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London Stock Exchange Group PLC on Thursday hailed a ‘record performance’ in the first quarter of 2026 and raised its annual guidance. The London-based exchange operator and data provider said total income, excluding recoveries, rose 9.8% on an organic constant currency basis in the recent quarter from a year before. This included 6.3% growth in its subscription businesses and ‘very strong growth’ in trading volumes. Revenue from Data & Analytics was up 5.1% in the first quarter on year, from index provider FTSE Russell up 8.8%, from Risk Intelligence 10% and from Markets up 16%. Looking ahead, LSEG now expects 2026 organic constant currency total income growth excluding recoveries to be in the upper half of its guidance range of 6.5% to 7.5%. It forecasts an improvement in its constant currency earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of between 80 and 100 basis points. The company completed £1.1 billion worth of share buybacks in the first quarter and said it is ‘well on track’ to finish its £3 billion buyback by February 2027. ‘We have had a great start to 2026 across the board: our leading, multi-asset class trading venues have been critical sources of liquidity, price discovery and risk management for customers, while engagement with our trusted data to inform decision-making has been at record levels,’ said Chief Executive Officer David Schwimmer. ‘We are confident in the outlook and the delivery of all of our financial targets for the year.’ Addressing investor concerns that LSEG’s business could be undermined by artificial intelligence, Schwimmer highlighted the company’s ’LSEG everywhere’ strategy to provide AI-ready data ‘to use wherever our customers are working’. The CEO said: ‘Our customers recognise that our solutions are more valuable in an AI world. With our unmatched data, infrastructure and partnerships, we are uniquely positioned to partner with customers to seize new growth opportunities, significantly enhancing our products and opening up powerful new distribution channels for our data and analytics.’ Max Harper, a senior analyst at research house Third Bridge, noted market concerns that ‘LSEG could see income compression as clients shift from per-seat licenses to usage-based AI revenues’. However, ‘LSEG could be better positioned, based on their LSEG everywhere strategy, as LSEG and competitors such as Bloomberg, S&P, and Factset, adapt to a AI usage-driven world,’ Harper said. ‘Despite this, concerns exist around LSEG‘s allocation of capital, with share buybacks potentially signalling LSEG as a value play, over a tech play. Our experts believe capital required for share buybacks would be better spent on consolidating its position in the financial infrastructure space to help build a five to ten-year competitive moat around its technology.’ LSEG shares were up 0.6% to 9,810.00 pence in London early Thursday. The stock is down 15% over the past 12 months. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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