CMC Markets : FY 17 full year results announcement

Delivering on client growth and strategic initiatives despite lower client trading activity

8 June 2017

Year ended 31 March £ million (unless otherwise stated)	31 March 2017	31 March 2016	Change
Net operating income	160.8	169.4	(5)%
Profit before tax	48.5	53.4	(9)%
Earnings per share (pence)	13.7p	15.1p	(9)%
Ordinary dividend per share (pence)	8.9p	8.9p	-
Number of trades (million)	62.7	66.8	(6)%
Value of trades (£ billion)	2,016	2,071	(3)%
Active CFD and Spreadbet clients (numbers)	60,082	57,329	5%
Revenue per active client (£)	2,517	2,828	(11)%

Highlights

• Subdued commission and spread income as clients traded less often in quieter markets, with net operating income reducing by 5% to £160.8 million (2016: £169.4 million), resulting in a reduction in profit before tax of 9% to £48.5 million (2016: £53.4 million)
• Growth in client base with active clients up 5% to 60,082
• Maintaining strong balance sheet with regulatory total capital ratio of 30% and own funds of £183.4 million
• Significant progress made on all five strategic initiatives, including signing the largest transaction in CMC's history with ANZ Bank in Australia
• Proposed final ordinary dividend of 5.95 pence, maintaining prior full year ordinary dividend of 8.93p
• Financial performance at the start of FY2018 improved on same period in FY2017 with cautious outlook

Regulatory change

• UK (FCA) consultation: thorough and detailed response provided, likely to lead to an improvement in industry practices and positions the Group well for the future
• German (BaFin) consultation: mandated introduction of 'no additional payment obligation' accounts but did not mandate change to client margins. The Group already has platform functionality developed to meet requirements by 10 August 2017

Progress made on strategic initiatives

• Established markets: grew primary market share in UK and Australia and maintained market-leading position in Germany
• Geographic expansion: strong growth in our new and expanding offices in Poland and France
• Digital: 52% of the value of Next Generation client trades completed on mobile devices
• New products: rapid delivery of new products, such as Knock-Outs released in Germany, enabled by fully invested, modular, bespoke platform
• Institutional: significant growth with the value of client trades increasing 82%

Peter Cruddas, Chief Executive Officer of CMC Markets commented:

'Our first full year as a listed company has been one of progress as we have worked hard to position the Group for future growth. It is disappointing that reduced client activity impacted revenue performance for much of the year, but I am pleased that the strength of our platform, team and service proposition has continued to attract new, high quality clients and our existing clients are putting more money to work with us. We have continued to make excellent headway with our five strategic initiatives in 2017 and signed the biggest institutional transaction in our history, our partnership with ANZ Bank. Clearly regulatory change is likely to have some impact on the business but we believe we are well positioned to benefit from market share gains in the medium to long term, with our ability to adapt our leading proprietary technology and focus on client service and regulatory compliance supported by our financial strength.'

Analyst and Investor Presentation

A presentation will be held for equity analysts and investors today at 9:30 a.m. (BST).

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available via the following link:

http://webcasts.cmcmarkets.com/results/2017fullyear

Alternatively, you can dial into the presentation:

United Kingdom: 020 3059 8125
All other locations: + 44 20 3059 8125
Please quote 'CMC Markets plc Full Year Results 2017' when prompted.

Annual Report and Financial Statements

A copy of the CMC Markets plc (the 'Company') Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2017 (the '2017 Annual Report') is available within the Investor Relations section of the Company website https://www.cmcmarkets.com/group/results/annual-reports

Pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.1 the Company has submitted the 2017 Annual Report to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.hemscott.com/nsm.do

In compliance with The Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) 6.3.5, the information in the Appendix below is extracted from the Company's 2017 Annual Report and Financial Statements. This material is not a substitute for reading the 2017 Annual Report and Financial Statements in full and any page numbers and cross references in the extracted information below refer to page numbers and cross-references in the 2017 Annual Report and Financial Statements.

Forthcoming announcement dates

Thursday 27 July	Q1 2018 Interim Management Statement
Thursday 28 September	Q2 2018 pre-close trading update
Thursday 23 November	H1 2018 results

Media enquiries

Camarco

Geoffrey Pelham-Lane / Ed Gascoigne-Pees / Jennifer Renwick Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

CMC Markets plc ('CMC'), whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CMCX, was established in 1989 and is now one of the world's leading online financial trading businesses. The company serves retail and institutional clients through regulated offices and branches in 14 countries, with a significant presence in the UK, Australia, Germany and Singapore. CMC Markets offers an award-winning, online and mobile trading platform, enabling clients to trade over 10,000 financial instruments across shares, indices, foreign currencies, commodities and treasuries through contracts for difference ('CFDs') and financial spread bets (in the UK and Ireland only). Clients can also place financial binary bets through Countdowns and, in Australia, access stockbroking services. More information is available at https://www.cmcmarkets.com/group/

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement and Appendix may include statements that are forward looking in nature. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Except as required by the Listing Rules and applicable law, the Group undertakes no obligation to update, revise or change any forward looking statements to reflect events or developments occurring after the date such statements are published.