US Forex Broker FXCM released the financial figures for Q1 2012 and the trading metrics for April. GAAP revenues rose to $102.6 million, 8% more than the Q1 2011. Customer equity grew to $1.1 billion and a rise of trading volume during this period to $15.2 billion a day, mostly from Japanese operations.
However, the drop in volatility took its toll on the volumes in April: retail volume was 27% lower than March, and institutional volume was 24% lower. There are many more interesting numbers.
Retail accounts grew by 1% from March of 22% from March 2011. Institutional growth is currently faster than retail growth.
May saw a strong start due to the European mess, but it seems that movements in currencies could be stronger on the road ahead.
Here are all the numbers from FXCM’s press release:
FXCM Inc. Announces First Quarter 2012 Results
Releases April 2012 Operating Metrics
First Quarter 2012 Highlights:
· US GAAP revenues of $102.6 million, up 8% versus the same period in 2011
· Adjusted Pro Forma EBITDA of $24.9 million, down 2% versus the same period in 2011
· Adjusted Pro Forma net income of $12.5 million, down 9% versus the same period in 2011
· Adjusted Pro Forma fully diluted earnings per share of $0.17, down 6% versus the same period in 2011
· US GAAP net income of $2.9 million, up 4% versus the same period in 2011
· US GAAP fully diluted earnings per share of $0.16, unchanged versus the same period in 2011
· Customer equity of $1,136 million, up 47% from same period in 2011 and up 8% from December 2011
· Active accounts of 171,296, up 22% from the same period in 2011 and up 5% from December 2011
NEW YORK, NY – May 9, 2012 – FXCM Inc. (NYSE: FXCM), a leading online provider of foreign exchange, or FX, trading and related services, today announced for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, revenues under US GAAP of $102.6 million, compared to $94.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, an increase of 8%. Adjusted Pro Forma EBITDA for the first quarter 2012 was $24.9 million, compared to $25.5 million for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 2%. Adjusted Pro Forma Net Income was $12.5 million for the first quarter 2012, compared to $13.7 million for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 9%. Adjusted Pro Forma fully diluted earnings per share for the first quarter 2012 of $0.17 on a fully exchanged, fully diluted basis, compared to $0.18 per share for the first quarter 2011, a decrease of 6%. U.S. GAAP net income was $2.9 million for the first quarter 2012, compared to $2.8 million for the first quarter 2011, an increase of 4%. U.S. GAAP earnings per share for the first quarter 2012 was unchanged at $0.16 per fully diluted Class A share, compared the first quarter 2011.
Adjusted Pro Forma results assume the conversion and exchange of all FXCM Holdings, LLC Units into FXCM Inc. Class A common stock, resulting in the elimination of the non-controlling interest and the corresponding adjustment to the entity’s tax provision. In addition, Adjusted Pro Forma results eliminate certain non-recurring charges and certain equity based compensation expense.
“FXCM delivered strong growth in the quarter despite a weak trading environment in foreign exchange. Customer equity grew by 8% to $1.1 billion from year-end 2011 and is up 47% from March 2011. We achieved near record volumes in our retail business with over $985 billion in customer volume – some $15.2 billion a day – in part because of the strength in our Japanese business,†said Drew Niv, Chief Executive Officer.
“Our institutional business had a near record with $398 billion in customer volume. We are most pleased with these results as we have begun to roll out our own internally developed institutional trading platform which we believe will make us more competitive in the very large institutional foreign exchange market.â€
In addition, FXCM Inc. today announced certain key operating metrics for April 2012 for its retail and institutional foreign exchange business. Monthly activities included:
April 2012 Operating Metrics
Retail Trading Metrics
· Retail customer trading volume(1) of $248 billion in April 2012, 27% lower than March 2012 and 15% lower than April 2011.
· Average retail customer trading volume per day of $11.8 billion in April 2012, 24% lower than March 2012 and 15% lower than April 2011.
· An average of 324,813 retail client trades per day in April 2012, 18% lower than March 2012 and 1% higher than April 2011.
· Tradeable accounts(2) of 202,539 as of April 30, 2012, an increase of 2,407 or 1% from March 2012, and an increase of 36,391 or 22% from March 2011.
Institutional Trading Metrics
· Institutional customer trading volume(1) of $103 billion in April 2012, 36% lower than March 2012 and 65% higher than April 2011.
· Average institutional trading volume per day of $4.9 billion in April 2012, 33% lower than March 2012 and 65% higher than April 2011.
· An average of 13,608 institutional client trades per day in April 2012, 48% lower than March 2012 and 101% higher than April 2011.
“April was one of the lowest months of volatility in foreign currencies seen in the past five years and our operating metrics reflected that,†continued Niv. “However, with the strong start to the year that we have seen in customer equity and account growth, we believe we are well positioned should the trading environment improve.â€
More information, including historical results for each of the above metrics, can be found on the investor relations page of the Company’s corporate website, www.fxcm.com.
This operating data is preliminary and subject to revision and should not be taken as an indication of the financial performance of FXCM Inc. FXCM undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review previously reported operating data. Any updates to previously reported operating data will be reflected in the historical operating data that can be found on the Investor Relations page of the Company’s corporate website, www.fxcm.com.
(1) Volume that FXCM customers traded in period is translated into US dollars.
(2) A Tradeable Account is an account with sufficient funds to place a trade in accordance with FXCM trading policies.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted Pro Forma EBITDA, Adjusted Pro Forma Net Income and Adjusted Pro Forma Net Income per fully diluted share are non-GAAP financial measures. These measures do not represent and should not be considered as a substitute for net income, net income attributable to FXCM Inc. or net income per Class A share or as a substitute for cash flow from operating activities, each as determined in accordance with GAAP, and our calculations of these measures may not be comparable to similarly entitled measures reported by other companies. See “Adjusted Pro Forma Results†beginning on A-3 of this release for additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and for reconciliations of such measure to the most directly comparable measures calculated in accordance with GAAP.
Declaration of Quarterly Dividend
The company also announced today that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share on its outstanding Class A common stock. The dividend is payable on June 29th, 2012 to Class A stockholders of record at the close of business on June 19th, 2012.
Conference Call
As previously announced, FXCM Inc. will host a conference call to discuss its results at 8:15 a.m. (EST) today. This conference call will be available to domestic participants by dialing 888.713.4214 and 617.213.4866 for international participants. The conference ID number is 80886868.
A live, webcast, a copy of FXCM’s earnings release, and a presentation and replay of this conference call will also be available at http://ir.fxcm.com/.
Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this earnings release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which reflect FXCM Inc.’s current views with respect to, among other things, its operations and financial performance for the future. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,†“believes,â€â€œexpects,†“potential,†“continues,†“may,†“will,†“should,†“seeks,†“approximately,†“predicts,†“intends,†“plans,†“estimates,†“anticipates†or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. FXCM Inc. believes these factors include but are not limited to evolving legal and regulatory requirements of the FX industry, the limited operating history of the FX industry, risks related to the protection of its proprietary technology, risks related to its dependence on FX market makers, market conditions and those other risks described under “Risk Factors†in FXCM Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings, which are accessible on the SEC website at sec.gov.
These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this presentation and in our SEC filings. FXCM Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
