CMC Markets to float next year after taking rivals’ customers
SPREADBETTING and trading firm CMC Markets is hiring investment bankers to plan a stock market flotation next year, chief executive Peter Cruddas announced yesterday.
Much of the sector has been shaken this year by the shock of the Swiss National Bank scrapping its currency’s cap against the euro, which resulted in some firms closing down. But Cruddas said it benefitted CMC, which is an unusually large player in the industry.
“We’ve seen something of a flight to safety – we have been around for 25 years, and at the end of the day clients want to go with a tried and trusted provider,” he told City PM.
Last year Cruddas said a flotation would wait until the firm had grown further. But yesterday he said the expansion of the past six months has taken even him by surprise, leading to the decision to go public.
CMC yesterday announced its full year financial results, showing underlying profits of £51.9m, up 61 per cent on the year.
Cruddas and his wife own 90 per cent of the firm, while Goldman Sachs owns the other 10 per cent – the investment bank acquired the stake in 2006, after stock market volatility led CMC to abandon its previous attempted float.