Year Ended June 2019
I am pleased to present my Chief Executive report for the year ended 30 June 2019.
The 2018/2019 financial year was a period of strong period of growth for the Company, with an increase in pre-tax profits of 165% year on year. Key contributing factors have been the addition of new trading desks, progression of traders within our Trader Development Program and the overall expansion of the Onyx brand which has really seen increased exposure in the market.
On the trading front, the total number of revenue-generating desks now sits at five, an increase from three last year, with the addition of Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) and US Crude Grades desks. All desks contributed to top-line revenue, with no overall losses or any substantial downside volatility throughout the year. There has been substantial reinvestment into our Trader Development Program in line with our company strategy, the primary aim of which is to establish a pipeline of traders that will in turn be instrumental in ensuring continued growth. The program has so far produced two senior traders and five traders in executive roles.
Outside of trading, our focus has been on building out infrastructure, complementary businesses, and brand awareness to facilitate our long-term strategy. Onyx Capital Advisory was officially launched mid-way through the year, with the aim to leverage our expertise in the derivatives market into a service offering. We have built out our back office, adding five new hires across Operations, HR, and Technology, whilst resources are continuously allocated to improving our technology. Our brand awareness strategy has led to exposure on several news agencies, expert panels at industry events, and a markedly improved social media following across multiple platforms.
Subsequent to the year-end there has been a corporate restructuring of the business with Onyx Capital Group Limited now the holding company with Onyx Commodities Limited and Onyx Capital Advisory Limited its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Trading in the 2019/20 financial year has continued along the same trajectory as the period under review, and enhanced by the strong performance of the newly established Fuel Oil desk. The Fuel Oil desk is being run by a Senior Trader that came through the Onyx Trader Development Program and we have high confidence that the desk will continue to contribute healthily to company revenue and profitability. There will be a focus on developing traders in the development program from executing roles to senior trader level, and consequently, we expect that by the end of this financial year that we will be adding at least one further desk within the commodity derivative space. We remain confident in at least maintaining our trading revenues for the coming year, whilst the addition of desks and increasing number of traders developed should lead to year on year growth in company profits.
The current year will also be an important year for growth for Onyx Capital Advisory, having spent the second half of the period under review developing the products and services as well as the infrastructure for the business. We expect our sales growth to predominately come from Onyx Insight, our reporting and analysis product, alongside our Hedging Solutions consultancy service that advises corporates on their risk management capabilities.
Our vision remains cemented in developing Onyx into a multi-faceted operation within oil derivatives. Building around our identity as market makers, we want to continue to establish ourselves as the authority on oil price and flows, whilst providing an all-encompassing service offering to be the go-to for any and all oil derivative related activity. We have already demonstrated just how serious we are about achieving this, the first step of which has been the growth and expansion in trading within each product space and now having taken material steps to develop out the services. Through small iterative steps, we are looking to steadily bolt on complimentary businesses and services that will in time see us as synonymous with the oil derivative market.
A key part of my role is to continue to review the resourcing of the Group to ensure we have the right blend of team to help deliver the strategy outlined above. The current team is the result of hard work on talent identification, getting buy-in into the vision, and trust from the company that we will see our ideas through. Our support staff and operations were completely revamped this year, introducing experienced managers in HR, Operations and Finance, while there were additions in the Technology team. Alongside help from our Performance Director, we have prioritised internal culture through rewarding of those displaying winning behaviours and making an example of those who aren’t aligned with our company principles. We have built in-house what we call Onyx Staff Management System or SMS, an HR system that documents performance reviews and other HR processes. Our monthly performance reviews provide the chance for employees to provide evidence and discuss their value added to the firm which our then documented in the system to allow Management to objectively analyse and conduct appraisals. We use this platform and process to periodically receive and provide feedback to ensure all employees are clear on their level of performance and progression.
In conclusion, I am delighted by what we have managed to achieve over the last three years, and I believe that we are strongly positioned for further growth in the future. Our mission is clear; to build a World-class oil derivative trading platform with an all-encompassing service offering. Most importantly, I want to thank our employees for their continued support in helping to drive the Company forward and helping create the strong, sustainable business that we have today. I feel extremely proud that we have built such a motivated and professional team and I welcome and take seriously the need to ensure that results, effort and commitment are rewarded appropriately and that the future success of the business will be shared by all.
You can also read our other annual reports: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020.
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