IG Group Holdings has posted its key financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2020, that is the six months to end-November 2019.

The Group’s net trading revenue in H1 FY20 was £249.9 million, compared with £251.0 million in H1 FY19. This is in tune with forecasts. The brokerage also notes that the first half of the prior year benefitted from two months of trading prior to the ESMA product intervention measures coming into effect.

Net trading revenue in IG’s core markets was 6% lower in H1 FY20 than the same period in the prior year. This was due to a 13% reduction in revenue in the ESMA region which was impacted by the introduction of the ESMA product intervention measures, and the lower level of trading by professional clients in the second quarter FY20 compared with a strong year-ago period.

Operating profit in the period was £100.1 million, 11% lower than a year earlier. After net finance income of £1.1 million, profit before taxation was £101.2 million. The effective tax rate applied to the profit before tax for the period is 18.6% (H1 FY19: 19.1%) with profit after tax of £82.4 million.