LONDON, April 23, 2026, 17:22 BST
- LSEG said first-quarter total income excluding recoveries rose 9.8% on an organic constant-currency basis, ahead of an 8% company-compiled market expectation, and it now expects 2026 growth in the upper half of its 6.5%-7.5% range.
- The group kept its EBITDA margin expansion target at 80-100 basis points and reiterated equity free cash flow of at least 2.7 billion pounds.
- Markets revenue rose 15.5%, helped by record Tradeweb volumes, while 90 clients have connected to LSEG’s AI data server and 64 more are onboarding.
London Stock Exchange Group said on Thursday it expected 2026 revenue growth to land in the upper half of its target range after a record first quarter, helped by a spike in trading activity and solid demand in its data and index businesses. The markets and data operator reported 9.8% growth in total income, excluding recoveries, on an organic constant-currency basis.
The update matters because it lands after a bruising year for the shares, with investors questioning whether artificial intelligence could weaken LSEG’s data franchise just as Elliott Management presses management to unlock more value and lift margins. Thursday’s numbers give chief executive David Schwimmer an early piece of evidence that the group can still grow through both market volatility and new AI distribution channels.
On an organic constant-currency basis — stripping out exchange-rate moves and portfolio changes — the quarter beat an 8% growth expectation in a company-compiled poll. LSEG left its EBITDA margin improvement goal unchanged at 80 to 100 basis points, or 0.8 to 1 percentage point, and reiterated equity free cash flow of at least 2.7 billion pounds.
Markets did most of the heavy lifting. Revenue in the division rose 15.5%, with equities up 11.1% and fixed income, derivatives and other up 18.4% as Tradeweb handled a record $3.3 trillion of average daily volume.
The steadier businesses were not weak. Data & Analytics grew 5.1%, FTSE Russell 8.8% and Risk Intelligence 10.5%, while combined subscription businesses rose 6.3%, faster than in the previous quarter.
Management also leaned hard into AI. LSEG said 90 customers have connected to its Model Context Protocol server since December and another 64 are onboarding. MCP is a standard that lets AI models pull in outside data, and LSEG said it is distributing licensed data across platforms from Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks and Snowflake.
Schwimmer called it a “great start to 2026 across the board” and said the focus this year would be the rollout and adoption of AI services. He also pointed to the first trade on the London Stock Exchange’s Private Securities Market and the launch of TradeAgent as signs that product development has not slowed. LSEG
The market took the update well. LSEG shares rose as much as 4% earlier in the session and were up 1.9% by 10:40 a.m. GMT even as the FTSE 100 fell 0.8%. Will Howlett, a financials analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said the beat and the guidance nudge should help ease concerns “around the durability of growth.” Reuters
The boost was not unique to LSEG. Nasdaq on Thursday beat first-quarter profit estimates after market swings lifted trading revenue, and CME Group said a day earlier that record average daily volumes helped drive quarterly profit higher. That points to a broader sector tailwind from geopolitical and macro volatility.
Still, the pressure on Schwimmer has not gone away. LSEG said it bought back 12.8 million shares for 1.1 billion pounds in the quarter and remains on track to complete a 3 billion pound buyback by February 2027, but Elliott, which disclosed a significant stake in February, has already pressed for more value-enhancing action, better margins and a review of the portfolio.
The risk is fairly plain. If trading volumes cool and the promised AI upsell takes longer to show up in revenue, investors may go back to focusing on valuation, margins and activist pressure. LSEG says the new channels can drive meaningful upsell over time; the market will want proof quickly.
