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(Alliance News) - London Stock Exchange Group on Friday said results in the first half of 2022 improved, as this year's interim period had an extra month's worth of contribution from recent acquisition Refinitiv.
LSEG completed the USD27 billion acquisition of financial market data and trading infrastructure provider Refinitiv in January 2021, ending a long process after first making its interest clear back in July 2019.
LESG's total income excluding recoveries jumped by 24% year-on-year to GBP3.57 billion from GBP2.87 billion. Including recoveries, the measure was up at the same rate to GBP3.74 billion from GBP3.02 billion.
Pretax profit jumped 73% to GBP803 million from GBP463 million.
The stock exchange operator said its offering benefits from market price volatility. Revenue from the Capital Markets unit alone jumped 34% year-on-year. Its largest revenue contributor, Data & Analytics, saw a top-line improvement of 26%.
"Our cash generation is allowing us to actively deploy capital across organic and inorganic investments, grow our dividend and commence a share buy-back programme, driving further value for our shareholders. We are successfully executing on our strategy, have good momentum going into the second half and our targets remain unchanged," CEO David Schwimmer said.
LSEG lifted its interim dividend by 27% to 31.7p per share from 25.0p. It will also launch a GBP750 million buyback, "phased over multiple tranches over 12 months". This kicks off on Friday.
LSEG shares were up 1.9% early Friday, outperforming the wider FTSE 100 index.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 7,438.12
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Hang Seng: up 0.2% at 20,214.92
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.9% at 28,175.87
S&P/ASX 200: closed up 0.6% at 7,015.60
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DJIA: closed down 85.68 points, or 0.3%, at 32,726.82
S&P 500: closed down 3.23 points, or 0.1%, at 4,151.94
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 52.42 points, or 0.4%, at 12,720.58
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EUR: up at USD1.0231 (USD1.0220)
GBP: up at USD1.2156 (USD1.2115)
USD: soft at JPY133.15 (JPY133.30)
Gold: up at USD1,790.06 per ounce (USD1,785.66)
Oil (Brent): flat at USD94.75 a barrel (USD94.65)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's key economic events still to come
1200 BST UK BoE participants survey results
0830 EDT US monthly jobs report
1500 EDT US consumer credit
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UK house prices declined on a monthly basis for the first time in over a year in July, figures from mortgage lender Halifax showed. House prices in the UK declined 0.1% on a monthly basis in July, defying expectations of a 0.9% rise, according to FXStreet. In June, prices had risen 1.4% from May. "Following a year of exceptionally strong growth, UK house prices fell last month for the first time since June 2021, albeit marginally. This left the average house price at GBP293,221, down GBP365 from the previous month's record high," Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley said. On an annual basis, growth slowed to 12% in July, from a 13% hike in June.
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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called China's military exercises off the coast of the self-governing island "irresponsible not only for Taiwan, but also for the international community". Demanding that Beijing be "rational and self-restrained", Tsai said in a video address that Taiwan would not seek to escalate tensions with China further, but stressed that it would defend its sovereignty as the People's Liberation Army continued a series of live-fire drills around the island due to last until Sunday. The Taiwan government was working to ensure safe and smooth operations at the island's ports and airports, as well as the stability of the financial markets, she added. According to Japan's Defence Ministry, four Chinese missile shells landed inside Japan's exclusive economic zone after flying over Taiwan. However, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence would not confirm that the missiles has passed over Taiwan, saying only that the military was employing various early-warning and monitoring mechanisms to track missiles fired by the PLA and had activated its defence systems.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BARCLAYS CUTS HIKMA PHARMAceuticals TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' (Overweight) - PRICE TARGET 1,750 (2,250) PENCE
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GOLDMAN sachs CUTS NEXT TO 'NEUTRAL' (BUY) - PRICE TARGET 7,600 PENCE
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BOFA CUTS CONVATEC TO 'NEUTRAL' (BUY); BARCLAYS RAISES CONVATEC PRICE TARGET TO 295 (285) PENCE - 'OVERWEIGHT'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Retail investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown said it sees "continued, economic and geopolitical turbulence" ahead. "This will continue to impact key drivers of our business including asset levels and investor confidence. We have supported clients through such events and period for many years and each time we have come through stronger. This time will be no different," the FTSE 100 listing said. Pretax profit in the year that ended June 30 fell 26% to GBP269.2 million from GBP366.0 million. Revenue declined 7.6% to GBP583.0 million from GBP631.0 million. Over the financial year, assets under administration declined by 8.6% to GBP123.8 billion from GBP135.5 billion, "driven by market falls". HL raised its annual ordinary dividend by 3.1% to 39.7 pence from 38.5p. However, including a special payout of 12.0p for financial 2021, the total annual dividend is down 24% from 50.5p.
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Advertising agency WPP upped its annual outlook. It now expects organic revenue to rise between 6.0% and 7.0% for 2022. It had initially guided for a 5.5% to 6.5% rise. Pretax profit in the first half of 2022 surged 12% to GBP562 million from GBP502 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 10% to GBP6.76 billion from GBP6.13 billion. WPP upped its payout by 20% to 15.0p from 12.5p. "We have enjoyed a strong first half, with broad-based growth across our creative, media and public relations businesses. This reflects the improved competitive position of our creative businesses, with their growing capabilities in commerce, experience and technology, our continued strength in media and the resurgence in demand for strategic communications advice from our public relations agencies," CEO Mark Read said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Pets At Home backed guidance after a "strong" first quarter. Revenue in the period to July 15 rose 6.0% on a like-for-like basis. Total revenue rose 7.1% year-on-year to GBP404.7 million. CEO Lyssa McGowan commented: "Our performance has remained strong in the first quarter, underpinned by continued customer growth and high levels of retention. We operate a unique omni-channel model, in a market in structural growth, where the passion and expertise of our colleagues and partners is a key competitive advantage." Pets At Home still expects annual pretax profit in line with analyst consensus of GBP131 million.
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COMPANIES - SMALL CAP
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Pendragon said a "large international corporate" bidder for the car dealership chain has decided against pursuing takeover talks. The potential suitor, which wasn't named, had made a bid of 29p per share. This would value Pendragon's share capital at around GBP405.1 million. Shares in the firm closed at 21.50p on Thursday, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP300.3 million. Pendragon was unable to engage with one of its five largest shareholders, the London-listing explained. "The proposal was contingent on receipt of irrevocable commitments from all of Pendragon's major shareholders. The board of Pendragon concluded that the proposal merited engagement with its five largest shareholders and received strong support for the proposal from four of these shareholders who were willing to sign irrevocable commitments. However, Pendragon was unable to engage with one of these shareholders and therefore, given this lack of certainty, the bidder has withdrawn its non-binding offer and both parties have terminated discussions," it said. In March, Sky News reported that Pendragon had rejected a GBP400 million takeover approach from 27% shareholder Hedin Mobility Group. According to Sky, Hedin, a Swedish firm that operates more than 200 vehicle showrooms in Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland through its subsidiary Hedin Bil, had tabled a secret 28p offer.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Allianz reported higher second-quarter revenue, driven by its Property & Casualty business, and backed its full-year forecasts. Revenue in the second quarter of 2022 rose 8.2% to EUR37.1 billion from EUR34.3 billion a year before, driven by 16% growth in the Property & Casualty arm, which brought in sales of EUR16.2 billion. Its other key revenue driver, Life & Health, reported 3.4% revenue growth to EUR19.1 billion. "In a quarter marked by heightened inflation and market volatility, we achieved a very strong operating profit in the second quarter, which emphasizes our ability to successfully navigate rapidly-evolving situations," said Chief Financial Officer Giulio Terzariol. He reaffirmed Allianz's outlook for 2022.
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Friday's shareholder meetings
JPMorgan Global Core Real Assets Ltd - AGM
San Leon Energy PLC - GM and EGM
Trian Investors 1 Ltd - AGM and EGM re removal of three current directors
Verditek PLC - AGM
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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