23-07-2007 Another very successful year for IG Group

The spread betting firm announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 May 2007: revenue was up 36% to £122m and profit before tax was up 35% to £69m.

The sports division delivered another year of strong growth, with spread betting up 14% to £8.7m and fixed odds (Binarybet.com and Extrabet.com) up 143% to £3.5m.

IG manages the risk across its fixed odds offering on a unified basis and where necessary it uses the betting exchanges to hedge its positions. According to the year-end statement, this has given the company, and in particular Extrabet, increasing ability to deal with sizeable bets from large clients.

In related news, the Financial Times reports that leading stockbrokers such as TD Waterhouse and Barclays are offering incentives to investors opening financial spread betting accounts with City Index, while rival firm WorldSpreads is offering to rebate up to £250 of new traders' losses.