Traditional equity businesses returned to the fore at the London Stock Exchange during its first quarter as a "resurgent" IPO market helped to drive the group's revenues up by a fifth.

The UK exchange has in recent years embarked on an aggressive diversification drive which has seen it expand into post-trade services, technology and information and data businesses. The proportion of the LSE's revenues from traditional capital market services had fallen from 42% in 2009 to 28% for its last financial year - a period for which overall revenues topped £1 billion for the first time.