(BFM Bourse) – The American financial data provider announced this Monday the creation of new benchmark equity indices for numerous countries such as France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. Its most important index for France, the Bloomberg France 40, has some differences with our national CAC 40.
After 36 years of existence (a first listing on December 31, 1987 for entry into force in June 1988), the CAC 40 sees a competitor appear.
The economic and financial data provider Bloomberg announced on Monday the launch of more than 50 equity indices in many countries. For France, the American group has compiled nine indices, including the “Bloomberg France 40 Index”, which brings together the largest groups in Paris and therefore constitutes in some way the equivalent of the CAC 40 at Bloomberg. The “France Next 20” includes the 20 largest companies outside “France 40” and the “France 60” combines the “France 40” and the “France Next 20”.
In addition to France, many other countries are concerned, such as Australia (the only non-European country), Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Norway.
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Bloomberg had already built its own indices for the American market. The group is therefore expanding its portfolio of indices offered to its clients, thus offering them an alternative to those compiled by stock exchange operators, such as Euronext for the Milan and Paris stock exchanges, Deutsche Börse for Frankfurt or the London Stock Exchange for London. Bloomberg now claims to cover more than 99% of the floating capitalization of 48 developed and emerging countries via these indices.
“This expansion positions Bloomberg Indices as a one-stop shop for clients seeking comprehensive domestic equity indexes and the flexibility to customize each index to meet their specific investment objectives,” Allison Stone, “head of multi-asset product, Bloomberg index services limited”.
To give an example, the Bloomberg release cites Mario Romano, chief executive of Italian asset manager Sella SGR. The new Bloomberg indices “are a welcome alternative to benchmark the Italian market,” he explains. “We already use the Bloomberg Fixed Income indices (bond indices, Editor’s note) and we are pleased to have adopted the Bloomberg Italia 40, Bloomberg Italia Mid 60 and Bloomberg Italia Small 20 indices, which offer us greater flexibility to segment and measure the market against our portfolios,” he continues.
To return to the French indices, Bloomberg’s methodology does not differ that much from that of Euronext for the French stock market barometers. The American group constructs its indices based on free float capitalization (i.e. market capitalization weighted by the percentage of securities in free circulation). As such, companies whose free float is less than 10% and/or $100 million are not part of the index. Bloomberg does not take volumes into account and does not have a scientific committee, unlike Euronext.
Interestingly, an index with a given number of values has a tolerance of 10%, that is to say that the “Bloomberg France 40” can include between 36 and 44 values. Which is also the case currently.
Bloomberg in fact retained 41 values. The index ultimately looks a lot like the CAC 40 (the full list of values appears below) but with some differences. This is due in particular to the fact that a stock cannot be a member of several Bloomberg indices, indicate Les Echos, which explains why Stellantis (listed in Paris, Milan and New York) is excluded.
It’s not the only one: Vivendi, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and ArcelorMittal (all three listed in Amsterdam) are also absent from the index. Conversely, the construction and concessions group Eiffage, the collective catering specialist Sodexo, the stock exchange operator Euronext, the tests, inspections and certifications specialist Bureau Veritas, and the former Sodexo subsidiary dedicated to restaurant vouchers, Pluxee, are part of the Bloomberg index although they do not appear on the CAC 40.
The 41 values of the “Bloomberg France 40”
- LVMH
- Totalenergies
- Schneider Electric
- L’Oreal
- Liquid air
- Sanofi
- Airbus
- Saffron
- Hermes
- Axa
- Vinci
- BNP Paribas
- EssilorLuxottica
- Danone
- Capgemini
- Pernod Ricard
- Kering
- Dassault Systèmes
- Saint Gobain
- STMicroelectronics
- Engie
- Great
- Michelin
- Publicis
- Orange
- Veolia
- Societe Generale
- Crédit Agricole SA
- Thales
- Edenred
- Bouygues
- Eiffage
- Accor
- Crossroads
- Renault
- Euronext
- Bureau Veritas
- Eurofins
- Sodexo
- Teleperformance
- Pluxee
Julien Marion – ©2024 BFM Bourse