IG Group

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IG Group
Type Public Limited Company
Founded 1974
Headquarters London, England, UK
Key people Jonathan Davie, Chairman
Tim Howkins, Chief Executive num_employees = 4041
Industry Financial Services
Revenue £122m1
Website www.iggroup.com
1. Annual results for year ended 31 May 2007

Contents

[edit] History And General Description

IG Group (LSE: IGG) is a British speculative investment company that has several operating companies in the UK, offering a variety of financial services to a retail and professional client base. IG Group's most well-known business, IG Index, is one of the world’s leading financial spread betting companies. It offers spread betting on financial markets, sporting, entertainment and political events, while IG Markets offers Contracts For Difference (CFDs) on a similar range of financial markets.

A traditional fixed-odds sports service, with an emphasis on in-play betting, is offered by extrabet, while binarybet.com is a hybrid of spread betting and fixed-odds, offered on sports and financial markets.

Headquartered in London, IG Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 250 Index. While the majority of the company's activities are based in the UK, IG Group has also expanded internationally and now operates in Australia, Germany, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain and Sweden.

[edit] Listing and Delisting

In July 2000, shares in IG Group plc were admitted to the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange. After three years of trading as a publicly listed company, Stuart Wheeler, who had retained a significant shareholding in the business at the time of flotation, sold his entire holding to raise capital to renovate his castle in Chilham, Kent.

IG Group took the opportunity to acquire Wheeler's shares, and those of certain other long-standing shareholders, in a management buy-out (backed by venture capitalists CVC Capital Partners Ltd) which valued the company at £143 million. IG Group plc's listing on the London Stock Exchange was subsequently cancelled on 7 November 2003.

While privately owned, IG Group introduced several new products including the popular business of binary betting, a hybrid of spread betting and fixed-odds betting, which allowed clients to back or lay discrete financial and sports events.

In May 2005, after two years of private ownership, IG Group and CVC Capital Partners re-floated the company on the main list of the London Stock Exchange for £393 million, a price which saw CVC Capital Partners triple its initial investment. On relisting, IG Group Holdings plc became a member of the FTSE 250 with a market capitalisation in excess of £500m.

[edit] International Expansion

In July 2002, IG Group commenced trading in Australia after a change in the country's financial services legislation made it possible to offer CFDs and spread bets to Australian residents. The Australian office now accounts for 10% of group revenues.

[edit] Clients

The Group's client base is dominated by retail clients, particularly in its spread betting businesses and in binary betting.

[edit] Operations

IG Group offers a wide range of financial products and services to retail and corporate customers. In addition to its core business of financial spread betting, IG Group's other principal products and services include:

  • Contracts For Difference (CFDs)
  • Sports spread betting
  • Binary betting
  • Foreign exchange (special form of CFDs)
  • Fixed-odds sports betting (via extrabet)


The range of underlying markets currently includes:

  • UK and international shares
  • Global stock indices
  • FX
  • Metals
  • Energies
  • Commodities
  • Options
  • Interest rates
  • Binary bets
  • Worldwide sports events

[edit] Online Dealing

In 1998 IG Group utilised the new technology to offer online dealing.

IG Group's client base increased significantly with the introduction of online dealing and now more than 90% of the Group's client transactions are executed online or via direct market access platforms.

[edit] Regulation

Two of the Group's principal operating subsidiaries, IG Index and IG Markets, are regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the United Kingdom and by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia. IG Markets is also regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in Singapore.

IG Index and binarybet.com are also both required to hold UK bookmakers' permits.

The Group does not accept bets from residents in the United States for regulatory reasons, and has implemented a number of procedures to enforce this policy.


[edit] See also

[edit] External links