BGC Group Reports Major Success In First Quarter Of The Year

BGC Group has reported strong results for the first quarter of the year. In the first three months, the company earned $664.2 million, a 14.8% increase from the same time last year. The company said this happened because more people used its trading platforms for foreign exchange (FX), interest rates, and energy.

The company explained that both its Voice/Hybrid and Fenics businesses helped with the strong results. These two parts of the business had their best numbers ever. One of the leaders at BGC, Sean Windeatt, said FMX, the company’s electronic platform, had its best quarter too.

FMX Platform Shows Record Numbers In U.S. Treasuries And FX

FMX is one of BGC’s top trading platforms. BGC said FMX supported U.S. Treasury trading with average daily volumes exceeding $60 billion during the quarter. In February, the platform saw more than $100 billion traded in just a day. BGC noted that market share for this platform increased from 28% last year to 33% this year.

BGC said FX trading grew a lot, rising to $14.5 billion every day. This growth came from new users and more help from equity partners. The company is also getting ready to launch trading for U.S. Treasury futures in May.

Another part of BGC, called Environmental and Commodity Solutions, also grew. It earned $149.9 million this quarter, which is 26.6% more than last year. This growth came from people buying more oil and clean energy products.

BGC earned $110 million from FX trading alone. This was a 31% rise. The company said interest rate trading reached $200.9 million in revenue, setting an all-time high for that division.

Credit trading dropped just a little by 0.7% because some areas in Europe and other places were quieter. BGC said equity revenue stayed the same at $62.9 million. The firm noted that strong trading in the U.S. and Europe helped balance out weak trading in Asia.

BGC Expands Its Business With OTC Global Holdings’ Deal

Growth in BGC’s data and network operations reached 5.2%, led by Fenics and Lucera. A sale last year, however, slightly lowered the total figure. On April 1, BGC bought another company called OTC Global Holdings. This new deal could bring over $400 million in yearly revenue. It positions BGC as the number one ECS broker in the world.

Windeatt said the deal would help the company grow even more and give value to its shareholders. BGC’s adjusted earnings before tax rose 18.4% to $160.2 million. After taxes, earnings grew 16.1% to reach $143 million.

The company also shared its earnings before interest and taxes (EBITDA). It was $199.8 million, just a little lower than last year. But without a one-time gain last year, this number grew by more than 16%. To end the quarter, BGC said it would give a $0.02 dividend per share. This will be paid on June 10 to everyone who owns shares by May 27.