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London Stock Exchange Group PLC on Thursday increased its payouts to shareholders, despite mixed financial results for the first half of 2023, while saying it plans to drop the Refinitiv brand from its market data operations.
LSEG shares were down 1.4% at 8,174.00 pence late Thursday morning in London. The stock is essentially flat over the past 12 months, up 0.7%.
In addition to operating the London Stock Exchange, LSEG provides post-trade services, financial data via Refinitiv, and stock indices via FTSE.
However, LSEG said it intends to retire the Refinitiv name across the group, starting with market-data terminal Refinitiv Workspace, which will become LSEG Workspace from the end of this month.
LSEG completed the $27 billion acquisition of financial market data and trading infrastructure provider Refinitiv in January 2021. It previously was known as Thomson Reuters.
Total income including recoveries for LSEG in the six months that ended June 30 rose by 12% to £4.18 billion from £3.74 billion. At constant currency, growth was 7.8%. Organic income growth was 6.4%.
It said pretax profit fell by 18% to £662 million from £803 million a year before. While gross profit rose by 12% to £3.61 billion from £3.23 billion, operating expenses increased by 20% to £1.92 billion from £1.59 billion. A year earlier, LSEG also booked a £133 million profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment, compared to none in the recent six months.
Adjusted earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 4.1% to £1.87 billion from £1.80 billion, despite a narrowed adjusted Ebitda margin of 46.9% from 50.4%.
LSEG raised its dividend by 13% to 35.7p from 31.7p. Having completed a £400 million share buyback in the first half, the company said it expects to complete up to £750 million in buybacks by April 2024.
‘Data & Analytics is growing faster than it has for many years, with the ongoing improvements to our offering and strengthened customer relationships increasingly reflected in financial performance. Post Trade once again demonstrated the critical role it plays in helping customers manage risk in uncertain markets, delivering outstanding growth,’ said Chief Executive David Schwimmer.
Looking ahead, LSEG improved its 2023 outlook for constant currency growth in total income excluding recoveries to the upper end of its previous 6% to 8% guidance range. It said all other 2023 targets are reaffirmed, including an adjusted Ebitda margin of about 48%
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