FxPro aims for stock market flotation

FxPro announced plans to sell about 30 per cent of the company in a move that is expected to value the firm at around 200m.

Founders of the Cyprus-based business, marketing director Denis Sukhotin and chief executive Panagiotis Xydas, currently own the business alongside other FxPro colleagues and are set to net hefty windfalls from the flotation.

The company, which secured shirt sponsorship deals with Aston Villa and Fulham earlier this summer, allows private investors to trade on international currency markets.

It launched in late 2007 and reported an 84 per cent leap in net income last year to 34.1m, with net income of 26.5m posted for the first six months of 2010. The group, which employs 160 staff, now has nearly 17,000 clients – up from just over 13,800 in 2008.

FxPro has focused heavily on marketing and sports sponsorship deals to boost brand recognition. The firm is also a sponsor of the Virgin Racing Formula 1 team. Its initial public offering follows a surge in trading on global foreign exchange markets in recent years.

The Bank for International Settlements said currency trading volumes rose 20 per cent in the three years to April.

FxPro said growth was being helped by new technology allowing easy access to currency trading, 24 hours a day.