London Stock Exchange lifts interim dividend 11% and beats forecasts
London Stock Exchange almost doubled first-half revenues thanks to the contribution of December acquisition Russell Investments, with underlying growth of a more modest 9% thanks to encouraging performance of markets and data.
Financial Services
13,928.95
17:14 01/05/24
FTSE 100
8,121.24
16:49 01/05/24
FTSE 350
4,464.43
17:14 01/05/24
FTSE All-Share
4,418.60
16:54 01/05/24
London Stock Exchange Group
8,840.00p
16:34 01/05/24
Revenue rose 90% to £1.16bn, with underlying revenues up 9% and up 14% after adjusting for the loss of London Metal Exchange clearing business.
Total income by 83% to £1.21bn but was flat on an organic and constant currency basis, while operating profits by 27% to £366.1m.
Operating expenses, before amortisation of purchased intangibles and non-recurring items, rose 126% to £842.5m, mostly reflecting inclusion of Russell.
The dividend was hiked 11% to 10.8p per share, reflecting what chief executive Xavier Rolet said was a good first half performance as well as director's confidence in our prospects as we invest in growth initiatives.
"The group has delivered good operational and financial performance in the period. Our global indexes business, FTSE Russell, has shown strong growth, and there have been positive underlying results in other Information Services products, as well as Capital Markets and Italian Post Trade," he added.
The LCH.Clearnet post-trade business has made progress in the development of its OTC clearing services and is eyeing continued cost-cutting.
"As a leading international, open access market infrastructure business we continue to see attractive opportunities for growth in a changing regulatory and competitive landscape," Rolet said.
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said adjusted operating profit came in 4% ahead of its forecast and 5% ahead of consensus on better cost control than expected.
EPS was 5% ahead of RBC's forecast and 7% ahead of consensus, benefitting from both better cost control and a lower
tax rate than anticipated.