Spreadex sees annual profit rise of 30%

Spread betting and fixed odds operator Spreadex has seen profits rise by nearly 30% according to the latest financial accounts filed at Companies House. The firm, which offers sports betting and financial trading from one account, posted profits before tax of £18.5m from turnover of £35.4m for the year ending 31 May 2014.

Spreadex, originally formed in 1999, has seen rapid growth in recent years and posted pre-tax profits of £14.4m from turnover of £29.4m last year. The figures come before the company enjoyed a record month of new sign-ups and bet numbers in June due to the World Cup, plus volatility in the financial markets.

Spreadex Managing Director Jonathan Hufford said: “An expanded range of sports and financial markets for customers to trade on plus continued product and platform upgrades have helped us go from strength to strength. Our philosophy of putting the customer first has seen us named as the best spread betting firm for customer service for three years in succession in the Investment Trends awards and we believe this has also helped our client base grow to record numbers.”

Spreadex has put particular focus in expanding its in-house IT development team and also recently signed a £1.2m deal with Computacenter to install a private cloud solution incorporating 40 terabytes of storage to cope with the firm’s rate of expansion.

The company plans to launch further financial trading products later this year that it hopes will help keep customer and bet levels growing.

Hufford added: “Financial spread trading is becoming more mainstream and being adopted by investors as a way to gain leveraged access to trade the markets while avoiding stamp duty and Capital Gains Tax on profits. The ability to go short as well as long is also another attraction, while the option to trade via a credit limit, subject to client status, as well as being able to place sports bets from the same account is also proving very popular among our customer base.”