London Stock Exchange reports Revenue up 9% to £721.9 million 

• Continued good financial performance with growth across all core business areas – in particular, in Information Services, including strong results at FTSE Russell, in Capital Markets and at LCH
• Revenue up 9% to £721.9 million (H1 2015: £663.0 million); total income up 11% to £785.8 million (H1 2015: £705.9 million)
• Adjusted operating profit² up 9% at £333.3 million (H1 2015: £305.7 million) as operating expenses remained well controlled while continuing to invest in growth opportunities; operating profit of £199.0 million (H1 2015: £210.5 million)
• Profit after tax of £114.5 million (H1 2015: £130.8 million) which included non-recurring merger related expenses; and, after accounting for the previously announced tax effects of the Russell IM sale , becomes a loss after tax of £15.9million on a reported basis including discontinued operations (H1 2015: £165.1 million)
• Adjusted EPS² up 16% at 57.7 pence (H1 2015: 49.9 pence); basic EPS down 18% to 27.4 pence (H1 2015: 33.4 pence)
• Interim dividend increased 11.1% to 12.0 pence per share (H1 2015: 10.8 pence per share) in line with our stated dividend policy
• Strong balance sheet position with leverage reduced to 1.3 x net debt:EBITDA

Strategic highlights

• Merger with Deutsche Börse, announced in March 2016, making good progress – shareholder approvals achieved in July and work underway on regulatory consents
• Sale of Russell Investment Management successfully completed on schedule, for gross proceeds of US$1,150 million – resulting in an implied multiple of 18x EBITDA (pre synergies) for the retained, high growth Russell Indices business, now integrated with FTSE
• New products and services announced during the period, including LCH Spider, a new rates portfolio margining service, ELITE Club Deal, an online private placement platform for SMEs, and CurveGlobal, a derivative trading venture which is expected to launch in Q3 2016
• The Group is well positioned, as a diversified open access market infrastructure business, to navigate political and macroeconomic changes in the period ahead

Source: LSE

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