London, May 19, 2026, 11:04 BST
London Stock Exchange Group shares rose on Tuesday, with a delayed Fidelity quote showing the stock up 120 pence, or 1.29%, at a 9,394 pence sell price at 10:45 BST, as investors weighed a fresh technology deal and the company’s continuing buyback programme. The FTSE 100 was also firmer, up 0.61% in delayed Hargreaves Lansdown data. Fidelity International
The move matters because LSEG is no longer just a stock exchange owner. It is a market-data and infrastructure group trying to show that artificial intelligence makes its licensed data more useful, not less, after months of investor debate over whether AI tools could disrupt data vendors and trading terminals.
LSEG and Broadcom said on Tuesday they had renewed a long-running technology partnership through a new five-year agreement centred on VMware Cloud Foundation, software used to run private cloud systems. A private cloud is dedicated computing infrastructure, rather than a shared public cloud. Andrew Knight, LSEG’s chief information officer for infrastructure and cloud, said the deal would give the group “flexibility to support new services and workloads”; Broadcom’s EMEA sales president Luigi Freguia said “reliability and performance really matter” for LSEG’s market infrastructure. Broadcom Inc.
That is the near-term hook. The bigger story is whether LSEG can turn its data estate into a stronger AI distribution channel. In April, the company said more than 150 customers were connected or onboarding to its Model Context Protocol server, a software link that helps AI tools draw on licensed data with more control and context. Chief Executive David Schwimmer called it a “great start to 2026 across the board.” LSEG
The company’s first-quarter update was strong enough to move guidance. Total income excluding recoveries rose 9.8% on an organic constant-currency basis, meaning stripping out currency swings and certain portfolio changes, while LSEG said full-year revenue growth should land in the upper half of its 6.5%-7.5% range. Markets revenue rose 15.5%, helped by heavy trading volumes as clients managed risk in more volatile conditions. LSEG
LSEG is also buying back stock, a share buyback being a repurchase of a company’s own shares that can reduce the share count and lift earnings per share if profits hold up. A filing on Monday showed the group bought about 1.46 million shares from Goldman Sachs International between May 11 and May 15 and intends to cancel them; after cancellation, it said total voting rights would be 491.8 million. Sharecast
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote after the April update that LSEG had delivered a “record first-quarter set of results” and that management was framing the group as an AI enabler rather than a casualty. He also flagged the remaining tension: “uncertainty around AI disruption could continue to linger.” HL
The sell-side remains upbeat. LSEG’s own consensus page, dated May 8, listed 16 buy ratings, no hold or sell ratings, and a consensus target price of 12,131 pence, against a closing share price of 9,186 pence on May 7. LSEG
There is also a peer read-across. Deutsche Boerse, the German exchange operator, rose on Monday after hedge fund TCI disclosed a 5.15% stake, showing that exchange groups remain under investor scrutiny for capital allocation and strategy. Reuters reported in February that Elliott Management had built a significant stake in LSEG and pressed for a larger buyback, a portfolio review and clearer messaging on AI. Reuters
But the risks are plain. If AI interfaces weaken pricing power for data terminals, or if the recent burst of market volatility fades, LSEG’s growth mix could look less special. The UK backdrop is not clean either: sterling slipped on Tuesday after weak jobs data, and MUFG’s Lee Hardman said the pound’s rebound had been hit by “much weaker-than-expected UK labour market data.” Reuters
For now, investors are giving LSEG credit for execution. The next test is less dramatic: keep rolling out AI-linked products, finish the buyback without looking defensive, and show at July half-year results that the first-quarter momentum was not just a volatility windfall. Fidelity lists LSEG’s half-year results for July 2026. Fidelity International
