.
IG Group has stated, along with the figures, that clients were presented with a range of trading opportunities throughout the period. The company notes that an unseasonably strong December was followed by good levels of financial market and client activity in January, before markets quietened a little from the middle of February. As was reported at the time, financial performance in the quarter was negatively impacted by the sudden movement in the value of the Swiss franc on 15 January 2015; this reduced revenue by £11.8 million to £91.8 million, 5.1% behind the same period last year (2014: £96.7 million).
Excluding this, on an underlying basis, revenue was up by 7.1% to £103.6 million. The sudden Swiss franc movement also resulted in client debts of £18.4 million, of which the majority are expected to be provided for. Although half of the debtor accounts have now been settled, this relates to only a small proportion of the original £18.4 million; the majority of remaining debtors may not be in a financial position to clear their debt in full.
As was anticipated in LeapRate’s report of the firm’s first half results which depicted an 8% increase in revenue, overall profit in the third quarter was affected by the Swiss Franc volatility which occurred on January 15, however the firm has made considerable forays into new arenas including its innovative retail stockbroking platform which includes corporate stock and ISAs as asset classes, therefore, at a time of extreme FX market volatility, has to be heralded as a very progressive move indeed.
For the official announcement from IG Group, click here.