XTX Markets Limited, a leading non-bank liquidity provider in the forex industry, has released its annual reports and financial statements for the for the year ended December 31, 2017. The latest figures highlight growing revenue and profits despite a strong jump in costs for the group.

The report, which was released on Thursday, showed that the group continued on from a strong financial year in 2016. According to the statement, the key performance indicators for the company are net trading revenue and profit before tax.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

In the 2017 fiscal year, revenues grew by 17 percent. This was driven by the company’s expansion into new markets and the development of products. Furthermore, the company was able to optimize existing strategies, which also contributed to the uptick in revenue.

Net trading revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017, came in at £154.6 million. This was an increase from 2016, which reported net revenue of £131.9 million.

Revenues have grown 17 percent, driven by the company’s expansion into new markets and products and optimization of existing strategies.

Profits, on the other hand, came in at £60.98 million, up from £60.45 million in the 2016 fiscal year. According to the statement, the profits generated from XTX Markets’ trading activity is in line with expectations, due to the low level of volatility in global markets during 2017.

Before tax, profit for the company was actually down compared to 2016, coming in at £75 million. This is a decline of slightly more than one percent from £75.8 million. However, as can be seen above, profit overall for 2017 was higher than in 2016.

Expansion drove jump in expenses

In 2017, the administrative expenses grew significantly, up by 29 percent to £80.4 million, compared to £56.8 million in 2016. This is due to the company’s expansion during the year. In particular, the costs are related to technology infrastructure costs, market data and variable compensation costs.

The company also reported that shareholders equity was £207.2 million in 2017, a jump of 23 percent when compared to £168.5 million in 2016. The growth in equity is due to retained profit for the year, the report said.

However, return on assets declined in 2017, coming in at 24 percent. In 2016, return on assets was higher, at 27 percent.

Looking to the future, XTX Markets said it plans to continue expanding its trading activities into further markets. The group expects to continue trading profitably to support its organic growth.

Furthermore, the company said it would continue to monitor the regulatory framework of the industry to ensure it remains compliant with regulations. However, it does not see any changes to its core activities in the foreseeable future.