Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    LONDON, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- London Stock Exchange Group (the "Exchange") here today announced that its profit before tax for the six months ended Sept. 30 2008 was up 30 per cent to 127 million pounds.

    The Exchange's revenue reached 345.5 million pounds, up 70 percent over a year ago. The basic EPS was 30.3 pence and the adjusted basic EPS was up 10 percent to 39.3 pence. Interim dividend per share increased by 5 percent to 8.4 pence.

    Chief Executive Clara Furse said the Exchange has delivered good results, with adjusted basic earnings per share increasing by10 percent against a backdrop of challenging markets.

    "We are busy developing a number of new services and products as well as the opportunities arising from our merger with Borsa Italiana," he said. "Integration synergies are increasing and being achieved at a faster rate, with a 20 percent uplift in cost savings to at least 24 million pounds. Activity on the Exchange will continue to reflect more difficult and uncertain market conditions".

    London is the leading international listing venue with 21 international IPOs and a total 114 new issues in London and Italy. On Sept. 30, 2008 the total number of companies on the market stood at 3,489, including 305 on Borsa Italiana's market. Demand for the Exchange's real time data remained strong with 112,000 professional users, up 8,000 over last year and unchanged since the start of the financial year; and in Italy professional terminals were up 7,000 on last year to 161,000, and level with the number six months ago.

    Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman of the Exchange, said that the business has performed well in what are very challenging times for financial markets. "We have announced a five percent increase in interim dividend, recognizing both the good first half financial performance and the Board's belief that it is appropriate to remain conservative at this interim stage, with market conditions remaining difficult."

    Looking ahead to the rest of the financial year, the Exchange said that activity will continue to reflect changes in market capitalization and difficult and uncertain market conditions. However, the business has demonstrated its resilience across many product lines, underlining its critical role in equity funding and price formation, providing deep liquidity and certainty of execution in a well-regulated market.