London, April 22, 2026, 15:16 BST
- London Stock Exchange Group is set to deliver its Q1 revenue update Thursday, with its AGM scheduled for the same day.
- In its latest buyback disclosure, the company said it picked up more than 1 million shares to cancel over the past week.
- Investors are eyeing subscription numbers, the threat from AI, and waiting to see Elliott Management’s next move.
London Stock Exchange Group plc is gearing up for its Q1 revenue update and annual meeting on April 23, as its £3 billion buyback program rolls along. The focus is on Chief Executive David Schwimmer—can his data and AI strategy re-energize the stock after a rocky patch? Both the update and the meeting land on the company’s calendar for Thursday. LSEG
London Stock Exchange Group bought back 1,021,745 ordinary shares from Goldman Sachs International in trades spanning April 13 to 17, the latest regulatory filing shows. The entire batch is headed for cancellation. Afterward, LSEG’s tally of voting shares should come to 495,279,915, excluding any shares held in treasury. Sharecast
LSEG popped 2.53% on Tuesday to finish at £96.50, even as the FTSE 100 dropped 1.05%. Still, the stock is trading 18.29% below its 52-week peak, MarketWatch reports. MarketWatch
Schwimmer faces headwinds, with little support coming from the wider market. By 1048 GMT on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.03%. Investors watched a fragile Middle East ceasefire; oil stayed above $100 a barrel. New official data put UK inflation at 3.3% for March. Reuters
Thursday’s in focus for LSEG, with its first revenue update since the February release. At that time, the company told investors it was aiming for 6.5% to 7.5% organic growth in total income (excluding recoveries) by 2026, based on constant currency. Management was also targeting an 80 to 100 basis point improvement in EBITDA margin. For operating performance, EBITDA—short for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation—remains the benchmark. LSEG
Schwimmer highlighted those figures to argue that LSEG’s advantage lies in its “licensed, trusted data,” especially as banks and asset managers ramp up AI in day-to-day business. He described the group as “well positioned for continued growth.” For 2025, LSEG reported total income excluding recoveries of £8.99 billion—a 7.1% rise organically and at constant currency. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 420.6 pence.
Attention isn’t fixed on Paternoster Square’s legacy anymore. LSEG’s Data & Analytics division counts more than 40,000 customers, with 400,000 end users spanning close to 190 markets. Numbers like that are stoking debates among investors: data rights, workflow tech’s next chapter, and whether AI ends up disrupting—or boosting—the terminal business. LSEG
Elliott Management hasn’t gone away. The activist made waves in February, revealing it had built a “significant stake” in LSEG and publicly endorsed the group’s buyback, margin enhancement, and a clearer AI approach, calling it a “positive first start.” Still, according to a Reuters source, Elliott had earlier pressed for a £5 billion buyback, a reshuffling of LSEG’s portfolio, and heftier margins. Reuters
For some investors, the buyback only went so far. Frederick Kerr-Smiley at Ninety One told Reuters he was looking for something bigger—a “chunky buyback,” as he put it. Stephen Yiu, chief investment officer at Blue Whale Growth Fund, didn’t mince words: “We want growth.” He also issued a caution: “the clock is ticking.” Reuters
LSEG is up against a tough comparison. Reuters Breakingviews puts its valuation 28% below where U.S. peers like MSCI, S&P Global, and CME trade. That gap isn’t trivial—every one of those names is hunting for the same investor money in market data, indexes, analytics, or exchange services. Reuters
Even so, Thursday’s update may just end up reigniting the same old worries instead of quieting them. Reuters pointed out that annual subscription value (ASV), a crucial metric for recurring revenue, rose 5.9% for 2025—a slowdown from last year’s 6.3%. If that trend continues, the buyback could look more like a protective move, leaving the spotlight squarely on whether those highly touted AI partnerships are actually producing new revenue. Reuters
LSEG gets a bit of a pause for now, but far from a free pass. Investors still expect hard revenue results, concrete margin progress as promised, and enough clarity to keep Elliott from ramping up its demands.
