IG Group Holdings PLC on Wednesday said its year-to-date revenue ticked up, while it expects full-year revenue and profit to be in line with market expectations.

Shares in IG were down 8.5% to 706.11 pence each in London on Wednesday before midday.

The London-based contracts-for-difference trading platform said revenue in the nine months that ended February 28, the first three quarters of its financial year, was up 5% to £758.4 million from £722.7 million a year earlier.

It said interest income was an important driver of revenue growth, with US interest income multiplying to £32.7 million from £600,000, while non-US interest income swung to £17.4 million from a loss of £1.2 million.

Alongside anticipating financial 2023 revenue and pretax profit to be in line with current market expectations, IG said its medium-term revenue and profit margin guidance also remained unchanged.

On an individual product basis, OTC derivatives revenue fell 1% to £602.3 million from £610.6 million, exchanged traded derivatives revenue was up 52% to £135.8 million from £89.5 million, while stock trading and investments revenue fell 10% to £20.3 million from £22.6 million.

Active client numbers in the year-to-date were down 5% to 335,400, which IG said reflected quieter market conditions in the quarter.

IG said in a statement: ‘The third quarter of financial 2023 was a quieter quarter in the market, particularly in December, with lower market volatility than in recent periods, and in the third quarter of financial 2022. The benefit of our diversification strategy is becoming increasingly evident, with our exchange traded derivatives business posting strong growth in both Europe and the US.’

IG also provided an update on its £150 million share buyback programme, which was announced in July last year and extended to £200 million in January.

As of March 13, it said around 17.4 million shares had been repurchased for around £137.4 million. ‘We continue to recognise significant headroom above the minimum capital requirement and the board has kept the capital allocation framework under continual review,’ it said.

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