As we have seen throughout most of the past year from it, FCA regulated online CFD brokerage house CMC Markets Institutional (LON:CMCX) has issued something of a mixed-message Trading Update leading up to the close of its current fiscal year on March 31, 2018.
CMC stated that its “strong year to date performance” was been maintained throughout the final quarter of the year (i.e., the first quarter of calendar 2018). Net operating income for the second half of FY2018 will be moderately above the first half and significantly above the prior year. As the company previously guided, costs will be higher in the second half reflecting higher marketing, discretionary remuneration and integration spend for CMC’s Australia stockbroking partnership with ANZ.
The proportion of high value clients at CMC has increased, driving a significant improvement in revenue per client compared to the prior year. However, overall active client numbers are slightly below the previous year with the company noting that the final quarter of FY2018 has seen an increase from the prior year.
CMC’s partnership with ANZ Bank remains on track for delivery in September 2018, with the first significant milestone successfully delivered in the period.
CMC has been slower than its main UK rivals IG Group and Plus500 in rolling out cryptocurrency trading, only announcing the launch of a limited crypto CFD offering earlier this month, and just what it calls its “Professional Client Base”. Crypto trading, and new clients gained from interest in digital currencies, helped drive record results at both IG Group and Plus500 in their most recently reported financial periods.