As Russia is frozen out of much of the global economy in response to its invasion of Ukraine, the London Stock Exchange has now suspended trading in 27 Russian stocks. The Russian energy companies Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosneft have been hit by suspension now as has the bank Sberbank and steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel. The new raft of trading suspensions add to the only Russian stock previously suspended, the bank VTB, and is slowly locking Russian companies out of access to the UK’s capital markets.

However, many believe the process of suspending Russian stocks trading in London is happening too slowly and the London Stock Exchange’s chief executive David Schwimmer today admitted 8 Russian stocks are still trading on the exchange. He explained today that Russian stocks are only being suspended when they breach sanctions, which have been increasing in their reach with every passing day, or no longer meet “orderly market” requirements.

Mr Schwimmer defended the LSE’s approach by saying that allowing secondary trading in Russian stocks over the past week “did not provide any support to the companies or to the Russian government”. But that it has allowed investors to get out of positions they may have held in Russian stocks.

LSE Group also owns the FTSE Russell index business and announced today that Russian stocks have been removed from some of its international indices, though not all. The company also has a business in Moscow that employs 150 people which Schwimmer said today a decision has yet to be taken on. The company also has 9 employees in Ukraine and Mr Schwimmer said “their welfare is our priority and we have taken, and will continue to take, all steps we can to help them stay safe”.

As well as answering questions around Russian stocks, Mr Schwimmer also today informed investors the LSE Group has benefitted from more significant cost savings than forecast as a result of its acquisition of the financial markets data and infrastructure company Refinitiv. The company, which was originally the data unit of Thomson Reuters, was bought for $27 billion las year in a shares and cash deal.

Mr Schwimmer said that initial issues integrating the two companies have now been overcome and led to 2021 cost saving of £151 million thanks to synergies. The first prediction was for £88 million in savings before being upgraded to £125 million last August – a figure that also turned out to be conservative. The company expects revenue synergies to reach between £40 million and £60 million this year.

LSE Group has now upgraded its forecast for total cost saving synergies over five years to hit an average of £400 million per annum from the previous prediction for £350 million. The companies pre-tax profits for 2021 were also up 27% to £2.3 billion, beating analyst estimates for £2.25 billion.

Shareholders will also benefit from a 27% increase to the final dividend. It will now pay out at total of 95p-per-share for 2021. The LSE Group share price is up a little over 9% today.