London Stock Exchange chief executive Xavier Rolet has hailed the success of the group's commitment to an 'open access' model, and said it is not "proactively" seeking a tie-up, after net profits in the first half of 2015 rose nearly a fifth from a year earlier.

The LSE, in a first-half interim results statement published on August 5, revealed its profits after tax of rose 18.7% to £165.1 million in the six months to June 30 from their level in the same period of 2014.