Spread better falls despite pledge to protect punters
A CLAMPDOWN on trading continues to weigh on IG Group shares.
Yesterday the firm admitted it was cautious about the future despite putting in place rules to prevent customers losing more than their original stake.
It comes after a damning report by the city regulator FCA which found novice customers of spreadbetting firms were losing a fortune on deals they didn’t understand.
Regulation aside, it was a record first half to the year which saw trading revenue climb 14pc to £245m in the six months to november 30. operating expenses jumped 23pc after marketing spending increased but the firm said pre-tax profit was up 6.7pc to £105.2m.
IG said regulatory changes were not expected to have any material impact in the firm’s current financial year but admitted there were ‘a number of unknowns, [which] makes it difficult to say exactly what the ultimate impact will be’.
numis expects revenue per customer to fall around 15pc as a result. one change to IG’s offering, which has been made with immediate effect, is that sprint trading will no longer be available to new clients. This type of trade, which generates around £15m in revenue each year, is when a user makes a short term ‘up or down’ binary bet, for example, will the FTSE be higher or lower after two minutes.
IG said the change was part of its shift towards more sophisticated trading and investing. Shares slipped 1.9pc, or 10.5p, to 530.5p.
The FTSE 100 finished fractionally lower, down just 0.01pc or 0.84 points to 7150.34.
miners were the greatest risers of the day as sterling continued its slide and the price of iron ore helped boost performance.
Anglo American advanced 5.9pc, or 77.5p, to 1386p while Antofagasta gained 4.4pc, or 34.5p, to
824p. BT plunged on fears about its Italian business. prosecutors have opened an investigation into alleged false accounting at the telecoms firm. Shares in the company fell to a four-year low, plummeting 20.8pc, or 79.5p, to 303p.
pub chain Marston’s used its annual meeting to announce that trading over christmas and new had been good. Trading so far this year was encouraging and it was on track to open at least 20 pub-restaurants and bars and five lodges this financial year. own-brewed volumes were up 3pc while taverns sales were 1.5pc ahead of last year.
But investors were drowning their sorrows anyway, perhaps disappointed that the firm did not upgrade its forecasts for the year.
Shares tumbled yesterday 1.8pc, or 2.5p, to 134.7p.
Enquest had the highest annual production levels since the company started in 2010. The oil and gas firm said it had produced an average of 39,751 barrels of oil per day in 2016, up 8.7pc on the year before. That’s despite final production being affected by a shutdown for maintenance at the end of the year which took longer than expected. The firm also announced it had acquired a 25pc interest in the magnus oil field in the north Sea from Bp. There is no initial cash outlay but will be a future consideration of up to £68m. Enquest also has the option to acquire the remaining 75pc in the future. Shares gained 1pc, or 0.5p, to 49.75p.
plunging profits sent shares in smoke and carbon monoxide detector firm Sprue Aegis lower.
The business said sales for the full year were £57.1m down from £88.3m a year ago, while operating profit is set to be £2.1m, down from £12.8m in 2015. Sprue said performance picked up in the second half of the year but lower demand in France had hit the business.
Sales in Germany were up 52pc from a year ago after the launch of the FireAngel products which can connect to the internet to provide real-time monitoring and alarms to businesses.
But Sprue is still climbing back from a major share price fall last April when it reported battery life problems in some of its alarms. Yesterday Sprue warned it had seen costs significantly increase since the fall in the pound. Shares dropped 2pc, or 3.5p, to 172.5p.