LSE reports 42 percent increase in FY profits |
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Thu, 25 May 2006 14:45
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LONDON - UK bourse operator London Stock Exchange Group PLC today reported a 42 percent increase in full-year profits to £120 million for the year ending March 31. However the group remained non-committal about the recent interest shown in it by three parties.
A surge in equity trading activity kept the LSE in the profits for the year. Additionally the active financial markets also ensured that the revenues were on an upswing. These were up by 19 per cent to £291.1 million, but the pre-tax profits failed to excite and stayed at £93.5 million. LSE said that new shares rose 21 per cent at 622, while the total amount raised was up by 81 percent at £34.1 billion.
LSE Chief Executive Clara Furse said that the group would be meeting Nasdaq shortly, "We're going to meet with (Nasdaq) as our major shareholder. We don't need to do a deal. We're not interested in doing a deal for the sake of doing a deal, we're interested in doing a deal to add to our growth," she said. Ms Furse said that the outlook for the future remained positive despite the recent downturn in the markets, "This is a secular change... there is not a link between our performance and the FTSE's performance," she argued.
LSE has already rejected offers from Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd., Germany's Deutsche Börse AG and Sweden's OM Gruppen. Analysts feel that LSE could be losing an opportunity here as one of the potential suitors NYSE Group Inc has already made its interest known in Euronext.
However LSE Chairman Chris Gibson-Smith said that the group was focused on the future, "We remain focused on driving the business forward, while continuing to explore options to create additional value for shareholders and customers," he added. LSE is scheduled to return £510 million to shareholders via its solid bid defenses.
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