XTB Misses on Q4 Financial Results, Revenues Drop 44%

Publicly listed Polish FX and CFDs has reported its preliminary results for Q4 2018 and the full fiscal year ending on December 31, 2018.
The group has disclosed a decline across a number of different metrics during the last three months, including its revenues and net income. However, the latest report shows positive figures across key components of its business on a year-over-year basis, per an XTB financial disclosure.

Compared to a period of strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2017, has seen pronounced retreat in its financial figures. More specifically, during Q4 2018 XTB disclosed a total operating revenue of $11.23 million (PLN 42.7 million), which was down -44 percent year-over-year from over $20 million (PLN 76 million) in Q4 2017.
Looking at its total revenues for the full year, however, XTB posted a figure of $75.7 million ‎(PLN 288.3 million)‎, a gain of 5 percent relative to PLN 274.6 million in the previous fiscal year. In dollar terms, this figure is also lower year-over-year from over $82 million reported in 2017 after excluding the impact of foreign exchange changes.
Clients Metrics also Weak
The largest change across came in terms of its net profit, which dropped to $1.18 million (PLN 4.49 million) in Q4 2018, which is seven times lower than the PLN 37.6 million posted in Q4 2017.
This weak performance was reversed across a yearly timetable, with the previous calendar year showing a profit of $26.8 million (PLN 101.99 million), up nearly 10 percent compared to PLN 92.9 million in the year prior. Excluding the local currency devaluation against the buck, the figure is lower than nearly $27.8 million reported a year ago.
Of note, XTB’s Q3 results were adjusted to reflect a one-off event, which was the imposition of an administrative fine. Poland’s financial regulatory body, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), in July with a PLN 9.9 million ($2.7 million) fine for “irregularities in the execution of client orders,” a statement from the regulator said.
Coupled with this mixed performance, XTB has registered a drop in the average number of active accounts with 20,568 as of Q4 2018, slightly down from 20,909 in Q4 2017. New accounts were also down, falling -15.7 percent year-over-year to 13,930 in Q4 2018, relative to 16,530 accounts in Q4 2017.