KCG’s first quarter 2016 results revealed a 7% increase in net trading revenues compared to the first quarter in 2015.
Net trading revenues increased from $208.8 million in Q1 2015, to $223.9 million in the first quarter of this year.
The market maker’s total revenues fell quarter-on-quarter though this was largely due to the sale of its Hotspot FX trading business to Bats Global Markets in March 2015 pushing up figures for Q1 of that year. Once the effect of the sale is stripped out, sales increased 11% year-on-year
Q1 2016 total revenue also increased compared to the fourth quarter last year, when overall sales totalled $264 million.
The first quarter report revealed KCG has reduced its full-time employment headcount from 1,006 in Q4 2015, to 972 in the first quarter this year.
Chief executive officer at KCG, Daniel Coleman, said “We took further action to streamline and simplify KCG by exiting certain businesses following a strategic review.”
Coleman put the strong first quarter results down to “market conditions in US equities”, which he said saw “increased penetration of strategic clients and the performance of KCG’s trading models.”
KCG’s total assets increased slightly in the first quarter this year compared to Q4 last year from $6.04 billion to $6.19 billion.
This article originally stated that KCG's revenues plummeted 50%, however this failed to take into account the sale of Hotspot FX and its affect on KCG's reporting.