The London Stock Exchange, which last month fended off a bid from Australia's Macquarie Bank and is now a takeover target for US rival Nasdaq, said trading surged in the first two months of this year and that it is on track for an "excellent" 2006.

Clara Furse, chief executive of the LSE, said in a pre-close period trading statement published ahead of the exchange's full-year results: "The strong performance of the first nine months of the financial year has improved further still in the last quarter and, as expected, we are on track to deliver an excellent outcome for the current financial year."