
19 London Stock Exchange Group plc
Annual Report 2024
Strategic Report
Key performance indicators (KPIs) continued
Definition
EBITDA – excluding non-
underlying items
3
– over total
income (excluding recoveries).
Why this is important for LSEG
We are building a more efficient,
scalable business and expanding
underlying profitability over time,
demonstrating the intrinsic
operating leverage of the Group.
As we accelerate our revenue
growth while modernising our
technology infrastructure and
streamlining our cost base,
improving margin allows us
to reinvest for future growth.
Analysis
We delivered a 2024 adjusted
EBITDA margin of 48.8%, an
improvement of 160bps year-on-
year. This reflects strong progress
in accelerating top-line growth
while modernising our technology
infrastructure and shifting to
a more efficient allocation of
resource. This also included
benefits relating to fair value
movements on embedded
derivative contracts. Excluding
these items, EBITDA margin
was 48.4%, a constant-currency
improvement of 80bps. Across
2023–2026, we expect to
increase adjusted EBITDA margin
by c.250bps
4
as the benefit from
top-line growth more than offsets
underlying inflation and our
reinvestments in growth.
Adjusted EBITDA margin
48.8%
2023: 47.2%
2021
2022
2023
2024
48.8%
47.2%
47.8%
47.8%
Link to strategic objectives
EBITDA margin performance is
a key factor in determining Group
AOP, while also aligning with our
Efficiency objective.
Definition
Earnings per share, adjusted to
remove any non-underlying items.
3
Why this is important for LSEG
AEPS is a key financial metric that
is both central to our valuation
and a significant element of
employees’ performance-related
remuneration. Growth in our
AEPS reflects our degree of
success in driving strong top-line
performance, as well as managing
costs including tax and interest,
and capital allocation.
Analysis
Adjusted earnings per share
(AEPS) from continuing operations
was 363.5 pence. The 12.2%
increase in AEPS year-on-year
was driven by growth in
underlying profitability, partly
offset by higher depreciation
– reflecting our continued
investment in technology and
product, as well as amortisation
of capex to deliver Refinitiv
synergies – and higher net
finance expenses due to
increased interest rates. Our
adjusted effective tax rate also
increased year-on-year, driven
by a higher UK corporate tax
rate from 1 April 2023. Share
buybacks reduced the average
share count in 2024, which
acted as a tailwind for AEPS.
Adjusted earnings per share
363.5p
2023: 323.9p
2021
2022
2023
2024
363.5p
323.9p
317.8p
272.4p
Link to strategic objectives
Earnings per share growth is
a reflection of profitability, linked
to Group AOP and aligning
with our Efficiency objective.
Definition
Capital expenditure
5
as
a proportion of total income
excluding recoveries.
Why this is important for LSEG
We have been addressing historic
underinvestment in Refinitiv’s
infrastructure and investing to
deliver appropriate synergies from
the integration. We still have a
wide range of growth initiatives
to pursue, but as the bulk of the
Refinitiv integration investment
ends, we expect capex intensity
to reduce from 11–12% in 2024 to
a high single-digit percentage of
revenue over the medium term.
Analysis
Capex intensity in 2024 was
11.3%, 160bps lower than in
2023. Cash capex
4
in the year of
£957 million reflected ongoing
investment in key growth
programmes, including Workspace
product development with
Microsoft, Post Trade Solutions
infrastructure, and continued
investment in Tradeweb. In
addition, we continued to invest
in the integration of acquired
businesses, the vast majority of
which related to delivering the
revenue and cost synergies from
the Refinitiv acquisition. We expect
total capex of around 10% of total
income excluding recoveries
in 2025.
Capex intensity
11.3%
2023: 12.9%
2021
2022
2023
2024
11.3%
12.9%
13.0%
11.5%
Link to strategic objectives
Falling capex intensity is a product
of both accelerating growth and
disciplined investment, in line
with our Efficiency objective.
Definition
Annual incremental revenue
delivered through synergies
from the Refinitiv integration.
Why this is important for LSEG
By harnessing our vast data
to build new products, and
through cross-sell and distribution
opportunities, we are generating
value from the Refinitiv acquisition.
In March 2023, we raised our
target for runrate revenue
synergies from £225 million to
£350–400 million by the end of
2025, incurring £550–600 million
in costs to achieve.
Analysis
By the end of 2024, we had
delivered £292 million of runrate
revenue synergies and we remain
on track to achieve our target of
£350–400 million by the end of
2025. We are delivering synergies
against three key categories. We
are cross-selling data products
to new customers, such as the
underlying pricing data behind
FTSE Russell indices, and utilising
our data to enhance existing
products and build new products.
We have also launched our
ecommerce platform, which is
beginning to deliver synergies
through new sales. With the
Refinitiv integration now largely
complete, and synergy delivery
ahead of original targets, we will
end detailed monitoring of the
synergy programme going forward.
Runrate revenue synergies
£292m
2023: £158m
2021
2022
2023
2024
£292m
£158m
£68m
£15m
Link to strategic objectives
Revenue synergies contribute
to income growth, which is an
important factor in determining
Group AOP.
Adjusted EBITDA
margin
Capex
intensity
Adjusted earnings
per share (AEPS)
Runrate revenue
synergies