Press releases 2006

IPOS RAISE MORE THAN £10 BILLION DURING FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR
Number of SETS trades in June up 77 per cent

194 companies raised over £10.4 billion through IPOs on the London Stock Exchange's markets during the first six months of 2006, a 64 per cent increase on the £6.4 billion in IPO money raised during the same period last year.

In the six months to the end of June 2006, the Exchange attracted 50 international IPOs to the Main Market and AIM, drawing companies from 15 different countries. This total included seven international companies on the Main Market, raising £2.7 billion between them, and 43 international companies on AIM, raising £1.8 billion between them. By comparison, during the period from January to May this year, there were 15 international IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq combined.

Overall, during the first half of this year there were 40 IPOs on the Main Market, raising £5.2 billion, and 151 IPOs on AIM, raising £4.7 billion.

This total included four IPOs on the Main Market in June 2006, raising £171.6 million, and 21 IPOs on AIM which raised £481.4 million, including eight IPOs from international companies.

Trading on the London Stock Exchange also continued to show very strong growth in June. There were 7.3 million SETS trades during the month, up 77 per cent on June 2005, while the value traded on SETS increased 68 per cent to £138.2 billion. The average daily number of trades on SETS in June increased to 329,648 while the average daily value traded rose to £6.3 billion.

Included in the SETS figures, SETSmm had an impressive month, with the total number of trades up 177 per cent on June 2005 to 1.6 million, an average of 70,845 trades per day. The value traded was up 107 per cent to £11.3 billion, or £513 million daily. The year-on-year growth in SETSmm trading can, in part, be attributed to the transfer of the remaining 198 quote-only FTSE SmallCap index securities onto SETSmm.

Compared with their trading performance during June 2005, the last full month before the transfer, SmallCap index stocks have benefited from a reduction in spreads from 214 to 163 basis points, less than half the published spread available on other markets.

Also included in the SETS figures, the Exchange's International Order Book (IOB) had an excellent month with an 183 per cent increase in the number of trades to 69,402, and an increase of 236 per cent in the value traded to £5.6 billion.

The total value of UK equities traded during the month was £276.5 billion, up 42 per cent on June 2005, while the total number of trades increased 59 per cent to 8.1 million.

Covered warrants and structured products had another strong month with 7,714 trades during the month, up 89 per cent on June 2005, and a total value traded of £80.5 million, an increase of 299 per cent. The number of ETF trades during the month was up 92 per cent on the same month last year to 20,002, while the value traded increased 161 per cent to £1.6 billion.

RNS, the Exchange's service for the dissemination of company news, issued 5,669 company news and results announcements during June 2006, an increase of 17 per cent on last year, representing 87 per cent of all company news and results announcements issued in the UK. The total number of announcements made via RNS was 15,869, up 21 per cent on June last year.

There were 22 trading days in June 2006, the same number as the previous year.