Tp Icap Group Aktie

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the TP ICAP Group's Interim Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind all participants that this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the call over to Nicolas Breteau, the Group CEO, to start the presentation. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. This is our agenda today. I'll start with the highlights. Robin will take you through the financial results. I then look at the operational performance of each division and wrap up before we take questions. So let's start with the headlines where growth rates are in constant currency. We have delivered a strong first half.

Group revenue increased 8% to GBP 1.3 billion with an excellent performance from Global Broking and disciplined execution across the group. Group adjusted EBIT grew 9% to GBP 196 million, and we are proposing an interim dividend of GBP 0.056, an increase of 8%. We have also announced another share buyback of GBP 30 million today. This takes total distributions announced since 2023 to around GBP 660 million, including GBP 110 million of buybacks this year. In addition, we have made good progress on strategic initiatives with the completion of our Vantage Capital Markets acquisition, which adds to our capabilities in Asia Pacific, the launch of our new dealer-to-client credit platform, RealQ, and excellent progress on transformation plan where we now expect to exceed our 2027 target a year early.

This strong performance shows how we're benefiting from the successful execution of our 3 strategic priorities: diversification, transformation and dynamic capital management. This strategy has served us well, and we now plan to build on it with an emphasis on medium-term revenue growth. Over the next 5 years, we aim to capitalize on key competitive advantages. First, as an industry leader, we have a unique position at the heart of vast and growing over-the-counter markets. Second, we have built a diverse business.

We serve a broad client base, including both the sell side and the buy side. We operate in every major asset class in each region across the world. Third, we've invested in technology to create a scalable market infrastructure platform. Fourth, our value proposition is compelling and is built on strong client relationships. Clients know they can rely on our impartiality along with deep liquidity, unique market insight and seamless execution. And fifth, despite our scale, we have additional opportunities to grow organically through products and geographic expansion or via acquisitions. Our ambition is to capitalize on this key strength to drive additional growth and operating leverage. This underpins our commitment to maximize shareholder value over the medium term.

So now let me hand over to Robin to take you through the results in detail.

Thank you, Nico, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with the headlines in constant currency. We delivered a strong first half performance. Total revenue grew 8% to GBP 1.3 billion with excellent growth of 11% in Global Broking. Adjusted EBIT was up 9% at GBP 196 million as we maintain good cost discipline. And the group adjusted EBIT margin increased to 15.2% with a 3% uplift in productivity.

Basic adjusted earnings per share grew 10% to GBP 0.193. And as you've heard from Nico, we've announced an interim dividend of GBP 0.056, up 8%, together with another share buyback of GBP 30 million.

Turning to the group income statement. Net finance costs decreased slightly to GBP 16 million, and the effective tax rate was 27%. We delivered adjusted earnings of GBP 140 million before significant items, up 8%. Significant items were GBP 36 million as we accelerated investment in our transformation plan to unlock cost efficiencies. Let's turn now to the year-on-year movement in earnings before interest and tax. Adjusted EBIT increased from GBP 180 million last year to GBP 196 million this year. We have restated last year's results using 2026 exchange rates to give the basis for a like-for-like comparison without the impact of foreign exchange.

Contribution increased by GBP 22 million, and we also benefited from GBP 2 million of front-office savings from our transformational plan. Back-office savings of GBP 4 million offset inflation, high national insurance contributions and ongoing investment in the business. As a result, net management and support costs are broadly unchanged. Turning next to the business divisions, where growth rates are shown in constant currency. Revenue in Global Broking increased 11% to GBP 783 million with our scalable electronic platforms driving higher levels of client engagement and trading activity in supportive market conditions.

Adjusted EBIT increased 22% to GBP 159 million, and the margin improved from 18.4% to 20.3%. Revenue in Energy & Commodities of GBP 233 million, was up 2%. The adjusted EBIT margin was around 10% in the first quarter, but performance was impacted in the second quarter when conflict in the Middle East dampened activity. As you know, this business made a number of key hires and invested in broker retention in 2025. These additional costs impacted the division's adjusted EBIT, which decreased from GBP 26 (sic) [ 27 ] million to GBP 12 million.

This investment positions the division well for future revenue growth. and we expect this to feed through when markets recover. In Liquidnet, revenue of GBP 194 million was broadly stable as growth in cash equities was offset by a decline in the multi-asset business against a strong prior year comparator. Adjusted EBIT was also stable at GBP 32 million with a margin of 16.5%. Finally, Parameta Solutions revenue grew 6% to GBP 102 million. The adjusted EBIT margin was 35.3%, reflecting planned investment with an improved trend in the second quarter, which we expect to continue in the second half.

We are transferring certain agency and digital asset activities between divisions to better align and enhance performance. We'll update you on this at the third quarter. Now let's look at cash flow. There was an operating cash outflow of GBP 77 million compared with an inflow of GBP 24 million a year ago. Around 70% of this is due to a change in net settlement balances, which reversed immediately after the period end. Excluding this, the underlying cash flow from operations was around GBP 100 million. We had other working capital outflows of GBP 96 million, which reflects an increase in accounts receivable due to higher revenue and bonus payments.

CapEx increased by GBP 6 million to GBP 42 million, largely due to office fit-out costs in our hubs in Manila and Belfast. We also acquired Vantage Capital Markets for a cash consideration of GBP 22 million, paid dividends of GBP 88 million and almost completed the GBP 80 million share buyback announced in March. The group's net cash balance was GBP 652 million at the end of June compared to GBP 903 million at the year-end.

Turning now to our transformation plan. As you heard from Nico, we now expect to exceed our 2027 target a year ahead of schedule, delivering at least GBP 50 million in annualized savings by the end of this year. This acceleration is reflected in significant items, which I'll cover on the next slide. We've also identified around GBP 15 million of additional savings, which we expect to execute in 2027 at no more than 1x cost. We'll provide more detail at the full year. As a result of simplifying our business, improving efficiency and unlocking cash from the balance sheet, we are announcing another share buyback today.

Any potential returns in the future will be supported by earnings generation. Turning to significant items. These are not included in our adjusted results, so we can measure underlying business performance and make more meaningful year-on-year comparisons. Significant items before tax increased by GBP 1 million to GBP 45 million. Almost half were noncash, including GBP 18 million for the amortization of intangible assets. Restructuring and related costs increased by GBP 5 million as we accelerated delivery of our transformation plan and disposals, acquisitions and investment reduced by GBP 9 million.

Turning now to our 2026 outlook. We expect to achieve adjusted EBIT in line with current market expectations, subject to foreign exchange. We also expect group net finance expense of around GBP 35 million, an effective tax rate of around 27% and significant items of around GBP 80 million before tax, excluding legal and regulatory matters. This is around GBP 10 million higher than previously indicated, reflecting the accelerated delivery of our transformation plan. I'd like to conclude by looking at the medium term.

You can see here how disciplined execution of our strategy has resulted in a strong track record of growth and increasing operating leverage. Since 2021, we have delivered compound growth in revenue of more than 5% and adjusted EBIT of 9%. Our priority now is to invest in growing our business and delivering against our medium-term ambition for mid- to high single-digit revenue growth. We will maintain the flexibility to pursue value-accretive acquisitions and we'll look to return excess cash not required for other purposes via share buybacks.

With that, I'll now hand you back to Nico.

Thank you, Robin. So now let's look at the highlights for each division, starting with Global Broking, which delivered a strong first half. Revenue was up 11% to GBP 783 million and adjusted EBIT grew 22% showing that our scalable platform delivers significant operating leverage. Revenue growth was broad-based with a strong performance across equities, rates and credit. Asia Pacific was our strongest region. We further enhanced our presence in Asia Pacific with the acquisition of Vantage Capital Markets.

And in June, we launched our new dealer-to-client platform brand, RealQ, which is an important step forward. RealQ brings together Neptune's pre-trade bond data with Liquidnet credit trading interest from buy-side clients. Looking ahead, Global Broking will continue to grow its franchise organically to pursue value-accretive acquisitions and to use tech and AI to improve efficiency and capture new revenue opportunities.

Turning to Energy & Commodities. Revenue was broadly stable at GBP 233 million, while profitability was impacted by weak market conditions in the second quarter. Oil and related products account for over 50% of Energy & Commodities revenue and conflict in the Middle East led to a spike in activity in March when oil futures volumes increased 134%. These strong months was more than offset by negative market conditions in the second quarter. Market futures volumes in June were 1/3 lower than last year as the physical flow of oil was badly interrupted together with all related hedging activity.

In other areas such as power, gas and other energy, we delivered good growth. Our Energy & Commodities business remains well positioned in the longer term. We have recently added new capability in areas of great demand such as agricultural products, freight derivatives and nuclear fuel derivatives. We've expanded our footprint in the UAE and Brazil, 2 fast-growing regions where physical and derivative activity plays to our strength. Finally, we have deployed Fusion Order Management and new workflow tools, enabling us to capture high-quality data more efficiently.

This benefits clients in Parameta Solutions as well as Energy & Commodities. Liquidnet maintained its strong position during the first half. Revenue was stable at GBP 194 million, and adjusted EBIT margin remained robust at 16.5%. While Liquidnet had a strong first quarter, market conditions were impacted by the Middle East conflict in the second quarter and this reduced activity in the block trading. Our cash equities business demonstrated strong operating leverage with revenue growth of 6% and adjusted EBIT up 10%.

There were strong performances in algorithmic trading, which grew 25%; cross-border trading which increased 13% and Asia Pacific which was up 21%. Growth in cash equities offset a 5% decline in revenues from our multi-asset business against a strong comparator last year when multi-asset grew 29%. Over the longer term, Liquidnet has a significant revenue and margin potential. First, we continue to diversify both in cash equities and other asset classes.

Second, we continue to innovate. Our sales trading tool, First Mate is just one example. This complements the work of our brokers by using AI to help identify trading opportunities and coordinate execution. Third, we see an opportunity to increase operating leverage and margin further as we continue to scale greater volumes. Turning now to our Data and Analytics business, Parameta Solutions, where revenue increased 6% to GBP 102 million. EBIT margin was lower in the first quarter, as expected, due to planned investment, but we expect it to improve in the second half as the benefits from our investments feed through.

This already started in the second quarter when new sales hires began to contribute and our opportunity pipeline strengthened. Our indices continue to gain traction, and we are expanding our award-winning Swap Rate Index franchise into additional currencies. With its new sales force now fully embedded, Parameta is expanding its client base, in particular with buy-side clients and in the U.S. It is also broadening its product offering, drawing on proprietary data from TP ICAP as well as third parties and using AI to accelerate bringing new products to market.

So to conclude, we have seen today our successful execution of our strategy has resulted in a stronger, more resilient business. We're now building on this progress with an emphasis on medium-term growth taking advantage of our competitive strength. We are an industry leader in large and growing over-the-counter markets, which clients need help to navigate. We have a well-diversified business, placing us at the center of transactions across many products and services for multiple clients across the world.

We have a well-invested scalable platform capable of supporting future growth and increasing operating leverage. We have a compelling client proposition with strong client relationships built on trust. And we have additional opportunities to grow both organic and inorganic. In short, we plan to deliver further growth, increase operating leverage and maximize shareholder value over the medium term by capitalizing on this strength.

With that, I'll now hand back to the operator for questions.

In addition to the Group CEO and CFO joining us for the Q&A, we have the CEOs of Global Broking, Energy & Commodities, Liquidnet and Parameta. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Rae Maile at Peel Hunt.

It's Rae Maile at Peel Hunt. I wondered, Nico, can you help the market understand, obviously, a very strong first half performance, increased cost savings, but no change to full year guidance, but then this confidence in what you can do over the medium term. As you look at the business, how do you think about that medium-term objective compared with current market conditions?

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for your question. Robin, would you like to start?

Yes. I think for us, the medium-term ambition that we have is very much -- we see that predicated on the trend that we've had leading up to this -- to our results. We've seen very strong compound growth on the revenue of -- over the last [indiscernible] since 2021 of 5%. We've seen EBIT growth of 9% and in growing OTC markets and with all the work and effort that we're doing on transforming the business and creating a scalable platform that we have, we see that ambition as something which is very achievable over that medium term.

And maybe just to help the market think about what parts of the business do you think will generate most of that growth over the medium term?

Well, I think we have multiple growth engines across the business. So we think that all divisions will contribute to this growth of revenue, but also delivering more operating leverage. I'll start with Global Broking, where we see the benefit of the continuous growth of the -- generally of the OTC markets. In addition, we have some -- still some white spaces where we're investing and fulfilling some new needs from clients for example, when it comes to balance sheet optimization, for instance.

So these combined with more technology and AI in the business will contribute to both increasing the revenue and the operating margin. But if I turn to our Energy & Commodities business, we continue to see structural growth. Our Gas and Power businesses are doing very well. We're convinced that the oil market activity and the hedging in particular will resume. So our recent investments will pay off in the future. And we see also our economy is getting more and more electrified and so with more needs for products that we are building.

If I turn to Liquidnet, here, we have good operating leverage. We've seen our platform revenue were up 6% on the cash equity and our EBIT margin was up 10%. So more leverage and more profitability to come from there. And our diversification across multi-assets is also an engine for growth in Liquidnet. And last but not least, Parameta, I mean, we know that the world we are getting into needs more and more data, not less. So we are very, very well positioned for that in the future. So I would say -- sorry, it's a long answer, but multiple growth engines across the business.

Our next question today comes from Jonas Dohlen at Deutsche Bank.

Jonas Dohlen from Deutsche Bank. Just 2 questions for me. On the Global Broking productivity side, revenue and contribution per broker increased while support costs declined. What evidence suggests this is structural workflow-led productivity rather than mainly stronger market activity? And how should we think about the sustainability of the 20% margin posted there? And on Parameta, with Q2 margin improving and the trend expected to continue, how should we think about kind of the H2 margin and how this develops over the medium term? And is that improvement driven by revenue acceleration or slower investment growth?

Thank you for your question. Ladies first, maybe Silvina, would you like to answer the question about Q2 on Parameta?

Yes and thank you very much for the interest. [ Our recent results ] had a stronger Q2 than Q1, and that is a result of the pipeline that we have been building from December of last year through the whole of Q1 and executed strongly in Q2. And new business activity is particularly attractive when it comes to some of our new product introductions, including the real-time oil offering, which has seen one of the largest customers signed so far.

And you might have remember me talking about this new solution towards the beginning of this year. Our index offering is now also hitting really good momentum, creating revenue that is AUM linked. So these are some of the examples of what has been driving the acceleration of growth in Q2 versus Q1 and will sustain in the second half of the year.

Okay. Thank you, Silvina. Dan, A few words about...

So on productivity, obviously, we had a good first half with growth across the board, and that was both from new businesses and new hires as well as supportive market conditions. That translated into a higher profit margin above 20%, as you noted. I think in terms of the sustainability, the reality is that we invest in technology as part of the foundation upon which our business is built, and that both contributes to the productivity of individual brokers and the ongoing sustainable profitability of the businesses.

It's hard to isolate what that means in terms of electronification foundation versus the ongoing growth that we have built and continue to see as an opportunity. But increased productivity is part of the growth of the business going forward.

Okay. So there are no further questions on the webinar. Thank you very much, everybody. This concludes today's call.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We delivered a strong financial performance in 2025 as we executed our strategy. So this is our agenda for today. I will start with the highlights and strategic progress. Our Group CFO, Robin Stewart, will then take you through the financials in more detail. After that, you'll hear from our divisional heads. You already know Dan, Mark and Silvina and they are joined by Joachim Emanuelsson, our Co-Head of Energy and Commodities, who is presenting for the first time. Finally, I will wrap up before we move to Q&A.

So let me begin with the financial headlines where all movements are in constant currency. 2025 was another outstanding year for TP ICAP. Our revenue grew 6% to GBP 2.4 billion. This includes record revenue growth of 10% in Global Broking, driven by deep client engagement across all asset classes. Along with good top-line performance, we delivered strong operating leverage. Our Group adjusted EBIT increased 10% to GBP 348 million and adjusted EBIT margin expanded by 50 basis points to 14.8%.

This excellent result reflects 2 things: the effective execution across our major franchises and robust cost discipline despite inflation. As you can see, this performance continues the growth trajectory we have delivered since 2021. Revenue has grown at more than 5% a year, margins have expanded and adjusted EBIT has compounded at 9% per year.

We are also announcing a share buyback today of GBP 80 million. This includes GBP 50 million of cash released ahead of plan by the successful rationalizations of our legal entities.

Our sustained performance demonstrates the strength of our diversified model and strategy. We continue to deliver strong progress on our 3 strategic priorities: diversification, transformation and dynamic capital management.

So first, diversification. We are broadening our revenue base across clients, products and regions. Liquidnet and Parameta help diversify our client base by serving the buy side. These 2 divisions now account for around 40% of Group adjusted EBIT, which is a clear demonstration of that diversification. The acquisition of Neptune Networks also enables us to build a credit platform, offering matching solutions between the buy side and the sell side.

On products, we are diversifying further in Liquidnet, covering credit, rates and foreign exchange in addition to equities. The energy transition is also an opportunity for Energy & Commodities to launch new products. And we're also growing our digital assets exchange.

Regionally, we continue to build out all our franchises in Asia-Pacific. The acquisition of Vantage Capital Management, which we announced in January, will further strengthen our presence in Hong Kong and Tokyo in addition to London. So this diversification is important because it gives us greater resilience and predictability through the cycle.

Second is transformation. We continue to modernize our operating platform, deliver our efficiency program and simplify the group by reducing the number of legal entities. This has enabled us to release GBP 50 million in cash ahead of plan, as I mentioned. We're also on course to deliver GBP 50 million of annualized savings by 2027.

Our technology transformation is advancing with continued migration to the cloud and the development of our Fusion platform. Client adoption of Fusion is growing and revenue delivered electronically in Global Broking is increasing. We are also deploying artificial intelligence across the group to drive efficiency and deliver faster for clients as well as powering new products, workflows and growth for the future.

And third priority is dynamic capital management. Our financial strength underpins our ability to invest to grow both organically and inorganically while delivering sustainable returns for shareholders. The Board continues to review a potential minority listing of Parameta Solutions while remaining mindful that the context for a successful listing remains challenging. In the meantime, we continue to invest in the growth of Parameta.

Over the past 3 years, we have delivered or announced close to GBP 600 million in dividends and buybacks, almost one-third of the group's market capitalization. This includes the GBP 80 million buyback, which we have just announced. This is a clear sign of our confidence in the group's long-term prospects and our disciplined approach to capital allocation.

I will now hand over to Robin to take you through all these numbers in more detail.

Thank you, Nico, and good morning, everyone. As you've heard, we delivered a strong performance in 2025. I'll start with the headlines in constant currency. Revenue grew 6% to GBP 2.4 billion. Group adjusted EBIT was up 10% at GBP 348 million. Group productivity was up 4% at GBP 752,000 per broker. And we have announced a final dividend of 11.6p, bringing the full year dividend to 16.8p, up 4% year-on-year. As you can see, this continues a trajectory of growth over the last 4 years for all 4 metrics. The bottom right chart shows how total distributions over the past 3 years, including buybacks, amounts to almost GBP 600 million.

Looking at the group income statement in more detail. Adjusted EBITDA increased 8% in constant currency to GBP 423 million. And as adjusted EBIT grew 10% to GBP 348 million, margin improved to 14.8%. Net finance costs increased to GBP 34 million at the top end of our guidance. This was due to refinancing and bond on higher interest rates and lower interest income on our cash balances. The effective tax rate on adjusted profit increased to 27%, below our 28% guidance after some one-off credits during the year. Taken together, this resulted in adjusted earnings before significant items of GBP 247 million, up 2%. And adjusted basic earnings per share grew 5% to 33.5p.

So let's turn now to the year-on-year movements in our earnings before interest and tax. Adjusted EBIT was GBP 348 million, up from GBP 324 million. The 2024 result is restated using 2025 exchange rates, giving us the basis for a like-for-like comparison without the impact of foreign exchange. Contribution increased by GBP 17 million, and we benefited from GBP 8 million of front office savings from our operational efficiencies program. Back-office savings of GBP 13 million offset inflation, higher national insurance contributions and ongoing investment in the business. As a result, net management and support costs reduced 1%. Finally, a weaker U.K. pound, especially in the second quarter, reduced the P&L charge on the retranslation of net financial assets on the balance sheet by GBP 1 million.

Turning next to significant items. These are not included in our adjusted results so that we can measure underlying business performance and make more meaningful year-on-year comparisons. Significant items before tax reduced by GBP 5 million to GBP 84 million. Restructuring and related costs increased by GBP 14 million as we invested in our efficiency program for the first full year. I'll talk more about this later. Disposals, acquisitions and investment was down GBP 4 million, mainly due to lower strategic project costs for Parameta Solutions. Almost half of significant items were non-cash, including GBP 40 million for the amortization of intangible assets. In 2026, we expect significant items to be around GBP 70 million before tax, excluding legal and regulatory matters.

Turning next to the business divisions where my revenue comparisons are in constant currency. Global Broking revenue increased by 10% to just under GBP 1.4 billion, driven by strong execution and supportive market conditions with growth in all asset classes and regions. Global Broking adjusted EBIT increased 19.3% to GBP 241 million, and the margin improved 1.4 percentage points to 17.5%. Moving to Energy & Commodities. Revenue was GBP 449 million, down 2% against 2 strong prior years. This reflects a competitive market for talent. As a result, we reduced management support costs in the division by 4%. Adjusted EBIT decreased 27% to GBP 41 million as we invested to attract and retain talent, which resulted in margin compression. We expect the benefit of this investment to feed through in 2026. In Liquidnet, revenue increased 4% to GBP 365 million. Adjusted EBIT rose 6% to GBP 56 million, with a slight expansion in margin to 15.3%. And finally, Parameta Solutions revenue grew 5% to GBP 202 million with 97% of revenues subscription-based. We made planned investment in Parameta during the year, which has impacted both adjusted EBIT at GBP 76 million and adjusted EBIT margin of 37.6%.

Moving on to look at cash. We hold restricted cash for regulatory capital and liquidity requirements as well as collateral. This is reduced by GBP 50 million as a result of rationalizing our legal entities. Unrestricted cash decreased by about GBP 110 million as we invested in the business and returned cash to shareholders. This includes growth initiatives such as hiring new brokers, our acquisition of Neptune, ongoing CapEx as well as dividend payments and buybacks.

So let me turn now to our efficiency program. In August 2024, we announced a program targeting GBP 50 million of annualized savings by the end of 2027 and the release of GBP 50 million in cash at a cost of GBP 70 million. By the end of 2025, we have delivered GBP 35 million of cost savings at a cost of GBP 40 million. We expect a lower run rate reduction in 2026, and our target remains unchanged. Having released the GBP 50 million of cash early, we are now returning it to shareholders by increasing the share buyback from GBP 30 million to GBP 80 million, as you heard from Nick.

Turning now to our guidance. The group has continued to benefit from supportive market conditions in the current fiscal year-to-date. If current FX spot rates persisted for the rest of the year, we would expect a headwind of around GBP 9 million to GBP 10 million to our adjusted EBIT. Despite this, we are comfortable with current consensus for 2026 of adjusted EBIT of GBP 361 million. We also expect group net finance expense of around GBP 35 million, the effective tax rate on adjusted earnings to be around 27% and significant items to be around GBP 70 million before tax, excluding legal and regulatory matters. Thank you very much. I will now hand you over to Dan to talk about Global Broking.

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. 2025 was an exceptional year for Global Broking. Revenue grew 10%, an increase of GBP 120 million to just under GBP 1.4 billion. This was broad-based across all asset classes and regions. Rates grew 12%, credit 15% equities 12% with FX and money markets up 2%. Adjusted EBIT grew 19%, an increase of GBP 39 million to GBP 241 million and margin increased to 18%. During the year, we announced the acquisition of Neptune Networks and began building our new credit platform with 9 leading investment banks. And after the year-end in January, we announced the acquisition of Vantage Capital Markets, strengthening our presence in equity derivatives and fixed income across London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Dubai.

Throughout the year, we expanded coverage by adding brokers and investing in targeted growth areas, particularly Asia Pacific and credit. We continue to enhance our electronic platform, Fusion, simplifying workflows and improving functionality across all asset classes. In parallel, we rolled out AI capabilities in areas such as pricing insights, liquidity enhancement and workflow automation to help our teams move faster and serve clients more effectively. These investments are delivering results. Hybrid and electronic revenue has grown 7% a year since 2021 to GBP 660 million, with productivity improving at the same rate. This demonstrates the effectiveness of combining expert brokers with high-quality electronic systems. The breadth and depth of our coverage, together with execution that can be voice, hybrid or electronic mean clients can choose how they want to transact with us in any market environment. So while volatile markets can be supportive, what drives our results is the quality of our execution.

One of the most important developments in 2025 was our next-generation credit trading platform. In June, we acquired Neptune Networks. Neptune is the leading provider of pre-trade bond data connected to 35 major sell-side institutions. Liquidnet credit captures real-time buy-side trading interest from 500 clients. We're building a new credit platform, bringing these complementary capabilities together. The platform is co-owned by 9 leading global banks, ensuring dealer-backed liquidity and strong alignment from day 1. And we're launching a new dealer-to-client matching protocol, AxeMatch. AxeMatch is unique because of the quality of its proprietary data. It brings together real-time trading interest from dealers and investors to generate genuine actionable opportunities to trade. This intelligence is delivered through low leakage, high integrity workflows that enable trusted counterparty negotiation, giving clients clear confidence to trade. In short, AxeMatch unlocks liquidity that didn't previously exist, and it does so with efficiency, precision and certainty.

Looking ahead, our priorities are to continue growing our core franchises organically, to pursue inorganic opportunities that add value and enhance our infrastructure and technology. We're building on key strengths. Global Broking is a market-leading franchise with vast liquidity pools. We have strong brands and deep client connectivity, together with trusted infrastructure across compliance, governance and technology. As our performance demonstrates, clients value our offering, and we continue to enhance this to best serve their needs. Thank you. I'll now hand over to Joachim Emanuelsson to take you through Energy and Commodities.

Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be presenting here for the first time. As Robin mentioned, revenue declined 2% on strong comparators having grown at an annual rate of over 6% since 2022. This performance was in line with our expectations and reflects a competitive market for brokers. At the half year, we highlighted the strength of our hiring pipeline. Since then, we have completed our targeted recruitment. The revenue benefits from these hires will build progressively through 2026 and beyond.

We have also made clear progress executing our strategy. We strengthened our global product offering by adding capability in areas of growing demand, including weather derivatives dry bulk and digital assets. And we have also expanded our footprint in the UAE and Brazil, 2 fast-growing regions where physical and derivative activity plays to our strength. We're also -- we have also completed our rollout of our Fusion order management system across all desks and deploy artificial intelligence to improve workflow for our brokers and enhance their customer experience. This has increased our efficiency and quality of our data capture, which strengthens our value proposition of Energy & Commodities, Parameta Solutions and the wider group.

Turning now to the market backdrop. As you will all be aware from the events over the past week or so, markets continue to be shaped by macro and geopolitical uncertainty. 2025 was a year of 2 halves. The first half was challenging, but as our clients adjusted to high volatility, activity picked up and the fourth quarter was notably stronger. Our diversified offering spans oil, power and gas alongside markets linked to the energy transition. This enabled us to support a broad client base across cycles and to capture volatility when it arises. The long-term outlook across the energy sector remains supportive. Demand for oil is expected to grow, driving sustained activity in physical and derivative markets. Power and gas represents significant growth opportunities. We're now in the age of electricity according to the International Energy Agency. Power demand is set to grow roughly 40% by 2035, driven largely by data center expansion, while demand for gas is forecasted to rise around 20%, in particular in Asia. And the energy transition remains a structural theme with an expectation of strong growth in renewables and nuclear energy.

Turning now to digital assets. This is an area where institutional adoption accelerated in 2025, supported by new regulation, including the Genius Act in the United States. Banks and asset managers increasingly want access to crypto and tokenized assets through safe, regulated venues. Our award-winning exchange, Fusion Digital Assets is registered by the FCA. It offers deep anonymous liquidity in spot Bitcoin and Ether. And in the fourth quarter, it delivered over GBP 2 billion of notional trading volume. This month, we are moving to a match principal model in partnership with Standard Chartered as custodian and settlement agent. This materially strengthens our position, making it easier for clients to onboard, connect and trade. We expect this to drive greater institutional participation and increase electronic revenue flow. And as demand for tokenization grows, clients will increasingly look to us to use venues for all digital assets.

We're well positioned to meet that institutional demand and the industry continues to evolve. So to conclude, our focus of 2026 is clear. We continue to hire and invest in high-quality talent, expand into adjacent markets and geographies and deepen client engagement across an increasingly dynamic environment and markets. Our scale, product breadth and specialist expertise make us well positioned to capture the growth opportunities these markets offer.

Thank you. I will now hand over to Mark to take you through Liquidnet.

Thank you, Joachim, and good morning, everyone. 2025 was another year of disciplined execution. Revenue was up 4% on a record performance in the prior year. This was mainly driven by double-digit growth in our multi-asset business. Adjusted EBIT margin was 15.3% Equities revenues were stable, and we maintained our leading position in the block trading market that was subdued in the second half.

We were #1 in the 5x large in scale market in Europe and #2 in the agency ATS block market in the U.S. We continue to strengthen and diversify the Liquidnet franchise. In cash equities, alongside our leading position in the block market, we are diversifying through cross-border and algo trading. Algo trading revenue increased 26%, a clear sign that clients value our advanced execution tools. Cross-border trading rose 6% as we took advantage of our global footprint. And we continue to invest in Asia Pacific, which grew 14% as we captured growing institutional activity in the region. We are also diversifying across other asset classes. And taken together, rates, futures, foreign exchange and advisory revenues grew 10%.

In addition, we're accelerating innovation with the use of AI. We have recently developed a proprietary sales trading tool powered by AI called First Mate. First Mate supplements the work of our people with machine intelligence to surface trading opportunities, coordinate execution and improve access to liquidity. By drawing on proprietary data sets, it has the potential to drive additional revenue and deliver a meaningful improvement in customer experience. So overall, our strategy of diversification and innovation is working.

Looking ahead, we have 3 key priorities in 2026. First, we will further diversify and expand our platform. Our investment priorities are led by client demand as we broaden our product offering and expand our multi-asset execution capabilities. Second, we'll continue to innovate from AI-driven product development to enhance algos to improve block trading protocols, we are raising the quality of our execution. And third, we are driving greater efficiencies as we invest for growth while maintaining a strong cost discipline.

We will increase our operating leverage as we continue to scale volumes across the network. The future of our growth is underpinned by 3 key differentiators. Liquidnet is a highly trusted electronically connected network of over 1,000 buy-side firms. It has deep liquidity pools spanning the globe, together with a proven track record of innovation across asset classes. These advantages are difficult to replicate and give us a strong competitive edge.

Thank you very much. I will now hand it over to Silvina to talk about Parameta Solutions.

Thank you, Mark, and good morning, everyone. In 2025, we focus on execution and strengthening Parameta's capabilities. We delivered revenue growth of 5%, whilst transforming our commercial structure and introducing a more sustainable long-term pricing strategy. We successfully doubled the size of our sales organization, and we also strengthened our marketing, customer success and business operations teams. As a result, we led -- our lead generation is improving. Our commercial reach has expanded and our data-led sales force is building a stronger pipeline. We expect this to feed into our financial performance this year.

Our business is based on proprietary data that is not publicly available. It represents deep pools of liquidity. As you know, we have an exclusive long-term relationship around data with TP ICAP and the data is of a proprietary nature. But in addition, we are also expanding third-party data agreements. Yesterday, we announced a partnership with Marex, which further enhances the depth and the diversity of our data offering. We continue to execute on our strategy to drive sustainable growth.

First, we are expanding our global client base and deepening penetration across both the buy side and the sell side. With our new sales force now fully embedded, we are engaging more clients more frequently and with a broader range of value-added products. Second is product innovation. We are shortening our product development cycles and accelerating time to market. AI is a core enabler and is helping us to improve data quality to accelerate engineering workflows and to support faster product delivery. For example, we have developed a proprietary AI engineering agent called ARBIE. ARBIE allows us to launch the euro and dollar swap rate indexes in just 6 weeks. And third, we are optimizing our efficiency and scalability through expanded operations in Manila and Madrid.

Moving to the right-hand side of the slide. We also have a unique data technology platform, which can operate across multiple asset classes, multiple jurisdictions and multiple competing TP ICAP brands in addition to third-party brands. We are now extending this flexible data platform as a service offering. Our strategic agreement with Marex is a good example of how we can combine data sets that come from different players in order to create and distribute new products. This demonstrates our ability to support the broader OTC ecosystem by partnering with other venues and data providers.

Looking ahead, in 2026, we have 3 main priorities. First, we intend to deepen the buy-side adoption across hedge funds, asset managers and systematic trading firms, where we have significant opportunity to grow. Second, we are broadening our offering through new data from TP ICAP and third parties as well as expanding our analytics and index capabilities. And third, we plan to accelerate growth in the United States.

We operate from a position of strength as we have a leading market position, access to proprietary data that reflects deep pools of liquidity accreditation as a benchmark and index administrator and a modern, scalable technology platform, which underpins our Data Platform as a Service offering. In short, we entered the next phase of Parameta's development with a well-invested business, differentiated proprietary data and a clear path to accelerated growth.

Thank you. I will now hand back to Nico to wrap up.

Thank you, Silvina. So 2025 was another excellent year for TP ICAP. We delivered broad-based growth across the group with record revenues in Global Broking. And we maintained tight cost discipline despite inflation. This resulted in a double-digit uplift in adjusted EBIT. We also released GBP 50 million of cash ahead of plan through our efficiency program. All this has enabled us to announce today a share buyback of GBP 80 million.

So looking ahead, we are well positioned to capture further growth opportunities. TP ICAP is the leading player in a global over-the-counter market. It's a market valued at GBP 846 trillion, which is growing. As the market leader, we sit at the center of global financial flows, so our scale matters, so does our diversification. We serve a broad client base from the sell side to the buy side. We operate in every major asset class, support a wide range of instruments and offer multiple execution protocols. And we have a presence in every major market across the globe. In addition, both cyclical and structural trends are driving growth.

Macro and geopolitical uncertainty continues to drive volatility. Our scale and diversity enable us to capture this additional activity that this volatility creates. Long-term trends are also driving demand for new asset classes such as digital assets, for high-quality data and analytics and for digital and API-driven connectivity. We have built a business that is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on these growth trends through the disciplined execution of our strategy. That's why we move forward confident in our ability to meet the needs of our clients, confident in our ability to grow and confident in our ability to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

So thank you. We're now happy to take your questions.

Good morning, everyone. We will now be taking questions from the room. Please say your name and organization and please hold for a mic as a member of the team.

It's Stuart Duncan from Peel Hunt. I've got 2 questions, if that's okay. First of all, on Liquidnet, the margin seems to have stalled around 15%. Just wondering what you need to do to sort of improve that even if it's towards Global Broking levels? And then secondly, on the data side, you obviously talked about the benefits from the proprietary data and sources. I'd just be interested in the sort of general effect from AI and what you see as the potential impact there.

Okay. Maybe, Mark, do you want to start with that?

Sure. Thanks for the question. As we look back to the prior year, obviously, cyclicality affects all the markets. The first half was very strong from volatility profile, largely generated by the volatility as it pertains to Liberation Day. So first half was quite strong. The second half was subdued. I think as we continue to expand across the asset structure, we'll continue to see margin expansion. I think as we scale volumes in the equity space, we'll continue to see volume expansion. So we're confident that where we are from a cost base will provide us the opportunity to continue to expand margins in the future.

And on the data front, proprietary data is one of the areas that protects the company against the risk of AI. From a Parameta perspective, AI is an opportunity. I talked about the use case around utilizing AI to improve our speed to market. The parameter is data and software engineering on top of that. software engineer accelerated brings us to market quicker. But we're also utilizing AI in order to retrieve information. We deal in a world that has tons, very, very numerous unstructured data, which utilizing traditional human tools will make it slow and heavy to produce products. And I think that the third use case is linked to enabling our customers to answer more complex questions out of our data. We have use cases where middle office may not have the ability to create Python code. So we are creating agentic AI where you can actually introduce your question and behind the scenes, an agent is creating that code for you.

Quick question here, please. And Robin, for you, please. On the working capital, can you just explain that move in the last year, please?

Yes. So the working capital continues over a 3-year cycle to be over 100% -- in 2025, we had some working capital outflows, which reduced the cash flow conversion. In the main, that was due to this, I suppose, a very successful end of the year and the December trading was very high relative to the prior year. But we've also seen some timing difference through some settlement balances that have reversed. So in a sense, we can see that as very much a temporary move, and we anticipate continuing to have a 3-year average around about the 100% mark.

It's Cara Thompson from Rothschild & Co Redburn. Joachim, you said you've completed all your targeted hires. How should we think about the time line for the Energy division to reach full productivity? Is that more going to be at the end of this year or into next?

Right. So it takes some time for the new hires to bed in and to onboard clients. We've done a lot of hiring throughout 2024 and 2025 was say, not the peak, but this is something that continues. We always look to expand. So we should see some of that revenue come in, in 2026, and it will continue through '26 and '27.

I would just add that, if I may, that in this division, the timing of the hiring is very positive because the macro situation that we're seeing is generating a very high level of volatility. And so we have very, very intense volume of activity these days in this division. So that was a good timing.

It's Enrico Bolzoni from JPMorgan. A couple of questions. So one, going back to the AI point. Thanks for the color you provided. A number of data vendors are partnering actively with some of the largest data company -- AI companies and provider out there so that the data can be distributed through this channel. Is this something that you are also considering and what potentially could be the impact on the P&L? And also related to AI, clearly, one of the, let's call it, issues is that you compete on talent a lot. So we hear it constantly. So do you think that the rollout of this technology might change the dynamic when it comes to talent acquisition and perhaps have a positive implication for contribution margin?

Yes. So today, we partner with several of the large players in the space of large language models. We partner through them. We partner through AWS, through Snowflake and pretty much work with all of the big players. We have not yet made a decision as other companies have done of creating an AI plug-in our data is highly proprietary. And therefore, the risk to us is higher than put it in a plug-in information that is primarily publicly available. But we partner with our customers. We look into their own AI use cases, whether they are ring-fenced to internal models that they create versus public models, AI, and that's a policy for now.

Regarding the brokerage, the impact -- positive impact of AI on our broking activities. I think the first thing is that AI is enhancing the brokers' productivity by providing them with better tools. So to give you an example, we have rolled out some softwares that help the brokers, for example, to harmonize the set of orders received by clients. So clients could communicate with their brokers through chats, voice, e-mails or so variation of different means. And this application allows the broker to have a unified order book immediately. So that's just one example of the capacity for a broker to be more productive.

So as we continue to roll out those solutions, we are increasing the value of the seat for the brokers and then we create a competitive advantage for attracting talent. So I think to summarize, this is a positive -- this will have a positive impact in this competition for talents because I think we are more advanced than the rest of the market in terms of deploying solutions with AI and our strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services is really making a difference here. Maybe, Dan, would you like to give 1 or 2 examples of...

Sure. Yes. I think I would just reiterate the point that I think AI is generally supportive for us. We are a business which are -- we're at the center of a lot of very complex networks. And the brokers' role is to integrate data to compose it into one order book really and then to put it back. AI simplifies all of those workflows. So where there used to be 5 steps, there's now 1. And that means that we can be more productive, which is good for us from a broker point of view.

It's also good for us from a client point of view. It means we can be faster, we can be more efficient. There's -- that's the workflow question of AI that we're aggressively working throughout our various businesses. Then there's the information. And then once again, we're at the center of a lot of networks. And it's -- the service we provide is often giving color and information on the market. And with AI, we're able to synthesize a lot of what's going on in a way that's targeted to a specific client. That's -- and we're working on that again aggressively across our different businesses.

Third, I suppose, there are certain areas where we get large electronic flows, and we're able to use AI to simplify integration time from minutes to seconds. And that means that we can be first to respond to the client, and we can be the best service provider.

Do we have questions online, maybe? No?

Can you give me some more -- no, we haven't had any phones from the -- any questions on the phone lines. If there's -- are there any more questions in the room? Well, if there aren't any more questions, we look forward to seeing you in our interim results in August.