Plus500 is about to expand its operations into physical equity trading, moving the online contracts for difference (CFD) broker into mainstream stockbroking.
According to a report from The Mail on Sunday, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Plus500, David Zruia, told the news outlet that it is preparing to move into physical equity trading.
Specifically, the CEO outlined that Israel based broker listed on the FTSE 250 is looking at share dealing. This expansion would put the company in competition with Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell, which are listed companies on the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, respectively.
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Zruia explained: “We are looking at share dealing. Many of our customers, as well as holding trading accounts, hold the underlying asset.”
As part of this expansion, Plus500’s CEO also revealed that the company is weighing takeover deals. Last year, the London listed broker was in talks with GAIN Capital, which has since been acquired by StoneX Group (previously known as INTL FCStone).
According to the report on Sunday, the Merger talks broke down due to price. Now, the company is looking for smaller firms that have a licence, technology or platform, which can be added to its existing offering.
"Most of our customers traded Equities and commodities – especially oil. This trend continues. Trading on oil was very popular and still is," Zruia added.
2020 Proves to Be a Good Year for Plus500
The announcement of Plus500’s potential expansion into more mainstream trading follows on from the CFD broker achieving very solid financial results for the first half of this year.
As Finance Magnates reported, the firm reported total revenue of $564.2 million for H1 of 2020. When measuring this against the same period of the previous year, total revenue has increased significantly by 281 per cent. During the first half of 2020, the London-listed firm saw record levels of customer income of $556.9 million.
Plus500’s share price has also been on the rise since March of this year, on the back of heightened trading volumes driven by the coronavirus pandemic. At the beginning of the year, the company’s share price was £8.69. However, at the time of publishing, the broker’s share price is around £14.58.
