July 31 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange Group ( LDNXF )

on Thursday announced a share buyback program of 1

billion pounds ($1.33 billion) for the second half after

reporting a better-than-expected rise in first-half profit,

driven by strong performance across its businesses.

The company said total income, excluding recoveries, in the

first half was 4.49 billion pounds, up 7.8% on an organic

constant currency basis. Analysts were expecting a 7.5% increase

on average, according to a company-compiled poll.

Reuters provides news for LSEG's news and data terminal

Workspace.

($1 = 0.7541 pounds)

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank

Dhaniwala)