Gain Capital Reverses to Pink of Health, Reports Best ever Quarterly Earnings

Glenn Stevens, CEO of GAIN Capital
Glenn Stevens, CEO of GAIN Capital

Continuing with the industry-wide trends of strong Q1, 2018 earning results, Gain Capital Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GCAP), the retail and institutional Fx brokerage group on Thursday announced its best-ever quarterly results in more than a year. The group operates its retail brokerage under Forex.com and City Index online trading brands and the Institutional brokerage under GTX business brand.

During the quarter, the group registered a record revenue of $106.9 million, up by 53 percent over Q4-2017 and higher by 80 percent year-over-year. This is also the group’s first $100 million plus revenue after 2016. EBITDA during the quarter is reported at $33 million compared to a loss of $13.4 million in the Q1 of 2017, indicating the strong turnaround of the business operations.

The adjusted Net Profit during the quarter was $16.2 million compared to a net loss of  $18.9 million in the first quarter of 2017 and $11.2 million loss in the whole 2017 period. 

Commenting on the results, Glenn Stevens, CEO of GAIN Capital said: 

“Our strong first quarter financial results are highlighted by 79 percent revenue growth, margin expansion to 31 percent and robust overall operating metrics, especially within our Retail business. A return to more normalized volatility levels provided a market environment in which GAIN was able to showcase the benefits of our investment in organic initiatives over the past year. Customer engagement was up across the board, with Retail average daily volume up 31% year-over-year and Institutional ECN average daily volume up 26% to reach a record high of $14.8 billion. As we look ahead, we are confident that our strategic priorities will continue to position us for long-term growth.”

In the volumes front, the group witnessed growth across the board with retail and institutional volumes reporting record high-level marked high volatility during the quarter.

The retail OTC trading volume during the quarter was reported at ‎$‎795.4 billion, a growth of 28 percent year-over-year from $‎619.3 billion in Q1 2017. The average daily trading volumes came in at $12.4 billion, 30 percent higher year-over-year from $9.5 billion.

In fact, the higher volumes in the retail segment during the quarter arrived from fewer accounts. The total active accounts during the quarter totalled 78,681 which is 5.4 percent lower on a yearly basis from 83,145 accounts in Q1 2017.

Under the institutional segment, the group recorded a healthy jump of trading volume of $945.5 billion, a 25 percent from ‎$‎759.6 billion in the Q1, 2017. Also, the average daily trading volumes came in at ‎$‎14.8 billion, a growth of 27 percent‎ from $‎11.7 billion in Q1 2017.