Plus500 reveals £140m in shareholder payouts as profits smash forecasts

Plus500 has revealed shareholder payouts worth $175m (£139m) in buybacks and dividends after annual profits beat expectations.

The FTSE 250-listed Israeli share trading platform posted a core profit of $340.5 million by 2023, up from $453.8 million a year earlier, but well above market expectations. 300 million dollars.

This came despite revenue for the year falling 13 per cent to £726.2 million due to softer trading volumes.

But the group has prepared new share buyback programs worth $100 million and dividends worth $75 million.

Boss David Zruia praised the strategic progress made last year, which saw the expansion of its futures business in the US, the launch of a new retail forex trading platform in Japan and Plus500’s portfolio of global regulatory licenses expanded to 13.

He added: ‘During the period, we achieved a record average deposit per active customer, reflecting our continued focus on higher value customers and the intuitive nature and reliability of our market-leading technology.

‘All of this strategic progress has led to our fiscal 2023 results being significantly above market expectations’

Plus500 operates a trading platform for financial products including shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), indices, commodities and currencies across 60 markets in the UK, Europe and Asia.

During the year, the company added a stock trading platform, a new business line offering futures and options, a new retail trading platform in Japan, and more global regulatory licenses.

In August, the firm reported that its profits plummet in the first half of 2023, marked by “calmer” trading volumesreflecting a normalization after the rise of online commerce during the pandemic and following the war between Russia and Ukraine.

After the commercial update, Plus500 shares they were down 1.53 per cent to £18.03 in Tuesday morning trading.