The Poland-based multi-asset brokerage house, X-Trade Broker (XTB) has published its last quarter (Q4) and full year financial results for the FY 2018. The company in 2018 achieved stronger revenue growth as-well-as the highest number of new clients added during the final quarter.
The full-year revenue for the company came in at PLN 288.3 million ($75 million), which is higher by 5 per cent compared to last year. The operating profits didn’t grow as compared to growth in revenue because of increased spending on marketing activities and salaries. The operating profit came in at PLN 115.5 million ($30 million). However, the net profits recorded an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year to reach PLN 124 million ($32 million).
XTB in its final quarter was able to add significant numbers of new clients with total 5,724 clients added during the quarter, with the total number of clients coming in at 20,672 at the end of the year. The increase in new client addition is a remarkable feat for the company as it has been a very difficult year for the industry, owing to a slew of regulatory challenges.
However, despite recording increased client addition, the number of active clients have been slowly grinding lower throughout the year, reaching 21,279 in Q4. The figure is somewhat 14 per cent higher compared to the final quarter of 2017, placing the company in a very strong position for the year forward.
Despite an increase in the addition of new clients, the total deposits with the brokerage declined by 7 per cent throughout the year. Trading volume too followed the downward trajectory with 5 per cent decline year-on-year. Profitability per lot also hit a multi-year low in Q4 to 3PLN ($24) per lot, which is 32 per cent lower compared to the third quarter of 2018.
The brokerage shift of focus towards retail business has taken a negative toll on the performance of the institutional segment. The company’s institutional brand, X Open Hub revenues halved to about PLN 18.8 million ($5 million). In October last year, the company has launched a new platform for the X Open Hub called XT5, which is built using HTML5 technology.
In terms of revenue share, a major part is denoted by index CFDs at 49.6 per cent, followed by currency CFDs at 23.5 per cent and commodities CFD denoted at 24.3 per cent revenue. XTB’s growing presence in Latin America helped it to offset the declining trading revenues from the Western European region. The company’s Central and Eastern European segment showed a positive turn, despite a decline in the domestic market.
Publicly-listed Polish FX and CFD broker, 
Despite the decline in trading volumes due to the implementation by ESMA of a 30x leverage cap on Forex and CFD trading, a number of new clients continued to grow with 16.3 percent year on year growth. New clients in Q3 totaled 4,884 and the average number of active clients higher by 11 percent year on year or 2014. 
XTB, the Polish forex broker has firmed up its plan to exit the Turkish market after it first indicated about the move to suspend business activities in the country in November 2017 due to the limitation to forex business enforced by Turkish regulator. 
