Final results for the year ended 31 March 2021

• Net operating income up 63% to £409.8 million
• Record performance, with continued investment in technology supporting sustainable growth

Year ended 31 March £ million (unless otherwise stated)	2021	2020	Change %
Net operating income	409.8	252.0	63%
Profit before tax	224.0	98.7	127%
Earnings per share (pence)	61.5	30.1	104%
Ordinary dividend per share (pence)	30.6	15.0	104%
CFD gross client income	335.3	240.6	39%
CFD net trading revenue	349.2	214.5	63%
CFD active clients (numbers)	76,591	57,202	34%
CFD revenue per active client (£)	4,560	3,75	22%
Stockbroking active clients (numbers)	232,053	181,630	28%
Stockbroking net trading revenue	54.8	31.8	72%

^Notes:

• ^{CFD gross client income represents spreads, financing and commissions charged to clients (client transaction costs)}
• ^{CFD net trading revenue represents CFD and spread bet gross client income net of rebates, levies and risk management gains or losses}
• ^{CFD and stockbroking active clients represent those individual clients who have traded with or held a CFD or spread bet position with CMC Markets or traded on the stockbroking platform on at least one occasion during the twelve-month period}
• ^{CFD revenue per active client represents total trading revenue from CFD and spread bet active clients after deducting rebates and levies}

Highlights

• Net operating income increased to £409.8 million, up £157.8 million (63%).
• CFD revenue per active client up 22% to £4,560, driven by improved CFD client income retention.
• CFD active clients increased by 19,389 (34%) driven by our ongoing focus on high value, sophisticated, experienced global clients, and increased levels of interest in the financial markets from a new wave of clients.
• Stockbroking net trading revenue up 72% to £54.8m driven by higher client numbers (up 28%) and the increasing appeal of the international shares offering.
• Continued to offer clients highly resilient and performant platforms, which allowed clients to trade, and new clients to onboard, throughout periods of extremely high trading volumes and market volatility.
• Investment continued in proprietary technology platforms to diversify the offering, with new Dynamic Trading and Spot FX offerings launched in May and June 2021 respectively, along with a native mobile app for Stockbroking in March 2021.
• Operating expenses increased by 22% to £184.0 million, predominantly due to higher personnel costs as a result of recruitment to support ongoing strategic initiatives, increased marketing costs to capitalise on market opportunities, and trading related variable costs.
• Profit before tax up 127% to £224.0 million (2020: £98.7 million).
• Regulatory total capital ratio of 20.5% and net available liquidity of £210.6 million

Outlook and dividend

• The Group believes that existing active client levels are likely to be sustainable as the characteristics of clients onboarded during the year are comparable to our current high value client base, with longevity and trading activity at similar levels to prior cohorts.
• The monthly active client base has remained strong at the start of 2022 representing ongoing trading appetite, however client trading activity has moderated from prior elevated levels. Nevertheless, the Group continues to have confidence in the robust underlying performance of the business and in conjunction with further progress on its strategic initiatives, looks forward to continuing to generate long term business growth and value. As a result, the Board remains confident in achieving net operating income in excess of £330 million for 2022.
• The Group's significant investment in technology development, including the build of a non-leveraged trading platform for UK clients, is expected to lead to a moderate increase in operating costs in the coming financial year.
• Final dividend of 21.43 pence per share (total dividend of 30.63 pence per share), in line with the dividend policy. The Board remains committed to paying a total dividend of 50% of profit after tax, balancing investing in long-term success and providing shareholders with superior returns.

Lord Cruddas, Chief Executive Officer commented:

'I am delighted with our record performance, which vindicates our strategy of continuing focus on high value clients and technology investment. I am tremendously proud of the resilience, flexibility and capability displayed by all of my colleagues at CMC and would like to personally thank them all for the commitment and passion with which they continue to deliver high levels of service to our clients.

The performance in 2021, building on a strong performance in 2020, is a result of the Group's unwavering focus on our strategic initiatives. This has delivered increased diversification of Group revenues and improved CFD client income retention. Active client numbers have also increased substantially, primarily as a result of COVID-19 related volatility and heightened levels of interest in the financial markets, but our strategy allows us to attract and retain these new clients. The growing contribution of B2B revenues is also particularly pleasing and will continue to be an important part of our strategy going forward.

During the period we continued to recruit new staff and we did not request to participate in any Government financial support schemes. Our Digital Transformation Programme, led by our new Chief Technology Officer, Brendan Foxen, was initiated during the year and has started to make fantastic progress with the first 'lighthouse' project, our Dynamic Trading product, having launched in May 2021.

CMC continues to provide clients with market leading trading platforms and client service, even during periods of extreme volatility and trading activity, holding true to our values. This technological excellence provides the Group with a solid foundation on which to serve current and future clients, along with the expertise to continue to invest in new products that will deliver sustainable growth.'

Analyst and Investor Presentation

A presentation will be held for equity analysts and investors today at 10.00 a.m. (BST), note questions will only be taken over the conference call line.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available via the following link: https://webcasts.cmcmarkets.com/results/2021fullyear

Alternatively, you can dial into the presentation by registering via the following link: https://webcasts.cmcmarkets.com/results/2021fullyear/vip_connect

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 2021 (the '2021 Annual Report and Financial Statements') is available within the Investor Relations section of the Company website http://www.cmcmarkets.com/group/results/annual-reports

Pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.1 the Company has submitted the 2021 Annual Report and Financial Statements to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

In compliance with The Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) 6.3.5, the information in the document below is extracted from the Company's 2021 Annual Report and Financial Statements. This material is not a substitute for reading the 2021 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 2021 Annual Report and Financial Statements.

Forthcoming announcement dates

Thursday 29 July 2021	Q1 2021 trading update
Thursday 7 October 2021	H1 2021 pre-close trading update

Enquiries:

CMC Markets Plc
Euan Marshall, Chief Financial Officer	[email protected]

Media enquiries:

Camarco
Geoffrey Pelham-Lane / Jennifer Renwick	020 3757 4994

Notes to Editors

(LEI: 213800VB75KAZBFH5U07), 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 12 countries, with a significant presence in the UK, Australia, Germany and Singapore. The Group 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 http://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.

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