Peter Cruddas's financial trading company, CMC Markets, continues to falter with the media reporting a pre-tax loss of £2.8 million within the accounting period from January to March, compared to a £2.5 million pre-tax profit during the same period for the previous year.
The losses, coupled with allegations that Cruddas had offered access to Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne in exchange for cash donations of between £100,000 and £250,000, led the former Conservative Party co-treasurer to submit his resignation despite being awarded £180,000 in damages against The Sunday Times.
Approximately one third of the staff at CMC has been dismissed in the wake of the allegations and the media coverage that ensued.
Despite an effort to deal with the tumult, and the implementation of an upgrade to its trading platform, CMC revenue fell 21% to £129.1 million.
New Generation
Mr. Cruddas took executive control of the business in January as a result of the company's disappointing performance and introduced the new CMC trading platform, the New Generation, in hopes of boosting revenue and bringing the company back into the black. The New Generation focuses on mobile trading with chart and screen size optimization for iPads, pattern recognition software, integrated client sentiment tools and social media integration.
Cruddas believes that mobile trading is the wave of the future and quotes a reported 31% of new trades being transacted on mobile devices, equating to approximately 34% of total Next Generation trade turnover this financial year.
It a dark period for us...primarily down to what happened, but we're out of it now," Mr. Cruddas explained to the Daily Telegraph before submitting his resignation. "?We lost a lot of staff as people were concerned."
Mr. Cruddas has since been able to restore his name by successfully suing the Sunday Times for libel over its coverage of his activities, which the High Court found to be defamatory.