London Stock Exchange Group plc

H1 reported organic revenue growth was 8.4%; reported revenue growth was 6.9% after a 1.5% FX headwind. Adjusted EBITDA increased 14%, adjusted EPS increased 17%, and free cash flow per share increased 37%; H1 free cash flow was GBP 1.2 billion, up 29%. Organic revenue by division included D&A up 5.1%, Markets up 12%, FTSE Russell subscription revenue up 6.2%, and Risk Intelligence up 10%. Underlying EBITDA margin expansion in H1 was 120 bps after adjusting for the SwapClear revenue-share change; underlying H1 margin was 52.4% versus 49.8% last year. Management raised full-year guidance for revenue growth to 7% to 7.5% and EBITDA margin improvement to around 100 bps; it also expects capital intensity of around 9.5% of total income and equity free cash flow of at least GBP 2.7 billion. Net finance expense is expected to be around GBP 300 million for the full year, and the interim dividend was increased 17% to 55p per share.

David Schwimmer said the quarter showed LSEG’s model is resilient and increasingly tied to customer demand for trusted data, analytics, and market infrastructure. He emphasized that AI is not displacing LSEG’s role; instead, it is increasing the need for verifiable, auditable, proprietary data and creating more customer engagement across new channels and products. His tone was confident and expansive, framing the company as a critical partner to customers as they adapt to AI.

Michel-Alain Proch highlighted the financial build: 8.4% organic revenue growth, 14% EBITDA growth, 17% EPS growth, and 37% free cash flow per share growth. He walked through the margin bridge, saying 260 bps of EBITDA margin improvement was driven after FX adjustment, with 140 bps tied to the SwapClear revenue-share change and 120 bps underlying expansion; he also noted labor cost as a share of income fell from 30% to 28.1%, and 77% of headcount is now internal. He stressed strong cash generation, GBP 2.6 billion returned to shareholders in H1, a further GBP 1.4 billion of buybacks planned by February 2027, net debt-to-EBITDA at 2.1x, and guidance for at least GBP 2.7 billion of equity free cash flow.

Analysts focused heavily on AI disruption, MCP monetization, and whether asset-based fee growth should lift subscription revenue guidance further. Management said MCP is important but only about 1/3 of current AI-related commercial discussions, that monetization is already starting but minimal in 2026, and that any revenue contribution should build slowly rather than spike. On growth, management said confidence in the 6.5% full-year subscription target comes from record gross sales in late 2025 and a stronger product lineup, while on LDA they said the share of D&A revenues from LDA agreements rose from 16% to 18% and they are not seeing longer sales cycles. They also said agents using MCP appear to consume roughly 10x the data of humans, though they called that “anecdata.”