Pre-Close Period Update

London Stock Exchange Group PLC
29 March 2007

29 March 2007



                         PRE-CLOSE PERIOD UPDATE

                    London Stock Exchange Group plc



Unless otherwise stated, the following commentary refers to the 11 months ended
28 February 2007 and, where appropriate, to the corresponding period last year.



London Stock Exchange Group plc ('the Exchange') today issued an update ahead of
the close period relating to the financial year ending 31 March 2007.



In summary, trading performance remains very strong, with good performance
recorded in all main business areas:



•   In Issuer Services, activity remained strong with 470 new issues and
    total money raised increased 58 per cent to £47.6bn



•   Average daily number of SETS bargains increased 56 per cent to 338,000, 
    including record trading volumes in February, and average daily value
    traded up 40 per cent to £6.3bn



•   Professional terminals at 96,000 were up 9,000 since February 2006 and
    2,000 since December 2006



Commenting on current trading and outlook, Clara Furse, Chief Executive, said:



'The Exchange continues to perform very well, with very strong growth on SETS in
the final quarter, building on the excellent performance of the first nine
months of the financial year.  We are confident of an outstanding result for the
current financial year.



'Our prospects for the year ahead are excellent as strong business fundamentals
continue to drive strong growth. The Exchange intends to capitalise fully on its
unique strategic position in global markets to deliver its vision to be the
world's capital market.'



Issuer Services



New issue activity has been very strong in the year to date, with 470 new issues
for the eleven months (2006: 547).  With 94 new issues on the Main Market,
primary market activity was similar to the high levels seen last year (2006:
95); while on AIM, the world's most successful market for smaller companies, new
issues remained good at 375 (2006: 448).  On both the Main Market and AIM the
average money raised by new issues was significantly higher, with total money
raised on our markets rising 58 per cent during the period at £47.6bn (2006:
£30.2bn).



Highlighting the Exchange's position as the international listing venue of
choice, the total number of overseas companies joining the Main Market nearly
doubled to 33 (2006: 17).



At 28 February 2007, the total number of companies on the Exchange's markets was
3,236 (2006: 3,099) of which 1,632 companies were traded on AIM (2006: 1,426),
up 14 per cent on the previous year.  There were 645 international companies
from 68 countries listed on the Exchange's markets at the end of the period
(2006: 561).



Broker Services



SETS, the electronic order book, recorded another period of excellent growth,
continuing to benefit from the secular change in equities trading, facilitated
by investment in new technology.



In the eleven months to 28 February 2007, the average daily number of SETS
bargains increased 56 per cent to 338,000 (2006: 216,000) and average daily
value traded increased 40 per cent to £6.3bn (2006: £4.5bn).  Very busy trading
days were registered at the end of February, resulting in the month overall
being a record period (414,000 bargains/day).  Strong growth on SETS has
continued in March, with average daily bargains to date of 515,000 (2006:
289,000), up 78 per cent.



The average value of a SETS bargain during the period was lower at £18,500
(2006: £20,900).  At £1.34, the average SETS yield was lower than the same
period last year at £1.53, reflecting the continued success of the volume
discount scheme, growth in trading of SETSmm securities and algorithmic trading
and increasing derivatives-linked business.



In the circular to shareholders dated 18 January 2007, the Exchange stated that
the average number of bargains per day on SETS is expected to increase to at
least 480,000 next year, an increase of at least 180 per cent in financial year
2008 relative to financial year 2005.  The rate of growth in average SETS
bargains per day achieved so far in Q4 - 63 per cent to 443,000 (2006: 272,000)
- re-confirms the Exchange's belief in achieving this target.



For the 11 months, the total number of UK equity bargains per day increased 46
per cent to 382,000 (2006: 262,000), with an average 43,000 UK off-book bargains
per day (2006: 46,000).  Total UK equity value traded was £3.0tn, up 25 per cent
on the previous year (2006: £2.4tn).



Information Services



Demand for real-time price and trading data continues to grow, prompted by
international demand for such information.  At 28 February 2007, the total
number of terminals receiving Exchange data was 116,000, an increase of 14,000
over the same point last year (28 February 2006: 102,000).  Of the total,
approximately 96,000 terminals were attributable to the professional user base,
up 9,000 since February 2006 and 2,000 since the end of 2006 (31 December 2006:
94,000; 28 February 2006: 87,000).



Other product lines also delivered growth.  At 28 February, Proquote had 3,600
screens, a 20 per cent increase on the same time last year (28 February 2006:
3,000 screens).



SEDOL, the Exchange's service providing unique identification for a range of
global tradable securities, continues to perform well, with over 1,300 licences
signed and 1.8 million securities covered.



Derivatives Services



The total number of contracts traded on EDX during the first 11 months of the
year increased strongly, up 41 per cent to 28.0 million (2006: 19.8 million).
The average number of contracts per day for the period was 122,000, up over 40
per cent on the previous year (2006: 85,000).  Trading in Russian derivatives
has continued its impressive start, doubling average daily volumes to 4,156
contracts from January to February, and achieving more than US$1 billion in
value traded since launch on 1 December 2006.



Share Buyback Programme



In the circular to shareholders dated 18 January 2007, the Exchange committed to
build on its successful track record of capital management, announcing a further
share buyback programme of up to £250 million, in addition to the £18 million
outstanding from the original £50 million programme announced last year.



The Exchange commenced on market share re-purchases on 12 February 2007, and
since then has made good progress, buying back 5.8 million shares at a total
cost of £75 million.  This is in addition to £32 million of shares bought
earlier this financial year (up to 17 November 2006).  As at 28 March the number
of ordinary shares in issue was 207,391,154.







The Exchange expects to announce its preliminary results for the year ending 31
March 2007 on 16 May 2007.





Further information is available from:


London Stock Exchange             Paul Froud - Investor Relations                020 7797 3322
                                  Catherine Mattison - Media                     020 7797 1222

Finsbury                          James Murgatroyd                               020 7251 3801




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange