Vroom!
That’s the speed at which retail punters can be parted from their money on one of the many forex trading platforms that have sprung up in the past decade.
And now you, dear readers, are being offered a slice of the action.
The Cyprus-based foreign-exchange and CFD platform FxPro (which offers retail investors the chance of trading “like a pro” with 500:1 leverage) is coming to the AIM market very soon.
FT Alphaville, of course, has written about FxPro before.
Although readers might be more familiar with the company through its sponsorship of not one but two Premier League football clubs: Aston Villa and Fulham.
Not forgetting its equally high-profile sponsorship of Richard Branson’s F1 Virgin Racing team.
According to Monday’s filing, the Limassol-based FXPro Group — which only began trading in 2006 — plans to list 30 per cent of its existing issued share capital on AIM. Furthermore, it describes itself as:
…an award winning, cash generative, online financial services business with a track record of rapid profitable growth. The Group’s core business is acting as principal to its clients in respect of foreign exchange derivatives, principally contracts for difference (“CFD”). FxPro also offers CFDs on equities, indices, commodities (including gold and other metals) and futures.
FxPro acts as a counterparty to its predominantly retail client base and executes client orders at competitive spreads.
We presume the company’s rather sizeable spending on marketing (how much does it cost to sponsor an F1 racing team nowadays?) has assisted its growth, which includes a doubling of net income since December 2008, or its customer churn rate:
The Group has grown rapidly in terms of revenue, profit and number of clients and has no debt. Net income has increased from £18.5 million for the year ended 31 December 2008 to £34.1 million for the year ended 31 December 2009, and for the six month period ended 30 June 2010 net income was £26.5 million.
In terms of profit, for the corresponding periods, profit after tax has increased from £4.8 million to £9.6 million, and for the six month period ended 30 June 2010 profit after tax was £10.9 million. Over the same period the number of active clients has increased from 13,840 to 15,553 and as at 30 June 2010 FxPro had 16,980 active clients (an active client is defined as a client that has traded at least once with FxPro over the previous three months).
And FxPro has its own noddy highly respected City grandee acting as non-executive: Jim Sutcliffe, the former CEO of Old Mutual, was appointed to the board in June.
Perhaps it’s best not to mention Gain Capital — owner of forex.com — which launched its intention to list back in September 2009. It remains on the grid.
Related links:
The $100bn FX hustle – FT Alphaville
50:1 leverage lives! - FT Alphaville
Swiss regulator dishes out first forex license - FT Alphaville