London Stock Exchange Group says costs for integrating Refinitv after £22bn takeover unchanged
The London Stock Exchange Group has said costs for the integration of its $27bn (£22.2bn) takeover of data firm Refinitiv remain unchanged.
In interim results, the company also announced it was launching a £750m share buy-back programme.
“We are managing costs well and we continue to make progress on achievement of synergies,” the group’s chief executive David Schwimmer explained.
“We are successfully executing on our strategy, have good momentum going into the second half and our targets remain unchanged.”
The group posted a gross profit of £3.23bn, with an adjusted basic earnings per share of 167.4 pence. These results slightly surpassed analysts expectations, according to Reuters news agency.
“The Refinitiv deal transformed LSE’s data capabilities, creating a financial powerhouse to rival Bloomberg,” Charlie Huggins, head of equities at Wealth Club, added.
“So far, the integration seems to be progressing broadly to plan. However, it’s too early for LSE to declare victory. Transformational acquisitions like this are always easier to plot on PowerPoint than they are to pull off in practice.”