Record year with strong revenue growth due to increase in New Customers and Active Customers
Net profit ahead of expectations:
o EBITDA in line with market expectations following a strong recovery in margins in H2
o Q4 EBITDA margin of 64% reflects the benefit of strong customer acquisition earlier in the year and more targeted advertising expenditure in Q4, yielding stable FY margins
Another year of significant dividend payments including a special dividend:
o Total dividend of $101.7 million, consists of interim dividend of $26.7 million, final dividend of $43.6 million and a special dividend of $31.4 million, representing a total pay-out of 87% of net profit for the year
Operating highlights:
Another record year of strong customer growth in excess of expectations and the industry average, reflecting effective marketing and robust business model:
o Active Customers increased 14% to 155,956 (FY 2015: 136,540)
o New Customers increased 23% to 104,432(FY 2015: 84,858)
Continue to build international presence and diversify revenues through new licences in New Zealand and Israel
Maintained leadership positions:
o Second largest CFD provider in the UK5
o Leadership in technology and product innovation:
- a true omni-channel trading experience allowing access to information and trading across PC, web, tablet, mobile or wearable platforms in a device-agnostic manner
- a majority of revenues and signups come from mobile devices reflecting speed of innovation compared to competitors (over 70% of 2016 revenues andsignups originated from mobile devices)
Current trading and outlook:
Entering 2017 there has been a continued increase in New Customers
Continue to achieve good results from online marketing initiatives and sponsorships
Expect to broaden footprint and continue to diversify revenues including adding further new licences
Still assessing likely impact of regulatory changes but highly flexible business model expected to partially mitigate any impact
