Footsie a bright spot at LSE

The London Stock Exchange overcame declining income from its main capital markets business to post revenues in line with expectations for the three months to the end of June.

Total revenues came in at £209.5m, broadly in line with market expectations of £210.3m and 10% up on the prior year.

In December last year the LSE became the sole owner of the FTSE indices business, which contributed £35m in additional revenues during the quarter - the biggest contribution to the improvement on the previous year.

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Overall, LSE's information services outfit (which includes FTSE) reported revenues of £75.3m, an increase of 68% on 2010/2011.

The main downside was that Capital Markets' contribution decreased 15% to just £67.5m as both primary and secondary activity fell in response to the prevailing macro-economic climate.

Post-trade services also took a hammering from the euro crisis, dropping 12% compared to a year ago, to £22.8m.

LSE's French Chief Executive Xavier Rolet, noted the "strong contribution" from FTSE but added: "Our focus remains on developing partnerships with our customers, executing on our strategy and delivering on cost control."

Shares in the London Stock Exchange have had a good year, up 26% since January, shortly after the open today they were down 0.8%.

BS