The CLS Group (CLS), a forex settlement services provider, has released its financial report for 2017. Revenues were down year on year, but the firm still managed to maintain a respectable level of profitability.

2016 saw CLS finish the fiscal year with £201.2 million in revenue. At the end of 2017, this figure had been reduced to £197.5 million - a two percent reduction.

The shrinking in revenues reflected an even greater reduction in profits. The Settlement Settlement Settlement in finance refers to the process when a buyer makes payment and receives the agreed-upon services or goods. The term is used on exchanges such as New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when security changes hands. When the asset is transferred and placed in the new buyer's name, it is considered settled. This process could take a few hours or several days after a trade is made. It depends on the clearance process. In the United States, the settlement date for marketable stocks is usually 2 Settlement in finance refers to the process when a buyer makes payment and receives the agreed-upon services or goods. The term is used on exchanges such as New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when security changes hands. When the asset is transferred and placed in the new buyer's name, it is considered settled. This process could take a few hours or several days after a trade is made. It depends on the clearance process. In the United States, the settlement date for marketable stocks is usually 2 Read this Term services provider saw post-tax profits of £15.8 million in 2017, down from £41.6 million in 2016.

CLS claimed that this discrepancy does not reflect the company’s underlying profits. It states that in 2016 the firm saw underlying profits of £26 million and this year that figure decreased to £23 million.

It is worth noting that the firm did not highlight underlying profits of £26 million in its 2016 annual report. Instead, it emphasized that it had achieved post-tax profits of £32.3 million.

Increasing value - decreasing volumes

The firm has also had a somewhat frustrating year as transaction values increased, but trading volumes decreased. In 2017, the company saw its highest value transaction day ever at $12.0 trillion. It also grew average daily trading value by 8 percent, to $5.2 trillion.

These achievements were countered by a decrease in trading volumes which shrunk by 5 percent. Although one would have thought this decrease would have been offset by a greater increase in the average daily trading value, there were decreases in 2017’s revenue per million (USD) settled and in the average daily trading billable volume.

Commenting on 2017’s results, Trevor Suarez, CLS’s Chief Financial officer said that the year represented “another year of robust underlying profitability complemented by investment in our infrastructure and in new growth initiatives.”