London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE) , the FTSE 250 financial group that runs London’s main stock exchanges, said Friday that total income had risen by 7% to £674.9m last year and that it was encouraged by the near-term outlook. Adjusted operating profit increased by 22% to £341.1m in the year to March 31, with the pre-tax figure up 65% to £238.2m. It said that further progress this year would be reliant on developing growth opportunities, especially in the areas of Post Trade, Derivatives and Financial Technology as well as continued delivery on cost reductions, enhancing competitiveness and improving customer service. The London Stock Exchange share price rose by 18p to 837p on the news. LSE described the growth in the number of new issues, or new companies joining its markets , as “good”, with the figure up by 68% on the previous year to 185, with a more than trebling of money raised to £13.1bn. Meanwhile, Millennium Exchange, the group’s new high performance trading system, was successfully rolled out to Turquoise and the UK equities markets - delivering world leading consistent performance, 10 times faster than previous system. In February, LSE announced a recommended merger with Canada’s TMX Group and said today that work was ongoing to secure the necessary approvals to carry the deal forward.

Chris Gibson-Smith, the chairman of London Stock Exchange Group, said: “We have achieved much in the past year and the actions we have taken to ensure the group remains efficient, competitive and focused on developing growth opportunities mean we are in a strong position. We aim to develop the group further, with increasing international scale, together with extended reach and scope, to provide competitive services to global customers. This approach underpins the rationale for our proposed merger with TMX Group, announced in February.”

Xavier Rolet, the group’s chief executive, said: “We have made good progress. The 22 per cent increase in adjusted operating profit underlines our improved financial performance and we have taken significant steps in delivering on our growth strategy. We continue to operate in a highly dynamic and evolving global industry. Enhancing our competitiveness and improving customer service remain key priorities. We are also fully focused on pursuing a range of growth opportunities which will remain pivotal to further progress in the year ahead.”

Looking ahead, LSE said that in primary…

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