Online trading platform CMC Markets cut its annual earnings outlook by up to 80 million pounds ($110.24 million). This is because of the reduced market volatility resulted in lower transaction volumes across new and existing clients. CMC had raised its outlook multiple times this year as a retail trading boom and market volatility fueled volumes across the sector.
But those levels have eased as government awareness and rules and vaccinations have quelled fears about the pandemic’s impact on growth, with the CBOE volatility index, or Wall Street’s fear gauge, settling at about 16.11. 85.5 in March last year, was its peak. The British company now expects fiscal year 2022 operating income between 250 million pounds and 280 million pounds. CMC was confident of generating in excess of 330 million pounds. The company stated that the client numbers remain up around a third from pre-pandemic numbers. This is while the assets under management remain near record levels. Operating costs for the year through March 31, 2022 will be moderately higher. But still will be partly offset by lower marketing costs in line with lower activity.
