IG Group (LON:IGG) executives told investors the company delivered “record” results in 2025, with management highlighting accelerating customer growth, expanding product capability, and continued capital returns alongside increased investment plans. Chief Executive Officer Breon Corcoran and Chief Financial Officer Clifford Abrahams also announced the launch of a strategic review aimed at identifying the best routes to maximize long-term shareholder value, with outcomes expected in the autumn.
Customer momentum and upgraded growth outlook
Corcoran said 2025 represented “a year of strong execution,” pointing to a step change in customer acquisition. Organic new customer acquisition rose 54%, while active customers increased 6%, with management saying growth is “accelerating into double digits in 2026.” Funded accounts increased to more than 1.3 million, and net trading revenue crossed £1 billion for the first time.
In trading for the three months to the end of February, the CFO said net trading revenue increased 5% year-over-year (4% organically), while organic first trades rose 57% and active customers increased 10%. He added that March had been stronger, citing heightened volatility linked to geopolitical developments, and said the platform was available “100% of the time.” The company expects first-quarter 2026 calendar-year reported revenue of approximately £300 million, described as “close to a record” for the group.
Product expansion: stocks, crypto, and a unified platform
Management emphasized faster product delivery. Corcoran said that between 2022 and 2024 the company shipped fewer than 20 new products or features over three years, but delivered 37 in 2025 “with fewer people,” attributing the change to cultural transformation, clearer ownership, and fewer execution barriers.
On stock trading, Corcoran said IG’s zero-commission offering is live in the U.K., Ireland, Singapore, and France. He noted early traction in newer markets, including:
- Singapore: stock trading attracted “well over 2,000” active customers within a few months, with double-digit percentage week-on-week growth and “significant” multi-product take-up.
- France: the stock trading offering surpassed 2,400 active customers, with the base “doubling every three weeks.”
Corcoran also discussed the Freetrade acquisition and said IG is investing to expand the proposition, including the launch of zero-commission mutual funds in SIPPs and efforts to capture transfer demand in the U.K. self-directed investment market.
In crypto, Corcoran said IG became the first U.K.-listed company to receive a full FCA cryptoasset license and secured a European license under MiCA. The company completed the acquisition of Independent Reserve in January and launched spot crypto trading in Australia earlier this month using Independent Reserve’s capabilities, with plans to expand to Singapore and the UAE in the second half of 2026.
A key near-term product priority is a unified multi-asset platform. Corcoran said the company will launch “one app” that brings together leverage products, stock and ETF investing, and crypto with a single wallet and seamless movement between products. The unified platform will launch first in the U.K. mid-year 2026. He said multi-product adoption in the U.K. is already up 138% ahead of new customer growth, and management expects the unified platform to accelerate engagement and extend customer lifetime value.
Financial performance, investment plans, and capital returns
Abrahams described 2025 as a period of record total revenue “of over £1.1 billion,” with EBITDA margins of “over 47%.” He said the company is investing more because returns justify it, with short payback periods, while targeting EBITDA margins in a “mid-40s%” range.
Costs rose 13% on a reported basis, which Abrahams attributed primarily to higher marketing spend, scaling Freetrade, and increased legal and professional costs. Marketing rose 31% across the group, which management tied to the 54% increase in first trades. Legal and professional costs increased to £62 million, with roughly half said to be ongoing and the remainder linked to M&A costs, technology consulting, and early work evaluating the group’s domicile and legal entity structure.
Below EBITDA, Abrahams said the disposal of Small Exchange contributed a £76 million gain; excluding that, profit after tax was “broadly stable,” reflecting revenue growth offset by lower finance income and interest costs on a £250 million bond issued last May. Adjusted EPS, excluding the disposal gain, grew 5%, which the CFO said was driven by buybacks that have reduced the share count by more than 16% since May 2022.
The company said it returned £321 million to shareholders during the year and announced an additional £125 million share buyback. Abrahams said the pro forma solvency ratio was 197% after the new buyback, near the upper end of the firm’s 160%–200% target range. IG also proposed a seven-month dividend of £0.28, described as seven-twelfths of what would have been paid for the twelve months ending May 31, 2026.
Business mix: growth across products and divisions
Abrahams said assets under administration reached £18.2 billion at year-end and were just under £20 billion at the end of the prior month, framing AUA as an increasingly important driver as the stock trading and investments business scales.
By product category, the CFO reported growth across each segment:
- OTC derivatives: net trading revenue up 8%, which management contrasted with a 3% compound annual decline between 2021 and 2024.
- Exchange-traded derivatives: revenue up 3% reported, reflecting an exit from Spectrum at the end of 2024; excluding Spectrum, organic growth from continuing operations was 15%, driven by tastytrade with U.S. active customers up 12%.
- Stock trading and investments: revenue nearly doubled to over £68 million, including 41% organic growth.
- Crypto: on a pro forma basis including Independent Reserve, crypto represented about 4% of group net trading revenue in 2025; management said digital asset markets softened entering 2026.
By division, Abrahams said performance was positive across the group, citing U.K. first trades more than doubling organically, U.S. net trading revenue up 18%, APAC revenue steady but first trades up 54%, and Europe delivering 23% organic OTC growth.
Management also highlighted tastytrade’s results, with trading revenue growth of 23% in the year and second-half growth accelerating to 32% in local currency. Customer assets reached more than $7 billion, up 23%, and active customers rose 13%.
Strategic review and AI focus
Corcoran said the company is launching a strategic review “this summer” to look beyond the current plan and identify the best routes to maximize shareholder value. Management said the review will evaluate acquisitions, the group’s domicile and legal entity structure and listing venues, and whether combining parts of the group with other industry participants could create additional value. Executives said no decisions had been taken.
On AI, management described ongoing use cases including onboarding and screening, digital servicing, compliance automation, marketing creative testing, and tools to help customers identify trading opportunities. Corcoran said it is “too early” to quantify the ultimate productivity or efficiency outcomes, while reiterating plans to expand AI use in 2026 toward commercial value, including churn prediction and “next best action” models. He also referenced an Australia launch of “DiscoverAI,” a tool that allows traders to search for opportunities using natural language while scanning global news in real time.
During Q&A, management said it has “high confidence” in the expected lifetime value of new customer cohorts and described a disciplined approach to marketing payback. Corcoran said marketing payback is around six months, with lifetime value to acquisition cost about 4-to-1, and noted marketing increased from 8% to 10% of revenue in 2025, with expectations it will rise again.
Closing the call, Corcoran said the company is “very happy with the momentum of the business” and wants to be “more ambitious than incremental year-on-year growth,” while the strategic review is intended to ensure IG captures the full long-term opportunity ahead.
About IG Group (LON:IGG)
IG Group (LSEG:IGG) is an innovative, global fintech company that delivers dynamic online trading platforms and a
robust educational ecosystem to power the pursuit of financial freedom for the ambitious. For nearly five decades,
the Company has evolved its technology, risk management, financial products, content, and platforms to meet the
needs of its retail and institutional clients. IG Group continues to innovate its offering for the new generation of tomorrow’s
investors through its IG, tastytrade, IG Prime, Spectrum, and DailyFX brands.
Established in 1974, IG Group is a London-headquartered FTSE 250 company offering its clients access to ~19,000
financial markets through its offices spread across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
