Offer Update

London Stock Exchange
5 October 2000

                                                                5 October 2000

                          LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE PLC

                    RAISES NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT OM GRUPPEN





London Stock Exchange plc today publishes a further circular in response to
the offer by OM Gruppen AB to acquire the Company.

OM achieved a negligible level of acceptances of around 1% at its first
closing date. This endorses the Board's view that OM is offering wholly
inadequate value to London Stock Exchange's shareholders and no proven
benefits for customers.

The purpose of the circular is to explain in greater detail why

  * OM's technology offers no proven benefits
  * OM's shares are of uncertain value
  * OM's ownership, control and governance raise numerous questions

Don Cruickshank, Chairman of the London Stock Exchange said:

'Today's document demonstrates that OM's proposal for the London Stock
Exchange does not stand up to critical examination. Not only is OM's offer
inadequate, it also makes no commercial sense.

'As we have made clear, the London Stock Exchange is not up for sale. Our
strategy may involve doing deals but it does not necessarily have to. That is
our consistent message to all those who have an interest in our future
ownership.

'By dismissing OM and engaging in a full consultation process, London Stock
Exchange's shareholders and customers will have real influence over our future
development.'



OM's technology offers no proven benefits

London Stock Exchange already has robust, reliable and scaleable technology

  * Since 1994, it has invested over £185 million as part of its long-term
    investment programme in technology
  * London Stock Exchange's system capacity

      - is already over 8 times the level of average total trades per day
      - following upgrade will be over 16 times the level of average total
        trades per day
      - has demonstrated its ability to cope with peaks in customer demand
        and trading volumes

  * London Stock Exchange's ability to more than double existing capacity
    through upgrading has already been thoroughly tested and verified and will
    provide appropriate headroom to accommodate expected continuing growth in
    market volumes

OM lacks scale in equity trading

  * OM provides its equity trading technology, SAXESS, to only two
    small-scale exchanges, OM Stockholm and Copenhagen
  * London Stock Exchange

      - is over 8x larger than OM's Stockholm and Copenhagen equity
        exchanges in terms of annual value of shares traded
      - has over 3x as many members as OM's Stockholm and Copenhagen equity
        exchanges

  * OM has failed to deliver upgrades on schedule - with delays ranging from
    10 days to 9 months
  * OM's equity trading system, SAXESS, has experienced numerous full or
    partial systems outages and delays with no fewer than 18 in the period
    from 22 April 1999 to 31 August 2000 disclosed on OM's own website
  * London Stock Exchange has had only one outage in the last 18 months and
    has taken decisive steps to prevent a recurrence



OM's shares are of uncertain value

Is OM really a technology business or is it driven by its Transaction business
area ?

  * The OM shares being offered to London Stock Exchange's shareholders are
    currently trading at

      - 78 times historical earnings
      - over four times the level of one year ago

  * In each of the two and a half years ended June 2000, OM's Technology
    business area accounts for

      - only 38% or less of revenues
      - only 9% or less of earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT)

  * OM's Transaction business area accounts for

      - 62% or more of revenues
      - 91% or more of EBIT

How reliable are OM's equity trading revenues ?

  * Trading in the ten most liquid stocks on OM Stockholm accounted for 68
    per cent. of total value of trading turnover in 1999
  * For the three most liquid stocks traded on OM Stockholm, Nokia,
    AstraZeneca and Ericsson, a significant proportion of the trading activity
    takes place on other exchanges

Does OM's financial record stand up to scrutiny ?

  * OM's EBIT margins have declined from 37% in 1995 to only 24% in the six
    months to 30 June 2000
  * OM's management have set themselves a '20/20' performance target - 20%
    growth in revenues per annum and 20% return on shareholders' equity - OM
    has failed to meet its 20/20 target in four of the last five years
  * OM has an unimpressive earnings record - EPS has increased at a compound
    annual rate of only 2.3% from 1995 to 1999
  * It is unusual for a 'technology' company to pay out the majority of its
    reported earnings as dividends

      - OM has only just managed to cover its dividend with reported
        earnings in each of the last three years

Jiway appears to represent a significant proportion of OM's current share
price - the value of Jiway is uncertain

  * It is an untested business proposition, only scheduled to start
    operations in November 2000
  * It is 40% owned by a single US investment bank
  * If it is to be run as a separate business from the London Stock
    Exchange, how will the separate organisations 'collaborate to achieve
    common benefits' when both are competing for the same retail business?



OM's ownership, control and governance raise numerous questions

OM shares are tightly controlled

  * OM's board includes members who either themselves hold, or represent
    shareholders who hold, 40% in aggregate of OM's issued share capital
  * Within this 40%

      - the Swedish State owns 9.5%
      - Investor, an investment vehicle of the Wallenberg family, owns 15.3%
      - the chairman of OM Gruppen, Olof Stenhammar, and related companies,
        owns 4.2% of OM's issued share capital. Mr Stenhammar is related to
        the Wallenberg family

The increasing interest of the Swedish State in OM

  * The Swedish State has said that it expected to achieve a 10 per cent.
    holding in OM which, if achieved, would give the Swedish State certain
    rights to prevent a third party from gaining full control of OM Gruppen
  * Since 30 June 2000, the Swedish State has increased its shareholding in
    OM from 7.7 per cent. to 9.5 per cent.

Current investigation

  * Trading in OM shares in the period prior to the launch of OM's offer for
    the London Stock Exchange is presently under investigation by the Swedish
    Financial Supervisory Authority

The OM Chairman's profit related licence agreement

  * A company owned by Mr Stenhammar receives a profit related licence
    payment of 1% of OM's income after financial items. This licence agreement
    has a twenty year term and does not expire until 2005
  * OM's offer document explicitly states that 'should the income of OM
    increase as a result of the offer then...the profit related payment
    payable to the Chairman of 1% of OM's income after financial items will
    also increase'
  * Why should Mr Stenhammar be rewarded simply for OM acquiring the London
    Stock Exchange ?



London Stock Exchange

Kay Dixon                              020 7797 1222

Jeremy Hughes

Schroder Salomon Smith Barney

Philip Robert-Tissot                   020 7986 4000

Brunswick

Derek Bainbridge                       020 7404 5959

David Brewerton

Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by The
Securities and Futures Authority Limited, is acting for London Stock Exchange
plc and no one else in connection with the offer by OM and will not be
responsible to anyone other than London Stock Exchange plc for providing the
protections afforded to its customers or for providing advice in relation to
the offer by OM. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has approved this press release
for the purposes of Section 57 of the Financial Services Act 1986.