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Plus500 Ltd on Monday said it expects full-year results to be ahead of expectations after ‘excellent’ financial, operational and strategic progress in the first-half. Plus500 shares were up 3.9% to 2,526.00 pence early Monday in London. In the six months that ended June 30, the London-based fintech group and trading platform operator said pretax profit rose 5.0% to $183.7 million from $174.9 million a year prior. Revenue climbed 8.1% to $398.2 million from $368.5 million a year earlier. Customer income rose 8.2% to $329.4 million from $304.3 million, driven by stronger customer acquisition and increased trading activity of existing customers during the period, the firm said. Plus500 flagged continued ‘excellent progress’ in the US market, with both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer businesses performing strongly. ‘The group delivered strong operational results, with an increase in new and active customer numbers year-on-year, enabled by its proprietary marketing and customer acquisition technologies,’ Plus500 said. ‘The group enhanced its operations in the strategically important and highly attractive US futures market and its US businesses continued to excel.’ Plus500 said it remains confident about performance for all of financial 2024 and beyond, driven by the strength of its position in growing end markets and its successful growth efforts in the US, Japan and UAE markets. ‘As a result, the board anticipates that Plus500’s revenue and [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] for the current financial year will be ahead of current market expectations,’ it said. Plus500 said current expectations for 2024 revenue are $697.8 million and Ebitda are $314.6 million, based on Bloomberg consensus forecasts. The firm said it was in a strong financial position with cash balances exceeding $1 billion for the first time. Reflecting this, and the strong financial performance, Plus500 declared an interim dividend of $0.4686 per share, up 14% from $0.4100 a year prior. It also declared a special dividend of $0.5314, up 66% from $0.3200 previously. In addition, Plus500 announced a $110.0 million share buyback, comprising an interim buyback programme of $35.4 million and a special buyback programme of $74.6 million. These will start following completion of the existing programme, which was announced back in February. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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