Google Lifts IG France’s Ad Restrictions, XM Owner Buys Stake in a Cyprus Bank

Plus 500, XTB, CFI, and Admirals UK’s financial reports

Plus500 posted a 13% quarter-over-quarter revenue increase in Q1 2025, prompting the company to raise its full-year outlook above current market expectations.

However, revenue was down by 5% compared to the same period a year earlier. The pace of acquiring new customers and the number of active traders also declined.

Also posting strong performance, CFI Financial Group registered first-quarter 2025 trading volume of $1.28 trillion, a 13.5% increase from the previous quarter and a 129% rise compared to the same period in 2024.

Elsewhere, despite XTB posting nearly a 50% increase in client base, the publicly-listed Polish broker failed to offset the impact of declining quarterly net profit. The firm’s net profit dropped by more than a quarter year-over-year, from PLN 302.7 million to PLN 193.9 million.

In what seems like a good year for most companies, London Capital Group posted a profit of £478,000 for 2024, a significant turnaround from the £6.03 million loss recorded in 2023.

However, the entity also plunged into losses again, posting a net loss of £502,633 at the year’s end, compared to a profit of £69,496 in 2023. The firm has reportedly migrated accounts held by clients resident in the European Union to another operating company in the bloc.

Google lifts IG France’s ad restrictions

Away from the numbers, Ambroise Lion, the Managing Director of IG Group’s French entity, revealed that monthly visibility and account openings have doubled after Google lifted an ad restriction against the online broker after 7 years.

After several attempts by the London-headquartered broker, Google finally lifted the ad campaign ban from its French entity earlier this year. And the results appeared soon enough, with “2x more visibility and 2x more account openings each month.”

XM owner buys stake in a Cyprus bank

In Cyprus, Costas Cleanthous, the co-founder and majority owner of contracts for differences (CFDs) broker XM, is acquiring a 55 percent stake in Cyprus’ Ancoria Bank.

The acquisition
Acquisition

Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant’s service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There

Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant’s service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There
Read this Term, however, will be made in a personal capacity, without XM’s involvement. Apart from Cleanthous, businessman and banker Charalambos Panayiotou will also acquire 25 per cent of the bank. Ancoria Insurance will hold the remaining 20 per cent stake.