Simon English: Rolet gets it right for the London Stock Exchange

Outlook On the face of it, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) ought to be having a torrid time.

Its lifeblood – share trading and initial public offerings – are in short supply. Similar businesses across the globe, and stock brokers across town, have been feeling the pinch like never before.

So credit must be due to LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet for managing to ensure that the company's revenues are still rising thanks to diversification into other areas.

Buying the FTSE index business last December looked like a natural deal at the time and seems a clever one now.

The LSE is now a provider of information services about the market, rather than just the runner of that market.

Its planned acquisition of clearing house LCH.Clearnet (LCH provides the City's back-office plumbing) should put it into an even better position to skirt downturns, to keep growing even if equity trading itself remains unfashionable.