London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE:LSEG) announced plans to buy back more of its shares on Thursday as it hailed the successful integration of Refinitiv, which it said had supercharged its ability to generate cash.
The company said it would seek shareholder consent to buy more of its own stock from a consortium of Blackstone and Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) from which it acquired the data analytics group for US$27bn in January 2021.
Annual results from LSEG showed pre-tax profit jumped by 39% to £1.24bn in 2022 from £894mln in 2021, as total income including recoveries rose by 19% to £7.74bn from £6.54bn. This was slightly higher than the company-compiled consensus of £7.73bn.
The company declared a total dividend for 2022 of 107.0p per share, up 13% from 95.0p in 2021, and 1.0% higher than 105.9p expected according to consensus. Further, LSEG plans to deploy up to £750mln in directed buybacks by April 2024.
Analysts at Jefferies said full-year income was in line with consensus forecasts, driven by good underlying performance in the Data & Analytics division where Refinitiv lies.
Guidance for 2023 is revised to growth of 6-8% on constant currencies, up on current consensus around 6%.
The impact of 1 January price increases is expected to increase annual subscription value (ASG) by one percentage point.