LSEG’s third-quarter income tops forecasts, shares hit record

LONDON Stock Exchange Group said on Thursday (Oct 24) that its income rose a better-than-expected 9.5 per cent in the third quarter after strong growth in its capital markets business, sending its shares to a record high.

LSEG’s total income, excluding recoveries, came in at £2.12 billion (S$3.6 billion) in the three months to Sep 30 on a constant currency basis, topping a company-compiled analysts’ consensus of £2.1 billion.

The exchange, which transformed into a data giant after its US$27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv in 2021, said its capital markets segment saw sales growth of 22.4 per cent in the third quarter.

Shares in LSEG rose more than 3 per cent to a record £107.7, bringing year-to-date gains to 18 per cent against a 7.5 per cent rise in the FTSE 100 index.

“We expect the market to see this as another healthy update, supporting the view that the group is well positioned to deliver on medium term guidance,” Ben Bathurst of RBC Capital Markets said in a note.

LSEG said the annual subscription value (ASV), which reflects recurring revenue and is closely watched by analysts, increased 6 per cent in the quarter and is expected to remain around 6 per cent for the rest of this year.

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However, it said it saw a small impact from cancellations related to Swiss bank Credit Suisse in the period.

In its first quarter, LSEG had said its annual subscription value was hit by UBS’s emergency takeover last year of Credit Suisse, which reduced demand for LSEG products, but that the full impact of the deal was still to come.

LSEG, which runs the London Stock Exchange and provides data and analytics to banks and other institutions, said it continued to make strong progress in its partnership with Microsoft and that a product timetable was on track.

The company also announced it had bought an additional 8.3 per cent stake in LCH Group, the London clearing house in which it already owns a majority stake, for 433 million euros (S$616.8 million).

Reuters provides news for LSEG’s news and data Workspace terminal. REUTERS