Turnaround surge sets M&S (MKS) on course for FTSE 100 re-entry
Updated
Wednesday’s surge in Marks & Spencer (MKS) stock has set the British retail stalwart on course for a return to the top 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The company’s announcement on Wednesday that annual profits will come in ahead of expectations caused its share price to surge 16.5%. On Thursday the shares were up a further 2.3% at 231.6p – giving the company a market capitalisation of £4.53bn ($6bn).
Should the retailer keep up the momentum, it could make the cut to become one of the 100 highest valued companies listed on the LSE.
M&S dropped from the FTSE 100 – or “footsie” – in September 2019 for the first time in the index's history, during a challenging period for the retailer, which forced the company to close 120 stores. At this point the shares were worth around 170p, and subsequent declines saw the stock trade, briefly, below 75p during the early part of the pandemic in March 2020.
Battle for FTSE 100 spot
The FTSE constituents are reviewed every quarter. At around 12:00 GMT, the bottom four companies in the FTSE 100 by market capitalisation were worth:
- £4.18bn – IT company Darktrace (DARK)
- £4.24bn – postal and courier service provider Royal Mail (RMG)
- £4.73bn – property developer British Land (BLND)
- £4.8bn – publishing and education company Pearson (PSON)
M&S would have to keep its momentum going, however, as there are several FTSE 250 companies that are ahead of it in the queue. As of 12:00 GMT, these include:
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- distributor of electronic and industrial products Electrocomponents (ECM) – £5.7bn
- kitchen products supplier Howden Joinery (HWDN) – £5.4bn
- low-cost airline Wizz Air (WIZZ) – £5bn
- mining company Endeavour Mining (EDN) – £5bn
Re-shuffle is a busy day for trading
“At each review some companies will exit and others will enter, this impacts share price and is a busy day of trading,” notes the LSE’s website.
FTSE’s date for the indicative review market capitalisation data cut-off falls on 19 November 2021 and notification of indicative index membership changes to the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 is on 23 November 2021.
Read more: Marks and Spencer (MKS) shares soar 15% in early trading
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