Gain Capital the one of three forex brokers who are now attempting an IPO (FXCM and FXPro are two others) is switching from NASDAQ to NYSE hoping that this attempt is going to be more successful than the last one. Gain Capital registered for an IPO more than a year ago but wasn’t able to find the right timing (or maybe buyers) to float its shares.
Gain said in its latest IPO prospectus that it plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol GCAP. Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities are underwriting the offering.
GAIN generated third-quarter revenue of $51.5 million, greater than the same period last year but lower than the previous quarter.
The company generated revenue of $148.1 million in the first nine months of the year, compared with $113.8 million in the same period of last year. The company has said considerable volatility across global markets has helped drive additional trading traffic to its website.
The company and its president and chief executive, Glenn H. Stevens, neither admitted nor denied allegations brought against them by the National Futures Association in June and paid $459k to settle market manipulation and unfavorable trading conditions allegations brought by the NFA.
I have to say that though I wish them good luck with the IPO and think that public companies are going to make a big difference in this space the numbers are less attractive than I had thought they would be.
It seems like since 2008 Gain has not increased its customer base and seemed to have reached a plateau with respect to the number of customer they add and the number they lose each month. It seems like they have added 264,834 accounts in 2010 and managed to lose all of them as the overall number of accounts stayed the same – this is a sad picture.
I am also surprised by the low revenue per million traded presented – seems like being a market maker doesn’t really pay off.
– Asaf.