Astrazeneca was the leading pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom as of March 7, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately 202.4 billion U.S. dollars. GlaxoSmithKline followed as the second largest pharma company in the country, with market capitalization of nearly 86.7 billion U.S. dollars. Examining the development of the FTSE 100 Index, which was launched in January 1984 with a base level of 1,000, increased by more than sevenfold to date. What is the FTSE 100 index? The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, commonly known as the "Footsie", is the most widely recognized stock market index in the United Kingdom. It is made up of the 100 largest blue-chip companies on the London Stock Exchange. Companies from various sectors, such as healthcare, consumer goods, and energy, are included in the index, as are leading banks of the United Kingdom, such as HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays. Moreover, it can be seen as a reflection of the investment climate in the United Kingdom. What is not included in the FTSE 100 Index? Most notably, the FTSE 100 Index, like most indices, is not adjusted for inflation. While inflation in the United Kingdom has gone down dramatically since 2023, it might be useful to adjust the historic figures on the index when comparing historic data to current levels. This is especially important when the index seems to have increased by a few percentage points because inflation may have increased at a faster rate than stock prices.

As of March 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 184 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of all all companies listed on the LSE. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks eighth globally. Key information The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is among the largest stock market operators globally and ranks 11th in terms of the oldest stock exchanges in existence, with 224 years of operation as of 2025. Performance after Covid The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the global economy, causing considerable volatility on the stock market. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a notable decline in the market capitalization value of its listed companies, reaching its lowest value in March 2020 at approximately three trillion British pounds in correlation with a surge in the average daily number of trades, which peaked at over two billion. Following this initial reaction, the LSE observed a decrease in the average daily active traders, alongside a gradual recovery in the market capitalization of the listed companies.

As of January 29, 2025, the FTSE index stood at 8,557.81 points - well above its average value of around 7,500 points in the past few years.On the 12th of March 2020, amid the escalating crisis surrounding the coronavirus and fears of a global recession, the FTSE 100 suffered the second largest one day crash in its history and the biggest since the 1987 market crash. On the 23rd of March, the FTSE index saw its lowest value this year to date at 4,993.89 but has since began a tentative recovery. With the continuation of the pandemic, the FTSE 100 index was making a tentative recovery between late March 2020 and early June 2020. Since then the FSTE 100 index had plateaued towards the end of July, before starting a tentative upward trend in November. FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, otherwise known as the FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 largest companies trading on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. At the end of March 2024, the largest company trading on the LSE was Shell. The largest ever initial public offering (IPO) on the LSE was Glencore International plc. European stock exchanges While nearly every country in Europe has a stock exchange, only five are considered major, and have a market capital of over one trillion U.S dollars. European stock exchanges make up two of the top ten major stock markets in the world. Europe’s biggest stock exchange is the Euronext which combines seven markets based in Belgium, France, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 index (FTSE 100) is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. The index, which began in January 1984 with the base level of 1,000, reached 8,173.02 at the end of 2024. LSE Overview Established in 1571, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has grown to become the ninth-largest globally. Companies listed on the LSE had a companies primarily hail from the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, with Shell and AstraZeneca leading the pack. In the realm of

The total market capitalization of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has taken a large hit during the early months of 2020, due mostly part to a mass sell-off of shares caused by the fears surrounding the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Between December 2019 and March 2020, the total value of market capitalization decreased by more than 900 billion British pounds (GBP). The overall number of companies currently trading has also fallen, although the number of daily trades spiked in March 2020. As of December 2024, the total market value of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at over 3.52 trillion British pounds. European stock exchanges While almost every country has a stock Exchange, in Europe only 5 exchanges are considered major, with total market capital amounting to over one trillion euros. The London Stock Exchange is the second largest in Europe and ninth largest worldwide. As of December 2024, Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext had a total market capital of listed companies valued at approximately 6.44 trillion U.S. dollars.

The statistic shows the highs and lows of the FTSE 100 Index between 2000 and 2023. The FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization, it remains one of the most widely used stock indices and is regarded as a gauge of business prosperity in the United Kingdom. In 2023, the FTSE reached a yearly high of 8,014.31 and a low of 7,256.94. London Stock Exchange As of May 2024, the number of companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at 1,775. These companies had a combined market capitalization of approximately 3.7 trillion British pounds and 553,000 daily average trades. Largest companies on the LSE As of March 2023, Shell Plc was the leading company listed on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. This made them the largest of all companies trading shares on the LSE in 2023 from more than 70 countries globally. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks seventh globally.

The FTSE All-Share Index shed around one quarter of its value between December 2019 and March 2020, largely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but likely also influenced by the uncertainty around Brexit at the time. Since then, it has recovered and reached its peak of over 4,750 points at the end of February 2025.The FTSE All-Share Index is the aggregation of the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 FTSE Small Cap indexes, and represents around 98-99 percent of the total UK market capitalization. Since December 29, 2017 the index has been comprised of the 641 largest U.K. companies by market capitalization on the London Stock Exchange.

The Brent Stock Market Index, also known as the FTSE 100 Index, is a market capitalization-weighted index of the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is widely used as a benchmark for the performance of the UK stock market.

As of September 2024, British multinational bank HSBC is the leading finance company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of over 122 billion British pounds. Second in the ranking was Spanish Banco Santander, with a market cap of nearly 60 billion U.S. dollars.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of just below 32 trillion U.S. dollars as of January 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Japan Exchange Group. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.

As of September 2024, AstraZeneca Plc was the leading healthcare company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of 180 billion British pounds. This was followed by GSK Plc and Haleon Plc, with a value of over 63 billion and 36 billion British pounds, respectively.

2020 saw unprecedented falls in the FTSE 250 due to the economic downturn created by the COVID-19 pandemic, falling to a value of 15,101.1 in March 2020. Since then the index has recovered, reaching 20,326.4 points in February 2025.While the FTSE 100 looks at the market capitalization value of the 100 largest companies trading on the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE 250 index consists of the 101st to 350th largest companies.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of this dataset is to provide a comprehensive set of financial, structural and contextual facts and figures which depict the setting in which directors and organisations work. These data cover a selection of characteristics, including demographic and biographic information of FTSE 100 directors and senior executive directors in top management teams in 2008, as well as financial and other corporate indicators. The methodology of this data collection is codified in the user guide (see documentation section below) which further elaborates the assumptions underlying choices made in collating these data.

This quantitative dataset was collected as part of a wider qualitative project which interviewed executive, non-executive directors, chairmen and investors of the FTSE 100 companies, as well as selected investors, auditors, regulators and executive search consultants. The qualitative data are not available from the UK Data Archive.

Further information is available from the Leading FTSE Companies: an interdisciplinary study of directors, boards and corporate governance process ESRC Award web page.


Main Topics:

The data detail FTSE 100 companies in 2008 and are divided into two sections which cover:

• Director data: name; company; executive/non-executive; position; birth year; gender; nationality; career length; company tenure; team tenure; international experience; education; professional qualifications; board committee membership; remuneration; interlocks; other roles
• Company Data: company name; headquarters location; business description; primary Standard Industry Classification (SIC); other SIC; market capitalisation; sales figures; asset figures; number of employees; performance indicators; ownership structure; annual number of board meetings; annual number of meetings with shareholders; reporting on relations with shareholders, board and committees effectiveness evaluation; company advisors, compliance with the Combined Code/reason for non-compliance

As of September 2024, CRH Plc was the leading company in the industrial goods and services sector on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of almost 46 billion British pounds. Second on the list was Rolls Royce Holdings Plc, with a value of 44 billion British pounds.

As of September 30, 2024, the largest bank listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was the British-owned HSBC Holdings, with a market cap double that of the Spanish bank Santander S.A., the second-largest bank on the LSE.

As of September 2024, Shell Plc was the leading company in the energy sector listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a total market capitalization value of over 150 billion British pounds. This was followed by TotalEnergies and BP, with values of 112 billion and 64 billion British pounds, respectively.

As of September 2024, Unilever Plc was the leading company among consumer goods and services companies on the London Stock Exchange in terms of its market capitalization, with a total value of over 120 billion British pounds. This was followed by Relx PLC and Diageo PLC, with values of over 65 billion and 60 billion British pounds, respectively.

The British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto was the second-largest company in the basic resources industry listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of September 2024, in terms of market capitalization, with a value of over 66 billion British pounds. The most valuable basic resources company on the LSE was BHP Group, with a market cap of over 117 billion British pounds.

The FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index has fluctuated between 2004 and 2022, from a low of 17,632 points in 2012 to a peak of 49,842 points at the end of 2021. As of October 2024, the FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index stood at 46,058 points. The FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index is comprised of the companies ranked 61-100 traded on the Milan Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. It is therefore follows the FTSE MIB Index, which contain the 40 largest Italian companies.

National Grid Plc was the leading utilities company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of September 2024, with a market capitalization of 50 billion British pounds. National Grid was followed by SSE Plc and CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited, which have market values of around 21 billion and 13 billion British pounds, respectively.