The London Stock Exchange strengthened its negotiating hand in the battle for market consolidation with a 60pc increase in operating profits to £81.3 million ($154.5m)for the first half on revenues up 20pc at £163.3 million ($310.3m).

The LSE said it was on course for an “excellent” set of full-year results, and lifted the dividend by 50pc to 6p a share.

The Times (London) reported that “executives, led by Clara Furse, chief executive, and chairman Chris Gibson-Smith, were tight-lipped about their plans for the next stage of a set of international exchange mergers that centres on London, America’s Nasdaq, pan-European exchange Euronext, the New York Stock Exchange, and Germany’s Deutsche Borse”.

Gibson-Smith commented : “The exchange has once again demonstrated the value it creates for market users and for our shareholders. We are well positioned for continuing success going forward, and the results achieved in the first half of the year support our expectation of an excellent result for the full year.”

Meanwhile, Deutsche Borse also reported strong quarterly and nine-month earnings. Yesterday it pulled out of strategic talks with the Italian Stock Exchange over a joint proposal to merge with Euronext.

Clara Furse was reported as saying : “New issues, new products and net technology are combining to facilitate a structural shift in equities trading, significantly improving the quality of the market for our increasingly international customer base and creating more value for shareholders.”

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the discussions with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. These number won’t do the LSE’s case any harm at all.