LONDON (Reuters) -The London Stock Exchange Group reported a 16.2% rise in third-quarter income on Friday and made no changes to its guidance or targets.
Income of 1.905 billion pounds ($2.13 billion) beat a consensus forecast from analysts of 1.881 billion pounds, excluding recoveries.
Gross profit in the third quarter rose to 1.696 billion pounds, LSEG said, roughly in line with analysts consensus of 1.7 billion pounds.
The group’s shares were down 2.3% in early trading after the announcement, while London’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down just 0.4%.
“Our strategy is working, delivering growth and increasing efficiency,” LSEG Chief Executive David Schwimmer said in a statement.
The exchange announced the launch of a larger than expected 750 million pound share buyback in August.
“We are also making good progress on returning surplus capital to shareholders through our share buyback programme,” Schwimmer said.
LSEG said 235 million pounds was returned in the third quarter.
LSEG bought data and analytics company Refinitiv for $27 billion in 2021, turning the 300-year old exchange into a major market data player, but outages and sums invested in integration raised concerns among some investors.
“With sustained execution, a broad base of businesses and leading market positions, we remain well positioned,” Schwimmer said.
Thomson Reuters, which owns Reuters News,has a minority shareholding in LSEG.
($1 = 0.8945 pounds)
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Susan Fenton)
