Online trading company Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) today issued a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2022.

The Group says its financial performance during FY 2022 was in line with market expectations, following several upgrades to market expectations related to Plus500’s financial performance during the year.

This performance was achieved despite lower levels of activity across financial markets towards the end of the year, which were affected as expected by the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and consistent with previous World Cup tournaments.

FY 2022 Group revenue grew to approximately $832m (FY 2021: $718.7m), supported by a strong level of Customer Income, a key measure of the Group’s underlying performance, of approximately $639m during the year (FY 2021: $702.8m). Customer Trading Performance for FY 2022 was approximately $193m (FY 2021: $15.9m), with the Company continuing to expect that its contribution will be broadly neutral over time.

This strong revenue performance, together with the Group’s efficient and flexible cost base, contributed to strong growth in EBITDA to approximately $454m during the year (FY 2021: $387.1m). Basic earnings per share for FY 2022 is expected to be approximately $3.8 (FY 2021: $3.06).

The Group’s base of Active Customers during FY 2022 was at approximately 280,000 (FY 2021: 407,374), including a substantial amount of higher value, long term customers. Approximately 106,000 New Customers were on-boarded during the year (FY 2021: 196,336).

Plus500 made continued progress against its strategic roadmap in FY 2022, further driving diversification of the Group’s revenue streams, geographic footprint and business model.

In the substantial US futures market, the Group is targeting several significant growth opportunities and, to this end, made excellent progress in FY 2022. This progress was supported by the Group’s new sponsorship partnership with the NBA Chicago Bulls, announced during the year, which will drive brand awareness for Plus500 in the attractive US market.

In Q3 2022, Plus500 launched TradeSniper, an intuitive proprietary futures trading platform specifically tailored for the sizeable US retail trading market.

The Company’s shareholder returns policy continues to be to return at least 50% of net profits to shareholders through share buyback programmes and dividends, on a half yearly basis. The Board will also consider executing special share buybacks, or other distributions, on a half yearly basis.

During FY 2022, the Company repurchased 6,943,359 of its shares for a total consideration of $138.8m.

Since its first share buyback programme commenced in 2017, the Company has repurchased approximately 21.8m shares at a cost of approximately $350m, emphasising a clear validation of the Board’s confidence in the Group’s business model and future prospects.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“2022 was another excellent year for Plus500, providing further clear evidence of our continued successful execution against our strategic roadmap and key operational objectives. The Group’s strategic, operational and financial traction continues to be primarily driven by the power of our market-leading proprietary technology and our on-going ability to attract and retain higher value customers over the long term.

“We continue to diversify and develop our business as a global multi-asset fintech group, supported by on-going growth investments in a number of areas, ensuring Plus500 remains well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long-term.”