Valbury Capital Limited, a London-based Multi-Asset brokerage, has published its annual financials ending on December 31, 2018, showing a profit for the period despite a 22.2 percent revenue dip to £9.59 million.
This was filed with the UK’s Companies House as the company already shut its operations and is preparing to exit the UK market. The shareholders of the company already signed the sale and purchase agreement of the company, which is now pending for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Approval.
Finance Magnates reached out to Valbury for details on the sale, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
The brokerage first turned profitable in 2017, with a jump in revenue. Although 2018's revenue was marginally lower than the reported figures of the previous year, the company managed to generate £344,000 in profits.
It is to be noted that the profits dipped significantly in 2018 from the previous year’s profits of £4.3 million.
The clients’ funds in the period also decreased dramatically to £168.4 million from £294.7 million the previous year. According to the brokerage, this dip was primarily due to the reduced client portfolio size at the year-end.
“The company has experienced difficult business conditions during the year as a result of mixed trading conditions for its clients and the indirect impact of the regulatory changes,” the recent filing stated.
All the profits generated by the brokerage in the course of two years were transferred to its equity reserves.
Client Dispute
Notably, the London brokerage also entered into a dispute with one of the amateur traders, Harouna Traore, on the platform.
In 2017, Traore accidentally began trading on a live account, when he thought he was using a demo account. From his trading activities, he managed to make over €10 million ($11.53 million) in profit.
However, due to a breach in contract, Valbury allegedly refused to give the money back, which led to Traore suing the broker. Speaking to Finance Magnates earlier, the company spokesperson said that the profit of €10 million was a result of its own hedging activity in connection with the Traore matter.
