IG is still the best bet after £4m hit from Keydata affair

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That leaves it as one of the biggest victims of the Keydata farrago, which saw £326 million paid out in compensation claims to customers.

IG chief executive Tim Howkins was today taking it on the chin as best he could. "The cost falls on the innocent as ever. Our FSA authorisation is technically as an intermediary, which puts us in the same category as any firm that gives advice.
It is completely unfair, we have a completely different risk profile."

IG isn't alone in feeling bruised. Brewin Dolphin paid out £6 million, Charles Stanley £2.6 million.

This issue aside, IG is upbeat, unveiling another set of record results for the year to May.

Trading revenues are up 7% to £320 million, profits are up 3.4% to £163 million. That allows the company - the biggest in the spread betting space by a country mile - to pay a better than expected dividend for the year of 20p, a rise of 8%.

The shares followed in kind, up 9.4p to 420.8p.

That leaves IG valued by the stockmarket at £1.5 billion.

Howkins thinks the future is brighter still.
"It was a relatively tough year. We faced falling volatility and worse consumer sentiment. That a pattern we've seen since October."

Howkins says the troubled Japan business is on the way to being straightened out, as regulators take a more benign view. It took a non-cash £143 million write off in Japan, something that was already announced.

He reckons IG is unlikely to do deals to expand its client book in the UK.

"I think it is much more likely to be organic. There aren't that many businesses that would be a good fit. But I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility."