London, June 27, 2026, 18:02 BST
- London Stock Exchange Group plc (LON:LSEG) finished Friday up 0.4% at 8,062p, but shares dropped 4.7% for the week. The FTSE 100 climbed 1.4% during the week.
- LSEG’s latest £900 million buyback tranche wrapped up this month. Since the June 10 close, LSEG is down 10.6%, with the FTSE 100 up 2.5% in the same span.
- BlackRock NYSE:BLK now holds 7.03% of LSEG, according to a June 24 filing.
- LSEG faces a test this week as investors look for evidence it can convert AI into revenue, while the market waits for Britain’s equity tape call set for July.
London Stock Exchange Group plc (LON:LSEG) finished Friday up 34p at 8,062p. Still, the gain was not enough to make up for losses over the week. Shares dropped 4.7% since last Friday, while the FTSE 100 gained 1.4%. That’s a 6.1 point spread, hinting at worries specific to the stock rather than the wider UK market.
The gap opened right after LSEG finished a buyback run to cut capital and prop up earnings per share. On June 10, the company said it wrapped up purchases on June 8 and June 9 under a Goldman Sachs NYSE:GS scheme launched in April, targeting up to £900 million.
LSEG is down 10.6% since the June 10 close, while the FTSE 100 is up 2.5%. That’s a 13 percentage-point gap against the company, which said in April it was “well on track” to hit £3 billion of buybacks by February 2027. Investing
Big holders are staying put. BlackRock NYSE:BLK told LSEG on June 25 that it lifted its total stake to 7.03% as of June 24, up from 6.93%. The disclosure breaks it down as 5.27% voting rights tied to shares, with another 1.76% held via financial instruments.
LSEG’s buyback size isn’t the only thing on investors’ minds now. Markets are watching if LSEG can show that its data, indices and Workspace products come out ahead with AI, not just see their prices squeezed by it. This month, Reuters said UBS analyst Michael Werner called the AI push a “show me” story, saying usage has to drive real pricing. Benjamin Goy at Deutsche Bank said LSEG looks “pretty cheap compared to other data companies.” Reuters
LSEG CEO David Schwimmer told investors in April the group had “a great start to 2026”. More than 150 clients are connected or onboarding to the company’s MCP server, which is part of its effort to deliver AI-ready data. LSEG reported that first-quarter total income ex-recoveries climbed 9.8% organically at constant currency, with Markets up 15.5%. FTSE Russell rose 8.8%. LSEG
LSEG shares are telling investors they want more convincing evidence. April figures from LSEG showed Data & Analytics revenue up 5.1%, lagging behind Markets and Risk Intelligence. The upcoming update matters. The valuation leans heavily on data, but Markets has benefitted from a jolt of volatility that may not last.
London Stock Exchange CEO Julia Hoggett warned this month that the FCA’s proposal for a consolidated equity tape could damage lit markets. Hoggett told reporters that a post-trade-only tape would be “more prudent and pragmatic.” The FCA is set to finalise its plans in July. Reuters
Banks are pushing for more. UK Finance says investors would only get a single view of UK share prices and trades across all venues with a full pre- and post-trade tape. The FCA says it’s talking to market users who want a tape and wants UK markets open and competitive.
FTSE 100 lost 0.2% Friday as banks and energy shares dropped, leaving London’s main indexes in the red for the session. Still, the blue-chip FTSE 100 booked its largest weekly advance in over a month. LSEG missed out on that, with its own shares falling over the week.
