London Stock Exchange Group Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

23 Apr 2026, 10:32 by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat Gem

London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSEG) reported what Chief Executive Officer David Schwimmer called a “record quarter” in Q1 2026, highlighting broad-based strength across subscription businesses alongside a sharp increase in Markets revenue amid higher volatility. Management said the performance leaves the group “in an excellent position to deliver on our financial targets for the year,” and guided to revenue growth in the upper half of its 6.5% to 7.5% range.

Record quarter: revenue up nearly 10% and guidance reiterated

Schwimmer said Q1 revenue growth was “almost 10%,” which he described as the highest since LSEG’s acquisition of Refinitiv five years ago. CFO Michel-Alain Proch said the quarter was “further proof of our all-weather model,” pointing to a strong showing in both subscription and market infrastructure businesses.

Proch said subscription businesses accelerated, with Data & Analytics (DNA) up 5.1% and “particular strengths in data and feeds, up 7.3%.” He added that the contribution from pricing and retention in DNA was unchanged versus last year. FTSE Russell rose “almost 9%,” which Proch attributed to subscription acceleration as contract renewal activity normalized. Risk Intelligence increased 10.5%, driven by demand for “business-critical screening and identity verification services.”

Across the subscription portfolio (DNA, FTSE Russell, and Risk Intelligence), Proch said revenue grew 6.3%, up from 5.2% the prior quarter and “on track” for around 6.5% growth for the full year.

Markets revenue rose 15.5% in Q1, which Proch said reflected strong performance “across all the businesses.” He also noted cost of sales benefited from actions taken last year related to the SwapClear revenue surplus, contributing to gross profit growth of 11.5% in the quarter.

Capital returns: £1.1 billion buyback in Q1, more than £3 billion expected over 12 months

LSEG emphasized shareholder returns as a major theme of the quarter. Schwimmer said the company used “the dislocation in our share price” to buy back £1.1 billion of shares in Q1, and expects to return more than £3 billion over the next 12 months when including dividends.

Proch broke down the buyback, saying just over £400 million came from buybacks announced last year and nearly £700 million from the latest program announced in February. Combining the remainder of the year’s £3 billion buyback program with dividends, Proch said LSEG expects to return “nearly 10% of our market capitalization to shareholders over a 15-month period.” He added that the group expects to end the year “around the middle of our leverage range” despite investment and distributions.

AI distribution and product enhancements: MCP adoption expands, commercialization framework to come at H1

Management spent much of the call discussing its “LSEG Everywhere” strategy and the use of a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to distribute AI-ready data. Schwimmer said that in roughly four months since launch, 90 customers have connected to the MCP server directly or via AI partners, with a pipeline of more than 60 additional customers.

Schwimmer said around half of connections are through Claude, with the rest split between direct connections and other third parties. He also said LSEG is adding datasets regularly, and that more than half of its non-real-time data is now available via MCP. He listed upcoming additions over the coming weeks, including transcripts, Lipper funds, and FTSE Russell indices.

On monetization, Schwimmer told Jefferies analyst Tom Mills that customers understand MCP is “incremental” and “outside” existing agreement perimeters, adding that LSEG is in early discussions with “a half dozen or so” customers about the commercial framework. He said the company will share that commercialization framework at its half-year results.

In response to Bank of America analyst Hubert Lam, Schwimmer also clarified that there is “no MCP revenue” included in the DNA results reported for the quarter.

Proch discussed MCP economics in response to UBS analyst Michael Werner, saying customers bear the cost of tokens for large language models such as OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini. LSEG’s MCP costs, he said, are “mostly” cloud and data platform costs, and “both of these costs are indeed variable,” which the company is considering as it develops pricing and commercial policies.

Schwimmer said LSEG is “very comfortable” making its data available through MCP and views it as a strong cross-selling and lead-generation tool, describing it as “a much stronger cross-selling machine than any human could be.” He said the model can search across accessible datasets to answer queries and can be structured to flag licensing gaps as potential sales leads.

Workspace engagement and data consumption metrics rise amid volatility

Schwimmer said LSEG is also embedding AI into Workspace, with an AI search product piloted with around 1,500 users and planned for general availability “in the next few months.” He added that Workspace AI deep research capability is in pilot with around 1,600 customers and is benchmarking well versus competitors, with more data to be added and broader rollout planned through 2026. Schwimmer noted that more than half of take-up is coming from investment management, where LSEG has traditionally had lower penetration.

Management cited elevated customer engagement during the quarter. Schwimmer said Q1 saw record usage of Workspace, including a “75% sustained uptick” in oil tools usage and a threefold increase in demand for shipping data.

He also highlighted multiple data consumption indicators in the quarter:

Real-time business data traffic grew 33% in Q1, with a new all-time high in early April.
Use of the cloud-based real-time offering “Real-Time -Optimized” rose fourfold in Q1.
Data consumption through the Analytics API built with Microsoft grew 44% in Q1.
Usage of tick history data via cloud-based solutions rose 39% in Q1.

In response to questions about workflows within DNA, Schwimmer said he would not “overinterpret any modest tick up or tick down” and pointed to continued interest in new Workspace functionality and Open Directory, with additional product expansion planned, including private markets data.

Markets strength, digital markets initiatives, and post-trade progress

Schwimmer attributed Q1 Markets performance to LSEG’s positioning in structurally growing areas, including fixed income, FX, and post-trade. He said the group saw “exceptional volumes” in interest rate swaps across both trading and clearing as customers adjusted to shifting market expectations, along with strong volumes across fixed income and FX. In equities, he said the group also achieved strong trading volumes.

He added that FTSE Russell expanded in digital assets, attracting eight digital asset ETFs tracking its benchmarks in Q1, and noted demand for private markets indices with StepStone. Schwimmer said LSEG expects to deliver two digital markets capabilities: a Digital Settlement House in Q2 and a Digital Securities Depository in H2.

On Model-as-a-Service, Schwimmer said LSEG made financial models from Société Générale available through the channel in Q1, marking the first time the company expanded its Analytics API to third-party models, with additional models from its post-trade business expected later in the quarter.

On FXall, Schwimmer told Citi’s Andrew Lowe that the business performed strongly in Q1 and has seen ongoing investment in speed, interface, and functionality. He pointed to “fuller integration from FXall into Workspace” as a key focus for the year, and also highlighted end-to-end processing capabilities, including straight-through execution into ForexClear and integration into Tradeweb.

Addressing BNP Paribas’ Arnaud Giblat on post-trade solutions with global banks, Schwimmer said the initiative is progressing well. He cited the launch of TradeAgent in Q1 for OTC processing and “significant onboarding of new customers.” He said the focus is now on creating more integrated functionality across components such as Quantile, Acadia, and SwapAgent, adding that the business is “not a huge contributor” yet but has a “nice long runway of growth.”

In a final technical clarification during Q&A, Proch confirmed to JPMorgan’s Enrico Bolzoni that a reported embedded derivative impact of £5 million was not included in organic growth.

Schwimmer closed the call by reiterating that Q1’s record growth, increased adoption of AI-ready data distribution, and continued innovation support the company’s outlook for the year, alongside “significant surplus capital” being returned to shareholders.

About London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSEG)

LSEG is a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider that operates connected businesses to serve customers across the entire financial markets value chain.

With capabilities in data, indices and analytics, capital formation, trade execution, clearing and risk management, we operate at the heart of the world’s financial ecosystem and enable the sustainable growth and stability of our customers and their communities.

Together, our five business divisions – Data and Analytics, FTSE Russell, Risk Intelligence, Capital Markets and Post Trade – offer customers seamless access to global financial markets, across the trading lifecycle.

LSEG is headquartered in London and has a major presence throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and emerging markets.