London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said on Thursday it plans to execute a further £3 billion of share buybacks over the next 12 months as it published 2025 results showing it returned £2.8 billion to shareholders in 2025 and increased profit before tax 56.5% to £1.969 billion.
LSEG is facing pressure from activist investor Elliott Management and facing concerns that AI could squeeze its business model.
Total income, including recoveries, rose 5.5% to £9.346 billion.
New York-based Elliott has recently become an LSEG shareholder, putting pressure on CEO David Schwimmer to review LSEG’s portfolio, improve margins and show its resilience to AI threats.
LSEG executives said the buyback was not a response to Elliott and the group had no plans for asset sales.
LSEG reported “significant innovation across the group: launch of Open Directory with Microsoft; approval of Private Securities Market and first trade on Digital Markets Infrastructure; development of DigitalAssetClear; and private markets indices partnership between FTSE Russell and StepStone …
“Strategic transformation of Post Trade Solutions with investment from 11 leading banks for a 20% stake …
“Significant shareholder returns: £2.1 billion returned via buybacks in 2025, £415 million year-to-date and a further £3 billion planned to be completed by Feb 2027; final dividend +15.7% to 103.0p per share, to be paid on 20 May 2026 to all shareholders on the share register at the record date of 17 April 2026, subject to shareholder approval …”
LSEG CEO David Schwimmer said: “We have achieved another year of very strong financial performance, driving continued top line momentum through significant investment in our product right across the business, bold strategic choices and an enduring focus on partnership with our customers.
“Our unmatched combination of trusted data and infrastructure is translating into deep customer engagement: in Q4 alone, major financial institutions signed long-term contracts worth £1.9 billion to access our leading data and workflow.
“With our LSEG Everywhere data strategy, we are positioning ourselves as the partner of choice for licensed, trusted data as the use of AI in decision-making scales – and we are seeing very positive signs of adoption. In Post Trade Solutions, we have aligned ourselves strategically with key customers through their investment in the business.
“Through the transformation of our systems and the use of AI and other technologies, we continue to deliver material operating leverage, with earnings growth significantly exceeding revenue growth.
“Given our strong cash generation and balance sheet, we also accelerated returns to shareholders in 2025, buying back £2.1 billion of our shares as well as growing the dividend 15%. Today we’re announcing our plan to execute a further £3 billion of share buybacks over the next 12 months.
“We are very excited about the opportunities ahead of us: with our leading, trusted data, ongoing investment in product innovation and the depth and breadth of our customer relationships, we are very well positioned for continued growth.”