Citadel UK Market-Making Profit Drops 38% on $100M
Citadel Securities’ UK market-making company earned $29.2 million in 2025, marking a 38.3% decline from the previous year, according to filings at Companies House. The drop followed its parent company’s injection of $100 million in fresh capital, after Citadel Securities took a $100 million dividend in 2024. Despite the UK unit’s performance, the broader Citadel Securities reported a 25% increase in trading revenue, reaching a record $12.2 billion.
Profit Decline and Capital Adjustments
The London unit’s profit has fallen for three consecutive years, starting from $113.4 million in 2022. Total income for 2025 dropped 18.7% to $252.5 million, while operating profit plummeted 44.2% to $39.9 million. Net gains on the trading book, the largest revenue source, fell 19.5% to $121.6 million. Directors attributed the decline to reduced trading volumes and investments in new strategies, including expanded market-making for sterling-denominated bonds. Operating expenses also decreased by 11.2% to $212.6 million.
The company paid no dividend in 2025 after returning $100 million to its sole shareholder the previous year. The shareholder then contributed $100 million in capital to address rising capital requirements, according to the accounts. Equity increased 37.4% to $474.3 million, while Common Equity Tier 1 capital rose 49.5% to $444.7 million. Total assets grew 47.3% to $985.3 million, driven by receivables from brokers and dealers, which more than doubled to $498.9 million. Return on equity fell to 7.12% from 12.73%, and the daily liquidity ratio dropped to 28.2%, linked to higher working capital needs.
Parent Company’s Financial Moves
The parent company’s $100 million capital injection replaced the 2024 dividend, bolstering the UK unit’s financial position. This move contrasts with the previous year’s payout, highlighting a shift in capital allocation strategy. Meanwhile, Citadel Securities Finance (UK) Limited, the sister company focused on proprietary trading, saw a 25% profit surge to $1.01 billion. Its total income rose 22.3% to $2.35 billion, though the figures are not directly comparable due to an internal reorganization in January 2025 that expanded its global footprint through new subsidiaries in Ireland, Singapore, Australia, and Japan.
Combined, the two UK entities generated $1.04 billion in 2025, a 21.5% increase from $855.2 million the prior year. London competitor XTX Markets also reported a 33% rise in UK profitability during the same period. Notably, neither company maintains direct employees, relying instead on staff deployed via Citadel Securities Europe Services Limited, which averaged 277 employees across London, Paris, and Zurich in 2025, up from 244. Staff costs at the services firm rose 16.5% to $356.3 million.
Expansion and Investment Plans
The UK market-making unit continues pursuing strategic initiatives outlined in prior filings, including plans to establish a subsidiary for mainland China operations and expand its sterling fixed income platform. In July 2025, Citadel Securities invested $400 million in Crypto.com, signaling its broader foray into digital assets. The firm also submitted an application to China’s securities regulator in January 2025 to launch a mainland brokerage, a move following a $97 million settlement with Chinese regulators in 2020 over trading irregularities during a 2015 market downturn.
