Press release
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25 March 2021 CMC Markets Plc FY 2021 Pre - Close Trading Update Strong Q4 performance and increased confidence in the FY22 outlook CMC Markets Plc ( " CMC " or the " Group " ) , a leading global provider of online trading and institutional ( " B2B " ) platform technology solutions , today issues a trading update for the period from 1 January 2021 to 24 March 2021 ( the “ period ” ) ahead of its full year results . The entire business has continued to perform very strongly during the period , with ongoing strength in the acquisition and retention of CFD and stockbroking active clients and higher levels of client trading activity versus regular trading periods . In addition , client income retention remained well in excess of 80 % , but below the levels reported for H1 2021 , as previously guided . As a result of the strong performance , net operating income for the financial year ended 31 March 2021 ( " FY 2021 " ) is expected to be slightly ahead of the upper end of the current range of consensus of £ 399.61 million , which , combined with continued cost control , is expected to provide positive operating leverage . We continue to see ongoing high monthly active client numbers , which for the full year will be over 75,000 . Client acquisition levels have remained high during the period driven by increased marketing expenditure . As previously stated , the quality of this year's new cohort of clients remains encouraging as the clients continue to show similarly high value and longevity qualities to prior cohorts . This builds the Board's confidence that this new cohort of clients will contribute meaningful revenue streams for the Group into the next financial year and beyond , raising the Board's expectations for FY 2022 to deliver net operating income in excess of £ 330m . Peter Cruddas , Chief Executive Officer , commented : " I am delighted by the strong performance of the business so far during the last quarter of our financial year . Our relentless focus on supporting clients with market leading technology and service has fuelled record growth and puts us in a great position as we start the next financial year . Over the last 12 months , market volatility has driven up client activity across the industry . I am particularly pleased that our new clients are demonstrating similar behaviours to existing long - term , high value clients , which supports our longstanding strategy . Our client acquisition rates are very encouraging and reflect the advancements we have made in our technology , pricing and execution of trades . Robust risk management continues to be fundamental to the ongoing success of the business and , together with ongoing refinement of our analytics and learnings from client behaviour , is a key competitive advantage . The resilience of our platform continues to be evident through very high uptime . Our ability to support increased trading activity , unobstructed through recent periods of heightened market volatility , has built trust with clients and embedded CMC as a key partner in fulfilling their trading ambitions . Our continued investment in technology and people to support our expanding client base together with an exciting pipeline of projects give me confidence in the outlook for CMC . " Full Year results CMC will no longer release a trading update on 8 April 2021. CMC expects to report its results for the year ended 31 March 2021 on 10 June 2021. There will be a presentation at 10.00am on 10 June 2021 for institutional investors and analysts , more details will be made available closer to the date of the announcement . Restricted