London Stock Exchange share price: Q1 total income up 9%

London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSE) has updated investors on its interim performance this morning. The statement comes with the company advancing the proposed merger with Deutsche Börse.

**Highlights from the company statement:**
· A strong performance – all main business divisions delivering growth on an organic and constant currency basis

· Q1 total income from continuing operations up 9% to £387.6 million

· Merger with Deutsche Börse announced in March 2016; a compelling value enhancing opportunity through the creation of a leading global markets infrastructure group anchored in Europe – shareholder documents being prepared

· Sale of Russell Investment Management, for gross proceeds of US$1,150 million, is on track to complete in Q2 2016
Commenting on performance in Q1, Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive, said:

“The Group has started the year well and delivered a strong Q1 financial performance. We achieved underlying growth in each of our core business areas, with particularly strong performances in LCH’s OTC clearing, at FTSE Russell and good results across Capital Markets. We also continued to make good progress integrating recent acquisitions, developing innovative new products and expanding services and partnerships in line with our successful open access strategy.

“We recently announced our proposed merger with Deutsche Börse. This presents a compelling opportunity to expand our business in an industry-defining combination, creating a global markets infrastructure group. With substantial cost synergies and multiple opportunities to extend our product offerings, we believe this transaction offers significant value and benefits to customers and shareholders”

Current trading and outlook

The Group has made a strong start to the year, despite testing market conditions during the first quarter. The growth achieved at LCH and in our Information Services division, particularly at FTSE Russell, demonstrates the strong ongoing demand for our services. The good performance of our Capital Markets business is also encouraging.

We remain focused on achieving the synergies from the FTSE Russell index operations and on investment in a wide range of growth initiatives. The Group is well placed to develop further. In addition, we are also advancing the proposed merger with Deutsche Börse and working on shareholder documentation as well as preparatory work on approvals needed for the transaction.
As of 07:10 BST, Wednesday, 27 April, London Stock Exchange Group Plc share price is 2,759.00p.