Half-year Report31 Jul 2020 09:51
London Stock Exchange Group beats on 1H income, hikes dividend
Fri, 31st Jul 2020 07:55ShareCast
(Sharecast News) - The operator of the London Stock Exchange hiked its interim dividend following a better-than-expected half for the group.
The London Stock Exchange Group's total income for the six months to 30 June jumped 8% year-on-year to £1.24bn (UBS: £1.2bn), with total revenues up 4% to £1.06bn.
Citing the group's "strong" financial position and confidence in its future prospects, the board announced a 16% hike in the interim dividend to 23.3p per share.
Sales from the group's FTSE Russell index business grew 5% to £330m with asset based revenues f;at despite lower levels of assets under management at exchange traded funds.
Post trade revenues meanwhile jumped 9% to £372m, driven by record levels of activity in CDSs, foreign exchange and cash equities.
Capital markets revenue did decline by 4% to £217m, but only because of the one-off benefit recorded a year ago, while on a like-for-like basis they were 12% higher.
All told, the company's profits before tax did dip from £363m one year ago to £362m, but on an adjusted basis, its earnings per share were 11% higher to 112.0p.
Net debt at period end was at 1.4 times pro-forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.