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.

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

As of May 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 159 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of 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 statistic shows the highs and lows of the FTSE 100 Index between 2000 and 2024. 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 2024, the FTSE reached a yearly high of 8,445.8 and a low of 7,446.29. 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.

In 2024, 54 percent of director roles, and executive committees at Marks and Spencers were women, one of only three companies in this year to have a majority of women at this level.

As of February 2025, British holding bank HSBC Holdings Plc was the leading finance company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of almost 166 billion British pounds. Second in the ranking was Spanish bank Banco Santander S.A., with a market cap of nearly 77.7 billion U.S. dollars.

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.

With a market capitalization of 3.12 trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2024, Microsoft was the world’s largest company that year. Rounding out the top five were some of the world’s most recognizable brands: Apple, NVIDIA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Amazon. Saudi Aramco led the ranking of the world's most profitable companies in 2023, with a pre-tax income of nearly 250 billion U.S. dollars. How are market value and market capitalization determined? Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently used – and confused - when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Strictly speaking, market capitalization (or market cap) is the worth of a company based on the total value of all their shares; an important metric when determining the comparative value of companies for trading opportunities. Accordingly, many stock exchanges such as the New York or London Stock Exchange release market capitalization data on their listed companies. On the other hand, market value technically refers to what a company is worth in a much broader context. It is determined by multiple factors, including profitability, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole. In this sense it aims to estimate the overall value of a company, with share price only being one element. Market value is therefore useful for determining whether a company’s shares are over- or undervalued, and in arriving at a price if the company is to be sold. Such valuations are generally made on a case-by-case basis though, and not regularly reported. For this reason, market capitalization is often reported as market value. What are the top companies in the world? The answer to this question depends on the metric used. Although the largest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's global revenue did not manage to crack the top 20 companies. Rather, American multinational retailer Walmart was ranked as the largest company in the world by revenue. Walmart also had the highest number of employees in the world.

As of February 2025, Unilever Plc was the leading company among consumer staples companies on the London Stock Exchange in terms of its market capitalization, with a total value of over 111 billion British pounds. This was followed by British American Tobacco Plc and Diageo PLC, with values of over 68 billion and 48 billion British pounds, respectively.

As of February 2025, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc was the leading company in the industrial goods and services sector on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 63 billion British pounds. Second on the list was CRH Plc, with a value of 51.8 billion British pounds.

As of February 2025, AstraZeneca Plc was by far the leading healthcare company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of 185 billion British pounds. This was followed by GSK Plc and Haleon Plc, with a value of over 60 billion and 36 billion British pounds, respectively.

This statistic presents the nationalities of CEOs who work at FTSE 100 companies in the United Kingdom as of 2018. Over half of FTSE 100 CEO's are British, with the next most common nationality being American, with nine CEOs in 2018. In total there were 21 different nationalities represented at the top-level of the UK's 100 biggest companies, with 11 of these being European countries.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost 36 trillion U.S. dollars as of June 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, PINK Exchange, and the Frankfurt Exchange. 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.

The total market capitalization of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) took 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 been falling. The number of daily trades spiked in March 2020 and then decreased as well. As of February 2025, the total market value of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at over 4.65 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 tenth largest worldwide. As of January 2025, Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext had a total market capital of listed companies valued at approximately 6.22 trillion U.S. dollars.

As of February 2025, 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 159 billion British pounds. This was followed by Reliance Industries Limited and TotalEnergies, with values of over 148 billion and 108 billion British pounds, respectively.

Linde was the leading chemical company in the United Kingdom (UK) as of October 15, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to just over 228 billion U.S. dollars. Croda International, the second-largest chemical company in the country, had a market cap of approximately 7.21 billion U.S. dollars.

Shell had the highest annual revenue of all companies based in the United Kingdom in 2024, at approximately 289.7 billion U.S. dollars. BP had the second-highest annual revenue at 202.8 billion dollars, followed by HSBC Holdings, which had a revenue of 144.9 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of global employee numbers, however, Compass Group had the highest number among UK-based businesses, at approximately half a million in 2024, followed by Tesco at 345,000 and HSBC at almost 214,000. Big Oil, a banking giant, and Britain's top supermarket chain The two companies listed as having the most revenue in the UK this year also two of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, alongside Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies. After a huge surge in energy prices in 2022, these companies saw their profits recede slightly in 2023, but clearly remain in strong financial positions. HSBC Holdings, meanwhile, was the largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization, and was estimated to have the third-highest number of UK-based customers in 2023. The company with the fourth-highest revenue in this year, Tesco has by some distance the largest grocery-market share in Great Britain, a position it has maintained despite growing competition from discounters like Lidl and Aldi. UK economy health check In the first two quarters of 2024, the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent, and 0.6 percent, emerging from a brief recession at the end of 2023. Consumer Price inflation, which reached a peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, fell below two percent in September 2024, for the first time since April 2021, potentially leading to further interest rate cuts. Despite these generally positive signs, business confidence in the UK in September 2024 was lower than at any point since early 2021. Company insolvencies in England and Wales have also reached levels not seen since the global financial crisis in the late 2000s. This generally mixed picture will be influenced by the next government budget set for the end of October 2024, which may see certain taxes increase due to the UK's tricky fiscal situation.

China Yangtze Power Co., LTD was the leading utilities company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of February 2025, with a market capitalization of 73 billion British pounds. It was followed by National Grid Plc and SSE Plc, which have market values of around 48 and 18 billion British pounds, respectively.

As of February 2025, Samsung Electronics was by far the leading company in the telecommunications sector listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of nearly 200 billion British pounds. Vodafone Group Plc came in second, with a market value of 17.5 billion British pounds.