IG Group says its profit jumped over 100% in the fiscal first half

IG Group Holdings plc (LON: IGG) said on Thursday that its profit saw an over 100% growth in the fiscal first half. The company attributed the sharp increase to robust trading volumes in recent months.

In related news, IG Group also announced to have proposed £730 million to acquire Tastytrade Inc. – a U.S. based online brokerage and trading-education platform. The offer comprises £218.81 million in cash and another £510.56 million of stock issue.

IG Group slid more than 0.5% in premarket trading on Thursday and lost another over 1% on market open. The stock is now trading at £8.90 per share versus a significantly lower £5.63 per share in the last week of March 2020 when the impact of COVID-19 was at its peak. If you want to invest in the stock market online, you will need a reliable stockbroker – here is a list of the top few to make selection easier for you.

IG Group reports £416.9 million of net trading revenue

For the six months that concluded on 30^th November, the online-trading company reported £231.3 million of pre-tax profit. In the same period last year, its pre-tax profit was capped at a much lower £101.2 million.

In terms of net trading revenue, the London-based company posted £416.9 million in H1 versus the year-ago figure of £249.9 million. IG Group said that it now had 238,600 active clients that represents a 55% growth in the fiscal first half. New client retention rates, as per the British firm, matched historical averages in H1.

In Q1, the London-based company saw a surge in its revenue to £209 million as the COVID-19 crisis fuelled higher volatility in the financial markets. The novel flu-like virus has so far infected more than 3.5 million people in the United Kingdom and caused over 93 thousand deaths.

IG Group declares 12.96 pence per share of interim dividend

IG Group’s board declared 12.96 pence per share of interim dividend on Thursday that remained unchanged from last year. The online-trading company also said that client acquisition was likely to take a hit in the upcoming months if market volatility continued to lose pace.

IG Group performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of more than 20%. At the time of writing, UK-based company providing trading in financial derivatives is valued at £3.32 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 13.81.