CMC Markets Plc, a global leader in online financial trading, today announced trading and volume figures for the six months to 30 September 2008.

Australia's largest CFD provider, CMC Markets has completed negotiations to acquire leading non advisory stock broking group, Andrew West Stockbrokers.

Based in the UK, CMC Markets Plc has 22 offices worldwide with over 1000 staff and is a market leading provider of OTC derivatives on four continents, in Australia it has a 53% market share of the CFD trading population.*

Andrew West Stockbrokers is a non advisory stock broking group with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast offering online and telephone broking services to over 130,000 clients.

CMC Markets Asia Pacific Managing Director, David Trew said negotiations with AWS were completed today and the combined operation will create Australia's new non-bank aligned broking powerhouse.

"AWS is one of Australia's established online brokers with over a decade of trading experience and the services of each company are complementary," Mr Trew said. "AWS presents the best fit for CMC Markets' leadership position and is a logical progression of our expansion plan into the wider investment industry.

"There is a growing demand for integrated trading and investment offerings that will enable investors to leverage their existing portfolios for the long term, while taking advantage of market movements in the short and medium-term.

"The integrated company will also fill the void left by other brokers which have aligned themselves with the banks. It will combine our respective specialist skills and capabilities as trading and investment service providers."

Andrew West Stockbrokers Managing Director and proprietor, Andrew West said he would be staying on with the company, along with most of his staff and key executives, to oversee an exciting phase of expansion.

"AWS and CMC Markets share a similar culture and ideas for the future," Mr West said. "This move will provide the necessary resources for the next step in our expansion."

* Investment Trends Australia

CMC Markets Plc ("CMC"), the market leading global retail CFD company, today announces that Goldman Sachs has agreed to purchase a 10% stake in the company, subject to regulatory approvals and other pre-completion conditions.

Commenting on today's announcement, Peter Cruddas, Executive Chairman of CMC, said:

"I am delighted to welcome Goldman Sachs as an investor and partner in CMC who shares our vision and drive to grow the business over the coming years. We have been growing at 40% per annum and have expanded our presence to 22 offices globally but there are considerable opportunities still to realise.

Having Goldman Sachs as a global strategic partner providing operational cooperation will be a major advantage for us going forward. There are exciting synergies for the business that would be difficult to match from any other investor, and by bringing together the liquidity and technological expertise of both parties we will be able to deliver real benefits to our customers and create new and exciting opportunities for CMC globally."

Cruddas continues:

"Over the last 18 months, CMC Markets has been fully committed to growing its active customer base through the development of its award winning trading platform and overseas offices. This focus has resulted in CMC being one of the fastest growing online financial trading companies in the world, delivering a 68%⁽¹⁾ increase in active clients, a 97%⁽¹⁾ increase in number of trades and a 61%⁽¹⁾ increase in trade volume."

Jan Boomaars, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, commented:

"We are looking forward to working with Peter and CMC Markets in the coming years to capture the significant opportunities in the global retail derivatives market."

(1) Growth figures correspond to period 1st April 2006 to 28th September 2007

CMC Markets, a leading online financial trading company, has joined forces with Variety - The Children's Charity to help disadvantaged New Zealand children achieve their life goals in education.

The company is sponsoring six educational scholarships as part of the 2008 Variety Gold Heart Scholarship Programme.

Launched in February, the programme is dedicated to fostering the talents of disadvantaged, sick or disabled New Zealand children in the fields of art, sports, music or education. The scholarships make available to each recipient a maximum of $5,000 per year for up to three years, to help fulfil his or her life goals. Ten scholarships were awarded in 2007 - the inaugural year.

Variety's CEO Lorraine Taylor said the generous support of CMC Markets has enabled them to expand the programme for 2008 to attract more scholarship applications related to educational goals.

"We urge anyone who knows of a child that is sick, disabled or disadvantaged in some way, and demonstrates a passion and commitment towards a long-term measurable goal to advise them of this programme," she said.

"We are looking for children who have already made significant achievements within a particular educational subject such as Maths, Science or English and the goal of our Variety Gold Heart Scholarship Programme is that it will help take them to the next level."

For example, the educational scholarships could be used to help a child who is gifted but financially disadvantaged, to attend a Gifted Kids programme. Or it could be used to fund extra tuition in a subject a child was excelling in, but with further learning could achieve at an international level.

CMC Markets general manager Sargon Elias said the company wanted to help young people facing hardship to get ahead and Variety's Gold Heart Scholarship Programme was a perfect fit.

"The philosophy behind the programme resonates well with our company," he says. "CMC Markets was founded by a man whose childhood circumstances could mirror some of the applicants to these scholarships."

CMC Markets British founder, Peter Cruddas established the company 18 years ago with a starting capital of just £10,000 pounds and has since amassed a fortune of more than £1 billion, making him the City of London's richest man.

His story is the quintessential rags to riches tale of entrepreneurship - the son of a hard-drinking porter at a London meat market and a mother who worked as an office cleaner, Peter left home at the age of 15 to find work. As a result he is passionate about helping other disadvantaged young children get ahead and is now one of London's biggest philanthropists, recently donating £1.5 million to charities helping youth.

Lorraine Taylor said CMC's generous donation will offer six children with special needs the chance to pursue their educational dreams. "The majority of our 2007 scholarships were to fund sports related goals, and so we are looking to encourage more applications from children seeking to excel in other fields including education, music and the arts."

While the majority of applications for the inaugural 2007 scholarship fund were for sports scholarships, the range of disabilities was diverse including; spina bifida, cancer, vision impairment, paraplegic, autism, diabetes and financial hardship.

Applications for the 2008 scholarships open on Monday 5 November and close on Friday 8 February at 5.00 pm. The 2008 scholarships will be officially presented at the Variety International Convention in May 2008 at the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre.

The Variety Grants Committee is responsible for reviewing all applications. Applicants must also fit within Variety's existing grant 'special needs' criteria i.e. children challenged physically or intellectually due to illness or disability; or disadvantaged due to socio-economic conditions or geographic isolation, and be aged up to 18 years.

Variety will aim to pair successful recipients with a mentor within the field of expertise. Mentors for 2007 include Sarah Ulmer, Hamish Carter, Stephen Clifton, Cory Hutchings, Justin Haiu, Alison Fitch, Tony Christiansen, Simon Barnett, Alistair Hunt, and Joanne Carter.

For more information about the Variety Gold Heart Scholarship Fund, or to apply please contact Heather Stevens at Variety on 09 520 4111, email helpkids@variety.org.nz or visit www.variety.org.nz