IG predicts top-end 2026 revenue as launches review to maximise value

IG Group Holdings PLC on Thursday announced a new £125 million share buyback and said it was launching a strategic review of the business.

The London-based provider of online trading platforms said the review will look at ways of maximising shareholder value, including acquisitions, IG’s domicile and listing venues, and potential combinations with other industry participants.

The outcome of the review will be announced at a strategy update in the autumn, IG said.

The news came as IG said pretax profit rose 15% to £563.7 million in 2025 from £490.2 million the year prior.

Basic earnings per share increased 29% to 130.0 pence from 100.5p the year before.

Revenue grew 6.7% to a record £1.12 billion from £1.05 billion.

Active customers nearly trebled to 742,100 from 270,300, driven by the acquisition of Freetrade. On an organic, continuing operations basis, active customers increased 5.7% to 281,300 from 266,100.

IG announced the acquisition of investment platform Freetrade for £160 million in January 2025, with the deal officially completing last April.

IG also provided a trading update for the three months to February 28.

This period corresponds to the third quarter of the group’s former May financial year end and was provided to support comparability during the transition to a December year end, IG said.

In the three-month period, revenue increased 2.4% to £274.2 million from £267.9 million and was stable on an organic, continuing operations basis.

IG proposed a final dividend per share for the seven months to December of 28.12 pence, equivalent to seven-twelfths of the dividend that would have been paid for the 12 months ending May 31.

In the financial year to May 2025, IG paid a total dividend of 47.2p per share, up 2.2 from 46.2p the year before.

In addition, IG announced a new share buyback programme of £125.0 million, which it anticipates completing within the next 12 months.

‘Record financial results and accelerating customer growth demonstrate the strength of IG’s platform,’ said Chief Executive Breon Corcoran.

Shares in IG Group bucked the weaker market trend and rose 4.6% to 1,423.00p each in London on Thursday morning.

IG said it enters 2026 with ‘strong momentum’ and current trading in line with expectations.

Total revenue for the three months to March is expected to be around £300 million, up around 7% year on year.

From this base, IG expects 2026 organic total revenue growth towards the top end of its mid-to-high single-digit target range, excluding contributions from Freetrade and Independent Reserve.

IG completed the acquisition of Independent Reserve, a leading Australian cryptocurrency exchange in January.

IG expects 2026 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation broadly in line with current consensus of £538.1 million, assuming market conditions broadly consistent with 2025, and is comfortable with consensus adjusted EPS of 119.5p.

In 2025, IG reported Ebitda of £531.1 million, up 1.6% from £525.0 million in 2024 and adjusted EPS of 115.3p, up 5.3%, from 109.5p on-year.

Beyond 2026, IG expects organic total revenue growth towards the top end of its guided range.

Group Ebitda margins are expected to be sustained in a mid-40s percentage range.

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