The UK’s biggest spread-betting firm enjoyed a bumper December as punters reassured by a dovish Federal Reserve waded in to bet on shares going up, the company said today.
IG Group’s revenues for the three months to February 28 were 9% ahead of a year earlier at £96.7 million, helped by an “unseasonably strong” December.
The Fed emphasised interest rates would be held at record lows “well past” the time unemployment fell to 6.5%, pushing the S&P 500 to a record high and encouraging spread-betters to bet on rising indices.
In the UK, IG’s focus on its bigger-spending customers saw takings per client up 24%, more than offsetting an 11% fall in active customers to push overall UK revenues ahead 11%.
Shares in IG, which sponsors Harlequins rugby team, pictured, rose 14.5p to 644.5p. Citi analyst Hugo Mills said IG “showed strong progress ahead of consensus and our expectations”.
