GURUFOCUS.COM » STOCK LIST » Financial Services » Capital Markets » London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE:LSEG) » Definitions » Free Cash Flow

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE:LSEG) Free Cash Flow : £1,858 Mil (TTM As of Dec. 2023)


View and export this data going back to 2001. Start your Free Trial

What is London Stock Exchange Group Free Cash Flow?

London Stock Exchange Group's total free cash flow for the months ended in Dec. 2023 was £1,242 Mil. Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 was £1,858 Mil.

London Stock Exchange Group's Free Cash Flow per Share for the months ended in Dec. 2023 was £2.27. Its free cash flow per share for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 was £3.38.

During the past 12 months, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate of London Stock Exchange Group was 6.60% per year. During the past 3 years, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 15.40% per year. During the past 5 years, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 19.50% per year. During the past 10 years, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 20.40% per year. Please click Growth Rate Calculation Example (GuruFocus) to see how GuruFocus calculates Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)'s revenue growth rate. You can apply the same method to get the Free Cash Flow Growth Rate using Free Cash Flow per Share data.

During the past 13 years, London Stock Exchange Group's highest 3-Year average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 89.60% per year. The lowest was -35.50% per year. And the median was 18.50% per year.


London Stock Exchange Group Free Cash Flow Historical Data

The historical data trend for London Stock Exchange Group's Free Cash Flow can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

London Stock Exchange Group Free Cash Flow Chart

London Stock Exchange Group Annual Data
Trend Mar14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Free Cash Flow
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 642.00 776.00 1,970.00 1,771.00 1,858.00

London Stock Exchange Group Semi-Annual Data
Mar14 Sep14 Jun15 Dec15 Jun16 Dec16 Jun17 Dec17 Jun18 Dec18 Jun19 Dec19 Jun20 Dec20 Jun21 Dec21 Jun22 Dec22 Jun23 Dec23
Free Cash Flow Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 1,096.00 578.00 1,193.00 616.00 1,242.00

London Stock Exchange Group Free Cash Flow Calculation

Free Cash Flow is considered one of the most important parameters to measure a company's earnings power by value investors because it is not subject to estimates of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization (DDA). However, when we look at the Free Cash Flow, we should look from a long term perspective, because any year's Free Cash Flow can be drastically affected by the spending on Property, Plant, & Equipment (PPE) of the business in that year. Over the long term, Free Cash Flow should give pretty good picture on the real earnings power of the company.

London Stock Exchange Group's Free Cash Flow for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (A: Dec. 2023 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=2942+-1084
=1,858

London Stock Exchange Group's Free Cash Flow for the quarter that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (Q: Dec. 2023 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=1838+-596
=1,242

Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 adds up the semi-annually data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was £1,858 Mil.

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


London Stock Exchange Group  (LSE:LSEG) Free Cash Flow Explanation

Free Cash Flow is very close to Warren Buffett's definition of Owner's Earnings, except that in Warren Buffett's Owner's Earnings, the spending for Property, Plant, and Equipment is only for maintenance (replacement), while in the Free Cash Flow calculation, the cost of new Property, Plant, and Equipment due to business expansion is also deducted. There, Free Cash Flow is more conservative than Owner's Earnings.

In Don Yacktman's calculation of forward rate of return, he uses Free Cash Flow for the calculation. Yacktman explained the forward rate of return concept in detail in his interview with GuruFocus. Yacktman defines forward rate of return as the normalized free cash flow yield plus real growth plus inflation.

This is what Yacktman said in his March 2012 interview - when the S&P 500 was at 1400:

If the business is stable, this calculation is fairly straightforward. For instance, on the S&P 500 we would normalize earnings. We would then calculate what percentage of those earnings are not reinvested in the underlying businesses and are therefore free. Historically, for the S&P 500, this has been just under 50% of earnings. Currently, we expect the S&P to earn about 70 on a normalized basis, a number which is far below reported earnings due to our adjusting for record high profit margins. $70 X ½ / 1400 gives you a normalized free cash flow yield of approximately 2.5%.

The historical real growth rate of the S&P 500 (companies) is about 1.5%. Assuming an inflation rate of 2.5%, the forward rate of return on an investment in the S&P 500 is about 6.5% today (2.5% free cash flow yield plus 1.5% real growth plus 2.5% inflation).

For the growth part of the Forward Rate of Return calculation, GuruFocus uses the 5-year average growth rate of EBITDA per share as the growth rate, and the growth rate is always capped at 20%. For the Free Cash Flow we use per share data averaged over seven years. The reason we use seven years is because research shows that seven years is the length of the typical business cycle.

Therefore, as of Dec23, London Stock Exchange Group's Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % is

Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % (Dec23)=Normalized Free Cash Flow/Price+5-Year EBITDA Growth Rate
=2.61383333/92.74+0.2
=22.82 %

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


Be Aware

Free Cash Flow within a report period can be affected by management's decisions of capital spending. Therefore, it is important to look at long term when it comes to Free Cash Flow.


London Stock Exchange Group Free Cash Flow Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of London Stock Exchange Group's Free Cash Flow provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.


London Stock Exchange Group (LSE:LSEG) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
10 Paternoster Square, London, GBR, EC4M 7LS
London Stock Exchange Group is a fully integrated financial exchange company covering the financial market value chain from primary and secondary markets across multiple asset classes over data, index and analytics down to clearing and post-trading reporting. With the acquisition of Refinitiv, LSEG generates about two thirds of its revenue from data and analytics including its FTSE Russell and WM/Refinitiv benchmarks as well as data feeds and terminals. The group is also a majority shareholder in Tradeweb, one of the dominant global fixed income trading venues, as well as LCH, the largest clearing house for over-the-counter swaps globally.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE:LSEG) Headlines

No Headlines