Plus500 sees revenues rise before traders get distracted by Euro 2024

Plus500’s profits have risen despite the European Football Championship slowing financial activity in recent weeks.

The fintech company reported that its pre-event profit rose 6 percent year-over-year to $183.9 million in the first six months of 2023 and 11 percent to $81.3 million in the second quarter.

It also revealed that revenue rose 8 percent to $398.2 million during the first half and 14 percent to $182.6 million between April and June.

David Zruia, group chief executive, said Plus500 had made “excellent financial and operational progress” amid challenging market conditions.

Towards the latter part of both periods, the Israeli business noted that activity levels fell as expected due to Euro 2024, a trend seen during previous football tournaments.

However, the firm added 56,759 new customers from January to June, compared with 50,449 during the same period last year.

Panmure Liberum analysts commented: “The fact that the number of active customers continued to increase despite subdued market conditions during the period underlines the strength of the business.”

Plus500 expects its full-year results to be in line with market forecasts following its first-half performance.

Analysts predict the FTSE 250 group will post revenue of $697.8m and profit before loss of $314.6m this financial year.

Zruia told investors: ‘Plus500 remains well positioned to capitalise on both near-term market conditions and long-term growth trends in its end markets.

‘In the near term, our increasingly diversified offering and intuitive trading platforms will enable customers to access a wide variety of products, services and features across multiple markets.’

Plus500 specialises in the sale of Contracts for Difference (CFDs), an arrangement in which traders bet on the future price of a financial asset, such as a commodity or stock, without actually owning the asset in question.

Traders will make a profit if the market moves in their favor; the size of the profit will depend on the difference between the opening and closing prices of the trade.

The company is known for sponsoring major sports clubs such as the Chicago Bulls basketball team and European football teams Atalanta, Legia Warsaw and BSC Young Boys.

Plus500 Shares fell 4 per cent to £22.22 on Monday afternoon, but were still up around 35 per cent since the start of the year.