XTB: 4Q 2019 financial report

Polish broker XTB has just published its preliminary results for the last quarter of last year and for the full fiscal year ending on 31 December 2019.

Compared to a weaker final quarter in 2018, XTB saw its financial situation improve significantly:

Q4 2019 operating revenue: $23 million (PLN 89.58 million)
Q4 2018 operating revenue: $11.22 million (PLN 42.6 million)

Operating expenses increased slightly:

Q4 2019 operating expenditure: $12 million (PLN 47.1 million)
Q4 2018 operating expenditure: $10.6 million (PLN 40.7 million)

The most significant change in XTB's financial figures concerns its net profits, which increased:

Q4 2019 net profits: $9.4 million (PLN 37.1 million)
Q4 2018 net profits: $1 million (PLN 4 million)

From an annual perspective, consolidated net profits are down 43% compared to 2018:

2019 net profits: $ 4.90 million (PLN 58 million)
2018 net profits: $ 26.21 million (PLN 101.4 million)

This irregular performance is attributed to the weak performance in last year's first semester, where the group recorded a net profit of only 1.33 million dollars (5.1 million PLN), significantly lower than the 114 million PLN posted during the same period of the previous year.

The company blames ESMA restrictions, which had a more severe impact than what most CFD brokers had anticipated. Although XTB has been particularly vulnerable to this upheaval, the company sees it as a unique opportunity to gain market share, as the new ESMA regulations create a more level playing field.

XTB has also recorded an increasing number (+49%) of active trading accounts:

Q4 2019 active trading accounts: 30,814
Q4 2018 active trading accounts: 20,569

The number of new accounts also increased by 79%:

Number of new Q4 2019 accounts: 10,423
Number of new Q4 2018 accounts: 5,741

One of the most remarkable results is the amount of net deposits, which soared by 52%:

Q4 2019 net deposits: $30.6 million (PLN 120 million)
Q4 2018 net deposits: $20.2 million (PLN 78.6 million)

On an annual basis, the figure increased by 22%, reaching $104 million USD (409 million PLN), compared with $86 million USD (333 million PLN) in 2018.