London Stock Exchange Q3 revenue up 2%, Refinitiv says savings on track

Oct. 22 (Reuters) – London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L) posted revenue increase of 2.1% in the third quarter and said it was on track to deliver cost savings through the integration of data platform Refinitiv.

The exchange said pro forma underlying income in the three months to the end of September was £1.78 billion ($2.46 billion), compared to £1.75 billion a year ago, helped by a strong performance from its capital markets business.

“We are making excellent progress with the integration of Refinitiv and are well on track to deliver £125 million in cost synergies by 2021 ahead of our initial phasing,” CEO David Schwimmer said in a statement.

LSEG shares fell 1.7% in early trading.

LSEG said it expected income to grow 4-5% from year to April, but fourth quarter income would not grow as fast as it did in the third quarter on a constant exchange rate basis.

There was no change in past costs or capital expenditures, although supply chain pressures may affect the timing of some of its technology spending, it said, without providing further details.

Refinitiv was hacked away in 2018 by a consortium led by Blackstone (BX.N) of Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, before being bought by LSEG in a $27 billion deal that closed in January 2021.

With the acquisition, Schwimmer is looking to transform LSEG into a one-stop-shop for data, trading and analytics, though the cost of absorbing the data provider worries some investors.

Shares of LSEG are down about 17% since early March, as they slipped on comments about the cost of the Refinitiv integration that scared investors.

Thomson Reuters now has a minority stake in LSEG and Refinitiv pays Thomson Reuters for news it spreads.

($1 = 0.7249 pounds)

Reporting by Rachel Armstrong and Tom Wilson; Editing by John Stonestreet and David Evans

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.