Earnings Call: H2 2020

Mar 5, 2021

Morning. Thank you very much for joining this call. In just a moment, I'm going to hand over to David Schwimmer, LSEG Group CEO, will provide a brief introduction. Anna Mans, the Group CFO, will then take you through some financial highlights before David takes a look the group as we move forward. After the prepared remarks, we will then take Q and A. So just before we start, here's some important logistics information. If you're watching this through the webcast, that's fine, but you'll only be able to listen in to the Q and A. If you want to ask questions, then you'll need to connect via the separate phone line, which is operator hosted, and that will enable you to put questions. There is going to be a your webcast line to avoid any feedback. There will be slides appearing on the screen as we speak, but you can download those from the website as well. So with that, let me hand you over to David Schwimmer. Thank you. Thanks, Paul. Good morning, everyone. Despite the challenging environment presented by the pandemic and broader geopolitical events, LSEG has delivered a strong financial performance. Throughout, LSEG has been focused on ensuring the welfare of our employees and continuity of service to our customers, demonstrating strong operational resilience. Our systemic role has perhaps never been clearer, maintaining access to our capital markets, managing risk through our clearing operations and providing important information services to market participants, with record volumes executed in our training venues and clearinghouses during highly volatile markets. The completion of the acquisition of Refinitiv at the end of January 2021 marked an important milestone in LSEG's history. This transformational transaction brings together 2 highly complementary global businesses with a shared commitment to an open access philosophy and partnership with our customers. The strategic rationale for the deal is even more compelling today, and I am excited about this significant opportunity going forward. LSEG is very well positioned to capitalize on the trends driving change across our industry, helping customers to access data, trading tools, analytics and risk management across the financial markets and at scale around the world. It also accelerates our strategy to be a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider. I'll talk in more detail about some of the industry trends and multi year opportunities across our 3 core operating divisions. But first, let me hand over to Anna to talk through the full year 2020 financial results announced this morning. Thanks, David. Good morning. I'm delighted to be here for my first LSEG results, and I look forward to meeting all of you in person when we can. Today, I'm going to provide detail on the strong performance Eltek delivered in 2020. And recognizing your real focus is on the impact of the Refinitiv acquisition, I'll set out the financial priorities which underpin the delivery of our financial targets. Turning to Slide 5. As you've seen from this morning's announcement, we've delivered strong financial results against the challenging market backdrop. The main highlights are shown here. Total income increased 6% to £2,400,000,000 driven by good organic growth and a strong contribution from NTI. After deducting cost of sales, gross profit increased 6%, up to £2,200,000,000 Underlying operating costs increased 6% with higher spend on people and technology to drive growth and improve our operational resilience. Adjusted EBITDA increased 5% at £1,300,000,000 and adjusted earnings per share rose by 5% to 209.7p. And finally, the proposed dividend of 51.7p per share brings the full year dividend to 7.55p, an increase of 7% and within our target cover range. Let's take a more detailed look at the results on Slide 6. Information services grew 3%. Within this, FTSE Russell also grew 3%, With 6% growth in subscriptions, which account for about 60% of FTSE revenue, driven by new products and wider customer adoption. This was partially offset by lower asset based revenues as market values came under pressure. Going forward, the majority of information services will fold into the new data and analytics division. Post trade delivered a strong performance with total income up 12%. Growth was driven by LCH where volumes were higher in both OTC and non OTC clearing services, driven by market volatility in parts of the year. NTI was strong in H1 due to the pandemic related activity and higher collateral balances. Income normalized during H2 and the LCH Q4 2020 level of 57,000,000 is more indicative of the run rate for 2021. Although Capital Markets reported flat revenue, Underlying performance after adjusting for the 1 off IFRS 15 benefit last year was strong, up 8%, reflecting good primary and secondary market activity. So overall, a good performance across the group and a good platform for future growth. Slide 7 looks at the main year on year changes to the income line. There's 2 main points here. First, you can see £58,000,000 of predominantly NTI income, which was driven by pandemic related volatility and is unlikely to repeat in 2021 unless we see further periods of market volatility. 2nd, After adjusting for FX and IFRS 15, you can see the good contribution from organic growth, reflecting the benefits of a diversified revenue base across the group. Next, Slide 8, which shows the principal movements in the cost line. Let me unpack the net £40,000,000 increase in OpEx. Underlying OpEx increased by £65,000,000 mainly reflecting investment for future growth and technology spend to support operational resilience. This was offset by £10,000,000 of in year savings realized from a 2 year headcount reduction initiative and a net £15,000,000 temporary reduction in spend due to the pandemic, mainly in relation to marketing and travel. Depreciation increased by £9,000,000 lower than increases in recent years, reflecting the delay of some investment due to the pandemic. So costs remain well controlled as we realize some savings whilst at the same time continuing with some targeted investment and development spend. Turning to Slide 9. As a highly regulated infrastructure business, we need to ensure the This requires ongoing investment in our platforms, technology and cybersecurity to ensure continuity of service for customers across all market conditions and points of stress. Let me give you an example. We went live with a new LCH Equity Clear platform in March 2020 just as the pandemic hit. We successfully processed record equity clearing volumes 3 to 4 times higher than normal levels within days of launch, despite all of our people working from home. This gives you a sense of the level of testing and development we have to work to. In addition, we've taken action to support our customers through this period of market stress with lower or suspended fees in some services. Now let's turn to cash flow on Slide 10. Cash generation was good with net free cash flow of 4.72 £1,000,000 after tax, interest payments, investment activities and dividends. This strong cash generation has enabled investment in a range of projects and initiatives with total cash CapEx of 222,000,000 I'll cover future investment in more detail shortly. Let's finish the round up of 2020 with a look at Refinitiv's financial performance position on Slide 11. The revenue trajectory was good with growth rates accelerating from 1.6% in 2019 to 4.2% in 2020. Driving this performance was growth in Enterprise Data Solutions, Wealth, Investment Solutions and Risk. The latter helped by acquisitions. Strong results at Tradeweb also contributed to the increased revenues. 80% of revenues were reoccurring, in line with the largely subscription nature of the business, and there was good diversification across geographies. The U. S. Was the largest region with 38% of revenues, EMEA with 24% and Asia Pac at 19%. This revenue growth and good cost takeout means that the EBITDA margin has now reached 45%. So despite the challenging market backdrop, Refinitiv delivered a good and improving performance and a strong base for the future. Turning to Slide 12 and looking forward. I want to start by giving you an insight on how I see my role. My priorities fall into 4 broad areas and are all execution focused. 1st, strong financial management, the core role of a CFO. The integration gives us an opportunity To bring significant process optimization across the combined group, to run things consistently better, driving sustained change and cost reduction. This is not a one off exercise, but a mindset of continual improvement and efficiency. As we take the company forward, David is driving strategic and cultural change. My role is to work alongside, embedding a strong evidence based performance management mindset across the business and functions. This will see us focus on the lead indicators of returns and value. Integration execution is perhaps obvious, But the entire executive team have an extensive and multiyear project ahead. My focus is on the execution of our synergies With rigorous financial discipline, so we achieve our aims over time and more. And finally, capital allocation. Effective capital deployment supports transformation, operational excellence and value creation and needs to be within the guardrails of a strong balance sheet. Let's turn to Slide 13 to look at this last point in slightly more detail. This is very much a continuation of the framework the group has previously used. Our decisions are informed by maintaining our existing leverage target of 1 to 2 times net debt to EBITDA, Focus on the right returns on our investments and maintaining a progressive dividend policy. You'll see us continue to deploy capital for organic growth opportunities and for efficiency, For inorganic opportunities to deliver growth by smart acquisitions and for shareholder returns through dividends and other options. Next to financing on Slide 14. The left hand side of this chart summarizes our current debt position. As you'd expect, we have a mix of flexible shorter term facilities, and we're working to issue longer term debt as opportunity permits. Existing LSEG debt will remain unchanged. Since completion, Moody's and S and P have issued updated ratings, A3 with stable outlook and long term A with negative outlook, respectively. Pro form a net debt to adjusted EBITDA is above 3.5 times. But as we said previously, The proceeds from Borsa Italiana will be used to reduce the level of debt, which will lower pro form a leverage to below 3 times. Slide 15 gives some color on the investment program in the year ahead. We expect total investment spend of up to £1,000,000,000 in 2021, with around £850,000,000 of this being CapEx. This investment reflects the ongoing spend at LSEG and Refinitiv, plus some costs associated with the achievement of cost and revenue synergies and additional expense for the separation and divestment of Porta Italiana. We've grouped the spend into 3 areas. Spend on maintaining our asset base will continue, including data centers, technology upgrades and cybersecurity, The essential spend to maintain high operational service. Investment in both efficiency and growth provide direct returns in terms of cost control and in driving future revenues. Efficiency spend includes a range of projects you see here on the slide, including some one off items such as property rationalization. Investment in growth includes initiatives across all three divisions. By nature of its size and number of opportunities, data and analytics represents more of the investment. Let's turn to Slide 16 with a quick recap of the financial targets we're working towards. The targets originally set out when the Refinitiv transaction was first announced remain unchanged, other than reducing leverage more quickly following the divestment of Bosto Italiana. Revenue growth and synergies are unchanged, although we have said previously that growth in 2021 will fall below the bottom end of the 3 year range. This is because we are lapping 2020 results, which Some pandemic related outperformance and as the momentum on our revenue synergies takes time to build. Realization of cost synergies will be as expected, although in aggregate, we expect mid single digit OpEx growth this year. This reflects the current higher level of investment in the business as explained earlier and of costs from acquisitions made by Refinitiv. Finally, we expect the effective tax rates to be in the range of 22% to 4%. And depreciation and amortization will be around £830,000,000 This guidance is all on a pro form a basis. So pulling this together on Slide 17, LSEG and Refinitiv both delivered strong financial results in 2020 and strong operational performance and focus on resilience. Our financial priorities are clear And we're supporting group development with investment. We have high confidence in the opportunities ahead in 2021 and beyond and on delivering on our financial targets. Let me pass you over to David to provide more color on our strategy to deliver this. Thanks, Anna. I should mention that I am delighted to have Anna on board as we move forward and deliver on the benefits of the transaction. Let's turn to Slide 19. As a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider, LSEG provides high value services to customers around the world, helping to drive financial stability, empowering economies and enabling customers to create sustainable growth. LSEG is now truly global with a significant presence in North America, Europe, Asia and Emerging Markets, bringing together exceptional skills and experience at scale. We're now focused on integration and delivering the strategic and financial benefits of the transaction to our customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. The work we've done so far confirms the quality of the business And the extensive opportunities to capitalize on long term market trends to deliver sustainable revenue growth, product innovation, scale efficiencies and substantial synergies. Turning to Slide 20. Financial Markets Infrastructure is a rapidly evolving sector, and our customers' needs are changing. They are looking for stronger, deeper relationships with fewer partners. Change is happening at an even greater pace today, with emphasis on flexible access to markets, increasing electronification of trading and the data, analytics and workflow that facilitate these developments. Our transaction fits well into this evolving landscape. It brings together businesses across the trade life cycle underpinned by data content and distribution channels that will enable us to deliver a connected product offering for our customers. The group is well positioned across the financial markets value chain with multi asset class capabilities, strengthened data and analytics tools and world class risk management expertise. On to Slide 21. Our significantly enhanced capabilities will enable us to take advantage of a number of the industry megatrends driving change. For example, The increased digitization of markets is driving customer demand for sophisticated data content and analytics provided on flexible and open platforms. How customers choose to receive, access and use this data is also changing with direct feeds and cloud based delivery of content, enabling greater use of automation and Machine Learning Tools. The group is also well positioned to address the continued growth in passive investing. Passive assets under management are now over $10,000,000,000,000 and continuing to grow. FTSE Russell's multi asset class capabilities are a key differentiator, allowing greater product innovation across global equities and fixed income. The importance of having multi asset class capabilities will Only increase in financial markets driven by electronic trading and passive investment as customers seek efficiency and simplicity with fewer but deeper partner relationships. Extending our reach to support customers in areas such as wealth management, where Refinitiv has a significant U. S. Footprint and growing presence in Asia, also brings new growth areas for LSEG. Lastly on this slide, LSEG is well positioned to meet the growing demand for sustainable investing and financing needs across the ESG spectrum. We facilitate the transition to a net zero carbon economy for issuers and investors through comprehensive sustainable finance offerings across our capital raising, data and Index Businesses. This is an important subject, and we have a couple of slides in the appendix that summarize our corporate and commercial approach in this area. Turning to Slide 22. Our diversified product offering across the financial markets value chain provides clear competitive advantages and positioned LSEG very well to capitalize on these market trends. We have strengthened our multi asset class capital markets capabilities through the addition of FX and fixed income platforms, the 2 largest traded asset classes globally. We have world class data content, Management and distribution capabilities powered by both proprietary and open technology and deep domain and operational expertise. We also retain our firm commitment to an open access and customer partnership approach, points of genuine competitive differentiation and core to our strategic success. As you can see on Slide 23, we believe the powerful combination Industry trends such as the digitization of markets and growth in passive investing with our enhanced data offering and multi asset class capabilities provides significant opportunities for value creation across the group. Together, they support the strategic rationale for the transaction and position us to deliver long term growth. Let me provide more detail on Slide 24. The creation of long term value for shareholders can be grouped in 5 key areas you see here. I've already discussed the trends shaping our industry and how our combined offering will allow us to deliver for our customers. To the second and third points on the slide, by geography and products, We have a well diversified revenue base with a high proportion of subscription based services that provide predictable and recurring income from a widespread and high quality global customer network. The 4th point, our open operating platform will allow us to develop and distribute new products at scale. We intend to take advantage of this as we execute on our integration and synergy plans. And the 5th point, the combination of our products and services distributed across the financial markets value chain provides a fully integrated financial ecosystem that will enable us to serve our customers better. Turning to Slide 25. I'm very pleased with the group's new executive committee, which is leading the business now and going forward. The team represents a good mix from both companies with strong customer facing expertise and deep market knowledge. I've also hired new members of the team such as Anna, and it's terrific to see how quickly they are adding value. This team has the skills and experience to execute on our strategy, And I'm delighted to say that we are already working well together as we start the transformation process. On to Slide 26. Our 3 core operating divisions, data and analytics, capital markets and post trade, deliver high value products And services of critical importance to customers, helping them to manage risk and access data, trading services and analytics. The Data and Analytics division is the name for the combination of the majority of the Refinitiv businesses and LSEG's Information Services business. It encompasses the collection, aggregation and management of huge data sets combined with analytics, indices, tools and workflow with distribution across markets via multiple channels such as APIs, feeds, cloud and desktop solutions. Added value also comes from the packaging of data and services into tailored solutions for specific customer segments. So you will see that we segment the data and analytics division into customer propositions rather than grouping by asset type or market activity. Capital Markets and Post Trade divisions remain core businesses and important components of a joined up customer offering, providing trading and clearing solutions across multiple asset classes. We've been planning for integration of the businesses during the last 18 months, and we are now executing on that. Over the next few slides, I'll highlight some of the opportunities for growth going forward in each of our core businesses. In Slide 27, we've structured the data and analytics division into 5 segments to better meet the needs of our customers. We see growth opportunities within each. In Trading and Banking Solutions, the largest segment, we will continue the investment program started under Blackstone's ownership to develop and roll out Refinitiv Workspace, offering a significantly improved, integrated and accessible capability for traditional trading and banking users, as well as deepening our relationships with the buy side. We will also be investing in our analytics and workflow offerings. In enterprise data, a growing market segment, we see opportunities from the increased provision of real time and non real time pricing and reference data in machine readable formats delivered through direct feeds or the cloud. Investment Solutions is predominantly focused on our asset management and asset owner customer base. Leading index businesses in FTSE Russell and Refinitiv, combined with significantly enhanced data capabilities, will allow us to maximize synergies and work with customers to develop new products in areas such as sustainable investment and fixed income. And we can increase distribution of these products through a larger sales team and a wider customer network. In Wealth Solutions, we have the opportunity to leverage investment research and IP into new and growing wealth advisory markets, such as Asia and in response to demand from retail and wealth customers for analytics, workflow tools and execution. Our customer and third party risk solutions help customers onboard and screen their customers, counterparties and suppliers and manage their financial crime risk. Growth in this area is being driven by increasing regulatory risk and compliance requirements as well as the need to automate customer onboarding. And we expect these growth rates to continue. Turning to Capital Markets on Slide 28. We've strengthened our capital markets franchise and now have multi asset class trading capabilities across FX, fixed income and equities. Ongoing electronification of markets provides the opportunity to deliver efficient platform agnostic ways of trading, creating attractive liquidity pools in growth areas such as ETFs. We believe that FX platforms will continue to benefit from increasing electronic trading as well as direct participation of the buy side. The pandemic and the resulting market volatility highlighted the importance of access to liquidity and the ability for firms to raise equity capital efficiently. We are looking at ways to simplify equity and debt issuance processes through strategic investments in FinTech firms such as Navara and Primarybid. We are also expanding our issuer services platform, enhancing content, improving transparency and supporting companies, be they SMEs or blue chips in their communications with investors. Turning to Postrade on Slide 29. LCH is a systemic provider of clearing and risk management services to members and clients globally, and we continue to see good growth across LCH. Clearing new products creates further opportunities for our members and their clients to achieve operational and capital efficiencies through portfolio netting. In FX, for example, only a small proportion of the OTC market that is suitable for clearing is currently centrally cleared. The implementation of the next phase of the uncleared margin rule is later this year. And we will focus on onboarding new clients to our ForEx Clear service as well as expanding the number of products available for clearing. We're seeing good momentum in LCH Swap Agent as it expands its offering in the uncleared interest rate swap space, which represents around 25% of the global OTC interest rate derivatives space. Reference rate reform is also an important focus. LCH continues to engage closely with the relevant government authorities and industry participants to support the global transition to alternative reference rates. Turning to Slide 30. I've outlined some of the opportunities that we see within our business divisions, but we believe that real strength and additional opportunities exist in connecting or creating linkages among the 3 divisions. Our data platform underpins the connectivity and can be used in a number of ways to deliver products and services, creating an ecosystem of connected businesses for the benefit of customers across the trading lifecycle. For example, how can post trade data used to help inform customers' pre trade decisions. This is something we look forward to providing more detail on as the integration progresses. Turning to Slide 31. I'm excited about how our employees are embracing this opportunity, coming together with clear purpose and ambition as we get to know each other and build a common culture. We have now begun to implement a number of multiyear investment programs, such as replatforming our FX trading business to achieve our strategic ambitions while delivering efficiencies as a result of the integration. And we are confident in achieving the year 1 target of realizing 25% run rate of cost synergies. We also look forward to making good progress on the revenue synergies. So in summary, on Slide 32, LSEG is ideally positioned to capitalize on the trends driving change across our industry. With our trusted expertise and diverse product offering across the trading lifecycle, we are focused on partnering with our customers to invest in new products and services. LSEG is well positioned for future growth as a leading financial markets infrastructure and data provider. I'm excited about the opportunity going forward, and I look forward to working with the executive team to deliver the strategic benefits of the transaction and create long term value. I'll now hand over to the operator to begin the Q and A. And there will be a slight pause as these are CEO. CEO. Please stand by for your first question, which comes from the line of Haley Tam of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to Anna. Can I ask three questions, please? The first one, just quickly on Slide 14 and the refinancing strategy. I just wondered if you could provide us with any guidance on when we might expect A new debt issue to replace the Refinitiv debt that you assumed or the bridge facilities, I suppose, I should say. Do you have to wait for the proceeds from Borsa Teliana to come through first? Or could you do a partial replacement of the bridge facility first if market conditions are supportive? And the second question just on the next slide, the GBP 1,000,000,000 investment I just wonder if you could help us by splitting this into amounts relating to the Refinitiv integration, The Bors Italiana separation and then I suppose business as usual investment. And I guess here, I'm just trying to reconcile this, the numbers we had in the prospectus in December, Particularly for Infinitiv. And then I have the last question, if I may, just on Slide 27. Thank you very much for going through some of the growth opportunities for the Data and Analytics division. I just wondered if you could help us quantify this growth outlook Given the revenue here on a pro form a basis, I think grew 2% year on year, including a 1% decline in Trading and Banking Solutions. So If there's any quantification you give us on which segments you think are going to be the bigger growth drivers, that would be very useful. Thank you. Shall I work through the first couple? Sure. So with respect to the refinancing strategy, You can see that we have moved with real pace so far in our refinancing, and you should expect that pace to continue. I'm not going to guide to specific timing for debt issuance, but it is worth saying that I don't see debt For debt issuance, but it is worth saying that I don't see debt issuance and completing the Borsa transaction As interdependent, I think we can manage those 2 things separately. So moving forward as with pace as fast as we can. 2nd one, the billion, just to break that out for you. The way I think about it is The 2 legacy businesses had ongoing CapEx spend. So if you look at legacy LSEG, we've been spending around about £200,000,000 or a little bit over a year. And if you look at legacy Refinitiv, spend was a little bit over £400,000,000 or so. So that sort of starting point of roundabout £700,000,000 is the ongoing investment required to Maintain our products and services and drive on growing growth in those business. In addition, on top, you've got, Call it another £150,000,000 that relates to CapEx investment with respect to those synergies and also the Borsa separation, the Borsa separation being £50,000,000 of that and the rest being around underpinning Those synergy deliveries. So I'll take the third question in terms of some of the growth opportunities. And One of the conversations that we have had with you all consistently over the last 18 months since we announced the transaction is the building blocks of growth. And those are all consistent. So just to touch on a few of those. The growth engines that exist within each of LSEG legacy LSEG and the legacy Refinitiv business continue to be very attractively growing. And so that would be, Of course, LCH and the index business of LSEG and then the on the Refinitiv side, Tradeweb, the risk business and then depending on market activity levels, some of the execution venues In terms of FX and other execution exposed parts of the business. But just to lay that out, now that we are a combined company And we have the 5 segments across data and analytics. Let me get into that in a little bit more detail. So We are very pleased and excited about the opportunity with enterprise data. That's growing Attractively, that segment is growing and our positioning in that segment is growing. Wealth is another area where there are very strong trends, Lots of growth opportunity in Asia. And so that's another attractively growing space. I think on I already touched on the index business within Investment Solutions. I touched on the very attractive growth in the 3rd party and Customer Risk Solutions Business. On the Trading and Banking Solutions Business, that area, We've got some work to do there. Blackstone has been investing in that area. We'll continue investing. I think there are opportunities and we have Some clear targets in terms of what we're going to be doing to improve some of the workflow, improve some of the analytics, roll out the new Refinitiv workspace. So more to do there, but we're very focused on improving that business as well. So Lots of different areas of opportunity for growth, and we look forward to keeping you updated as we work down that path. Very clear. Thank you. If I could just risk a follow-up. Given the size of Trading and Banking Solutions, Is it reasonable for us to therefore expect that investment and the work that you continue to do to turn that around from shrinkage To grow from the future? We will be investing in that area. But there are a number of other areas to invest in across the business. But that is one area that we will be investing in. Thank you. Thank you for that. Your next question is from Benjamin Goy of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Yes. Hi, good morning. Two questions, please, from my side. First, you reiterated your 1 to 2 times leverage target. Just wondering is that certain rating agencies by your own appetite for leverage or regulatory constraints? And linked to that, should we only expect the smart M and A you mentioned in your presentation once you get closer to 2x leverage again? And then the second question is on FX. I saw it is it was only flat. Sounds would suggest it kind of underperformed platforms, but in particular banks last year. So I was just wondering What are the reasons why FX oil and the related businesses had a bit of a flat year last year? Thank you. You want to take the first one? Yes. So we absolutely are focused on getting back to 1 to 2 times leverage rating. And that is certainly exactly where we're headed at the moment. And we will continue to assess whether that is the right range going forward. In terms of smart M and A, We will do we'll continue to look for those strategic bolt ons that meet our Returns framework and are strategic to the acceleration of our business. And so I would consider that business as usual. But in the meantime, yes, we're rapidly delevering. And actually, Borsa Italiana will take us a big jump of the way there to get back to our 1 to 2 times target range. And then on your question, Benjamin, with respect to FX, so that business, there are a couple of different dynamics in that business. 1, of course, is what's going on In the markets and whether there is significant volatility in associated trading volume across the FX space. And we certainly have seen some of that in certain areas. The other aspect of that business is that there are Different dynamics in the dealer to customer space and in the interdealer space. And I think FXL has A strong and healthy position in dealer to customer. I think on the matching side, that has been A flatter business and there's more work to be done there. I mentioned earlier in my remarks that we're going to be investing in and replatforming our FX business. And we look forward to improving our capabilities, upgrading the technology, increasing the speed of execution on that platform. So as I mentioned earlier, more to do in investment in a few different areas. That's one of the areas that will benefit from that investment. Thank you. Thank you for that. Your next question is from Kyle Voigt of KBW. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. Maybe a couple of questions from me. Maybe first on the Refinitiv, The Workspace rollout, if you just kind of help us understand how that's gone so far, early indications of Customer uptake and subscriber count. And then maybe linked with that, any progress on Or any update on the strategy of moving more towards enterprise pricing for some of your dealer relationships? Thanks, Kyle. So I'd say on the Workspace rollout, so far so good, but it's early days. And this is a business, there are hundreds of thousands of users of the icon platform across Refinitiv. And so the rollout of the new Workspace platform, we are doing in a thoughtful and careful way and making sure that that transition works well for the customers. So Not in a position to give specific numbers on the rollout right now, but we're doing it segment by segment. So, so far, the rollout has started in the Wealth segment and moving into the Banking segment. And then we look forward to doing the trading segment as well over a period of time. But this will be a transition, again, given the 100 of 1000 that we need to work through, this will be a transition that takes This will take us a couple of years to work through. Was there a second question that you had? Yes, I asked about the strategy of moving more towards an enterprise wide type pricing structure for some of your dealer relations. So And just so everyone's on the same page here, just in terms of the context, in our industry, and this is not specific to LSEG or to Refinitiv, We are seeing a structural decline in the number of humans accessing desktops or terminals, but we're seeing a significant structural growth in the demand for the data, the analytics, the workflow that we provide. And so one of the Transitions that Refinitiv has been going through prior to our closing of the transaction, but we will continue to move down this path, is a shift of the revenue model to what is called Refinitiv access, and this is an opportunity for customers to access the data offerings, the content, the workflow in whatever distribution channel works best for them. So we obviously distribute our content across the human distribution channel, which is the desktop, but of course, importantly across electronic feeds, through the cloud, on premise and partnerships. And this Continued rollout of the access program also will take some time. It's done as each contractual relationship is renegotiated. And so that's not necessarily a 1 year process, because some of our contractual relationships are multi year. So we'll continue to be doing this going forward. It has had substantial growth in 2020 and we expect to see More customers taking on Refinitiv Access this year and beyond. On expenses, just really quick in terms of The trajectory of expenses and kind of what you're guiding to with mid single digit growth in underlying OpEx. If we look at 2019 to 20 '20 on a pro form a basis, expenses were down. Refinitiv obviously had their efficiency program they're realizing throughout the year 2020. And you're going to be layering on, on top of that, cost synergies. So I guess, can you help us bridge the gap between what we saw in 2020, which was Down expenses to kind of what you're guiding to now, even with the cost synergies coming on of that mid single digit underlying growth in OpEx? Thank you. Sure. So I very much see 2021 as a transition year. And what we have coming through in 2021 is the benefits from the The cost synergies starting to come in, some of the roll on benefits from the Blackstone synergies. And then we have some very targeted areas of investment, specifically around resilience, and that particularly relates to some of the Refinitiv operations and very targeted investments around growth, Growth of the 2 existing businesses and investment ahead of the revenue synergies on top because the investment starts before the revenue synergy flows through. And the final building block in that bridge is, there are a couple of acquisitions that Refinitiv has made in the 3rd party Customer and risk space, great acquisitions, but as they annualize, that has an impact on the cost base. So that's really the bridge for you. I guess the other thing that might actually help us, therefore, as you look forward to 2022, you would expect to see The greater benefit from cost savings coming through as we ramp up our synergies further, and you'll start to see The revenue synergy benefit is coming through, so you won't have the sort of distortion of spending ahead of that benefit. Understood. Thank you. Thank you for that. Your next question comes from Philip Middleton of BofA. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning. Two questions. Firstly, David quite rightly points to the opportunities around working across divisions, But you set out a very strong divisional management team. Who and how will be delivering on those opportunities of interactions Between the operating divisions. I think that's a big challenge for a lot of for you and a lot of your peers. And secondly, I'm afraid one quick one on costs Again, you gave very good breakdown of the €850,000,000 The €150,000,000 of OpEx, how much of that breaks down into more continuing and how much of that more Borsa Italiana driven and one off extraction driven? Sure. Thanks. I'll take the first question and then Anna will address the second question. In terms of working across the divisions, so a couple of thoughts on this. First of all, we will, In terms of the near term, be focused on the integration of the businesses. And a lot of that focus will take place within the divisions, and particularly within data and analytics where the core LSEG information services business is coming together with the core Refinitiv business. However, If you look at our executive team, Deb Walton is our Chief Revenue Officer, And that is a responsibility across the group. And so that's just an example of how we are going to be developing and evolving in this direction. So initial focus is on delivering the opportunities within the divisions, Making sure that we are addressing the customer needs and customer relationships from a divisional perspective, but we are already at this point structurally planning to work towards a group wide approach to our customer relationships and to enhancing the opportunities, the products and the revenue on a cross divisional basis. But as I mentioned earlier in my remarks, This is something that we're in the early days of, but we look forward to keeping you posted as we move forward down this path. And on your second question, the €150,000,000 of OpEx investment, it's predominantly all ongoing, and its investment to improve the resilience of predominantly the legacy Refinitiv tech platforms And it's investment ahead of growth, so getting the right things in place to deliver on the revenue synergies and some of our other New products and services as they come to market. Thank you. Your next question is from Arnaud Giblatt of Exane BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. I've got a few questions, please. Firstly, on cost. You've given some clear guidance on 2021. Okay, a lot of investment future growth, I'm wondering if most of the investment is happening in 2021 or should we be thinking about further investment down the line? And secondly, I'm wondering as well in terms of the opportunity to cross sell, that's One of the big logics of the deal. Specifically, could you talk perhaps about Fertig Russell? The combination of potential was with Scented, does that give you a better opportunity to grow Subscriptions, analytics, other products, if you could give some specific examples there of the upside you see? And my final question is on dis synergies through the sale of Boursay Italiana. I think you've got a clearing contract with Euronext. There's a risk of them, I suppose, moving Clearing to CCNG. I was wondering if you could help us think us through the risks Yes. Thank you. Sure. Thanks, Arnaud. Maybe Anna will take the first question on cost and then I'll take your last 2. So 2021 is very much a transition year where we're putting the investment in, but we're not yet getting The benefit of all of the synergies flowing through. We do need to invest, and we will need to invest over a couple of years, But we will be seeing those cost synergies and revenue synergies ramping up as we move through that period, so the level of net investment decreases. Thanks, Anna. So on your second question, Arnaud, in terms of the opportunity to cross sell. Let me give you a couple of examples. So one area is With respect to FTSE Russell Indices, prior to closing on the transaction, some of the data that went into the FTSE Russell Indices came from Refinitiv, but not all of it. We are going to move further down the path of utilizing Refinitiv data and embedding that in the FTSE Russell indices. And what that does is when we are working with customers, Customers who already have existing FTSE Russell Indices also will have an incentive to have the same data so that they if there's a portfolio manager that wants to be tracking an index, He or she will want to have the Refinitiv data for FTSE Russell indices that are using Refinitiv Data. So that is a strong synergy between the actual sale of the index products and then the enterprise data segment. That's one example. Another example would be, and again, I'll stick with some of the index products. We've talked about the opportunity in Sustainability and ESG Products. Refinitiv has one of the world's leading content sets in terms of Sustainability or ESG with something like 450 different metrics across 10,000 companies. And so we will be using that data set to improve and roll out some new products on the index side and potentially both on the equity and fixed income side. So I think those are a couple of different areas specifically with respect to FTSE Russell where we see opportunities and potential synergies around combining the 2 businesses. In terms of your question on whether there are any dis synergies, I'm not in a position to speculate on what the plans might be for Euronext around their clearing. What I would say is that it is not a simple proposition to shift clearing volumes. And it's really the I'll say it's the decision or the determination in many cases by the customer base as opposed to by the clearinghouse. The other aspect of this is that there would be important technological and regulatory issues to work through if one did want to move those volumes. Then the third thing I would say is that if one did want to move those volumes, there is still a multiyear contract in place. So We have a good, very strong working partnership with Euronext and with many other market infrastructure players around the world. We look forward to continuing to work closely with them. And if there are aspects to report on in terms of changing contractual relationships, we'll certainly let you know. But at this point, that's not something that we view as a near term dis synergy. CEO. Is from Gurjit Kambo of JPMorgan. Please go ahead. Good morning. Just a couple of questions. So firstly, in terms of equivalents, so at the moment, the ESMA has given you equivalents to, I think, it's June 2022. If that is not Extended or made permanent, what sort of options does LSEG have? Is it sort of using the clearinghouse in France? Or any other sort of thoughts how we should think about that? So that's the first question. Secondly, can you just confirm, on the revenue CAGR target, the 5% to percent. Is that on a sort of constant currency basis? Or is that sort of just reported? And then finally, just on costs. In terms of getting to the sort of mid single growth In 2021, that's clearly after the synergies. And I know there's a 25% run rate, but what's the kind of impact on 2021 numbers? How much We think is netted off for the synergies in 2021 on a, I guess, on a full year basis. Thank you. Great. Thanks. I'll take the first one and then, okay, Anna, you can take the last 2. So on Equivalence. This has been an ongoing discussion, obviously, in terms of our work with ESMA, European Commission. And we look forward to being in a position to have an opportunity to get permanent recognition from the EU so that LCH can continue to serve EU customers. And there has been recognition now for I think we're On our 3rd or maybe 4th level of temporary recognition, the reason that there continues to be that recognition is because of role of LCH in Europe. We'll work with the authorities to get to what we hope is the right place. If there is and obviously, we have seen some, I'll say, elevation in the rhetoric in recent weeks. If there were to be some kind of forced relocation, which I think would be very bad systemically for our customers in Europe, It would be expensive for them to move their positions. It would increase their risk. It would increase the amount of capital that they would have to put into clearing because they wouldn't get the benefits of netting through our clearinghouse. But if that sort of decision were made with all of those negative consequences for EU domiciled customers. It's worth pointing out that the in the pool of Swap Clear, which is A very large liquidity pool. The percentage of euro denominated swaps from EU domiciled customers is about 6%. So Again, we're not expecting to see any departure of volumes. If anything, we've seen volumes from that customer set grow over the past few years while this has been in discussion. But if there were to be some kind of very negative downside scenario, That is the percentage of volumes in the pool. And I would say that Our very, very strong base case here is that there will be a resolution of this issue that is healthy for European customers and does not push European customers to have much greater risk and much less capital efficiency. Thanks. And on the second two questions, the revenue guidance of 5% to 7% growth, that's On a constant currency basis, we haven't assumed currency fluctuations in there particularly, and it's on a pro form a basis. And I think your second question or your third question was looking for guidance on the amount of cost synergies in the period. We've given you the run rate at the end of the year, so 25% cost synergies run rate. The way I think about it is It takes a little bit of time to ramp these up. So you'll see the benefit of cost synergies in the year impacting the second half more than the first, and we'll give you more precise guidance at the half year. Your next question is from Johannes Thormann of HSBC. Please go ahead. Good morning, everybody. Johannes Thormann. Three questions, if I may. First of all, if you could add some more color on FTSE Russell Index Business, your previous growth story mainly. But we saw now a disconnect of the asset based fees from the volume growth we've seen in the asset base. So If you could elaborate on that, please? And secondly, probably for FTSE Russell as well, any comments on the outlook for the usage I put to Russell's index derivatives at Eurex, what are you expecting from this? Secondly, on your dividend policy, Have you made any changes to this policy? Because historically, the final dividend would have been 2.5 times approximately Of the interim dividend, and now you've gone more to 2 times. And last but not least, I have to Now back to the ESMA and EU Commission discussion, how can the Bank of England Probably help you to mitigate the problem. I think the EU Commission is concerned also about the fact The Bank of England can't be the land of last resort in a systematic crisis. How can you mitigate this? Thank you. Thanks, Johannes. So I want to make sure we get through the four questions there. Let me just touch quickly on The outlook for FTSE at Eurex, we just announced that this past week. So it is consistent with the Open access approach that we have on a global basis. We've got FTSE Russell products now. They'll be trading on Eurex. They trade in Chicago, at the Cboe and CME. They trade in Singapore on the SGX. So it is a consistent expansion of what's a very strong franchise of derivatives products on other And we're really pleased with that. Not in a position to give you any targets or expectations on where we expect that to go in terms of growth, but We think it's a really interesting opportunity to expand that franchise. In terms of The discussion with ESMA and the Bank of England, I'm not in a position to talk about how the Bank of England and ESMA can work Through this, I know I think we all know that they are in ongoing discussions. The Bank of England is the primary regulator for LCH Limited. But LCH is also directly regulated by ESMA. And so they will just need to come to an accommodation of what kind of information sharing or what kind of responsibilities they each want to share. I should just point out that this is not a novel arrangement. For 15 or 17 years or so, the Bank of England and the CFTC have worked very, very well in partnering. We LCH is also fully regulated by the CFTC in the U. S. And the CFTC recognizes the Bank of England as the primary regulator, but they also have access to us. They are very active in that regulatory relationship and partnership works very, very well. The last thing I should just say on that topic is, I mentioned earlier some of the percentages of EU customers and euro denominated swaps. It's worth pointing out that the similar statistics around U. S. Dollar swaps are much, much bigger. Depending on the year, they're somewhere between 40% and greater than 50% of the overall pool of interest rate swaps. And so that's obviously a huge percentage of the swap clear pool. And the regulators in the U. S. Are very comfortable with the regulatory relationship with the Bank of England and with those positions being executed or being cleared through LCH, even though that is not viewed as an onshore U. S. Clearing House. So we think there is certainly a path to getting resolution here. I turn it over to you for dividend policy and Yes. So shall I do dividend policy and then just unpack a little bit the 2020 FTSE Russell performance? So dividend policy Changed that one's really easy. Now just your question on FTSE Russell Index performance, just to unpack that a little bit, Subscriptions grew in the year 6%. That was a really pleasing performance, particularly in a year where we've seen We've chosen to take lower price increases, and we've chosen to work more closely with our customers. And I think for me, the evidence of that is the increase in Pace of bringing new ETFs to market, which would say that, that approach is working. So I'm pleased with that 6% growth. Now you're right. The assets under management impact went backwards, so that had a negative 2% impact on growth in the period. Now the way I think about this is that number reflects the average assets under management over the course of the year. And also, there is a lag in that we're always sort of Looking back, so you will absolutely see an improvement looking forward if we continue to see higher levels of assets under management As we have at the full year, as we did at the right at the end of the year, but it will take a little while for that to filter through into our revenues because of that lag. Next question waiting is from Andrew Coombs of Citi. Please go ahead. Good morning. Four questions, but they're all short. Firstly, the path to the 50% Adjusted EBITDA margin, 47% in 2020. You're clearly guiding for that to fall in 2021. Should we then assume a linear recovery up towards 50%? Or is it going to be more a back end loaded improvement? That's the first question. 2nd question on synergies. The time to read given for costs looks to be unchanged. On revenues year 3 year 5 unchanged, I remember rightly, you used to have a 15% target run rate for year 1 on revenue synergies. That no longer appears to be there. So can I just check if the case of the revenue synergies are coming through later than you first thought? 3rd question would just be on the €1,600,000,000 of revenues in data and analytics for trading and banking. Could you give us an idea of how much of that is terminals versus data feeds, please? And then the final and last question. The financial targets, Unchanged. They were set back in August 2019. The world has moved on a long way since then in terms of FX rates, refinance costs, obviously, Bork's Italiana and now more recently, your commentary on investment spend, it feels like those targets are quite stale. When do you plan to update the market on those targets? Thank you. Okay. Anna, do you want to work through that list? I'll work my way down. So the path to the 50% margin, I think we've guided quite clearly for this year. And then we would see improvement after that to get to the 50% margin as we've described. With respect to synergies, the revenue synergies are unchanged. We're doing exactly what we said we would. And the wording we've used is a direct lift, and I'm very confident in the delivery of them and know there's no change in our plans whatsoever there. In terms of the £1,600,000,000 of revenues that relates to trading and banking, No, we haven't broken out the element that's terminals versus other things because that's not how we look at it. As David described to you Earlier, what we're selling to our customers here is an offering that is a combination of data, of workflow and analytics, and we provide it to them in the way that works best. And in some cases, that is an element of terminals. And in other cases, it's direct feeds through the cloud, Through on prem, whatever it is. So breaking out the pieces of that is not something we're going to do. Are we going to change our target so they stay on? I've been here almost bang on 3 months now. And you can imagine that the first thing I've done coming in is to really scrub my way through those targets and make sure that I felt comfortable And then the second thing that we've done is post closing 5 weeks ago to scrub our way through all of the detail to make sure that there was nothing now we were running the business that was different. And I'm pleased to say that these are the right targets. And particularly post close, as we've gone through the detail of the Refinitiv business, what we found is exactly what we expected to find. So no change coming around the corner here. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question is from Mike Werner of UBS. Please go ahead. Thank you. Three questions, please. First, LSEG is going to be generating a greater portion of its revenues and earnings in U. S. Dollars. Is there any intention or plan from a hedging perspective from FX moves? How do you think about that from a high level perspective? 2nd, in terms of the Refinitiv acquisitions you referred to, I was just wondering if you could provide what the full year cost base of those acquisitions was for 2020? And then finally, kind of going back to the equivalents question, I guess the question here is, If equivalents is not rolled over, will this also impact the U. S. Dollar swap clearing of EU based clients? And if so, What portion or what percentage of the margin pool is that? Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Maybe Anna will take the First two and then I'll address the question about equivalents. Sure. So your first question about us being substantially Exposed to U. S. Dollars. You're right. We've disclosed that in one of the appendix slides. 60 percentage of our revenues and cost is in dollars. Now what you're talking about is a translation risk as we consolidate into our reporting currency. That is not something that under accounting practices you can readily hedge, which is why we Very transparently share our exposure to the dollar so that you can calculate the implications yourself for your models. That said, the question you're asking is a good question. We are significantly exposed to dollars. Is sterling the right reporting currency? And the answer to that is it's something that we're looking at, but we've absolutely not made any conclusions at this point. In terms of the full year cost base of the acquisition, I'm afraid we haven't disclosed that level of detail and we're not going to. They're relatively small So in terms of the coming back to the equivalents discussion, So just to give you a little bit more color around this, not clear and I think Andrew Bailey made some comments to this effect over the last couple of weeks. It's not clear exactly how or what authority would exist for a forcing of volumes in other currencies to take place in Europe. And Just to put some numbers around that, I mentioned earlier that euro denominated swaps traded by EU domicile customers is around 6%. If you look at the volume traded by EU domiciled customers in all currencies, so euros, dollars and the 25 other currencies that Swap Clear clears products in, that's roughly half that. So we're talking low double digits. So again, there's it's not clear if and how that volume could be forced through some kind of location policy to clear in Europe. As I mentioned earlier, that would be a negative direction from a risk perspective. It would be a negative direction from a capital efficiency perspective. And This is important to mention. As we've seen with the derivatives trading obligation, and this is an area that is Not directly affecting LSEG, but we've certainly seen what has happened in this space. Under the EU's derivatives trading obligation and other regulation, A lot of the volume that was traded in the UK and was not able to be traded in the UK because the EU did not give equivalents under the derivatives trading obligation, that volume moved to the U. S. So I would put that in the category of unintended consequences. And I think if there were an attempt to try to force volume to move to Europe, regardless of how it might be done. There's a decent chance it might also in the clearing space, There might also be some kind of unintended consequences of moving some of that volume to the U. S. So we're not in a position really to speculate on how this may play out other than I will express the same thought I expressed earlier, which is that We do have a high level of confidence that there is a strong realization among stakeholders in Europe, including ESMA, including a number of national regulators, including at the ECB, how systemically important LCH is. LCEH is directly regulated by ESMA. Going forward, there will be an opportunity for the ECB to have direct oversight of the amounts in euros that LCH is clearing. So we look forward to continuing to work with all of those different stakeholders to get to a solution that is the right solution for the markets from a risk management perspective and from a systemic stability perspective. Thank you, David. That's very helpful. Cheers. Thank you for that. Your next question is from Bruce Hamilton of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Hi, morning and thanks for the presentation and the comprehensive answers. I just had a couple of follow-up questions. 1 on costs, and sorry if this is going over old ground, but the guidance for 2021 is obviously very clear. Beyond that, just to think through the moving pieces, so we'll obviously have the cost synergies coming through, the revenue synergies coming through. In terms of the sort of additional spend in 2021 €150,000,000 it sounds like that doesn't necessarily drop away or not much of it. So I'm just trying to understand if that's right. And then also what sort of underlying cost growth you would expect for the business? Is it 3%, 4%, Is it as high as 5% or would it be lower? And then secondly, on the sort of revenues for Affinitiv, obviously, the workspace rollout is important. So When might we start to see impact? And what sort of KPIs should we be tracking? And if it's revenues, should we expect revenue improvement Come in Wealth Solutions, given the rollout first to the Wealth side. And then given that Bloomberg seems most embedded with Sales and Trading. I guess, is it necessary for the Trading and Banking Solutions business to grow for you to hit the 5% to 7% target for the group? Or can you get there in any case? I'm just trying to understand How optimistic we need to be on turning the most tricky part of Refinitiv, I guess. Thank you. Okay. You want to take the cost question? I'm happy to give you the answer. Yes, sure. So post 2021, We will see the benefit of the cost synergies come through, and we will see relatively low, So not 5% growth on the cost base, but far lower than that. And we will continue to invest. So Perhaps not at the level that we're investing this year, but we will continue to invest where we see opportunities for growth, so product investment in growth, Well, we're confident that those returns will deliver. So I would expect there to be continued investment. Exactly how That will depend on the opportunities that we are evaluating at the time, and we will work our way through that. But where we're investing for growth is because There is an opportunity to accelerate this business, and we can see the investment in the products that will allow us to deliver it. Thanks, Anna. So on the revenue side, With respect to where you might see the benefits of the Workspace rollout. As I mentioned, this is going to be a process over a couple to a few years. We will not be talking about numbers of desktops or terminals. We don't view that as a relevant metric in a business or a model where it's about providing a comprehensive solution that can be delivered across different distribution channels. So We will be continuing to report and provide information across these different customer segments. You mentioned We see it initially in wealth. We are, as I mentioned earlier, starting the rollout of Workspace in the wealth But it is also going to be happening in the banking space, which is part of trading and banking solutions. And then a little bit further down the path, we will see it in trading. In terms of your the second part of your question, how necessary is it for trading and banking to grow. We don't need to get that up to the 5% to 7% target growth rates that we are aiming for across the combined business. We have much higher growing businesses in other parts of LSEG. But we do want to turn that business around and have it growing at a modest rate. Does not need to be that 5% to 7%, but we want to improve it. We'll continue to investing in, As I mentioned earlier, in Workspace, in the analytics capability and the broader offerings across that segment. So We'll keep you posted on this and you will see the investments that we are making in that space. But again, that's not an area where we have to turn that into a 5% to 7% growth business. Thank you. And as we have no further questions waiting, I'd like to hand the call back to Paul Froud. Great. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you for joining us today, and thank you for all those questions. I hope we answered those. We're going to conclude the conference call here now today, and we look forward to seeing you all as soon as it's possible to So I'll be speaking to you all very shortly. So thank you very much, and that's now the end of the call.