Forex and CFD broker Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) today issued a trading update for the third quarter of 2022 and nine months ended 30 September 2022.

Revenue during the first nine months of FY 2022 was $705.9m (YTD 2021: $557.6m) including $194.5m in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: $211.4m).

Customer Income, a key measure of the Group’s underlying performance, remained robust at $489.2m in the first nine months of FY 2022 (YTD 2021: $536.1m) including $149.4m in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: $156.9m).

Customer Trading Performance in the first nine months of FY 2022 stood at $216.7m (YTD 2021: $21.5m) including $45.1m in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: $54.5m). The Company continues to expect that the contribution from Customer Trading Performance will be broadly neutral over time.

Despite continued significant investments by the Group in various marketing initiatives during the period, EBITDA in the first nine months of FY 2022 was $407.1m, with EBITDA margin of 58% (YTD 2021: $316.2m and 57%, respectively). This included EBITDA of $101.8m and EBITDA margin of 52% in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: $128.6m and 61%, respectively).

The Group on-boarded 81,022 new customers during the first nine months of FY 2022 (YTD 2021: 163,149), including 23,747 new customers on-boarded during Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: 26,169).

Average user acquisition cost (AUAC) during the first nine months of FY 2022 was $1,487 (YTD 2021: $750). Plus500 continues to expect that AUAC will rise steadily over time.

Average client deposits increased significantly by 58% to a level of approximately $6,800 during the first nine months of FY 2022 (YTD 2021: approximately $4,300) and approximately $3,900 in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021: approximately $2,750).

Plus500 made further strategic progress in entering new markets and launching new products during the first nine months of FY 2022, thereby further diversifying the Group’s revenue streams and business model.

During the period, excellent traction was made in the substantial US Futures market where the Group targets a number of major growth opportunities.

To activate the significant retail trading opportunity, Plus500 recently launched TradeSniper, an intuitive new proprietary Futures trading platform specifically tailored for the US retail market, both on iOS and Android. This will enable the Group to benefit from the continued increase in accessibility to the Futures market for the retail trading community.

In addition, the Group continued to develop its strategic position in the US as a market infrastructure provider during the period, supporting institutional clients with brokerage-execution and clearing services. This will be driven by the Group’s healthy balance sheet, its highly differentiated technological capabilities and its position as a full clearing member of the CME Group exchanges.

The Group’s strategic positioning in the US was further developed by continued investment in Plus500’s global brand, in particular through a new sponsorship partnership signed recently with the NBA Chicago Bulls.

Integration plans for the regulated entity acquired in Japan earlier this year, are progressing well and remain on track. This will broaden the Group’s geographic footprint into the substantial Japanese trading market, where Plus500 will apply its financial and technological strength to scale and develop its market position over time.

The Company continues to invest in product development to further deepen customer engagement, including through the on-going recruitment at the Company’s R&D centres in Israel. With these investments in technology and people, the Group will continue to leverage the latent base of over 23 million customers registered on its platforms since inception.

The Board anticipates that revenue and EBITDA for FY 2022 will be ahead of current market expectations and continues to expect that Plus500 will deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long term.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500, commented:

“Plus500 has continued to outperform in 2022, driven by the power of our market-leading proprietary technology and our on-going ability to attract and retain higher value, long-term customers. We have made further traction in delivering against our strategic priorities, in particular in starting to access the major growth opportunities available in the US. Supported by continued investment in growth, we continue to diversify and develop the business as a global multi-asset fintech group, ensuring Plus500 remains well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth over the medium to long-term.”