London, April 22, 2026, 15:16 BST
- London Stock Exchange Group is due to issue a Q1 revenue-only update and hold its AGM on Thursday.
- Its latest buyback disclosure showed more than 1 million shares bought for cancellation last week.
- Investors are watching subscription growth, AI risk and activist Elliott Management’s next move.
London Stock Exchange Group plc heads into Thursday’s Q1 revenues-only trading statement and annual meeting with its £3 billion buyback already moving through the market, a near-term test of whether investors will keep backing Chief Executive David Schwimmer’s data-and-AI story after a rough year for the shares. The company’s financial calendar puts both events on April 23.
The latest regulatory disclosure showed LSEG bought 1,021,745 ordinary shares from Goldman Sachs International over April 13-17 and intends to cancel them. After the cancellation, the company said it would have 495,279,915 voting shares in issue, excluding treasury shares.
Why now is simple. LSEG shares rallied 2.53% on Tuesday to close at £96.50, even as the FTSE 100 fell 1.05%, but they were still 18.29% below their 52-week high, MarketWatch reported.
The wider tape is not doing Schwimmer many favours. London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.03% by 1048 GMT on Wednesday as investors watched a fragile Middle East ceasefire, oil traded above $100 a barrel and official data showed UK inflation rising to 3.3% in March.
Thursday’s update is the first scheduled revenue check since LSEG’s February results, when the group guided for 2026 total income excluding recoveries to rise 6.5% to 7.5% on an organic, constant-currency basis. It also forecast an 80-100 basis point improvement in EBITDA margin — EBITDA is profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a common measure of operating performance.
Schwimmer used those results to argue that LSEG’s edge lies in “licensed, trusted data” as banks and asset managers fold artificial intelligence into daily work. He said the group was “well positioned for continued growth” after reporting 2025 total income excluding recoveries of £8.99 billion, up 7.1% on an organic, constant-currency basis, and adjusted earnings per share of 420.6 pence.
This is no longer just a story about the old exchange in Paternoster Square. LSEG’s Data & Analytics unit says it serves more than 40,000 customers and 400,000 end users across about 190 markets, which is why investor debate has shifted toward data ownership, workflow tools and whether AI helps or hurts the terminal business.
Elliott Management remains the overhang. The activist investor said in February it held a “significant stake” and called LSEG’s buyback, margin plans and clearer AI message a “positive first start”, while a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Elliott had earlier pressed for a £5 billion buyback, a portfolio review and better margins. Reuters
Some holders welcomed the repurchase but set a higher bar. Frederick Kerr-Smiley, an analyst at Ninety One, told Reuters he had wanted a “chunky buyback”, while Stephen Yiu, chief investment officer of Blue Whale Growth Fund, said: “We want growth” and warned that “the clock is ticking.” Reuters
The competitive yardstick is tough. Reuters Breakingviews said LSEG traded at a 28% valuation discount to U.S. peers MSCI, S&P Global and CME, a gap that matters because all three compete, in different ways, for market data, index, analytics or exchange-linked investor spending.
But the risk is that Thursday’s update revives old doubts rather than settles them. Annual subscription value, or ASV — a measure of recurring subscription revenue growth — rose 5.9% in 2025, down from 6.3% a year earlier, Reuters reported; another slowdown would make the buyback look more defensive and keep attention on whether AI partnerships are turning into revenue.
For now, LSEG has bought itself time, not a free pass. Investors will be looking for clean revenue momentum, signs that margins are moving as promised, and enough detail to keep Elliott from pushing harder.
