Trading Statement

London Stock Exchange Plc
27 January 2005



27 January 2005

                           LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE plc

                              TRADING STATEMENT
                 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2004

This trading statement is not a profit forecast and should not be interpreted to
mean that the earnings per share of London Stock Exchange plc for the current or
future years will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings
per share of the London Stock Exchange plc.

London Stock Exchange plc ("the Exchange") today issued its routine quarterly
trading statement for the three months ended 31 December 2004.

Gross turnover for the three months ended 31 December 2004 ("Q3") was £66.3
million (2003: £63.3 million), representing 5 per cent growth over the same
period last year.

For the nine months ended 31 December 2004, turnover increased 5 per cent to
£192.1 million (2003: £182.9 million).


Issuer Services

In Q3, Issuer Services' turnover decreased to £9.4 million (2003: £10.7
million), primarily reflecting tariff reductions implemented on 1 April 2004,
offset in part by an increase in the number of new issues on the Exchange's
markets.

During the quarter there were 148 new issues on the Exchange's markets (2003:
81) of which 30 were on the main market (2003: 17).  As at 31 December 2004, the
number of companies on our markets increased to 2,837 (2003: 2,692).

For the nine months ended 31 December 2004, Issuer Services' turnover decreased
12 per cent to £25.7 million (2003: £29.1 million).  At 362, the number of new
issues was more than double the number in the corresponding period last year
(2003: 175).  Most of the growth was on AIM, the Exchange's international market
for smaller, growing companies, where the number of new issues increased from
140 to 302.  As at 31 December 2004, there were 1,021 AIM companies compared
with 754 at 31 December 2003.

Once again the appeal of the Exchange's markets was demonstrated by the Exchange
accounting for 79 per cent of the IPOs in Western Europe in the first nine
months of this financial year (2003: 89 per cent).


Broker Services

Broker Services' turnover in Q3 increased 10 per cent to £25.2 million (2003:
£22.9 million).  The average number of equity bargains per day increased to
281,000 and totalled £1.2 trillion in value during the period (2003: 226,000 and
£1.0 trillion respectively).

During the quarter, trading volumes on SETS, the electronic order book,
continued to grow, supported by the success of SETSmm, the trading service for
mid-cap securities launched in November 2003.  The average number of SETS
bargains per day, including SETSmm (16,000 bargains per day), was 175,000, a 28
per cent increase (2003: 137,000).  Also included in the SETS figure was trading
on EUROSETS, the Exchange's Dutch Trading Service launched in May 2004, which
maintained a small share of trading in Dutch securities during the quarter.
Overall, trading on SETS contributed 66 per cent of Broker Services' revenue
during the quarter.

In Q3, the average number of off-book bargains decreased to 47,000 per day
(2003: 53,000) whilst the average number of international bargains rose to
59,000 per day (2003: 36,000).

Broker Services' turnover for the nine months ended 31 December 2004 increased
10 per cent to £73.5 million (2003: £66.6 million).  During the period, the
daily average number of equity bargains was 258,000 (2003: 221,000) and the
daily average number of SETS bargains was 162,000 (2003: 129,000).  The average
value of a SETS bargain decreased 5 per cent to £21,000 (2003: £22,000).


Information Services

Information Services' turnover for the three months ended 31 December 2004
increased 13 per cent to £28.3 million (2003: £25.1 million), mainly reflecting
the inclusion of new revenue from SEDOL, together with increased turnover from
FTSE and Proquote and the uplift in terminal numbers.

The overall number of terminals taking real time Exchange data increased to
94,000, up 4,000 since both the half year end and compared with the same point
last year (31 December 2003: 90,000).  The number of terminals attributable to
professional users rose to 82,000 (31 December 2003: 81,000), the first increase
for over three years.  Proquote continues to make progress with 2,500 screens
(2003: 1,600 screens).

Turnover from the FTSE joint venture was £3.8 million, up from £3.4 million in
the corresponding period last year and RNS, the Exchange's financial
communications service, was in line with Q3 last year (£1.7 million).

SEDOL Masterfile, the Exchange's securities numbering service, provides unique
identification for securities on a global basis.  The service continued to make
good progress since launch in March 2004, with approximately 950 company
contracts for SEDOL licences signed to date.

For the nine months ended 31 December 2004, Information Services' turnover
increased 9 per cent from £75.3 million to £82.1 million.  During this period,
RNS and FTSE accounted for £5.3 million (2003: £5.3 million) and £11.3 million
(2003: £9.6million) of revenue respectively.


Derivatives Services

Derivatives Services, principally comprising the Exchange's equity derivatives
business EDX London, contributed revenues of £1.5 million in Q3 (2003:
£1.5million) and £5.1 million for the first nine months of the year (1 July to
31 December 2003: £3.2 million).  During the quarter EDX traded 4.4 million
contracts (2003: 3.3 million) and 13.6 million contracts were traded in the nine
months ended 31 December 2004 (1 July to 31 December 2003: 7.1 million).


Current Trading and Prospects

The market trends seen in the first half of the financial year have continued in
the second half:  growth in new issue activity has remained positive,
particularly on AIM, and trading volumes on SETS have continued to show strong
growth.  In addition, professional terminal numbers have increased since the
half year end.  Overall, we are confident of a good outcome for the full year.
Looking beyond the current year, improving market trends will contribute to
further good turnover growth.

Commenting on Q3 trading and prospects for the full year, Clara Furse, Chief
Executive Officer said:

"The Exchange demonstrated a continuation of good top line growth in the third
quarter.  The encouraging trends in our core businesses so far this financial 
year underpin our expectations of a pleasing performance for the year."


Further information is available from:


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


Nine months ended 31 December 2004


Turnover                                    Nine months ended     Year ended
                                                  31 December       31 March
                                            2004         2003           2004
                                              £m           £m             £m

Issuer Services                             25.7         29.1           38.5
Broker Services                             73.5         66.6           94.1
Information Services                        82.1         75.3          101.0
Derivatives Services*                        5.1          3.2            6.1
Other income                                 5.7          8.7           10.7
Gross turnover                             192.1        182.9          250.4

Less: share of joint venture's turnover    (11.3)        (9.6)         (13.3)

Net turnover                               180.8        173.3          237.1



 * nine months ended 31 December 2003 contains EDX London revenues for 
   6 months only (1 July to 31 December 2003)



Three months ended 31 December 2004


Turnover                                   Three months ended
                             30 June   30 September  31 December    31 December 
                                2004           2004         2004           2003
                                  £m            £m            £m             £m

Issuer Services                  8.4           7.9           9.4           10.7
Broker Services                 24.2          24.1          25.2           22.9
Information Services            26.7          27.1          28.3           25.1
Derivatives Services             2.0           1.6           1.5            1.5
Other income                     2.4           1.4           1.9            3.1
Gross turnover                  63.7          62.1          66.3           63.3

Less: share of joint 
venture's turnover              (3.6)         (3.9)        (3.8)           (3.4)

Net turnover                    60.1           58.2        62.5            59.9



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