Dividend booster as LSE profits soar to a record £265m

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Revenue in the year to end-March jumped 56% to £546 million with profits up 52% at £265 million. The dividend is lifted a third to 24p - some cheer for investors who have seen the shares crash since Christmas.

While volatility in equity markets is basically good for the LSE, investors have grown fearful that trading levels will droop. The shares have tumbled from almost 2000p to below 1000p at one point. Today they were down 23p at 1065p.

The shares were boosted for years by the seemingly endless takeover speculation that surrounded the LSE. This has now abated, perhaps making it easier for Furse - in her eighth year at the helm - to focus on growing the business.

She said: "Our view is that the share price does not reflect the fundamentals of the business. Our performance continues to be extremely strong."

Contracts for difference (CFDs), which allow investors to take stakes in companies without holding the stock directly, have been controversial but the LSE insists they have been good news because they do not attract stamp duty, and improve efficiency. Said Furse: "They have been very good for the companies listed in our market."

London continues to attract more foreign businesses looking for a stock-market listing than any other major exchange - 84 in the past year. There are now 3273 companies on the UK markets, of which 1681 are on AIM.

The LSE is planning a link-up with the Tokyo Stock Exchange to deliver a new market for growth companies.

The London Exchange's Sets trading system - the main attraction for rivals that were looking to buy the business - now deals with £9 billion of trades a day.

Further investment is planned this year to make Sets deals ever faster.

Asked if she had plans to step down in the near future, Furse was to the point. "No," she said.