Shares in Icap soar after volatility in stock market

Icap, the world’s largest inter-dealer money broker, saw its shares surge 14% following an increase in sales following the events of the global credit squeeze.

Shares in the company rose 82p to 666p valuing the company at £4.3 billion. The stock has soared 30% over the last 12 months as many other financial and investment institutions have taken a beating.

Currency trading volumes on the electronic system were up 42% on the previous year during the last quarter of 2007, furthermore, volumes of fixed income products were up 26%.

Icap founder and chief, Michael Spencer said as a result of continuing volatility in interest rates, foreign exchange, energy and parts of the credit markets over the period, we saw increased volumes in both electronic and voice broking. Icap expects that profit will beat analysts’ forecasts for £307 million in the current year.

Icap performs transactions for financial institutions rather than private individuals, it trades in many areas including derivatives, fixed income securities, money market products, foreign exchange, energy, credit and equity derivatives.

The average daily transaction volume is in excess of $1 trillion with an even split between paper and electronic transactions.

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