London Stock Exchange Group Plans Blackstone/Thomson Reuters Share Buyback -- Update
03 March 2023 - 3:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Michael Susin
London Stock Exchange Group PLC said Thursday that it plans to
seek shareholder approval to buy back shares owned by the
Blackstone/Thomson Reuters consortium, as it reported a rise in
2022 pretax profit on the back of lower costs and supported by
positive progress across all divisions.
The FTSE 100 stock-exchange and financial-information company
said it will seek shareholder approval at the upcoming annual
general meeting in April to buy shares from the former Refinitiv
shareholders, expected to be up to 750 million pounds ($901.9
million), by April 2024 and starting in the second half of this
year.
LSEG reported a pretax profit of GBP1.24 billion compared with
GBP894 million in 2021.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization--a metric that strips out exceptional and other
one-off items--rose to GBP3.55 billion from GBP2.97 billion.
The group's total income excluding recoveries rose to GBP7.43
billion from GBP6.21 billion for the prior year, a rise of 5.7% at
constant currency. Total income was expected to be GBP7.40 billion,
according to the group's compiled forecasts.
It generated GBP3.3 billion in operating cash flow in 2022, and
a further GBP1.1 billion from the disposal of non-core businesses
and other property.
The board declared a final dividend of 75.3 pence a share taking
the total payout for year to 107.0 pence a share, compared with 95
pence a share in 2021.
The company expects 2023 revenue growth at constant currency to
be between 6% and 8%, while the adjusted Ebitda margin is expected
to be at around 48%. Ebitda margin for 2022 was 47.8%.
LSEG said there has been strong progress with the integration of
Refinitiv both in terms of revenue and costs. It said GBP68 million
of recurring revenue synergies had been delivered by the end of
last year, ahead of guidance for GBP40 million to GBP60 million,
boosted by strong demand for data.
It has therefore raised synergy guidance to GBP350 million to
GBP400 million by 2025 from GBP225 million.
LSEG acquired its Refinitiv financial markets data business for
$15 billion in 2021 from Blackstone and Thomson Reuters.
Dow Jones competes with Thomson Reuters in financial news and
information services.
Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 02, 2023 10:49 ET (15:49 GMT)
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