Shares of leading Poland based multi-asset broker XTB SA (WSE:XTB) traded up by 13% on Thursday, after XTB reported its summary Q1-2023 financial results following the close of markets late Wednesday.

XTB shares hit an all-time high of zł 41.12 during trading Thursday, also representing the first time that XTB shares have crossed the zł 40 line. As recently as September 2022 XTB shares were under zł 20 a share. The shares closed Thursday at zł 39.94 – a new all-time closing high for the stock – giving XTB a market capitalization of zł 4.69 billion, or USD $1.13 billion.

We had reported in early March that XTB set (at the time) another all-time high, with its shares in the mid zł 30’s, after the company announced that 75% of its 2022 profits would be returned to shareholders in the form of a Dividend and Share Buyback.

What seems to have convinced investors to drive up the price of XTB stock now is a combination of record results (in terms of both Revenue and Profit in Q1), and a strong future base given the record number of new clients XTB signed up so far in 2023. XTB actually had fewer active trading clients in Q1-2023 (215,703) than in either of the previous two quarters. But by signing up a record number of new clients in Q1 – at 104,206 more than double any previous quarter at XTB – the company seems to be in a very good position moving forward.

And XTB did it while keeping client acquisition costs low, averaging under zł 800 (USD $192) during the quarter, well below the zł 1,100 it spent per acquired client in 2022.

XTB share price, past 12 months. Source: Google.