For the nine months ended 31 December 2001, turnover from continuing operations increased 15 per cent to £162.4 million (2000: £141.2 million).
Broker Services
For the three months ended 31 December 2001, Broker Services turnover increased 33 per cent to £21.2 million (2000: £15.9 million), reflecting strong volume growth, particularly for SETS, the electronic order book. For the three months ended 31 December 2001, the daily average number of equity bargains was 216,000 (2000: 155,000) and the daily average number of SETS bargains was 79,000 (2000: 37,000).
Broker Services turnover for the nine months ended 31 December 2001 increased 34 per cent to £61.1 million (2000: £45.5 million), contributing 38 per cent of total turnover. For the nine months ended 31 December 2001, the daily average number of equity bargains was 199,000 (2000: 151,000) and the daily average number of SETS bargains was 68,000 (2000: 34,000).
To accommodate further volume growth, the Exchange successfully completed a £12 million enhancement to SETS in December 2001 which trebled trading capacity.
Issuer Services
Issuer Services turnover for the three months ended 31 December 2001 decreased 38 per cent to £6.3 million (2000: £10.2 million). This fall reflects continuing weakness in the IPO market and the fact that the corresponding period last year benefited from an exceptional level of new issue activity. New issues on the Exchange's markets for the three months ended 31 December 2001 totalled 67 (2000: 150).
For the nine months ended 31 December 2001, Issuer Services turnover decreased 22 per cent from £25.7 million to £20.1 million. During this period, the number of new issues on the Exchange's markets was 237 (2000: 400).
Despite difficult market conditions, the number of companies on AIM, the Exchange's global market for smaller and growing businesses, had grown from 550 at 31 March 2001 to 629 at 31 December 2001. Since its launch, some 90 companies have used it as a platform to move onto the main market.
Information Services
For the three months ended 31 December 2001, Information Services turnover increased 11 per cent to £23.7 million (2000: £21.4 million). For the nine months ended 31 December 2001, turnover was up 14 per cent to £69.9 million (2000: £61.1 million).
The increase in turnover for the quarter and the nine months ended 31 December 2001 against the corresponding periods last year reflects an increase in the number of professional users receiving Exchange data on a real time basis. As at 31 December 2001, approximately 107,000 terminals in total received Exchange data (31 December 2000: 107,000), of which approximately 98,000 were professional users (31 December 2000: 96,000).
Commenting on the business, Clara Furse, Chief Executive of the Exchange, said: "Turnover in the third quarter has been resilient despite economic uncertainty, with the Broker Services division in particular continuing to perform strongly. Our business has performed well for the first nine months of this year and we continue to view the prospects for the Exchange with confidence."
