Plus500 Share Price Fell 3.6% Despite Upbeat FY 2023 Earnings

The Plus500 Ltd (LON: PLUS) share price fell 3.6% after releasing its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2023. The company reported group revenue of $726.2 million, consisting of $674.3 million in trading income and $51.9 million in interest income. Its EBITDA stood at $340.5 million, demonstrating a solid EBITDA margin of 47%.

The company's Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS) reached $3.17. With 70% of its costs being variable (consistent with FY 2022), Plus500 underscores its competitive edge and efficiency, showcasing its agile business framework.

Plus500's financial structure remains robust, evidenced by cash reserves of $906.7 million as of December 31, 2023, without any debt or loans. Today, Plus500 announced new shareholder distributions totalling $175.0 million, adhering to its transparent and disciplined approach to capital management. 

This reflects the company's sustained financial health and the Board's optimism regarding future growth. The newly announced shareholder benefits include a $100.0 million share buyback initiative and dividends totalling $75.0 million.

In the fiscal year 2023, the company declared around $350 million in total shareholder distributions, including $257.5 million in share buybacks and $90.0 million in dividends. 

From the start of its initial share buyback in 2017 to December 31, 2023, Plus500 has repurchased 36,651,165 ordinary shares, investing a total of $0.6 billion (excluding the latest announcement), with an average purchase price of £13.52 per share.

Plus500 has made significant strides in the U.S. futures market, demonstrated by an uptick in new clients across both institutional (B2B) and retail (B2C) sectors, further bolstered by securing memberships with the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and Eurex.

David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500, commented: “Three years ago, Plus500 presented its new strategic plan to become a global, multi-asset fintech group by expanding into new markets, developing new products and deepening relationships with customers. 2023 saw further progress against all three strategic objectives: we expanded our US futures businesses, launched a new retail FX OTC trading platform in Japan and extended our portfolio of global regulatory licences to 13. We expanded our core product offering to include a share dealing platform, and a new line of business offering futures and options on futures.”

Plus500 share price. 

The Plus500 share price fell 3.60% to trade at 1781.5p from Monday’s closing price of 1848.0p.