London Stock Exchange starts £750m shares buyback after profits jump

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) is to hand £750 million to shareholders over the next year after posting bumper profits.

The financial markets and data business confirmed plans to hand the funds to investors through a shares buyback after revealing that pre-tax profits jumped by 73% to £803 million over the first half of 2022, compared with the same period last year.

It said it was buoyed by stronger revenue growth and cost management as it highlighted “good momentum” going into the second half of the year.

LSEG said profitability was also solid as it stayed on track with costs and savings targets from the almost £20 billion takeover of Refinitiv it sealed in 2020.

It held firm on its financial targets for the rest of the year as a result.

The company said it saw progress “across all divisions” over the half-year, as it revealed a 23.7% increase in total income to £3.73 billion for the period.

Chief executive David Schwimmer said: “LSEG has delivered a strong first-half performance with continued revenue growth across our businesses.

“We are managing costs well and we continue to make progress on achievement of synergies.

“Our cash generation is allowing us to actively deploy capital across organic and inorganic investments, grow our dividend and commence a share buyback programme, driving further value for our shareholders.

“We are successfully executing on our strategy, have good momentum going into the second half and our targets remain unchanged.”