Pre-Close Period Update

London Stock Exchange Group PLC
25 September 2007

25 September 2007


PRE-CLOSE PERIOD UPDATE

London Stock Exchange Group plc



Unless otherwise stated, the following commentary refers to the five months
ended 31 August 2007 and, where appropriate, to the corresponding period last
year.

London Stock Exchange Group plc ('the Exchange') today issued a routine update
ahead of the close period relating to the six months ending 30 September 2007.

In summary, the Exchange has delivered an excellent trading performance for the
financial year to date:


•   There were 216 new issues in the period, with total money raised up 12
    per cent to £26.8 billion

•   Average daily number of SETS bargains increased strongly, up 75 per cent to 
    551,000, exceeding the target level of 480,000 for the full year

•   Professional terminal numbers reached 102,000 at the end of August - up 
    12,000 since August 2006 and up 3,000 since June 2007



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


'The Exchange continues to make excellent progress and has delivered a very
strong trading performance for the year to date. In particular, the SETS
electronic order book achieved enormous volume growth over the summer, as
increased market volatility during the period added to strong growth already
being facilitated by the new TradElect platform, in conjunction with customer
and other Exchange initiatives. This excellent performance, together with high
levels of activity in the primary markets and good progress in the Information
Services division, ensures that we will report strong first half results.

'The Exchange is very close to completing the merger with Borsa Italiana, having
secured overwhelming support from both sets of shareholders. We are focused on
implementing our merger plans which will lead to accelerated growth for the
enlarged group.'



Issuer Services



Primary market activity over the period has been very strong, with total money
raised increasing 12 per cent to £26.8 billion (2006: £24.0 billion).  In total
there were 216 new issues, slightly ahead of the same period last year (2006:
210).

In the first five months of the financial year there were 68 Main Market new
issues, more than double the number in the prior year (2006: 33), and including
25 from overseas compared with seven in the equivalent period.  AIM continued to
attract new companies to its market, with 147 new issues (2006: 177).

The total number of companies on the Exchange's markets at 31 August 2007
increased to 3,308 (2006: 3,205), of which 1,685 were on AIM (2006: 1,579).



Broker Services



Trading on the SETS electronic order book grew very significantly over the
period, with market volatility in the summer months adding to the strong growth
recorded in the first quarter.  SETS volumes increased 77 per cent to a total
57.9 million bargains for the first five months (2006: 32.7 million).  Average
daily SETS bargains rose to 551,000 (2006: 315,000), a 75 per cent increase over
the corresponding period.  New monthly records were set in every month over the
summer, with daily bargains exceeding one million on three separate days in
August.

These levels of trading were facilitated by the introduction of TradElect, the
new trading platform introduced in June, with significantly enhanced capacity
and improved latency, enabling market users to successfully execute and sustain
high trading volumes at times of peak demand and extreme market activity.  Also
contributing to the growth were adjustments to the volume discount scheme, and
the increasing success of SETSmm, a hybrid electronic order book, averaging
149,000 bargains per day (2006: 67,000).

The total value of SETS bargains increased 47 per cent to £918bn (2006:  £624bn)
as the average value of a SETS bargain decreased to £15,900 (2006: £19,100).
This, combined with the increase in customer qualification for volume discounts,
contributed to an expected reduction in the average yield per SETS bargain, to
£1.00 (2006: £1.38) for the financial year to date.

The total number of UK equity bargains increased 70 per cent to 63.0 million
(2006: 37.0 million), a daily average of 601,000 bargains per day (2006:
356,000); and the total value of UK equity bargains rose 40 per cent to £1.8
trillion (2006: £1.3 trillion), a daily average of £17.1 billion (2006: £12.3
billion).



Information Services

The number of terminals receiving real time Exchange data has shown further
growth, increasing strongly by 18,000 to 125,000 compared with the same time
last year (31 August 2006: 107,000), as the number of terminals outside the UK
continued to increase.  The number of terminals attributable to higher yield
professional users was 102,000, an increase of 12,000 on the previous year (31
August 2006: 90,000) and up 3,000 on the end of the first quarter (30 June 2007:
99,000).

The number of Proquote screens rose to 3,800 screens, up 600 on same time last
year (31 August 2006: 3,200), including 1,400 international screens.



Derivatives Services

EDX London delivered very strong growth with a total 17.7 million contracts
traded (2006: 12.9 million), including 2.5 million contracts for Russian
derivatives, launched at the end of 2006.



Borsa Italiana

On 8 August 2007, shareholders in London Stock Exchange Group plc and Borsa
Italiana S.p.A. voted at their respective EGMs, giving overwhelming support of
the combination through a recommended merger valuing Borsa Italiana at £1,103
million (€1,634 million).  A prospectus for the listing of 79.5 million new
shares in London Stock Exchange Group plc will be published today, 25 September
2007, enabling completion of the deal to take place in early October.

An update on Borsa Italiana's recent financial performance will be provided
around the time of the Exchange's Interim results in November.



Share Buyback Programme

Since the start of the financial year, the Exchange has bought back 7.2 million
shares, for a total consideration of £94 million.  As at 31 August 2007, the
Exchange had completed £154 million of the current £250 million share repurchase
programme with the total number of shares in issue at 199,881,629.



Outlook

The Exchange has made a very strong start to the year, buoyed by excellent
trading performance in all core businesses.  As indicated previously, the
Exchange expects a modest rise in operating costs as the business continues to
grow strongly, and remains on course to report an excellent outcome for first
half and the financial year as a whole.



Further information is available from:


London Stock Exchange     Patrick Humphris - Media                020 7797 1222
                          Paul Froud - Investor Relations         020 7797 3322

Finsbury                  James Murgatroyd                        020 7251 3801






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