Interactive Brokers Group Announces 2Q2021 Results

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global electronic broker, reported diluted earnings per share of $1.00 for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 compared to $0.40 for the same period in 2020, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.82 for this quarter compared to $0.57 for the year-ago quarter.

Net revenues were $754 million and income before income taxes was $541 million for this quarter, compared to net revenues of $539 million and income before income taxes of $222 million for the same period in 2020. Adjusted net revenues were $650 million and adjusted income before income taxes was $437 million for this quarter, compared to adjusted net revenues of $523 million and adjusted income before income taxes of $310 million for the same period in 2020.

Financial Highlights

• Commission revenue increased $31 million, or 11%, from the year-ago quarter on higher customer stock and options trading volumes within an active trading environment.
• Net interest income increased $78 million, or 40%, from the year-ago quarter on higher margin loan balances and strong securities lending activity.
• Other income increased $91 million from the year-ago quarter. This increase was mainly comprised of (1) $99 million related to our strategic investment in Up Fintech Holding Limited (“Tiger Brokers”), which increased to a $113 million mark-to-market gain this quarter from a $14 million mark-to-market gain in the same period in 2020; and (2) $13 million related to our U.S. government securities portfolio, which lost $0.2 million this quarter compared to a $13 million loss in the same period in 2020; partially offset by (3) $25 million related to our currency diversification strategy, which lost $9 million this quarter compared to a gain of $16 million in the same period in 2020.
• General and administrative expenses decreased $97 million from the year-ago quarter, primarily due to the non-recurrence of $103 million in expenses incurred to compensate certain affected customers in connection with their losses on West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil contracts in April 2020, as previously disclosed.
• 72% pretax profit margin for this quarter, up from 41% in the year-ago quarter. 67% adjusted pretax profit margin for this quarter, up from 59% in the year-ago quarter.
• Total equity of $9.9 billion.

The Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share. This dividend is payable on September 14, 2021 to shareholders of record as of September 1, 2021.

Business Highlights

• Customer accounts increased 61% from the year-ago quarter to 1.41 million.
• Customer equity grew 79% from the year-ago quarter to $363.5 billion.
• Total DARTs2 increased 32% from the year-ago quarter to 2.30 million.
• Cleared DARTs increased 34% from the year-ago quarter to 2.08 million.
• Customer credits increased 16% from the year-ago quarter to $82.1 billion.
• Customer margin loans increased 96% from the year-ago quarter to $48.8 billion.

COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization recognized the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel strain of the coronavirus as a pandemic. The pandemic has affected all countries in which we operate. The response of governments and societies to the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes temporary closures of certain businesses; social distancing; travel restrictions, “shelter in place” and other governmental regulations; and reduced consumer spending due to job losses, has significantly impacted market volatility and general economic conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated unprecedented market conditions with equally unprecedented social and community challenges. Amid these challenges:

• The Company is committed to ensuring the highest levels of service to its customers so they can effectively manage their assets, portfolios and risks. The Company’s technical infrastructure has withstood the challenges presented by the extraordinary volatility and increased market volume.
• The Company can run its business from alternate office locations and/or remotely if a Company office must temporarily close due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s financial results, which may have lasting effects as more investors are brought into the financial markets, can be summarized as follows: (1) higher commission revenue due to increased trading activity and a higher rate of customer accounts opened throughout 2020 and into 2021; and (2) generally lower net interest margin resulting from lower benchmark interest rates. Reduced net interest income on customer cash balances was more than offset in the current quarter by strong growth in margin loan balances and a good performance in securities lending.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s future financial results remains uncertain and currently cannot be quantified, as it depends on numerous evolving factors that currently cannot be accurately predicted, including, but not limited to the duration and spread of the pandemic; its impact on our customers, employees and vendors; governmental actions in response to the pandemic; and the overall impact of the pandemic in the economy and society; among other factors. Any of these events could have a materially adverse effect on the Company’s financial results.

Effects of Foreign Currency Diversification

In connection with our currency diversification strategy, we base our net worth in GLOBALs, a basket of 10 major currencies in which we hold our equity. In this quarter, our currency diversification strategy increased our comprehensive earnings by $12 million, as the U.S. dollar value of the GLOBAL increased by approximately 0.17%. The effects of the currency diversification strategy are reported as components of (1) Other Income (loss of $9 million) and (2) Other Comprehensive Income (gain of $21 million).

Conference Call Information:

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. will hold a conference call with investors today, July 20, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its quarterly results. Investors who would like to listen to the conference call live should dial 877-324-1965 (U.S. domestic) and 631-291-4512 (international). The number should be dialed approximately ten minutes prior to the start of the conference call. Ask for the “Interactive Brokers Conference Call.”

The conference call will also be accessible simultaneously, and through replays, as an audio webcast through the Investor Relations section of the Interactive Brokers web site, www.interactivebrokers.com/ir.

About Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.:

Interactive Brokers Group affiliates provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities and foreign exchange around the clock on over 135 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single IBKR Integrated Investment Account to clients worldwide. We service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers. Our four decades of focus on technology and automation has enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios. We strive to provide our clients with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments. Barron’s ranked Interactive Brokers #1 with 5 out of 5 stars in its February 26, 2021, Best Online Broker Review.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

The foregoing information contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s current views with respect to certain current and future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company’s operations and business environment which may cause the Company’s actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to the Company on the date of this release. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any statements expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Additional information on risk factors that could potentially affect the Company’s financial results may be found in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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1 See the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures starting on page 10.
2 Daily average revenue trades (DARTs) are based on customer orders.

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INTERACTIVE BROKERS GROUP, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
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Note: The term “GAAP” in the following explanation refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States.

1 Adjusted net revenues, adjusted income before income taxes, adjusted net income available for common stockholders and adjusted diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) are non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G.

• We define adjusted net revenues as net revenues adjusted to remove the effect of our GLOBAL currency diversification strategy and our net mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments2.
• We define adjusted income before income taxes as income before income taxes adjusted to remove the effect of our GLOBAL currency diversification strategy, our net mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments, customer compensation expenses3 and unusual bad debt expense4.
• We define adjusted net income available to common stockholders as net income available for common stockholders adjusted to remove the after-tax effects attributable to IBG, Inc. of our GLOBAL currency diversification strategy, the mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments, customer compensation expenses and unusual bad debt expense.

Management believes these non-GAAP items are important measures of our financial performance because they exclude certain items that may not be indicative of our core operating results and business outlook and may be useful to investors and analysts in evaluating the operating performance of the business and facilitating a meaningful comparison of our results in the current period to those in prior and future periods. Our GLOBAL currency diversification strategy, our mark-to-market on investments, customer compensation expenses and unusual bad debt expense are excluded because management does not believe they are indicative of our underlying core business performance. Adjusted net revenues, adjusted income before income taxes, adjusted net income available to common stockholders and adjusted diluted EPS should be considered in addition to, rather than as a substitute for, GAAP net revenues, income before income taxes, net income attributable to common stockholders and diluted EPS.

2 Mark-to-market on investments represents the net mark-to-market gains (losses) on our U.S. government securities portfolio, which are typically held to maturity, investments in equity securities that do not qualify for equity method accounting which are measured at fair value, and equity securities taken over by the Company from customers related to losses on margin loans.

3 Customer compensation expenses were incurred to compensate certain affected customers in connection with their losses on West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil contracts in April 20, 2020, as previously disclosed.

4 Unusual bad debt expense includes material losses on margin loans resulting from unusual events that occur in the marketplace. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, unusual bad debt expense reflects losses incurred by customers in excess of the equity in their accounts, related to the West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil event, as previously disclosed.

5 The income tax effect is estimated using the corporate income tax rates applicable to the Company.

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