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Retail platform provider Gain Capital, owner of the forex.com brand name, signalled just how fast and far the sector has developed when it filed for an initial public offering on August 31. The company, which was formed in 1999, is planning to offer around $125 million of shares, with the proceeds going to the company’s existing shareholders. Gain has declined to say what percentage of the company the IPO represents.
Other retail platform providers, as well as their investors, will be watching how the IPO, believed to be the first such offering anywhere in the world, unfolds. However, several have expressed surprise at the timing of Gain’s move. "I don’t understand the timing and approach. Deteriorating results and all the money to the shareholders, not the company? It will be a hard sell in my view," was the comment from one rival executive.
Gain’s annual net revenue grew from $22.2 million in 2004 to $190.8 million in 2008, a compound annual growth rate of 71.2%. Cynics seized on the fact that the company’s net revenues for the six months to the end of June fell 12.2%