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Update on a carp er diem.

By DAVID WIGHTON
Nov. 13, 2014 4:25 a.m. ET

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LONDON— London Stock Exchange PLC on Thursday reported a rise in first-half profit and said there was a strong pipeline of initial public offerings in the U.K., as Virgin Money Holdings priced its postponed issue.

LSE Chief Executive Xavier Rolet predicted that there would be many large IPOs in the next few months following a pause because of the stock market downturn.

“There is no doubt that the combination of the Scottish referendum and the market wobble of last month for a few weeks added a note of uncertainty that created for a number of issuers a valuation issue and made them postpone the deals,” Mr. Rolet said.

He added that while many larger deals had been paused or withdrawn there had been no slowdown in the flow of IPOs of smaller, growth companies. “I believe between now and the end of the year and early next year we will see many of the large cap IPOs coming back on the back of Virgin Money.”

Virgin Money, which is part-owned by entrepreneur Richard Branson ’s Virgin Group, postponed its issue a month ago. But it restarted the process at a lower price range, after a rise in bank share prices followed an announcement in October by the Bank of England of a smaller-than-expected increase in U.K bank capital requirements. On Thursday, Virgin Money priced its IPO at 283 pence a share, valuing the bank at £1.25 billion ($1.97 billion). The issue price values the bank at about 1.2 times its book value.

Strong new issue activity helped boost revenue at LSE Group by 18% to £592.6 million in the six months to September, with capital markets revenue 13% higher at £164.6 million.

Adjusted operating profit was 24% higher at £286.1 million and the interim dividend is increased by 4.3% to 9.7p per share.

Mr. Rolet said the group expected to complete the acquisition of Frank Russell Company, which it agreed to buy for $2.7 billion in June, before the end of the year, slightly ahead of schedule. The deal was partly funded by a rights issue of shares raising $1.56 billion.

The Russell group comprises an index business, which LSE Group wants to put together with its existing FTSE unit, and an asset management business. Mr. Rolet said the strategic review that will determine whether LSE Group keeps or sells the asset management business was on track and would be completed late this year or early next.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/lse-predicts-strong-pipeline-of-u-k-ipos-1415870757