Latest news with #IGGroup
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK trading platform IG Group tops profit forecast on market volatility
July 24 (Reuters) - British online trading platform IG Group (IGG.L), opens new tab reported a forecast-beating 17% rise in full-year pretax profit on Thursday, driven by a surge in trading volumes amid recent market turbulence, sending shares up more than 6%. Firms such as IG Group and Plus500 (PLUSP.L), opens new tab have benefited from a pickup in trading volumes in recent months as clients rushed to adjust their portfolios in markets whipsawed by the uncertainty caused by U.S. tariff policies. London-based IG Group has been expanding its services to address missed opportunities, becoming the first London-listed company to offer crypto buying, selling, and holding after it launched, opens new tab trading in the UK in June. "We are actively looking at M&A opportunities," Chief Financial Officer Clifford Abrahams told analysts on a call. IG Group's recent acquisition, opens new tab of investment platform Freetrade more than doubled the company's active customer base to 820,000 by the end of the fiscal year to May 31. The company also plans to launch a 125-million-pound ($169 million) share buyback programme in the first half of this fiscal year. Its shares were up 6.9% at 1,132 pence around 1000 GMT. "If market turbulence persists, for which there is no shortage of triggers currently, there is a good chance buoyant trading conditions will persist," Shore Capital analyst Vivek Raja said in a note. IG Group expects to meet market expectations for total revenues of 1.11 billion pounds and cash earnings per share of 110.4 pence in the year to the end of May 2026. Adjusted pretax profit came in at 535.8 million pounds for the year ended May 31, up 17% from the year before. That compared with analysts' average expectation of 523.5 million pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus. ($1 = 0.7383 pounds)
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK's IG Group beats annual profit estimates, launches $170 million buyback
July 24 (Reuters) - British online trading platform IG Group (IGG.L), opens new tab beat full-year pre-tax profit expectations and launched a 125-million-pound ($169.56 million) share buyback programme on Thursday, driven by a surge in trading volumes amid recent market turbulence. The company's adjusted pre-tax profit came in at 535.8 million pounds ($726.81 million) for the year ended May 31, compared with analysts' expectations of 523.5 million pounds, according to a company-compiled poll. ($1 = 0.7372 pounds)
New York Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Stocks Shake Off Tariff Threat After Trump Extends Deadline
Stock markets mostly rose on Tuesday after President Trump revived steep tariffs on dozens of countries but extended their start date to Aug. 1, signaling that talks would continue between his trade negotiators and their counterparts around the world. He later noted that the deadline in August was 'not 100 percent firm,' reinforcing that his administration was 'open' to offers from trading partners. The S&P 500 rose slightly in early trading. Indexes in Japan and South Korea, major U.S. trading partners who are facing 25 percent tariffs, also gained. Stocks in Europe were mixed, but the moves were generally modest. The market movements were the latest example of how Mr. Trump's on-again, off-again trade proclamations have driven the markets this year. Analysts pointed out that market declines linked to fears of steep tariffs have often given way to rallies as deadlines are relaxed. 'Rightly or wrongly, investors think they know what happens from here,' Chris Beauchamp, the chief market analyst at IG Group, wrote on Tuesday. 'Either negotiations result, and a 'deal' of some sort (usually in the vaguest terms) is announced, allowing Trump to claim a win, or a fresh extension to the deadline is announced." In Japan, a recent market wobble has been called the 'Yaskawa Shock.' Yaskawa Electric, a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, forecast on Friday that it expected profits to fall this year, a contrast to the 20 percent year-on-year gain it had previously projected. Yaskawa, heavily reliant on sales in the United States and China, had issued its earlier financial outlook before accounting for the effects of U.S. tariffs. The company reports results earlier than many other big Japanese firms and was looked at as an early indicator of upcoming earnings. The new U.S. tariffs are expected to erase around 5 percent of profit at big Japanese companies this year, according to analysts at SMBC Nikko, but the effect on markets was predicted to be 'limited,' they wrote on Tuesday, as the tariff rate proposed by Mr. Trump this week was similar to the one he initially floated in April. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Scrap the cash ISA to 'save our stock market,' says investment platform IG
The UK Government should abolish the cash ISA to help bring a halt to the 'crisis' facing the UK stock market, a major trading platform has urged. Retail stock trading platform IG Group said cash ISAs are 'hindering rather than helping' millions of Britons to accumulate wealth as it launched a 'Save Our Stock Market' campaign. It wants to stop new cash ISA accounts from being opened and for the maximum £20,000 allowance to fall to zero from next April. IG wants the billions in tax relief generated by cash ISAs to be redirected towards 'more productive equity investments'. According to the firm's analysis, cash savers have seen roughly one-seventh of the real returns of UK investors since cash ISAs were first introduced by then Chancellor Gordon Brown in 1999. Yet the popularity of cash ISA subscriptions is growing, while the use of stocks and shares ISAs is in decline. Figures released by HMRC last year showed the number of cash ISA subscriptions increased by 722,000 in 2022/2023, while stocks and shares ISAs fell by 63,000. IG believes the UK suffers from an 'overly cautious regulatory approach' to investing that is holding back the country's stock market. 'We're watching a crisis unfold, and we need bold action,' warned Michael Healy, UK managing director at IG. 'Our stock market - once the envy of the world - is in a downward spiral. 'At the same time, the UK is stuck in a damaging savings-first mindset, with far too few people investing to build wealth for the long term.' A total of 88 companies either delisted or transferred their primary listing from the London Stock Exchange last year - the most since 2009, according to EY. Many of them were acquired by private equity firms, including cybersecurity giant Darktrace, music rights investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and video game services provider Keywords Studios. Others opted to change their main listing to another bourse, such as tourism business Tui, takeaway platform Just Eat, and Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment. Fintech platform Wise, drugmaker Indivior, and rental equipment supplier Ashtead Group have also announced their intentions to have their main listing on Wall Street. Companies switching their primary listing or going public in the US can potentially access larger investment pools and secure higher valuations. Just 18 firms were listed on the LSE in 2024 despite the UK Government relaxing regulations on listings in recent years to try and attract more high-growth technology companies. The year before that, Softbank decided to list Cambridge-based semiconductor firm ARM Holdings, whose semiconductor chips power almost every smartphone, in New York instead of London. Analysts have blamed the relative unattractiveness of London's stock market on Brexit, a weaker pound, and the lack of investment by UK pension funds in domestic stocks. IG suggests that UK shares held in ISAs for at least three years enjoy 20 per cent tax relief to help bolster retail investment in British companies. It also wants to scrap stamp duty on UK shares, which it calls a 'self-inflicted wound' that 'unfairly penalises' UK investors. As part of its campaign, the business is offering £100 worth of UK shares to all customers who join between now and 15 August. Healy added: 'For too long, policymakers have been paralysed by the desire to keep everyone happy. But the time for working groups is over - this is about getting more Brits investing, while saving a strategic national asset before it's too late.'
Finextra
18-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
IG Group selects Alloy to manage identity risk
IG Group ('IG'), the FTSE 250 online trading company, has partnered with Alloy, a leading identity and fraud prevention platform provider. 0 The partnership enables IG to better achieve full regulatory compliance without impinging on the company's capacity to provide a seamless customer experience and hit ambitious business growth objectives. The UK financial services industry has developed one of the most rigorous and demanding regulatory regimes globally. Meeting compliance standards is critical to the success of any UK financial services or fintech company. Asked to name the most concerning consequences of fraud in Alloy's recently published State of UK Fraud Report, almost all C-suite leaders at UK fintechs put satisfying regulatory requirements and mitigating reputational damage at the top of the list.* On top of this pressure to remain compliant, UK fintechs and banks also face pressure to grow. Many businesses operate on outdated, internally-built tech stacks that are too rigid to adapt to evolving demands. At the point of onboarding or verifying customers, the collection and verification of documentation is often managed manually, resulting in fragmented workflows, poor data visibility and a high volume of referrals to KYC analysts for further manual inspection. These delays and hurdles typically result in lower than desired STPs (straight through processing rates), which in turn lead to higher lead times to account activation and higher dropout rates in prospective clients. Alloy's industry research indicates that this complexity is heightened in businesses like IG that serve customers in multiple markets globally and are processing multimillion pound transactions. Without automated workflows that enable perpetual KYC, unnecessary friction and delays can be passed onto customers. William Mead, Head of Operations at IG Group, comments: 'Integrating Alloy's identity and fraud prevention platform into our risk management processes is transforming perpetual KYC from a conceptual ideal to a real-life, proven way of operating that increases automation and efficiency, and reduces risk and development burden. 'From the outset, Alloy's UK team fundamentally appreciated the drain on capacity and resources that continual ID verification creates without the right technology in place. Alloy's automated verification and monitoring tools help us refocus our attention and efforts to deliver the sort of user experience an IG customer expects from us. By continually ensuring we know who our customers are in accordance with expanding regulatory rules, the experience we can provide feels less intrusive, less onerous and more streamlined.' By leveraging Alloy, IG has been able to develop a dynamic and holistic approach to risk management through the client lifecycle from onboarding to in-life. This approach reduces the potential for regulatory risk, alleviates the need for remediation efforts after risks are exposed, and improves customer conversion and retention. At the same time, Alloy enables IG to consolidate operational workflows in all jurisdictions and orchestrate multiple data signals for due diligence flows based on risk level and geographic requirements, which results in far more automated processes and fewer manual activities. Since integration, IG has experienced a significant increase in automated activations. Most of the time previously spent handling remediation efforts after risks were retrospectively exposed is deployed elsewhere on activities like proactively improving internal processes and enhancing the customer journey. James Baston-Pitt, Alloy's Head of Growth UK, EMEA and APAC, adds: 'IG is an exceptional company that has been focused and collaborative in making bold transformations to their customer decision-making and in-life processes. Balancing the importance of robust, compliant, and seamless experiences globally involves fine-tuning customer journeys to maximise automation in both core and expansion markets. We are very excited about what we have achieved together so far.' * 93% of UK fintech C-Suite leaders rank regulatory penalties and reputational damage as the most concerning consequences of fraud - Alloy State of UK Fraud Report, March 2025
