Astrazeneca was the leading pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom as of March 7, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. GlaxoSmithKline followed as the second largest pharma company in the country, with market capitalization of nearly **** 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 ******** 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.

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 ******* and a low of ********. London Stock Exchange As of May 2024, the number of companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at *****. These companies had a combined market capitalization of approximately *** trillion British pounds and ******* 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 ** 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.

Shell had the highest annual revenue of all companies based in the United Kingdom in 2025, at approximately 284 billion U.S. dollars. BP had the second-highest annual revenue at over 189 billion dollars, followed by HSBC Holdings, which had a revenue of around 142 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 336,400 and HSBC at almost 211,000. 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 are 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 as of 2024. HSBC Holdings, meanwhile, was the largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization, and was estimated to have the second-highest number of UK-based customers in 2024. 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 quarter of 2025, the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent, emerging from a brief slowdown in growth towards the end of 2024. Consumer Price inflation, has, however, started to increase, with the inflation rate reaching 3.5 percent in April, the highest rate since January 2024. Furthermore, the UK labor market is showing signs of weakness, with quite a high number of job losses since the start of the year. Alongside these generally negative signs, business confidence in the UK has been falling, with the main concern of UK firms being that of taxation, as of early 2025.

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 **** CEOs in 2018. In total there were ** different nationalities represented at the top-level of the UK's 100 biggest companies, with ** of these being European countries.

Compass Group had by far the highest number of global employees among companies based in the United Kingdom as of 2025, at approximately 500,000 employees. Tesco had the second-highest number of employees at around 336,400, followed by HSBC Holdings which had 211,000 employees. In the same year, HSBC Holdings had an annual revenue of 142.3 billion U.S. dollars, the third-highest among UK-based companies. The oil and gas giant Shell had the highest annual revenue at over 283 billion dollars, ahead of BP at 189 billion dollars. How many businesses are there in the UK? In 2024, there were approximately 5.5 million business enterprises in the UK, down from a peak of 5.98 million in 2020. Although there were just 1,930 large firms that employed 1,000 people or more, these firms employed more than a quarter of the UK's private sector workforce, and made a combined turnover of approximately 1.69 trillion British pounds. As of this year, the construction industry had the highest number of enterprises by sector, at over 870,000. The sector with the most workers was that of wholesale and retail, which collectively employed just under 4.9 million people in 2024, and also had the highest turnover compared to other sectors, at over 1.8 trillion pounds. Current UK economic climate Although the UK economy is expected to grow in 2025, growth has been downgraded from earlier forecasts, while inflation and unemployment are expected to be higher than initially thought. According to the business confidence index, sentiment among businesses at the end of 2024 was lower than it has been since early 2021. Furthermore, since the start of 2025, businesses have been shedding jobs at an accelerating rate, possibly due to recent tax rises, which was seen as the main external concern of businesses in early 2025. The precarious state of the UK's government finances, and potential tax rises in the next budget, are also likely feeding into this pessimistic mood.

Euro Stoxx 50 is the index designed by STOXX, a globally operating index provider headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, which in turn is owned by Deutsche Börse Group. This index provides the broad representation of the Eurozone blue chips performance. Blue chips are corporations known on the European market for quality, reliability and the ability to operate profitably both in good and bad economic times.
Development of the Euro Stoxx 50 index The year-end value of the Euro Stoxx 50 peaked in 1999, with 4,904.46 index points. It noted significant decrease between 1999 and 2002, then an increase to 4,399.72 in 2007, prior to the global recession. Since the very sharp decline in 2008, there was a tentative increase, never yet reaching the pre-recession levels. As of the end of 2021, the Euro Stoxx 50 index was getting close to its historical heights, reaching 4,298.41 points, its highest position post recession, before falling again in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, the index rose again, reaching 4,862.28 points. Some of the following reputable companies formed the Euro Stoxx 50 index: Adidas, Airbus Group, Allianz, BMW, BNP Paribas, L'Oréal, ING Group NV, Nokia, Phillips, Siemens, Société Générale SA or Volkswagen Group.
European financial stock exchange indices Other European indices include the DAX (Deutscher Aktienindex) index and the FTSE 100 (Financial times Stock Exchange 100 index). FTSE, informally known as the “Footsie”, 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 7,733.24 at the closing of 2023. More in-depth information can be found in the report on stock market indices.

In 2025, the difference between average hourly earnings for men and women in the United Kingdom for all workers was 12.8 percent, compared with 6.9 percent for full-time workers, and -2.9 percent for part-time workers. During the provided time period, the gender pay gap was at its highest in 1997, when it was 27.5 percent for all workers. Compared with 1997, the gender pay gap has fallen by 13.2 percent for all workers, and 9.7 percent for full-time workers. Gender pay gap higher in older age groups Although the gender pay gap among younger age groups was relatively small in 2024, the double-digit pay gap evident in older age groups served to keep the overall gap high. The gender pay gap for workers aged between 18 and 21 for example was -0.5 percent, compared with 12.1percent for people in their 50s. Additionally, the gender pay gap for people aged over 60 has changed little since 1997, falling by just 1.2 percent between 1997 and 2023, compared with a 14.9 percent reduction among workers in their 40s. Positions of power As of 2024, women are unfortunately still relatively underrepresented in leadership positions at Britain’s top businesses. Among FTSE 100 companies, for example, just 9.4 percent of CEOs were female, falling to just 6.1 percent for FTSE 250 companies. Representation was better when it came to FTSE 100 boardrooms, with 44.7 percent of positions at this level being filled by women, compared with 42.6 percent at FTSE 250 companies. In the corridors of political power, the proportion of female MPs was estimated to have reached its highest ever level after the 2024 election at 41 percent, compared with just three percent in 1979.