We knew it was going to be a good report, but the numbers still seem amazing.

CFDs broker Plus500 (LON:PLUS) announced its results for the first six months of 2020 this morning, indicating record profits of $320 million, on what we already knew were record Revenues of $564 million for Plus500.

Plus500 said it saw outstanding performance in H1 2020 across all metrics, resulting in significant shareholder returns:

Total revenue of $564.2 million and EBITDA of $361.8 million during H1 2020, representing year-on-year growth of 281% and 452% respectively, driven by heightened volatility in unprecedented market conditions and the high quality and consistent performance of Plus500’s technology platform.

Record levels of Customer Income of $556.9 million, up 218% on H1 2019, highlighting strong underlying performance, with more than 47 million customer trades during the period (H1 2019: 17.5 million customer trades), with Customer Trading Performance contributing just 1% of total revenue.

Unprecedented levels of New Customers and Active Customers, with client deposits of $1.65 billion during the first half of 2020 (H1 2019: $467.1 million) representing growth on H1 2019 of 254%, and relatively low levels of customer churn.

Financial Highlights:

Operational Highlights:

Attractive shareholder returns continue in line with Company’s shareholder returns policy, 60% of H1 2020 Net Profit to be distributed to shareholders, through dividends and share buybacks with the Board also considering paying special dividends at each year end.

An interim dividend of $101.0 million was declared today, representing $0.9531 per share, up 249% on interim dividend in prior year. Share buyback programmes amounted to $38.9 million completed during H1 2020; and, a new share buyback programme of $67.3 million was announced today.

Plus500 said it remains the leading CFD provider in the UK, Germany and Spain, according to Investment Trend reports.

The company said that Plus500’s proprietary technology was formally recognised as a “Preferred Technological Enterprise” in Israel following an extensive process of more than three years. Plus500 is one of the first companies to receive this accreditation under the new tax regime by the Israeli Innovation Authority and Israeli Tax Authority. The immediate and substantial benefit to Plus500 Ltd and its shareholders will be a reduced Corporation Tax rate of 12% (from the full tax rate of 23%), estimated to deliver repayments and cash savings of over $100 million, with a c.$47 million rebate already received in July 2020. This will remain in force until the end of the financial year 2021 and has the potential to be extended after that.

David Zruia, Plus500 CEO commented:

“Plus500 delivered an outstanding performance during the first half of the year, driven by the strength and differentiation of our proprietary technology, which enabled our business and our customers to benefit from the unprecedented market volatility and event-driven market conditions experienced during the period.

“I would like to thank our people, who helped to deliver this performance by remaining fully committed to ensuring that we offered our customers a consistently high quality service in challenging circumstances.

“As well as our performance in the first half of 2020, driven by our continued delivery in customer acquisition and customer satisfaction, we have continued to invest in our technology, with a focus on driving its scale, efficiency and attractiveness for customers. This programme of continuous improvement and refinement ensures we will continue to deliver sustainable long term growth.”

“Overall, the Board remains very confident about the outlook for the business and our ability to deliver sustainable growth in revenue, with continued strong cash generation, over the medium to long term.”

Plus500’s full 1H-2020 financial report can be seen here.