Revenue was up 90 per cent at London Stock Exchange (LSE). If it seems like there is an errant zero on that figure, you are bang on the money: take out the contribution from the for-sale Russell Investment Management business, and revenue was up 9 per cent for continuing operations, the numbers for which we have presented here.
Management is not for turning when it comes to selling this non-core business, but is defensive about how long it is taking to do so, citing a list of bidders from four continents. Expect more on that front in due course. Regardless, it is continuing to benefit from the index business left behind - Russell Indexes provided £70m in revenue, fuelling the 45 per cent growth in the information services division's turnover to £261m. There is now a whopping $389bn (£251bn) in exchange traded funds that are indexed to a Russell or FTSE-branded benchmark. Unavista, a repository to which investors can report over-the-counter derivatives trades for regulatory purposes, also grew its revenue.