London Stock Exchange Group Financial Report

London Stock Exchange Group Reports Lower Pretax Profit Despite Higher Income

London Stock Exchange Group revealed a decrease in pretax profit despite an increase in income, demonstrating profitable growth across all segments. The financial-information company announced its intention to initiate a share buyback program in 2024.

Financial Performance Overview

Profit and Revenue

For the year ending on Dec. 31, the pretax profit reached 1.195 billion pounds ($1.512 billion), down from GBP1.24 billion in the previous year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization stood at GBP3.78 billion, compared to the prior year's GBP3.55 billion. The adjusted Ebitda margin slightly decreased to 47.2% from 47.8%.

Income Growth

Total income excluding recoveries surged to GBP8.009 billion, reflecting an increase from GBP7.43 billion. Notably, data and analytics income rose by 7.3%, capital-markets income by 6.1%, and post-trade income by 17.4%.

Dividend and Buyback Plans

The board declared a full-year total dividend of 115 pence per share, up from the previous year's 107.0 pence. Additionally, LSEG disclosed its plan to execute up to GBP1 billion of buybacks in 2024, with a focus on acquiring directly from the Blackstone/Thomson Reuters consortium.

CEO Commentary

Chief Executive David Schwimmer commented, "2023 was another strong year for LSEG. We continued our track record of broad-based growth, despite an uncertain environment, and delivered on all the targets we set at the time of the Refinitiv acquisition."