The market volatility that has been fuelled by Russia’s invastion of Ukraine is set to boost business at IG Group, with the trading platform saying yesterday that it expected its annual revenues to “moderately” exceed City expectations.
The war in eastern Europe has triggered increased market activity after a relatively dull 2021, when trading eased from the frenzy at the onset of the Covid pandemic.
However, market confidence is fragile. The CBOE volatility index, or Vix, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, rose on March 2 to its highest level since the conflict began on February 24.
In its third quarter up to February 28, IG Group recorded an all-time high of 292,200 active clients, up 32 per cent on the year before, and net trading revenue rose by 13.3 per cent to £257 million.
Peel Hunt, the broker, said that the consistency of active client numbers at IG was cause for confidence about future revenue.
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IG, which sponsors the England cricket team, said that it expected revenue growth from tastytrade, its American platform, to remain below its forecast range of 25 per cent to 30 per cent in the year that ends on May 31, because of less options trading and as a boost from the “meme stock” frenzy of last year fades.
That caution weighed on the company’s shares, which despite its bullish update rose by only 6p, or 0.8 per cent, to 789p.
