Online trading company Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) today issued a trading update for the three months ended 30 September 2021.

Revenue in Q3 2021 amounted to $211.4 million, well ahead of pre-pandemic levels. However, the result was lower than a year earlier (Q3 2020: $216.4m). The revenues were driven by the Customer Income, which was $156.9 million during the quarter (Q3 2020: $240.0m).

EBITDA were $128.6 million (Q3 2020: $134.2m), Q3 2019: $70.1m).

During the quarter, the Group on-boarded a total of 26,169 New Customers, (Q3 2020: 46,238, Q3 2019: 24,359) and the number of Active Customers was 166,310 (Q3 2020: 197,976, Q3 2019: 110,939).

Plus500’s customer profile continues to shift towards higher value customers, as evidenced by this strong ARPU performance. Consequently, and as anticipated, this continued investment drove AUAC up by 33% to $1,416 in Q3 2021 (Q3 2020: $1,066, Q3 2019: $921).

During the period, Plus500 made further progress in establishing its position as a global multi-asset fintech group, which will further diversify the Group’s revenue profile, broaden its product portfolio and widen its geographic footprint. The integration of Cunningham Commodities LLC, a regulated Futures Commission Merchant, and Cunningham Trading Systems LLC., a technology trading platform provider in the US, remains on track and the businesses are performing in line with expectations.

‘Plus500 Invest’, the Company’s new share dealing platform, is now operational in a number of countries in Europe, following its initial launch earlier this year.

The Company continues to invest in the development of new products, features and services, in driving innovation and in scaling its technology platform. To this end, in recent months since the Company’s announcement regarding its intention for increased investment in R&D, a range of highly skilled engineers, programmers, web designers and product managers have been recruited at the Company’s R&D centres in Haifa and Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Going forward, the Company is now making additional substantial investments to develop Plus500’s market position in the significantly growing US retail trading market in futures and options on futures and to support further launches of ‘Plus500 Invest’ in key strategic European countries over the coming quarters.

Given the performance delivered so far this year, the Board expects FY 2021 revenue and EBITDA to be ahead of current compiled analysts’ consensus forecasts. This is in line with previously issued forecast.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“Plus500 delivered another excellent performance in Q3 2021, maintaining the strong operational momentum achieved in previous periods. This has been primarily driven by the strength and agility of our technology and our ability to effectively respond rapidly to market developments, news events and customer requirements.

“We aim to access future growth through continued organic investment and targeted bolt-on acquisitions, as we continue to expand our CFD offering, launch new products and deepen engagement with our customers. Supported by our on-going success in accessing such growth opportunities, we look forward to delivering sustainable growth over the medium to long term.”