* Pre-tax profit up 30 pct, in line with expectations
* Full-year dividend 15 pence per share, up 25 pct
* Sees "double digit" annual revenue growth in Europe
* Shares up 1.1 pct (Adds management comments, analysts comments)
BY Daisy Ku
LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - British financial spread betting firm IG Group lifted its total dividend by a quarter on Tuesday after a jump in new clients helped push its annual profit 30 percent higher, in line with market expectations.
The group, which offers prices in shares, stock indexes, currencies and commodities to retail clients, said the new financial year had started well despite reduced market volatility.
"We face challenging comparatives in the first half of this year, particularly in the second quarter, as our revenue last year was boosted by the volatility caused by the extraordinary market events of September and October," Chief Executive Tim Howkins told Reuters in an interview.
He said he was confident about the prospects for the current year and said the group was in good health.
IG shares were up 1.1 percent at 272.5 pence at 0915 GMT, valuing the company at about 950 million pounds ($1.56 billion).
IG opened over 74,000 accounts during the financial year to the end of May, up from 43,000 a year earlier, helping it post a pre-tax profit of 125.9 million pounds, up from 97 million a year earlier and compared to the company's earlier guidance of 125 million pounds.
Its medium-term growth should be underpinned by the strong account openings and potential in Europe, analysts said.
"The stock trades on a 12-month forward P/E of only 10.6 times, a discount of some 20 percent to the wider online gaming sector, and is supported by an attractive forecast dividend yield of 5.7 percent," said Goldman Sachs analysts.
EUROPEAN GROWTH
About 15 percent of the group's revenues were generated from Europe, according to client location, as it opened operations in France, Spain, Italy and Germany in the past two years.
The group will open an office in Sweden in about a month.
"Europe will continue to be a strong growth driver," said Howkins, saying he expects high double-digit percentage growth annually in the next few years.
Between December 2008 and May 2009, European revenues rose to 21 million pounds from 11 million in the same period a year earlier.
Group revenues rose 40 percent to 257.1 million, boosted by Japan's FXOnline, a retail forex business IG bought in October. Excluding the impact of FXOnline, revenues were up 25 percent.
Indices accounted for 38 percent of the total revenues, currencies 35 percent, shares 18 percent and commodities and sports for the rest.
The board recommended a final dividend for the year of 11 pence per share, making a total payout for the year to the end of May of 15 pence, up from 12 pence the year before.
Financial spread betting, which is UK-specific, offers traders and investors a tax-free structure.
IG is also a market maker in contracts for difference (CFDs), which allow sellers to pay the buyers the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time. Investors and traders use CFDs to speculate on price movements without the need for owning the underlying assets. ($1=.6087 Pound) (Editing by Rupert Winchester)