CMC Markets trading in line, helped by volatile markets

CMC Markets, the spreadbetting firm that floated in London early last month, said trading has been in line with its expectations, with recent market volatility helping to drive growth.

In a very brief pre-close trading update, the company reported strong active client growth of around 13% year-on-year, with a "modest increase" in revenue per client.

The group said it was making further progress across its areas of strategic focus, which include growth in core markets, international expansion, product innovation, digital marketing and institutional offering.

CMC is due to release its results for the year to the end of March on 8 June.

RBC Capital Markets, which rates the stock at ‘outperform', said active client growth was ahead of its expectations of 10.5%.

“We forecast a net operating income growth rate of 14.2% during FY16, which, in light of today’s statement, is the minimum that we believe CMC should achieve when it reports FY16 results.”

"Because CMC does not quantify the ‘modest’ increase in revenue per client, we leave our forecasts unchanged, but we maintain our high degree of confidence that our forecasts are achievable and could even be conservative," RBC said.

At 1215 GMT, CMC shares were down 4% to 243p.