12 March 2004

Service Announcement

Trading and London Market Information Link (LMIL)

May Release

Live Date: 24 May 2004

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to provide you with notice of the introduction of some enhancements to the Exchange’s trading and information services. The live date for this coordinated release is 24 May 2004. The May Release will incorporate the following 5 enhancements:

1. EuroSETS - Dutch Trading Service

The Introduction of a new trading service to facilitate trading in the most liquid Dutch securities.

2. International Market Development

The introduction of a new International Order Book segment to create a trading platform that combines current IOB functionality with electronic market maker support. This new platform will support the 12 most liquid Japanese stocks currently trading on SEAQ-I and all securities on the Hong Kong Order Book.

This new trading platform will be built by re-using the existing International Bulletin Board segment (ITBB), but will be branded by the Exchange as part of the International Order Book service.

Further Information

The Exchange will shortly be providing further information on the market configuration details for the two enhancements listed above.

3. LMIL Optimisation

The broadcast data group (BDG) B45 will be decommissioned and the Exchange willrevert to a single BDG (B44) to disseminate SETS Prices. Full details of this change, together with additional information to how the Exchange is managingnetwork capacity is being managed, is available from http://www.londonstockexchange.com/cmsattach/2880.doc

Note: B45 will be decommissioned on the Customer Development Service (CDS) on Monday 29 March 2004.

4. Level 1 Plus

The live date for the introduction of new content within the Level 1 Plus data service has been aligned to enable the Exchange to incorporate the enhancement into the May Release. Full details of the new service are available on the Exchange website at http://www.londonstockexchange.com/cmsattach/2831.pdf

5. Exchange Traded Funds Market Maker (ETFmm)

The restructuring of the existing ETFS segment to facilitate market maker support.

The Exchange is currently consulting with key stakeholders on the technical and regulatory implications of introducing a SETSmm type model for ETF’s for 24 May 2004. The results of this consultation will be communicated shortly.

Additional Information

If you have any queries or require further information please contact your account manager or the Technical Information Desk on 020 7797 3939 (STX 33939).

An archive of previously issued service announcements is available on the Exchange’s website at www.londonstockexchange.com/techlib

If you would like to amend or add further recipients of service announcements, please send the revised email contact details to

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Live 06/04

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