Plus500 Boosts Dividends and Buybacks as ARPU Soars

Summary:
• Plus500, the giant London-listed forex and CFD exchange, is doing well as demand for its services continues rising.

Plus500, the giant London-listed forex and CFD exchange, is doing well as demand for its services continues rising. As a result, the company’s share price has jumped to the highest level since 2018. It has also risen by 28% this year and by over 110% in the past five years.

Plus500 business is booming

Plus500 is a leading forex and CFD broker that is publicly traded in London that is valued at over 1.7 billion pounds. It has operations in key countries like the United States, Japan, Israel, and Singapore among others.

The company’s business is booming as demand for forex and CFD trading rise. Its trading income in the first half of the year rose to $511.4 million from the $346 million it generated in the same period n 2021. Its profit before income tax almost doubled as it rose from $188.7 million to over $312 million. 

This growth happened even as the number of active customers dropped. The company’s active users dropped from 333,940 in the first half of 2021 o 216,928. At the same time, Plus500’s new customers dropped from over 136k in 2021 to 57,275. 

As a result, the company’s revenue rose because of the significantly higher trading volume by the existing customers. The average revenue per user (ARPU) more than doubled from $1,037 to $2,357. In a statement, the company’s CEO said:

“The Company has delivered further elevated levels of returns to shareholders so far this year, with $170.4m in respect of H1 2022. The amount comprised of an interim dividend in the amount of $60.2m, a new share buyback program of $60.2m and a special buyback program of $50.0m announced in April 2022.”

Forex and CFD brokers doing well

Plus500 revenues and strong performance is further evidence that forex and CFD brokers are doing better than other brokers. 

Last week, we wrote that Exness, IG Group, and ATFX had delivered strong results in the first part of the year. Exness has averaged over $2 trillion in monthly volume in the past few months.

In contrast, companies providing regular investing products are struggling. Robinhood has seen its share price collapse in the past few months. The same is true with other companies like Interactive Brokers and Schwab.