The London Stock Exchange posted a decline in earnings on a 9% drop in interim revenue from a year ago and said it expected competition in cash equities to remain intense and market conditions uncertain.
Pre-tax profits dropped to £79.4m sterling for the six months to the end of September from £127m a year ago, the company said, as revenues fell to £310.9m.
'Lower trading levels, together with intense competition from new trading venues with aggressive pricing, have contributed to lower equity trading revenues, the main area of decline for the group,' the company said in a statement, adding that market conditions remained uncertain.
The company cited good performance of the post-trade and information and technology divisions, which increased revenues to account for 53% of group revenues overall.
Demand for real-time data is likely to remain under pressure in the second half, while other businesses in the information and technology division remain robust, it said.
It cited record levels of capital-raising for companies in the first quarter, 'with the flow of secondary issues continuing right through the half-year and beyond.'
The pipeline for initial public offerings 'appears promising for 2010,' the LSE said.
