Flow Traders Q4 2023 Results

08 February 2024

Flow Traders announces its unaudited Q4 2023 results. 

Highlights

  • Flow Traders recorded Normalized Net Trading Income of €72.8m and Normalized Total Income of €72.9m in Q423. For FY23, Normalized Total Income was €299.8m compared to €460.6m in FY22 given the overall decline in market activity over the year. 
  • Flow Traders’ Value Traded declined 5% y/y in Q423 and declined by 16% y/y in 2023 given the subdued market environment.
  • Normalized Operating Expenses were €49.4m in Q423, with Normalized Fixed Operating Expenses of €40.4m. For FY23, Normalized Operating Expenses came in at €207.6m, down from €252.4m in FY22. Normalized Fixed Operating Expenses were €174.1m, up from €161.6m in 2022, and compared to the guidance of €175-185m.
  • Normalized EBITDA was €23.4m in Q423, generating a Normalized EBITDA margin of 31%. For FY23, Normalized EBITDA totaled €92.2m, with a margin of 31%, down from €208.2m and 45% in FY22. 
  • Normalized Net Profit was €15.3m in Q423, yielding a Normalized basic EPS of €0.35. For FY23, Normalized Net Profit totaled €59.5m with a Normalized basic EPS of €1.38, compared to €150.2m and €3.45 in FY22. 
  • Trading capital stood at €584m at the end of Q423, compared to €585m at the end of Q323, and generated a 51% return on trading capital1.
  • Shareholders’ equity was €586m at the end of Q423, compared to €590m at the end of Q323. 
  • Flow Traders employed 646 FTEs at the end of Q423, compared to 658 at the end of Q323 and 660 at the end of FY22, which is slightly below the guidance of broadly flat headcount for the year.
  • Flow Traders proposes a final FY23 dividend of €0.15, resulting in total dividends of €0.45 for FY23 and a 54% payout ratio.

CEO statement 

Mike Kuehnel, CEO

“We saw a slightly improved trading environment in the fourth quarter when compared to the third quarter, though volumes and volatility were still down compared to the same period last year. The brief increase in volatility in October was met with the lowest levels of volatility for the year in November and December. For full year 2023, we are pleased to see our diversification strategy yielded solid results despite the slowdown in market activity as we were able to benefit from the recent increase in activity within the CCC segment, which somewhat offset the lower market activity in equity and fixed income when compared to a year ago. 

In Europe, given the continued increase of institutional and retail interest in digital assets, we announced the formation of AllUnity, a Euro-stablecoin partnership with DWS Asset Management and Galaxy Digital. AllUnity furthers aligns with Flow Traders’ focus on contributing to the development of innovation within the digital asset space. We also spearheaded a concerted effort and leveraged our expertise to act as lead market maker and liquidity provider for our partners during the recent spot Bitcoin ETF launches in the U.S.. We are pleased to see significant developments within the digital asset space as we strongly believe it brings increased maturity and adoption. 

In the Americas, we continued to expand our regional presence in Chicago, our second location in the U.S., as well as growing our product coverage by providing liquidity in ADRs. In Asia, we are encouraged by the already positive contribution from our nascent operation in China in the first year after receipt of our QFII license and look forward to further building relationships with the issuers, counterparties and other stakeholders to support the growth of the ETP ecosystem.

Looking at our operations, we continue to focus on cost and operational efficiencies while balancing our key growth initiatives. In 2023, our Fixed Operating Expenses came in slightly below our guidance and we expect a similar projection in 2024 but remain vigilant, given continued investments in technology and inflationary pressures. 

In 2024, we will continue to focus on executing our strategy to strengthen and diversify our business and contribute to driving transparency and efficiency across global financial markets in collaboration with our partners. As we come up on the 20th anniversary of Flow Traders this year, we continue to pride ourselves on fostering our talent, which underpins the success of the company and remains as important as ever as we execute our strategy across our regions and asset classes.” 

Notes:
1. Return on trading capital defined as LTM NTI divided by end of period trading capital. 

Full press release here.