The Financial Times Stock Exchange Index of 100 Leading Shares, or FTSE 100 Index (pronounced footsie), is a share index of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. 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 , which originated as a joint venture between the Financial Times and the London 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), the FTSE 350 Index (which combines the FTSE 100 and 250), and the FT All Share Index (which quotes all listed companies).

The constituents of the index are determined quarterly; the largest companies in the FTSE 250 Index are promoted if their market capitalisations would place them in the top 90 firms of the FTSE 100 Index. As of 2004, the threshold for inclusion is about 2 billion pounds. The largest 5 constituents of the index are BP, HSBC Holdings, the Vodafone Group, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and GlaxoSmithKline (but note that the Royal Dutch/Shell group would be in the top 5 if the whole of it was listed on the LSE, rather than just the 40% represented by Shell Transport and Trading).

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.

List of FTSE 100 Index Companies

(updated 11 April 2005)

1. 3i
2. Alliance & Leicester
3. Alliance Unichem
4. Allied Domecq
5. Amvescap
6. Anglo American plc
7. Antofagasta
8. Associated British Foods
9. AstraZeneca plc
10. Aviva
11. BAA plc
12. BAE Systems
13. Barclays Bank
14. BG Group
15. BHP Billiton
16. The BOC Group
17. Boots Group
18. BP
19. British Airways
20. British American Tobacco
21. British Land Company
22. British Sky Broadcasting
23. BT Group
24. Bunzl
25. Cable & Wireless
26. Cadbury Schweppes
27. Capita Group
28. Carnival
29. Centrica
30. Compass Group
31. Corus
32. Daily Mail & General Trust
33. Diageo
34. Dixons Group
35. Emap
36. Enterprise Inns
37. Exel
38. Friends Provident
39. Gallaher Group
40. GlaxoSmithKline
41. GUS
42. Hanson
43. Hays
44. HBOS
45. Hilton Group
46. HSBC Holdings
47. Imperial Chemical Industries
48. Imperial Tobacco Group
49. InterContinental Hotels Group
50. International Power
51. ITV
52. J Sainsbury
53. Johnson Matthey
54. Kingfisher
55. Land Securities Group
56. Legal & General
57. Liberty International
58. Lloyds TSB Bank
59. Man Group
60. Marks and Spencer
61. Wm Morrison Supermarkets
62. National Grid Transco
63. Next
64. Northern Rock
65. O2
66. Old Mutual
67. Pearson
68. Prudential
69. Reckitt Benckiser
70. Reed Elsevier
71. Rentokil Initial
72. Reuters Group
73. Rexam
74. Rio Tinto
75. Rolls-Royce Group
76. Royal Bank of Scotland Group
77. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance
78. SABMiller
79. Sage Group
80. Schroders
81. Scottish & Newcastle
82. Scottish & Southern Energy
83. Scottish Power
84. Severn Trent
85. Shell Transport & Trading Co
86. Shire Pharmaceuticals Group
87. Smith & Nephew
88. Smiths Group
89. Standard Chartered
90. Tesco
91. Tate and Lyle
92. Unilever
93. United Utilities
94. Vodafone Group
95. Whitbread
96. William Hill
97. Wolseley
98. WPP Group
99. Xstrata
100. Yell Group

External link

FTSE Group website