Revenue down as LSE loses share of market

London Stock Exchange Group posted a fall in quarterly revenue as it lost market share and cut fees to help to fight off rivals, while a higher number of capital issues provided a gain.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Jan 2010, 21:15 BST
Updated 21st Jan 2010, 21:15 BST

Like other European exchanges, LSE has been losing share to

multilateral trading facilities such as Chi-X and BATS since pan-European regulation opened the market to competition in 2007.

The company is fighting back by reducing fees, negotiating for lower clearing and settlement costs, cutting costs and making acquisitions to boost pan-European trading and improve its technological platform.

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"Conditions are expected to remain testing, but we are continuing to focus on actions to reduce underlying operating costs, improve business efficiency and improve our competitive position through leveraging our assets," said LSE chief financial officer Doug Webb.

Revenue fell nine per cent to 154.9m for the third quarter to the end of December compared to a year before but was up four per cent on the previous quarter, the group said. The year-on-year decline was 12 per cent on a constant-currency basis.

Most of that drop came in cash equities trading revenue from the UK and Italian subsidiary Borsa Italiana, which combined fell 29 per cent year-on-year in the quarter and 32 per cent for the year to date.

The exchange's share of trading in FTSE 100 stocks fell below 57 per cent in January from nearly 96 per cent in early 2008, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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