FLOW TRADERS CONTINUES TO GROW ITS MARKET FOOTPRINT AND TO ROLL OUT STRUCTURAL GROWTH STRATEGY.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 24 October 2017, 07:30 hrs Amsterdam Time - Flow Traders N.V. (Euronext: FLOW) today announced its 3Q17 results (unaudited), stating that:

Flow Traders' global market share reached over 4% in 3Q17, its highest level ever, while market activity declined further
Flow Traders' ETP Value Traded year-to-date shows strong growth Y-o-Y (+16%) versus a declining market ETP Value Traded (-12%) over the same period
Flow Traders' 3Q17 NTI of € 31.7m is a result of tightening spreads and further decrease in market volatility
Flow Traders expects the declining trend in cost growth to continue in 4Q17 towards the lower end of the guided 15-20% cost growth target range for full year 2017
Growth initiatives are underway and developing as planned in all regions
3Q17 EBITDA margin was 24% as a result of the operating leverage of our business model and very slow market conditions
Flow Traders is on schedule to meet all regulatory requirements under MiFID2
Flow Traders intends to increase the pay-out ratio to at least 75% of its net earnings over 2017, pending shareholder approval

Overview Consolidated Quarterly and Year-to-date Results Flow Traders

€million, unless otherwise stated
3Q17 2Q17 Change YTD17 YTD16 Change
Net Trading Income 31.7 46.7 (32%) 126.7 181.3 (30%)
EMEA (Europe) 21.4 35.0 (39%) 87.1 113.1 (23%)
Americas 6.9 8.3 (16%) 28.3 50.5 (44%)
APAC (Asia) 3.4 3.4 0% 11.3 17.7 (36%)
EBITDA 7.6 17.0 (55%) 42.8 85.6 (50%)
Net Profit 5.6 12.5 (55%) 31.6 66.9 (53%)
EBITDA Margin 24% 36% 34% 47%
EPS (EUR) 0.12 0.27 0.68 1.44

Flow Traders ETP Value Traded (€bn) 162.3 184.7 (12%) 521.8 450.7 +16%
EMEA (Europe) 96.1 112.4 (14%) 314.7 289.7 +9%
Americas 60.3 66.5 (9%) 190.0 135.7 +40%
APAC (Asia) 5.8 5.8 0% 17.1 25.4 (33%)

Market ETP Value Traded (€bn) 4,154 4,841 (14%) 13,893 15,823 (12%)
EMEA (Europe) 194 226 (14%) 654 723 (10%)
Americas 3,52 4,137 (15%) 11,91 13,693 (13%)
APAC (Asia) 433 477 (9%) 1,320 1,407 (6%)

Management Board Statements
Co-CEO Sjoerd Rietberg stated: "Market activity continued to deteriorate in 3Q17 to levels that can be characterized as unusually slow, impacting markets and market participants. Flow Traders remained focused on improving its efficiency and setup, which resulted in further increase in market share. Performance was encouraging across all regions from an operational perspective. In the US, Institutional Trading progressed well, as the number of counterparties we are connected to increased further and we grew the ETP Value Traded OTC. In Asia, technological developments progressed in line with expectations. In Europe, we keep growing our market share step by step, as we continuously focus on improvement of our infrastructure. On our FX initiative, we are well on track there and expect to be able to report the first tangible results later this year."

Co-CEO Dennis Dijkstra added: "As we highlighted during the 1H17 results, Flow Traders continued to execute on its long-term growth strategy. We aligned our organisation further to adapt to the changing environment, as we further improved our technological setup in the different regions and completed the re-location of the US offices in 3Q17. The license application for the Hong Kong office is accepted and is currently being reviewed. We expect to open the Hong Kong office before year end in order to commence trading immediately once the licensing process is completed. In terms of regulation, MiFID 2 preparations are well underway while we expect more transparency to arise in ETP flows. Overseeing all developments, Flow Traders keeps growing its global presence, while balancing all of its stakeholders' interests".

CFO Marcel Jongmans commented: "We further executed our strategy in 3Q17 and we brought the development of the fixed cost growth year-to-date well within the cost growth target range for 2017 of 15-20%. That trend will continue and our cost growth is expected to reach the lower end of this target range for the year. The combination of unusually slow market conditions with Flow Traders' operating leverage led to a decrease in margins year-on-year, as expected. Net Profit amounted to €5.6m in 3Q17, partially helped by the release of a one-off benefit in the tax line as we accrued too much Corporate Income Tax in the past. This leads to a Net Profit year-to-date of €31.6m, which translates into an EPS of € 0.68 so far in 2017. Based on our healthy and unleveraged balance sheet, our strong cash flows and the current market circumstances, Flow Traders intends to increase its pay-out ratio for 2017 to at least 75% of its Net Profit. As our operations run efficiently and our capital streams have been further optimized, we see room to increase returns to our shareholders, without harming our growth ambitions while remaining well-positioned when markets become more active again. We do not change our dividend policy, but this does show the flexibility of Flow Traders' business model given changing market circumstances".

Current Trading and Outlook
In line with market expectations, Global ETP Assets under Management continued to grow, a trend that is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the years beyond. The secular trends in assets under management from active to passive remains ongoing and strongly drives ETP growth across all asset classes. Regulation, notably MiFID II, is expected to bring more transparency, which in turn is expected to benefit the ETP market as such as well. We will continue to grow organically by increasing our coverage within the ETP space, whilst pursuing our goal to grow our NTI structurally and to outperform the growth in the Market ETP Value Traded. As part of our organic growth strategy we are well underway to open a new office in Hong Kong and have completed the re-location of our office in New York in 3Q17. Besides that, Flow Traders seeks to further grow its NTI through diversifying the product portfolio it trades, including by way of expanding into FX liquidity providing.

Preliminary Financial Calendar 4QH 2017 / 1H 2018
09 January 2018 Start Silent Period ahead of FY17 results
09 February 2018 Release FY17 results
02 March 2018 Release 2017 Annual Report
03 April 2018 Start Silent Period ahead of 1Q18 trading update
24 April 2018 Release 1Q18 trading update
26 April 2018 AGM Flow Traders
30 April 2018 Proposed Ex-dividend date final dividend FY17 (pending AGM approval)
02 May 2018 Proposed Record date final dividend FY17 (pending AGM approval)
04 May 2018 Proposed Payment date final dividend FY17 (pending AGM approval)
29 June 2018 Start Silent Period ahead of 1H18 results
27 July 2018 Release 1H18 Results

As of 2018, Flow Traders will move to interim reporting. This means that Flow Traders will release a trading update in the first and third quarters of each financial year going forward, while Half Year and Full Year results releases will remain similar to current reporting. The company remains committed to the highest level of disclosure and engagement with its stakeholders.


tijd 09.01
De Midcap 833,95 +0,07 +0,01%
Flow Traders EUR 19,45 -73ct vol. 51.000