FTSE 100 Index
The
FTSE 100 Index (pronounced
footsie) is a
share index of the 100 largest
companies listed on the
London Stock Exchange, begun on
January 3,
1984. Component companies must meet a number of requirements set out by the
FTSE Group, including having a full listing on the London Stock Exchange with a Sterling or Euro dominated price on
SETS, and meeting certain tests on nationality, free float, and liquidity. Trading lasts from 0800-1629 (when the closing auction starts), and closing values are taken at 1635. The highest value of the index to date was 6950.6, set on
December 30,
1999.
The index is seen as a barometer of success of the British economy and is the leading share index in
Europe. It is maintained by the FTSE Group, a now independent company which originated as a joint venture between the
Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange (hence the abbreviation
Financial
Times
Stock
Exchange). According to the FTSE Group's website the FTSE 100 companies represent about 80% of the UK share market.
Related indices are the
FTSE 250 Index (which lists the next largest 250 companies),
FTSE SmallCap,
FTSE Fledgling, the
FTSE 350 Index (which is the aggregation of the FTSE 100 and 250), and the
FTSE All-Share Index (which aggregates the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE SmallCap).
The constituents of the index are determined quarterly; the largest companies in the FTSE 250 Index are promoted if their
market capitalisation would place them in the top 90 firms of the FTSE 100 Index.
As of 2006, the threshold for inclusion is about 2 billion
pounds. As of 31 December 2005 the 6 largest constituents of the index were
BP,
Royal Dutch Shell,
HSBC Holdings, the
Vodafone Group, the
Royal Bank of Scotland Group and
GlaxoSmithKline, which were all valued at more than £50 billion.
Most of the companies listed on this index usually include the abbreviation
plc at the end of their name, indicating their status of public limited company.
This list is up to date at 9 June 2006 following the June quarterly review. [
1]
There are 100 companies in the index, but a total of 102 listings as two classes of shares are included for Royal Dutch Shell and
Schroders.
#
3i#
Alliance & Leicester #
Alliance Unichem #
AMVESCAP #
Anglo American #
Antofagasta #
Associated British Foods #
AstraZeneca #
Aviva #
BAA #
BAE Systems #
Barclays Bank #
BG Group #
BHP Billiton#
The BOC Group #
Boots Group #
BP#
Brambles Industries #
British Airways #
British American Tobacco#
British Energy Group #
British Land Company #
British Sky Broadcasting Group #
BT Group #
Cadbury Schweppes #
Cairn Energy #
Capita Group #
Carnival #
Centrica #
Compass Group #
Corus Group#
Diageo #
Drax Group#
DSG International#
Enterprise Inns #
Friends Provident #
Gallaher Group#
GlaxoSmithKline #
GUS#
Hammerson #
Hanson #
HBOS #
HSBC #
Imperial Chemical Industries #
Imperial Tobacco #
InterContinental Hotels Group #
International Power #
ITV #
J Sainsbury #
Johnson Matthey #
Kazakhmys#
Kelda Group #
Kingfisher #
Land Securities Group #
Legal & General #
Liberty International#
Lloyds TSB #
Lonmin#
Man Group #
Marks and Spencer #
Wm Morrison Supermarkets #
National Grid #
Next #
Northern Rock #
Old Mutual #
PartyGaming #
Pearson#
Persimmon#
Prudential #
Reckitt Benckiser #
Reed Elsevier #
Rentokil Initial #
Reuters Group #
Rexam #
Rio Tinto Group #
Rolls-Royce Group #
Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance #
Royal Bank of Scotland Group #
Royal Dutch Shell #
SABMiller #
Sage Group #
Schroders #
Scottish & Newcastle #
Scottish & Southern Energy #
Scottish Power #
Severn Trent #
Shire Pharmaceuticals Group #
Smith & Nephew #
Smiths Group #
Standard Chartered Bank #
Tate & Lyle #
Tesco #
Unilever #
United Utilities #
Vedanta Resources#
Vodafone #
Wolseley #
WPP Group #
Xstrata #
Yell GroupThe following table lists the 31 FTSE 100 companies which had a
market capitalisation of £10 billion or more on 31 December 2005. At that date £10 billion was equivalent to
$17.079 billion.
| Capitalisation (£m) | | 1 | BP | 128,497 |
| 2 | Royal Dutch Shell | 122,656 |
| 3 | HSBC | 105,113 |
| 4 | GlaxoSmithKline | 86,311 |
| 5 | Vodafone Group | 78,166 |
| 6 | Royal Bank of Scotland Group | 55,643 |
| 7 | AstraZeneca | 45,236 |
| 8 | Barclays plc | 39,538 |
| 9 | HBOS | 38,439 |
| 10 | Anglo American | 29,341 |
| 11 | Rio Tinto Group [: Rio Tinto Group is a dual listed company. The figure shown represents only the majority stake owned by Rio Tinto Plc.] | 28,244 |
| 12 | British American Tobacco | 27,618 |
| 13 | Lloyds TSB | 27,181 |
| 14 | Tesco | 26,035 |
| 15 | Diageo | 24,898 |
| 16 | BHP Billiton [: BHP Billiton is a dual listed company. The figure represents only the minority stake owned by BHP Billiton Plc.] | 23,434 |
| 17 | BG Group | 20,306 |
| 18 | BT Group | 18,980 |
| 19 | O2 | 17,322 |
| 20 | Standard Chartered | 16,983 |
| 21 | Unilever [: Unilever is a dual listed company. The figure represents only the minority stake owned by Unilever Plc.] | 16,744 |
| 22 | Aviva | 16,671 |
| 23 | SABMiller | 15,876 |
| 24 | National Grid | 15,422 |
| 25 | Reckitt Benckiser | 13,883 |
| 26 | Prudential Plc | 13,336 |
| 27 | Imperial Tobacco Group | 12,408 |
| 28 | BAE Systems | 12,256 |
| 29 | Cadbury Schweppes | 11,422 |
| 30 | Marks & Spencer | 10,256 |
| 31 | Scottish Power | 10,044 |
The oldest continuous index in the UK is the now largely redundant
FT30 which began on July 1st
1935. Of the
original constituents three still remain in the FTSE 100: Imperial Chemical (now ICI), Imperial Tobacco and Rolls Royce, although Rolls Royce has not been continuously listed. A further five are still listed but not in the FTSE 100:
EMI,
The General Electric Company (now
Telent), Guest Keen & Nettlefolds (
GKN),
Tate & Lyle and
Woolworths, although Woolworths has also not been continuously listed. Of all the companies, four
remain in the FT30: EMI, GKN, Imperial Chemical and Tate & Lyle. The best performer from the original line-up has been Imperial Tobacco.
[: Eckett, Stephen (ed.) (2004), The UK Stock Market Almanac 2005, Petersfield, Harriman House. ISBN 1897597460]Source: File linked from this page on the London Stock Exchange's official site. Companies which do not have their primary listing on the London Stock Exchange are not eligible for membership of the FTSE 100 Index and have been excluded.*
FTSE 250 Index*
Stock market index*
Dow Jones*
DAX*
FTSE Group website*
FTSE100 Consituents Direct from FTSE Group website *
FTSE 100 Index on
Yahoo Finance