FX week in review: Plus500’s strong Q1, ETX Cyprus acquisition, Chris-Hossain Nelson
For the second week in a row it seems as though Forex Industry News was dominated by a spate of executive moves and hires, with all the action appearing exclusively at FNG. (And yes, as several of our readers have been pointing out to us lately, we are aware that many of our article titles are being copied elsewhere after first posting on FNG.)
What drove Plus500 to show much-improved results in Q1-2021?
Why were revenues at GMI-UK up 300% in Q1-2021, after a disappointing 2020?
Why did Guru Capital just close now on the acquisition of ETX Cyprus – six months after it acquired FCA-regulated ETX Capital?
Where did Chris-Hossain Nelson head after leaving GMI-UK?
Who did LMAX hire to lead an international growth drive?
Answers to these questions and lots more appeared first or exclusively this week at FNG. Some of the top FX industry news stories to appear this week on FNG included:
Plus500 registers growth in client numbers in Q1 2021. CFDs broker Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) today issued a trading update for the three months ended 31 March 2021. Group Revenue in Q1 2021 was $203.2 million, up from Q4 2020 ($91.9m) but markedly down from a year earlier (Q1 2020: $316.6m). Group EBITDA in Q1 2021 was $121.7 million. The result was much lower than a year earlier (Q1 2020: $231.6m) but better than in Q4 2020 ($19.9m). Customer Income remained robust at $221.5m in the quarter. The result was lower than in Q1 2020 ($233.5m). It was, however, better than in Q4 2020 ($200.6m), in line with Plus500’s earlier guidance. Plus500 achieved a record quarterly number of Active Customers of 269,743 during Q1 2021.
Guru Capital completes acquisition of ETX Cyprus. After successfully acquiring UK based, FCA regulated Monecor (London) Limited – which operates the ETX Capital brand in the UK – in October 2020, Swiss private equity firm Guru Capital has announced that it has now completed the acquisition of its sister company, Cyprus based Monecor (Europe) Ltd, after receiving approval from regulator CySEC. ETX Capital is one of the UK’s leading online CFD and spread betting companies, and as such, their target market has predominantly been the UK until now. With the change in ownership, the group said that its vision for ETX Capital is expansion, growth, and new markets. Their sights are apparently set on Europe and cementing the ETX brand throughout the region.
Exclusive: GMI UK sees Revenues up 300% in 2021 YTD after disappointing 2020. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that FCA regulated institutional FX broker Global Market Index Ltd, which operates under the brand GMI UK, has seen a significant pickup in activity during the first three months of 2021, after what appears to be a disappointing 2020. GMI UK’s just-released 2020 financials (see below) indicate that the company saw a 32% decline in 2020 Revenues, to £931,776, although after a loss in 2019 the company did turn a slight profit of £167,000 in 2020. However we understand from sources at the company that GMI UK has seen a near three-fold increase in activity so far in 2020, after adding a number of very large Asian institutional clients at the end of last year.
Among the top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week were:
❑ Exclusive: Chris Hossain-Nelson leaves GMI UK. Which then led to…
❑ Reported First at FNG: INFINOX hires 25-year FX veteran Chris Hossain-Nelson.
❑ Exclusive: Maria Pesce leaves Winklevoss’ Gemini for Public.com.
❑ Exclusive: Olivia Mottershead joins LMAX as International Relationship Manager.
❑ Exclusive: Blackbull Markets adds VantageFX alum Waleed Salah to head Arabic office.
❑ Exclusive: eToro hires Pawel Majtkowski as Poland market analyst.