London Stock Exchange says Refinitiv costs and savings on track

The London Stock Exchange Group said on Friday that costs and savings targets for integrating its $27 billion acquisition of data company Refinitiv remain unchanged, and that it was launching a 750 million pound ($910.65 million) share buy-back.

"We are managing costs well and we continue to make progress on achievement of synergies," LSEG Chief Executive David Schwimmer said in a statement announcing the company's half-year results.

LSEG bought Refinitiv last year, transforming it into a company where financial market data and analytics are larger than all of its other business lines combined.

"We are successfully executing on our strategy, have good momentum going into the second half and our targets remain unchanged," Schwimmer said.

LSEG reported a gross profit of 3.231 billion pounds, slightly above analysts' consensus of 3.229 billion pounds. It reported an adjusted basic earnings per share of 167.4 pence, above analysts' expectations of 149.6.

It said there was strong income growth across all divisions, with pro-forma total income, excluding recoveries, up 6.2% on the same period last year.

LSEG will pay an interim dividend of 31.7 pence per share, up 27% on the same period last year.

The share-buy back will be launched immediately and be conducted over 12 months.

Thomson Reuters, which owns Reuters News, has a minority shareholding in LSEG.