LSEG boosts returns for shareholders amid activist investor pressure

Holly Williams, Press Association Business Editor

Thu, 26 February 2026 at 6:15 pm GMT+9 2 min read

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LSEG.L

+6.03%

The London Stock Exchange Group has unveiled plans for a £3 billion share buyback amid pressure from an activist investor and as artificial intelligence fears have hammered the stock.

LSEG said it would follow £2.1 billion in buybacks made last year with another £3 billion by February next year, on top of a hike in dividend payouts.

Details of the pledge to step up returns for investors came as it reported underlying operating profits of £3.51 billion for 2025, up 10.8% or 14.7% higher on a constant currency basis.

On a bottom line basis, pre-tax profits jumped 56.5% to £1.97 billion for 2025.

Shares in the group rose as much as 5% in Thursday morning trading, in a welcome increase after the stock has been battered in recent weeks by global investor concerns over the impact of AI on its firm and data companies more widely.

Shares in the firm, which makes a significant chunk of its earnings from selling access to markets data, have slumped by nearly a third in the past year.

Activist investor Elliott Management has also built up a stake in the firm earlier this month and has reportedly been pushing for more share buybacks as it has held talks with LSEG bosses.

In the face of the recent shares slump, chief executive David Schwimmer said recent results showed “another year of very strong financial performance”.

He said: “In the fourth quarter 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,” he added.

It outlined new performance guidance for 2027 to 2029, with aims to deliver “mid to high single digit” growth in total income and further increase profitability.

Despite taking a significant stake in LSEG, the Financial Times newspaper reported earlier this week that Elliott has made assurances to the UK government over its intentions for LSEG as speculation mounted it would look to push for a break-up of the firm or for it to switch its listing to New York.

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