Trading services firm CMC Markets saw shares rise on Thursday, despite subdued client activity impacting on profits.
Net operating income fell 5 percent, with profit before tax falling 9 percent to 48.5 million. Earnings per share fell 9 percent to 13.7 pence after weak income from commission as clients traded less often in quieter markets.
In a statement, the company said it had maintained a strong balance sheet with regulatory total capital ratio of 30 percent and had its own funds of £183.4 million. Its client base grew by 5 percent to 60,082, after making significant progress on all five strategic initiatives, including signing the largest transaction in CMC’s history with ANZ Bank in Australia.
CMC Markets proposed a final ordinary dividend of 5.95 pence, maintaining prior full year ordinary dividend of 8.93p.
Peter Cruddas, Chief Executive Officer of CMC Markets commented:
“Our first full year as a listed company has been one of progress as we have worked hard to position the Group for future growth. It is disappointing that reduced client activity impacted revenue performance for much of the year, but I am pleased that the strength of our platform, team and service proposition has continued to attract new, high quality clients and our existing clients are putting more money to work with us.
“We believe we are well positioned to benefit from market share gains in the medium to long term, with our ability to adapt our leading proprietary technology and focus on client service and regulatory compliance supported by our financial strength.”
Shares in CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) rose in early trading on Thursday, currently up 5.48 percent (1044GMT).