LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that UK online trading firm London Capital Group Holdings plc (LON:LCG) has begun 2016 with a soft launch of its rebrand to just ‘LCG’ – its ticker symbol on the LSE. The rebrand includes a new website under the URL www.lcg.com (the company currently operates from the more cumbersome londoncapitalgroup.com), a new trading platform it calls LCG Trader, and a new logo as shown above.
We expect the company to formally announce the changeover in the coming days, and to begin a dedicated marketing push over the next few weeks.
Earlier this year, the company paid several hundred thousand dollars for the lcg.com URL, issuing in consideration 500,000 LCG shares.
LCG’s makeover from top to bottom is more than just cosmetic. They have included an almost entire turnover in senior management at LCG, following the acquisition of control of LCG by an investor group led by entrepreneur Charles-Henri Sabet more than a year ago. Sabet has been acting as the company’s CEO, taking a very hands-on approach to the all changes in technology and personnel.
Among the key changes at LCG, beyond the new logo and look, are:
- A new advanced trading platform which the company calls LCG Trader. Previously, LCG offered just MT4 and mobile, both of which remain as well.
- The company is moving its digital marketing and affiliate management functions from London to Israel, under the direction of former Playtech executive Amedeo Moscato.
LCG is certainly gearing up to do something big, but has its work cut out. The company’s shares are at a 52-week low (see chart below), and the company’s last financial report showed a large decrease in Revenues at LCG for the first half of 2015. However both of these issues are symptoms of the decrease in marketing activities at LCG over the past year, keeping its ‘powder dry’ in anticipation of the lcg.com launch.
The changes at LCG are somewhat similar to those we have also seen recently from rival UK broker ETX Capital. As was exclusively reported by LeapRate back in October, ETX also redid its website, logo and platform, but first beta-tested the new look and feel in its South Africa and Ireland subsidiary domains before bringing it home to its main UK site in December.
The changes at both ETX and LCG indicate to us heating up of competition in the already ultra-competitive UK online trading market, as brokers are upgrading their technology and look to suit a new generation of traders.
In addition to local firms such as ETX and LCG looking to take market share from industry leader IG, we’ve reported on other brokers looking to break into the UK market or expand their presence, such as Australia’s AxiTrader, HantecFX and Oanda. Playtech PLC (LON:PTEC) and its Markets.com unit also had plans to make a big splash in the UK via the acquisition of FCA-regulated Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS), but those plans hit the rocks when the Playtech-Plus500 deal was called off in November.
We will bring you more on the changes at LCG when they are formally announced. But remember, you read about it first at LeapRate…
London Capital Group 2015 share price. Source: Google Finance.