Interactive Brokers Group Announces 4Q2023 Results

GAAP DILUTED EPS OF $1.48, ADJUSTED¹ EPS OF $1.52

GAAP NET REVENUES OF $1,139 MILLION, ADJUSTED NET REVENUES OF $1,149 MILLION

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global electronic broker, announced results for the quarter ended December 31, 2023.

Reported diluted earnings per share were $1.48 for the current quarter and $1.52 as adjusted. For the year-ago quarter, reported diluted earnings per share were $1.31 and $1.30 as adjusted.

Reported net revenues were $1,139 million for the current quarter and $1,149 million as adjusted. For the year-ago quarter, reported net revenues were $976 million and $958 million as adjusted.

Reported income before income taxes was $816 million for the current quarter and $831 million as adjusted. For the year-ago quarter, reported income before income taxes was $689 million and $671 million as adjusted.

Financial Highlights

(All comparisons are to the year-ago quarter.)

• Commission revenue increased 5% to $348 million. Customer trading volume was mixed across product types with options and futures contract volumes up 21% and 4%, respectively, while stock share volume was down 22%.
• Net interest income increased 29% to $730 million on higher benchmark interest rates, customer margin loans and customer credit balances.
• Other income decreased $31 million to $6 million. This decrease was mainly comprised of $20 million related to our currency diversification strategy and $8 million related to our investment in Tiger Brokers.
• Execution, clearing and distribution fees expenses increased 11% to $100 million, driven by higher customer trading volume in options and futures.
• Pretax profit margin for the current quarter was 72% both as reported and as adjusted. For the year-ago quarter, reported pretax margin was 71% and 70% as adjusted.
• Total equity of $14.1 billion.

The Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share. This dividend is payable on March 14, 2024, to shareholders of record as of March 1, 2024.

Business Highlights

(All comparisons are to the year-ago quarter.)

• Customer accounts increased 23% to 2.56 million.
• Customer equity increased 39% to $426.0 billion.
• Total DARTs² increased 2% to 1.93 million.
• Cleared DARTs increased 2% to 1.73 million.
• Customer credits increased 10% to $104.5 billion.
• Customer margin loans increased 14% to $44.4 billion.

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 $139 million, as the U.S. dollar value of the GLOBAL increased by approximately 1.05%. 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 $148 million).

Conference Call Information:

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. will hold a conference call with investors today, January 16, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss its quarterly results. Members of the public who would like to listen to the conference call should register at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI9b8b0781a22347468c0936eccc35776d to obtain the dial-in details. The number should be dialed approximately ten minutes prior to the start of the 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 150 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single unified platform to clients worldwide. We serve 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. For the sixth consecutive year, Barron’s ranked Interactive Brokers #1 with 5 out of 5 stars in its June 9, 2023, Best Online Brokers 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 9.

² Daily average revenue trades (DARTs) are based on customer orders.

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.

• We define adjusted net revenues as net revenues adjusted to remove the effect of our currency diversification strategy, our net mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments², and the remeasurement of our Tax Receivable Agreement (“TRA”) liability³.
• We define adjusted income before income taxes as income before income taxes adjusted to remove the effect of our currency diversification strategy, our net mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments, the remeasurement of our TRA liability, 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 currency diversification strategy our net mark-to-market gains (losses) on investments, the remeasurement of our TRA liability, unusual bad debt expense, and the remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets⁶.
• We define adjusted diluted EPS as adjusted net income available for common stockholders divided by the diluted weighted average number of shares outstanding for the period.

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 currency diversification strategy and our mark-to-market on investments 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 investments in equity securities that do not qualify for equity method accounting which are measured at fair value, on our U.S. government and municipal securities portfolio, which are typically held to maturity, and on certain other investments, including equity securities taken over by the Company from customers related to losses on margin loans.

³ Remeasurement of our tax receivable agreement (“TRA”) liability represents the change in the amount payable to IBG Holdings LLC under the TRA, primarily due to changes in the Company’s effective tax rates. This is related to the remeasurement of the deferred tax assets described below. For further information refer to Note 4 – Equity and Earnings per Share under Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10 K filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 24, 2023.

⁴Unusual bad debt expense consists of a credit loss on a loan not related to margin lending.

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

⁶ Remeasurement of certain deferred tax assets represents the change in the unamortized balance of deferred tax assets related to the step-up in basis arising from the acquisition of interests in IBG LLC, primarily due to changes in the Company’s effective tax rates. For further information refer to Note 4 – Equity and Earnings per Share under Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10 K filed with the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 24, 2023.

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