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London Stock Exchange Group Plc: Q1 2022 Trading Update

Date 27/04/2022

This release contains revenues, cost of sales and key performance indicators (KPIs) for the three months ended 31 March 2022 (Q1). All figures quoted in this release are on an underlying basis. Q1 2022 is compared against Q1 2021 on both a statutory and pro-forma basis. Pro-forma figures assume that the acquisition of Refinitiv took place on 1 January 2021. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the BETA+ divestment have been classed as discontinued and are excluded from all periods. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the Borsa Italiana Group divestment, which completed in H1 2021, are also excluded. Constant currency variance is calculated on the basis of consistent FX rates applied across the current and prior year period. For more information on accounting treatments and approach to FX please refer to the “Accounting and modelling notes” section below.

 

Q1 2022 highlights – continued strong financial and operational progress

Note: Unless otherwise stated, variances refer to growth rates on a constant currency basis, with the comparator, Q1 2021, on a pro-forma basis which also excludes the impact of a deferred revenue accounting adjustment1. 

  • LSEG continues to make strong financial and operational progress
  • Q1 total income (excluding recoveries) up 6.3% with good growth across all divisions; up 6.8% adjusting for  the actions LSEG has taken in response to the Ukraine and Russia (U/R) conflict2
  • Good Q1 performance driven by new business growth and high customer retention, building on the strong foundations in 2021
  • Data & Analytics up 4.5% on an underlying basis; up 5.1% excluding U/R impacts, with Trading & Banking growing; Annual Subscription Value (ASV) growth of 4.9% adjusted for U/R, or 3.6% unadjusted
  • Capital Markets up 11.9%, with good contributions across Fixed Income (Tradeweb), FX and Equities
  • Post Trade up 6.6% with broad-based growth
  • 73% of Group income (excluding recoveries) is highly recurring in nature; diversified across customer, activity, product and geography
  • Continued achievement of cost and revenue synergies during the quarter; £25 million run-rate revenue synergies achieved by end of Q1
  • On track to meet all financial targets
  • Continued focus on portfolio enhancement: acquisitions of Quantile, TORA and GDC, which will enhance our offerings in Post Trade, Trading & Banking and Customer & Third-Party Risk respectively, are all on track for completion during 2022; divestment of BETA+, with a significant proportion of the net proceeds of the divestment to be returned to shareholders via a share buyback likely to commence in Q3 2022      

1 The deferred revenue impact is a one-time, non-cash, negative revenue impact resulting from the accounting treatment of deferred revenue within Refinitiv’s accounts which have been re-evaluated upon acquisition by LSEG under purchase price accounting rules. This reduced Q1 2021 revenue by £22m, mainly in Data & Analytics with a smaller impact in the FX business within Capital Markets. There is no material impact in 2022. More details can be found in the “Accounting and modelling notes” section

2 Growth rates excluding the Ukraine / Russia conflict impact have been calculated by excluding income in the region and from sanctioned customers and related business from both periods 

David Schwimmer, CEO said:

“LSEG has delivered a good first quarter, with strong underlying performance across all divisions. During the quarter we announced two acquisitions to enhance our product offerings in Trading & Banking and Customer & Third-Party Risk. We also announced the divestment of BETA+, which will simplify and refocus our Wealth Solutions business. 

“Our ability to invest for growth, make strategic acquisitions and return capital to shareholders demonstrates the strength of the Group and its high-quality recurring revenues. The Group is well positioned and we look forward to further progress during the rest of 2022.”

 

Q1 2022 Summary

Variances are provided on a pro-forma and constant currency basis. Unless stated otherwise, commentary is provided on the constant currency variance (excluding the deferred revenue adjustment) to provide insight into performance on a comparable basis. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the BETA+ divestment have been classed as discontinued and are excluded from all periods. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the Borsa Italiana Group divestment, which completed in H1 2021, are also excluded.

 

Continuing operations

Q1 2022

£m

Pro-forma

Q1 20211

£m

Variance2

% 

 

Constant Currency Variance3

%

Constant Currency Variance

(excl. deferred revenue adjustment) 3,4 

%

Trading & Banking Solutions

378  

372 

1.6% 

 

1.0%

(0.9%)

Enterprise Data Solutions

304  

279 

9.0% 

 

8.8%

6.5%  

Investment Solutions

308  

274 

12.4% 

 

10.8%

9.4%  

Wealth Solutions

63  

61 

3.3% 

 

2.2%

0.9%  

Customer & Third-Party Risk Solutions

94  

85 

10.6% 

 

9.9%

7.8%  

Data & Analytics

1,147  

1,071 

7.1% 

 

6.3%

4.5%  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equities

67  

61 

9.8% 

 

10.0%

10.0%  

FX

60  

57 

5.3% 

 

2.7%

2.4%  

Fixed Income, Derivatives & Other

232  

200 

16.0% 

 

15.2%

15.2%  

Capital Markets

359  

318 

12.9% 

 

11.9%

11.9%  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OTC Derivatives

93  

87 

6.9% 

 

7.5%

7.5%  

Securities & Reporting

64  

63 

1.6% 

 

5.1%

5.1%  

Non-Cash Collateral

24  

22 

9.1% 

 

10.5%

10.5%  

Net Treasury Income

57  

55 

3.6% 

 

5.2%

5.2%  

Post Trade

238  

227 

4.8% 

 

6.6%

6.6%  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other

7  

40.0% 

 

44.1%

44.1%  

Total income (excl. recoveries)

1,751  

1,621 

8.0% 

 

7.6%

6.3%  

Recoveries

80  

88 

(9.1%)

 

1.6%

(0.5%)

Total income (incl. recoveries)

1,831  

1,709 

7.1% 

 

7.3%

6.0% 

Cost of sales

(240)

(230)

4.3% 

 

2.9%

2.9% 

Gross profit

1,591 

1,479 

7.6% 

 

8.0%

6.4% 

1 The Q1 2021 comparator is pro-forma and assumes that the acquisition of Refinitiv took place on 1 January 2021
Variance is the difference between current and prior year periods using FX rates prevalent at each time, therefore any changes in the FX rates are reflected in the variance percentage alongside business performance
3 Constant currency variance shows underlying financial performance, excluding currency impacts, by comparing the current and prior period at consistent exchange rates
4 Excludes the deferred revenue adjustment further explained in the “Accounting and modelling notes” section

 

Q1 2022 Highlights

Group Income (excluding recoveries) grew 6.3% at constant currency and up 6.8% adjusting for the actions LSEG has taken in response to the Ukraine and Russia (U/R) conflict. The revenue impact of U/R is anticipated to be c.£60 million in 2022. Most of the impact reflects the suspension of Data & Analytics services to customers in Russia, with the largest impact in Trading & Banking.

  • Data & Analytics: revenues up 4.5%; up 5.1% excluding U/R impacts
    • Trading & Banking Solutions down 0.9%; but grew 0.1% excluding U/R impacts – Driven by better understanding and servicing of customer needs, with growth in Banking products and an improved performance in Trading revenues. Acquisition of TORA, expected to complete in H2, will enhance customers’ ability to trade multiple asset classes across global markets through our platform
    • Enterprise Data Solutions up 6.5% – Continued acceleration in revenue growth reflects our investment in broadening and deepening our data & analytics offering, and innovation in our delivery of this content. This has reinforced our #1 position in real-time data and continues to support market share gains in pricing and reference data
    • Investment Solutions up 9.4% – Good growth in FTSE Russell with subscription revenues up 10.3%. Asset-based revenues rose 17.0%, despite volatile market conditions over the quarter. Further revenue synergy realisation in the quarter from cross-selling of FTSE Russell and Refinitiv data products
    • Wealth Solutions up 0.9% – Steady growth in our subscription-based services providing data and analytics to Wealth advisory companies. Contribution from the transaction-orientated BETA+ business moved to discontinued operations ahead of expected divestment in H2 2022
    • Customer & Third-Party Risk Solutions up 7.8% – Double-digit organic growth maintained in Q1, reduced on a reported basis by disposal of ERMT business in November 2021. Strong growth in the core screening business, WorldCheck, reflecting market share gains and customer demand for comprehensive, reliable and timely sanctions and KYC data
  • Capital Markets: revenues up 11.9%
    • Equities up 10.0% – Robust secondary market activity in Q1, reflecting the value customers place on the breadth and depth of LSEG’s liquidity, especially during periods of heightened volatility. This more than offsets the impact of weaker primary market issuance and suspension of securities impacted by the U/R conflict
    • FX up 2.4% – Strong growth in our leading global dealer-to-client FX platform, FXall, reflects investment in customer service and platform functionality. Performance partially offset by weaker volumes on Matching platform, our dealer-to-dealer FX trading venue. We continue to make good progress towards transitioning Matching to our modern, proprietary trading architecture in 2023
    • Fixed Income, Derivatives & Other up 15.2% – Strong performance at Tradeweb1 which saw $1.17 trillion of total Average Daily Volume traded in the quarter, an increase of 11%. Growth was driven by continued market share gains and a more volatile macroeconomic backdrop
  • Post Trade: total income up 6.6%
    • OTC Derivatives up 7.5% – Strong volumes seen across SwapClear, ForexClear, CDSClear and SwapAgent, as we support OTC market participants’ need for robust risk management and capital optimisation
    • Securities & Reporting up 5.1% – Good volume growth at RepoClear and EquityClear as they continue to provide an essential service through volatile markets and the introduction of Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR)
    • Non-Cash Collateral up 10.5% – Mainly driven by an increase in average non-cash collateral balances
    • Net Treasury Income up 5.2% – Reflecting the benefit of larger cash collateral balances due to increased clearing activity in Q1

Tradeweb Q1 2022 results will be released on 28 April 2022 and will provide more detailed commentary on performance

 

Statutory financials1

Continuing operations

Q1 2022

£m

Q1 2021

£m

Trading & Banking Solutions

378 

247

Enterprise Data Solutions

304 

194

Investment Solutions

308 

238 

Wealth Solutions

63 

40 

Customer & Third-Party Risk Solutions

94 

57 

Data & Analytics

1,147 

776 

 

 

 

Equities

67 

61 

FX

60 

39 

Fixed Income, Derivatives & Other

232 

141 

Capital Markets

359 

241 

 

 

 

OTC Derivatives

93 

87 

Securities & Reporting

64 

63 

Non-Cash Collateral

24 

22 

Net Treasury Income

57 

55 

Post Trade

238 

227 

 

 

 

Other

7 

Total income (excl. recoveries)

1,751 

1,248 

Recoveries

80 

58 

Total income (incl. recoveries)

1,831 

1,306 

Cost of sales

(240)

(171)

Gross profit

1,591 

1,135 

 

The comparator Q1 2021 figures are statutory results, incorporating Refinitiv from acquisition at the end of January 2021. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the BETA+ divestment have been classed as discontinued and are excluded from all periods. Revenues and cost of sales associated with the Borsa Italiana Group divestment, which completed in H1 2021, are also excluded

Additional information can be found at www.lseg.com

 

Q1 investor and analyst conference call: 

The Group will host a conference call on its Q1 Trading Statement for analysts and institutional shareholders today at 08:30am (UK time). On the call will be David Schwimmer (Chief Executive Officer), Anna Manz (Chief Financial Officer) and Paul Froud (Group Head of Investor Relations).

To access the telephone conference call or webcast please register in advance using the following link and instructions below:

https://www.lsegissuerservices.com/spark/LondonStockExchangeGroup/events/7c30d30d-da35-461a-8d5e-4314cd811e0e

  • If you wish to participate in Q&A, questions can be submitted by clicking the 'Ask a question button' on the page or by emailing the LSEG Investor Relations team at ir@lseg.com. Questions can be submitted in advance and during the event itself
  • If you wish to ask a question live, you will need to register for the telephone conference call here: https://cossprereg.btci.com/prereg/key.process?key=PQ6N49EQ8  
  • NOTE: Once you have registered for the conference call, you will be provided with the information you need to join the conference, including dial-in numbers and passcodes. Please save this information to your calendar or print this information

Presentation slides can be viewed at https://www.lseg.com/investor-relations