(BFM Bourse) – The top 10 largest stock market capitalizations on the British market show a certain diversification, even if the absence of technology stocks remains notable.
What are the largest groups on the stock market by country? To find out, the BFM Bourse editorial team decided to devote an article to each major market, retaining the ten largest market capitalizations by country based on data from companiesmarket.com.
The London Stock Exchange has, with Brexit, lost a little of its splendor. According to February Bloomberg data compiled by Deutsche Bank, the Paris market has now surpassed that of the United Kingdom in terms of market capitalization ($3.2 trillion for France and $2.9 trillion for our British friends). Glaring example: the microprocessor designer Arm, although British and formerly listed in London, chose New York for its return to the stock market last September.
Technology is also a sector that is missing from the top 10 of the largest British capitalizations, which is otherwise quite diversified.
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Shellfish, oil and pharmacy
The ranking is dominated by pharmaceuticals and raw materials. Note in passing that we have chosen to exclude the mining group Rio Tinto, which is certainly listed in London, but also in Sydney and New York. Its market capitalization of more than $100 billion would drop it to eighth place.
The lead, however, goes to the Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell. Like the FTSE 100, the main index of the London Stock Exchange, it has not done much since the start of the year (+2.1% and +2.8% for the index). For the record, Shell has a shell as its emblem because the company behind its creation sold antiques and oriental shells which were used to adorn jewelry boxes. Another oil giant, BP occupies fifth place. The company had published excellent results for 2023.
Two pharmaceutical giants are in the top 10. Astrazeneca, a merger of the Swedish Astra and the British Zeneca in 1999, is second, while GlaxoSmithKline (today called GSK), also born from a merger, is sixth.
The Sino-British bank HSBC is in third place. We have retained its British presence even though it is also listed in Hong Kong and… Bermuda. The Anglo-Dutch hygiene products specialist Unilever is in fourth place, even if its market capitalization could fall in the coming months, since it announced the split of its ice cream activity (Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum), which could go through marketing.
Seventh place is occupied by Diageo, a spirits heavyweight known for its Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker brands. Eighth, RELX specializes in scientific, medical and legal publications as well as events.
In ninth place is the tobacco company British American Tobacco, while tenth place is occupied by the stock exchange operator LSE Group which manages the London market.
The largest capitalizations in the world:
Julien Marion – ©2024 BFM Bourse