Compagnie Financière Tradition (SWX: CFT), an inter-dealer broker and operator of a Japanese retail forex trading platform Gaitame, ended 2023 with a pre-tax profit of CHF 127.2 million, a jump of 16.1 percent, generated on its annual IFRS revenue of CHF 982.4 million. Its net profit came in at CHF 94.4 million, 15.9 percent higher.
The End of a Strong Year
The official numbers released today (Friday) further show that the operating profit from IFRS business came in at CHF 105.5 million, 19.7 percent higher than the preceding year. The operating margin also improved to 10.7 percent from 9.9 percent.
The revenue for the joint venture came in at more than CHF 1.05 billion, a year-over-year increase of 9.5 percent. Operating profit additionally improved 17.1 percent to CHF 127.7 million, as the operating margin strengthened to 12.1 percent from the previous year’s 11.4 percent.
Revenue from the interdealer broking business of the Swiss group came in 9.6 percent higher at over CHF 1.02 billion, while revenue from the online forex trading business for retail investors in Japan jumped 5.5 percent to CHF 31.4 million.
“Tradition also benefited from favorable market conditions in the energy and commodity businesses as well as the development of its activity dedicated to market data commercialization (TraditionData). Furthermore, the Group's activity continues to be stimulated by its organic growth policy,” the company noted.
Taking Advantage of the Higher Interest Rates
Furthermore, the Swiss group company profited from the higher interest rates as its income from cash investments saw an uplift of more than CHF 9.4 million. Its basic earnings per share jumped 17.6 percent to CHF 12.71.
“The Group’s level of activity since the beginning of 2024 is up on the same period last year at constant exchange rates,” the group stated, mentioning the outlook. “Compagnie Financière Tradition intends to pursue its growth strategy, primarily organic, as well as its investments in its hybrid broking capabilities throughout its operations and in its data and analytics activities with the support of its developed data science expertise.”