IntercontinentalExchange (ICE)'s 2003 results, announced last week, underlined the extent to which the group has failed to match projections made when the group took over International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in 2001. IPE contributed around half of total revenues and before tax profits according to ICE, a fivefold increase on the 10% projection at takeover.
The main contributor to this disparity has been the continued weakness of ICE's energy markets, coupled with a further 10% growth in IPE's volumes. In 2002,...