The FTSE 100 Index was launched on 3 January 1984. The market capitalisation weighted FTSE 100 index replaced the price-weighted FT30 Index as the performance benchmark for most investors.
Price performance
The following chart shows the price performance of the FTSE 100 Index 1984-2013. A simple linear trendline has been added.
![FTSE 100 Index [1984-2013] with trendline](http://stockmarketalmanac.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/FTSE-100-Index-1984-2013-with-trendline.png)
The index was launched in 1984 with a value of 1000 and closed 2013 at 6749. This is an increase of 575% over the 30 years, giving an annual growth of 6.57%.
The trendline calculates a value of 6695 for the end of 2013, which is just 54 points away from the actual value (less than 1% difference). As can be seen in the chart, the FTSE 100 Index is pretty much bang on its long-term (since 1984) trend.
Fascinating Footsie Facts
| Number of companies in index |
100 |
| Market capitalisation, average (£m) |
18,253 |
| Market capitalisation, standard deviation |
24,837 |
| Share price, average (£) |
12.93 |
|
|
| Number of companies paying a dividend |
96 |
| Dividend yield, average (%) |
2.92 |
| Dividend yield, standard deviation |
1.29 |
|
|
| PE ratio, average |
20.2 |
| PE ratio, standard deviation |
14.2 |
| PEG, average |
2.3 |
|
|
|
|
| Turnover, average (£m) |
14,674 |
| Turnover growth last five years, average (%) |
76.2 |
| Turnover to capitalisation ratio, average |
0.88 |
|
|
| Number of companies making a profit |
94 |
| Profit, average (£m) |
1,534 |
| Profit growth last five years, average (%) |
101.6 |
| Profit / turnover, average (%) |
16.9 |
|
|
| Current ratio, average |
1.29 |
|
|
| Net cash, average (£m) |
5838 |
| Net cash, sum total (£m) |
566,363 |
| Price to net cash ratio, average |
24.2 |
|
|
| Net borrowings, average (£m) |
-1710 |
| Net borrowings, sum total (£m) |
-165,902 |
| Net gearing, average |
1.00 |
| Interest cover, average |
70.0 |
|
|
| ROCE, average (%) |
50.1 |
| ROCE, standard deviation |
107.6 |
Original constituents
The following table shows the 30 original companies that are still in the Index today. (The 19 italicised companies have been in the index continuously since launch.)
| Company |
TIDM |
| Associated British Foods |
ABF |
| Aviva |
AV |
| British American Tobacco |
BATS |
| Barclays |
BARC |
| BAE Systems |
BA |
| BP |
BP |
| GlaxoSmithKline |
GSK |
| GKN |
GKN |
| Hammerson |
HMSO |
| Imperial Tobacco Group |
IMT |
| Johnson Matthey |
JMAT |
| Land Securities Group |
LAND |
| Legal & General Group |
LGEN |
| Lloyds Banking Group |
LLOY |
| Marks & Spencer Group |
MKS |
| Pearson |
PSON |
| Prudential |
PRU |
| Reckitt Benckiser Group |
RB |
| Reed Elsevier |
REL |
| Rexam |
REX |
| Rio Tinto |
REC |
| RBS Group |
RBS |
| RSA Insurance Group |
RSA |
| J Sainsbury |
SBRY |
| Royal Dutch Shell |
RDSA |
| Smith & Nephew |
SN |
| Standard Chartered |
STAN |
| Tesco |
TSCO |
| Unilever |
ULVR |
| Whitbread |
WTB |
Largest companies
The following table compares the market capitalisations of the top five largest companies in the index in 1984 and today.
|
Rank (1984) |
|
Capital (£m) |
Rank (2013) |
|
Capital (£m) |
| 1 |
British Petroleum Co. |
|
7401 |
Royal Dutch Shell |
|
140,695 |
| 2 |
Shell Trans. & Trad. Co. |
|
6365 |
HSBC Holdings |
|
124,728 |
| 3 |
General Electric Co. |
|
4915 |
Vodafone Group |
|
114,860 |
| 4 |
Imperial Chemical Industries |
|
3917 |
BP |
|
90,984 |
| 5 |
Marks & Spencer |
|
2829 |
GlaxoSmithKline |
|
78,252 |
Oil is still there today, but industrial, chemical and retail stocks have been replaced by bank, telecom and pharmaceutical stocks.
In 1984 the total market capitalisation of the index was £100 billion; at the end of 2013 the market capitalisation had grown to £1,824 billion.
It’s interesting to note that Shell’s market cap. today is 40% larger than the whole FTSE 100 Index in 1984.
Other references
FTSE 100 at 30 article in the Telegraph by Martin Vander Weyer.
