IG Group (LON:IGG) shares jumped 7% on Thursday after a sharp rise in annual profit, a bigger customer base, and a £125 million share buyback.
Profit before tax rose 25% to £499.2 million for the year to 31 May. Trading revenue climbed 12% to £942.8 million, with total revenue up 9.4% to just over £1.08 billion. Earnings per share shot up 34% to 106.3p.
But the real shift came from the Freetrade acquisition, which added 457,300 active users. That helped double IG’s total customer base to 820,000. Without Freetrade, organic growth in active users was 4.8%.
The group lifted its dividend slightly to 47.2p and confirmed it’s on track to hit next year’s guidance of £1.11 billion in revenue and £501 million in profit. Longer term, it’s aiming for mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth while keeping costs in check.
This was exactly the update the market wanted, steady growth, a capital return, and no surprises.