Spread-betting demand gives lift to IFX

Edmond Warner, chief executive of IFX, the financial spread-betting and foreign exchange company, said rising numbers of private investors taking financial bets had lifted the lossmaking group into operating profitably, after a loss in last year’s second half.

The group incurred an interim pre-tax loss of £362,000 to the end of September, against a £1.22m loss last time. But excluding goodwill amortisation, operating profits were

He said the recent return of market volatility and a surge of interest in spread-betting made the outlook “rosier”. Mr Warner added: “In the past six to seven weeks we’ve more than doubled the profits [before goodwill] we made during the past six months.”

He said this was the result of a recovery in market volatility and customer activity,” he said.

Total revenues declined 14 per cent to £8m, on the back of a sharp fall in foreign exchange and commodities trading. However, turnover from financial spread-betting and providing contracts for difference to private investors increased 44 per cent from £4m to £5.8m.

Finspreads, the spread-betting division that was restructured a year ago, represented two-thirds of IFX sales and the majority of profits. It attracted on average 400 new spread-betting customers a month in the first six months of the year. In the past two months this had increased to about 600 a month.

The group said it would focus increasingly on retail investors worldwide. IFX is buying Commerce Foreign Exchange in Boston, which provides forex services to US retail investors, for $1.9m (£1m). The purchase gives IFX global spread and is expected to be earnings enhancing.

Losses per share are given as 1.4p (4.19p). The interim dividend was unchanged at 0.25p. The company’s shares rose 6p to 98p.

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