There are many ways to measure success in business - profits, capitalisation, sales, fame - but the admiration of a company by its peers, while an unusual yardstick, can be an effective method of assessing how well things are going beneath the surface.
Rivals are often best-placed to judge how companies are coping with the ups and downs of their sector.
That is why the Management Today Most Admired Company Awards - now in their 10th year - were born. Michael Brown, principal lecturer at Nottingham Business School, who formulated the idea in his MBA dissertation and has done the research for the awards from the start, concedes that we are still some way from cracking the DNA code of success. Even given the growing use of data in this digital age, there is little scientific or predictable about it.
This is especially true when the efficient use of public relations has made it more and more difficult to get at the truth about what is going on inside companies, with corporate affairs departments jumping on and realigning even the mildest of negative comments. Even City analysts, traditionally the most ruthless of judges, are finding it increasingly difficult to ascertain the true state of affairs. The world of spin has gone through the looking glass and beyond. We think the MT Most Admired Awards cut through all this, override the short-termism of the City, and offer more insight into today's business than rumour and gossip.
Tesco has gone top-shelf again - chosen as the company held most in awe by its peers and by the investment community. In a truly extraordinary achievement among the UK's leading businesses, it is the third time in four years that the super grocer has been voted Management Today's Most Admired Company. And for the first time, the survey has also chosen a most admired leader, Sir John Browne of BP Amoco.
Based on the opinions of rivals and of corporate leaders in other sectors, the awards draw on the principle that in business, as in war, it pays to know the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. The views of those who pursue similar goals day after day on the battlefield of competition go beyond the assessments found in annual reports. Michael Brown of Nottingham Business School points out that perceptions in business are based on both explicit and tacit knowledge and that it is this tacit knowledge that comes into play when companies are faced with scoring a rival in the Most Admired Company survey.
The feeling about Tesco remains that its strategy is crystal clear, well understood by staff and customers. If there is one thing Terry Leahy and his management team understand, it is the behaviour of those who shop with them - every inch of the way through the aisles and around the gondolas.
Tesco comes top of the table in two of the nine judging categories, the quality of management and the attraction and retention of talent. It is also up there with the best in most of the other criteria.
The question remains: how long will Leahy's board wear that crown? Let us remember that British retailing - a sector as mature as a runny brie - is the hardest of hard-nosed markets. Criticised by squealing farmers and deeply resented by suppliers, its expanding outlets are resisted by hostile local planners and then peopled by customers who wander in a price-cutting wonderland.
Tesco has won the top award again in the face of some decidedly hard belt-tightening. As we write, a leak emerges from Tesco headquarters that routine maintenance work on fridges and other systems has been put on hold in an attempt to save money for the bitter fight ahead. For into this impending bloodbath has marched a competitor in Wal-Mart that makes the Tesco front row look like gentlemen.
Wal-Mart is renowned for its take-no-prisoners attitude to business.
It came sixth this year in the US list of Most Admired Companies published by Fortune magazine. When Wal-Mart first entered the US league table back in 1987, its revenues were $12 billion ( £7.3 billion). They have now reached the $137-billion mark.
By October this year, Wal-Mart's new UK partner, Asda, had already trimmed prices on more than 2,000 goods. Tesco said it was marking down products by an extra £250 million, after cutting prices by £130 million in the first half of the year.
Wal-Mart sends shivers through the sector. Its PR department recently boasted of how its employees in Germany now gather before their 7am start of business, apparently without protest, to raise the Wal-Mart corporate cheer: 'Give me a W. Give me an A,' and so on, before going forth to personally welcome the anticipated hordes of German shoppers. (The newspaper Die Zeit pondered the impact of Wal-Mart's European invasion under the headline Fear of the Greeters.)
It remains to be seen whether or not the Tesco checkout staff will be prepared to sacrifice two hours of sleep and then kick off each day with 'Give me a T. Give me an E.' The Tesco management team, their cheerleaders, is highly regarded as among the classiest of acts. But people were saying that only two years ago about Marks & Spencer - and look where that company languishes now in near disarray.
It is interesting that, as the century draws to a close, those well-established retail institutions M&S and Sainsbury's, long beloved of the middle class, are taking such a hammering. (One sector analyst's verdict on Dino Adriano's vision for Sainsbury, as expressed in April, was: 'This is an example of a moronic statement of strategy.' Clearly the public-relations spin did not work on that particular individual.)
Retailing is done very well but is no longer a benevolent business in Britain. This year there were even rumblings of discontent to be heard from that most elegantly bourgeois of retailers, John Lewis and Waitrose, as a small group of partners smelled carpet-bagging in the wind.
Tesco needs to come out punching and received opinion is that the time has come when it must expand further overseas.
But look what happened to M&S when it went down that path. Michael Brown is conscious that Tesco is, 'very, very solid, but you cannot be certain what the future contains. I recently looked back at the first Most Admired list that we completed in 1989, and only four of the companies that made it into the Top 20 then are still there in 1999. I've no idea where Tesco will be in five years' time.' There is much blood to be spilled in retail over the coming year and it will be interesting to see if Tesco will still be king of the ring next year.
Positions two and three this year are taken by the pharmaceutical giants SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome. In moving up to second place from fifth, SKB has done rather well, bearing in mind most of the year for the company seems to have been taken up with a combination of enduring comment on the on/off merger with Glaxo, how much the chief executive Jan Leschly gets paid (a cool £93 million in shares and options over nine years) and when he will shift over on to his pension following retirement.
Talk is cheap. The share price, however, is not. It has risen fourfold since Leschly took over in 1994. SKB's big new drug - Avandia, which treats diabetes - racked up some £44 million in US sales in the first month after it was released. 'I think we are on a roll,' said Leschly who, from personal experience, obviously knows one when he sees it. Even sad old Horlicks - the brand that, like the chief executive, just refuses to lie down - increased sales by 6%.
SKB is admired in virtually all the judging categories across the board.
It tops the indices for both quality of marketing and for long-term investment value, and comes second in both retaining talent and its capacity for innovation. As for the man tipped to take over from Leschly, Jean-Pierre Garnier, he has said about the renewal of merger talks: 'There's no need to be emotional. We do not exclude anything.'
Our survey was conducted just before Glaxo Wellcome had its unwelcome news from the UK Government on its flu drug Relenza - 'We can't afford it and it doesn't work.' During the ensuing row, Glaxo's chairman got involved in an unseemly face-off with the then health secretary, Frank Dobson. Glaxo even implied that it might consider leaving the UK if the NHS did not start prescribing.
However, the fact remains that three of the top 10 companies in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide are British. Only Switzerland, relative to its size, has as successful an industry. This is the sector in which the British are truly world-class. Glaxo is very sound financially, coming second in that category and coming fourth in innovation.
Hard on Glaxo's heels in the judging comes The Daily Mail & General Trust - not a gentle organisation to have breathing down your neck if you are a rival in the MT Most Admired Company stakes or if you find yourself the subject of one of that newspaper group's stories.
In the world of publishing, The Mail Group is held in awe.
While many do not see eye to eye with its politics or outlook on life, as a commercial operation it is out on its own. In an industry where parsimony now abounds, The Mail Group buys success by opening its wallet when it believes it is necessary. It has had hiccups in electronic media, and the City may grumble about the share structure and feel that the Harmsworths retain too much control ('It has a one-man investor relations department - the finance director') but the profits speak for themselves.
Leadership is an issue with the Mail group. It is truly a family dynasty, dating back to 1896, which now encompasses not only newspapers but also radio, exhibitions and other publishing. Jonathan, the young son of the late Lord Harmsworth, was hurriedly moved into the hot seat on the death of his father Vere in September 1998. The heir was only 30 years old and described as 'pleasant and unassuming', which gave some investors the wobbles.
Another blow was the death of Sir David English, editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail - a man outside whose office grown men would be sick with panic before going in for a meeting. But just because one is 'pleasant and unassuming' does not mean you cannot grow into a great leader. What is significant here is that the company comes top in its sector for quality of management. The young Harmsworth has some extremely able lieutenants on either shoulder in the form of Charles Sinclair, the chief executive, and Peter Williams, the finance director, to help him conduct the battle.
Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, is no soft touch, either. He sends his reporters out with the entreaty 'Go paras, go', ringing in their ears.
And the Express, the old enemy, looks ready to put up the white flag and sell itself to any buyer at any time.
Our media sector is growing less parochial. EMAP has made the first steps into America, where it will begin to shake up a magazine industry that has grown boring, bloated and complacent. There is now genuine anxiety among American publishers about the Brit effect in men's magazines, for example.
They look insipid compared to Felix Dennis' now rampaging US version of Maxim, and EMAP's soaring FHM is now on its way.
But a giant like Time Warner is not merely going to watch this annoying gadfly without taking any action.
Cadbury Schweppes has had a difficult year with the regulators. As it set about off-loading its international drinks businesses outside the US to Coca-Cola, it has slipped from second to fifth place. The City appears to be confused and that is not good news. 'Cadbury Schweppes has decided what it is not,' noted one commentator, 'but faces a sticky problem getting where it wants to be.' It must show that it remains world class. Its purchase of the Dr Pepper bottling operation for £430 million in September is a start. This makes it the largest independent soft drinks bottler in the US. And they certainly love their soda there.
At number six, slipping two places from its previous position, BP Amoco has had a storming year and its boss Sir John Browne wins the Most Admired Leader award by a mile. (He is featured in the Andrew Davidson interview in this issue.) The victory for Browne is highly significant, since Tesco's Leahy does not even make it into the top four. Browne led the global oil pack in showing how merging, streamlining and squeezing was the only way forward. The rest are now in a big hurry in his wake, trying to regroup.
The leader of any oil company that can persuade the world it is community and environmentally responsible - to the extent that it gets ranked sixth in the top 10 of that sector - is truly doing a special job. That vision comes from the top and trickles downwards like an up-ended can of motor oil. And BP has been lucky - it has suffered no Brent Spar embarrassments.
Unilever, which remained stationary at number seven, saved its biggest bombshell until late this year. Despite hard times in Russia and South America, and ice cream coming up against a coldish front, things were more or less stable, and there was the pleasant news that shareholders were going to be treated to a bumper £5-billion special dividend. It was all looking as steady as a flow of soap powder with a number nine position in the categories of long-term investment value and financial soundness until, in late September, Niall FitzGerald announced that he was intending to purge three out of four of the famous brands in his basket. This is expected to save £1 billion a year from running costs. A portfolio of 400 'powerbrands' is to be created, leaving the axe hanging over some dear old favourites such as Batchelors soup and Pears soap. Expect some campaigns along the lines of 'Save Heinz Salad Cream'. However, Radion soap powder is probably destined to perish friendless.
Vodafone, by contrast, is non-stop, all-year-round action. With its fizzing prospects in boom-town telecommunications and an audacious merger with the American operator AirTouch under its belt, it is up from 24 straight into the top 10 at number eight. It sweeps the board in its own sector table, taking first place in every category but two. And if it performs a knock-out blow on Mannesmann, then the only way can be further up.
Before Gerry Robinson leaves the corporate stage for his retirement home in Donegal, the market still awaits One Big Deal from Granada, in at ninth place, up from 47th last year. The acquisitive media and catering group has consolidated its strong trading position, and with other high-street names in trouble the Charles Allen/Robinson double act may yet strike again soon. Allen, set to take the limelight from Robinson at the helm, leads a firm which is rated highly for its management and long-term financial prospects.
Just squeezing into the top 10, pipping WPP, is AstraZeneca. There is no shortage of belief in this newly merged company, despite the fact that, in getting into bed with the Swedes, the UK company took on the patent expiry of the world's best-selling drug, Losec. And then it found itself under the spotlight for involvement in that most unhappy area of trade, genetically modified food. Enough to give anyone ulcers. l
FAVOURED BY FORTUNE
General Electric was a repeat winner in this year's Fortune magazine list of the Most Admired US companies, with second and third places going to Coca-Cola and Microsoft. While only two companies dropped out of its top 10 - Hewlett-Packard and Johnson & Johnson - others may follow suit.
It was not that long ago that Merck was up there year after year, while this time it was even toppled from the top slot in its pharmaceuticals sector by Pfizer as Viagra conquered all again.
Fortune observed that companies which are thought to profit from the internet scored especially well. Dell entered the top 10 at number four and AOL rose in the computer and data services group. Dell is an extraordinary company, even beyond the fact that its shares have gone up 87,000% since 1990. Based on its intense customer focus, Michael Dell is now aiming for 25% of the global PC market. UK computer companies - mainly dozens of small but world-class software companies dotted around Cambridge and in the Thames Valley corridor - are relative tiddlers compared with the American players. Bearing in mind that in the e-world we are probably 18 months to two years behind the US, we have not really seen a corresponding movement in the MT Most Admired Awards. It will come.
As for the bottom of the list, Trump Hotels and Casinos was ranked at 469. Poor Donald. Perhaps instead of writing The Art of the Deal, he should have been reading Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.
TOP OF THE POPS
1 TESCO
Terry Leahy
2 SMITHKLINE BEECHAM
Jan Leschly
3 GLAXO WELLCOME
Sir Richard Sykes
4 DAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST
Charles Sinclair
5 CADBURY SCHWEPPES
John Sunderland
6 BP AMOCO
Sir John Browne
7 UNILEVER
Niall FitzGerald
8 VODAFONE AIRTOUCH
Christopher Gent
9 GRANADA GROUP
Charles Allen
10 ASTRAZENECA
Sir David Barnes
WHERE THEY EXCEL
QUALITY OF MANAGEMENT
1 Tesco 9.00
2 BP Amoco 9.00
3 Granada Group 8.67
FINANCIAL SOUNDNESS
1 Land Securities 9.21
2 Glaxo Wellcome 9.02
3 Shell Transport & Trading 9.00
QUALITY OF GOODS & SERVICES
1 Daily Mail & General Trust 8.80
2 Rolls-Royce 8.75
3 Glaxo Wellcome 8.55
ABILITY TO ATTRACT, DEVELOP AND RETAIN TALENT
1 Tesco 8.78
2 SmithKline Beecham 8.60
3 Glaxo Wellcome 8.38
VALUE AS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT
1 SmithKline Beecham 8.33
2 Granada Group 8.33
3 Cadbury Schweppes 7.88
CAPACITY TO INNOVATE
1 BSkyB 8.88
2 SmithKline Beecham 8.38
3 Tesco 8.33
QUALITY OF MARKETING
1 SmithKline Beecham 8.46
2 Tesco 8.44
3 BSkyB 8.44
COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
1 The Body Shop 8.42
2 Iceland 8.39
3 Daily Mail & General Trust 7.60
USE OF CORPORATE ASSETS
1 BP Amoco 8.17
2 Airtours 7.83
3 Tesco 7.72
CHOICE OF THE CHIEFS
SIR JOHN BROWNE
BP Amoco
SIR BRIAN PITMAN
Lloyds TSB
RICHARD BRANSON
Virgin
SIR GEOFFREY MULCAHY
Kingfisher
JUDGED BY THEIR PEERS IN BANKING TO SOFTWARE
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This year has been a tale of two kinds of business: successful, dynamic enterprises steadily building market share, and less happy companies struggling to cope with increased competition and the need to adapt in rapidly changing times. The second kind of business has made for more dramatic viewing.
Boardroom turmoil and investor unease have dogged some of Britain's most celebrated corporate giants. Our sector tables (right) reflect many of the year's corporate ups and downs.
Wherever you look down any UK high street, household names tell the story.
The banks - those that still have branches in your high street - are a striking example. While Barclays finally got a new chief executive at the second (public) attempt, and NatWest's future independence became a matter of daily speculation, Lloyds TSB acquired Scottish Widows and continued its concentration on profitable businesses.
Retailers Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer, like famously slow-to-turn oil tankers, were unable to halt their decline in terms of market share and profitability. Nimbler, more appealing competitors like Tesco, Debenhams and Next won the approval of sector peers with their fresh approach to retail and better focus on offering value.
Away from the high street there was a similar gulf between star performers and disappointments. In business services, Hays overtook Rentokil Initial, where chief Sir Clive Thompson has had to concede that 20% year on year growth might not be quite possible. ICI, another venerable British corporation and top name in last year's chemicals and plastics sector, falls out of the reckoning (ninth place out of 10 in the sector), while slimmed-down BOC claims first place ahead of its acquisition by Air Liquide of France and Air Products of the US. In oil and gas, BP Amoco has thundered ahead while Shell has slipped further behind in the sector's estimation.
In other sectors the UK can boast several success stories. Media group WPP is dominant in its field, while BSkyB has won admirers in its readiness for the digital challenge. In pharmaceuticals Britain's world class players, SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome, continue to impress; Cadbury Schweppes and Unilever are admired global players with the right brands and management to prosper.
That next year will bring more mergers, takeovers, boardroom bust-ups and ruined reputations is certain. In this fast-moving, globalising era predicting who the new stars will be is a harder call.
Stefan Stern
BANKS
1 Lloyds TSB 61.83
2 HSBC 59.86
3 Royal Bank of Scotland 59.14
4 Bank of Scotland 58.50
BUILDING MATERIALS & MERCHANTS
1 Hanson 57.56
2 Wolseley 55.56
3 Blue Circle Industries 49.22
4 BPB Industries 49.13
BUSINESS SERVICES
1 Hays 62.98
2 Rentokil Initial 58.83
3 Kwik-Fit 57.40
4 Electrocomponents 55.67
CHEMICAL & PLASTICS
1 BOC 57.88
2 Burmah Castrol 55.71
3 BTP 49.86
4 Laporte Industries 49.38
CONSTRUCTION
1 Redrow 59.0
2 Wilson Bowden 58.83
3 Bovis Homes 54.33
4 Beazer 52.43
DRINKS
1 Whitbread 63.17
2 Scottish & Newcastle 62.74
3 JD Wetherspoon 61.56
4 Diageo 61.40
ELECTRICALS[QQ]] 1 Vodafone AirTouch 66.33
2 British Telecom (BT) 57.83
3 Energis 54.08
4 Orange 53.33
ELECTRICITY*
1 Scottish Power 62.83
2 Centrica 60.86
3 PowerGen 58.83
4 National Grid 57.71
ENGINEERING AUTO & AERO
1 British Aerospace 65.14
2 GKN 64.64
3 Rolls-Royce 64.38
4 Smiths Industries 63.29
ENGINEERING & METALS
1 Invensys 57.29
2 TI Group 56.58
3 Bodycote 55.00
4 British Steel 53.45
FINANCIAL
1 3i 58.29
2 Perpetual 55.32
3 Close Brothers 54.43
4 M&G Group 54.02
FOOD MANUFACTURERS
1 Cadbury Schweppes 68.38
2 Unilever 67.50
3 Northern Foods 56.22
4 Associated British Foods 51.63
FOOD RETAILERS
1 Tesco 73.72
2 W Morrison 64.50
3 Iceland 62.50
4 J Sainsbury 55.67
HEALTH & HOUSEHOLD
1 SmithKline Beecham 72.20
2 Glaxo Wellcome 71.63
3 AstraZeneca 66.11
4 Nycomed Amersham 55.69
INSURANCE
1 Legal & General Group 61.86
2 Prudential Corporation 60.13
3 CGU 58.77
4 St James Place 57.17
LEISURE & HOTELS
1 Granada Group 66.33
2 Airtours 63.08
3 Ladbroke Group 57.50
4 Stakis 57.20
MEDIA
1 WPP Group 65.67
2 BSkyB 64.06 3 Aegis 60.25
4 Capital Radio 57.25
NEWS & PUBLISHERS
1 Daily Mail & General Trust 70.70
2 Reuters Holdings 60.10
3 Euromoney 59.25
4 Emap 58.60
OIL, GAS & EXTRACTIVE
1 BP Amoco 68.06
2 Shell Transport & Trading 59.77
3 BG 57.88
4 Rio Tinto 54.78
PROPERTY
1 The British Land Co 61.73
2 Hammerson 59.05
3 Chelsfield 56.50
4 Land Securities 55.88
RETAILERS (CLOTHING)
1 Next 60.92
2 Debenhams 60.70
3 N Brown 50.80
4 Marks & Spencer 50.0
RETAILERS (GENERAL)
1 Boots 61.79
2 Dixons 58.93
3 Kingfisher 56.25
4 WH Smith 50.13
SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES
1 Sage Group 63.87
2 Logica 63.20
3 FI Group 62.73
4 CMG 60.33
TRANSPORT
1 BAA 59.93
2 British Airways 59.46
3 P&O 52.21
4 Stagecoach 52.04
WATER
1 Anglian Water 60.53
2 Severn Trent Water 60.47
3 United Utilities 57.20
4 Thames Water 57.06
* SECTOR INCLUDES ONLY EIGHT COMPANIES
THE MEASURE OF ADMIRATION
MT, in conjunction with Nottingham, Derby and Aston Business Schools, asked Britain's 10 largest public companies in 25 sectors to evaluate their peers (in one sector there were only eight public players). Participants rated each company in their sector on a scale of one to 10 with one being poor, five being average and 10 being excellent. Performance was rated against nine criteria: quality of management; financial soundness; ability to attract, develop and retain top talent; quality of goods and services; value as a long-term investment; capacity to innovate; quality of marketing; community and environmental responsibility; and use of corporate assets.
Analysts at 15 leading investment companies were also polled. On the basis of the individual scores assigned to each company for each of the nine characteristics, three separate analyses were produced: an overall ranking of all 248; a ranking of the 10 companies in any given sector (eight in one instance); and top league tables in each performance category.
The academics were Michael Brown (Nottingham Business School) Stuart Laverick (Derby Business School) and Professor John Saunders (Aston Business School).
HIGH ESTEEM: WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN?
FIGURES IN BRACKETS ARE 1998 POSITIONS
1 (1) Tesco 73.72
2 (5) SmithKline Beecham 72.20
3 (6) Glaxo Wellcome 71.63
4 (12) Daily Mail & General Trust 70.70
5 (2) Cadbury Schweppes 68.38
6 (4) BP Amoco 68.06
7 (7) Unilever 67.50
8 (24) Vodafone AirTouch 66.33
9 (47) Granada Group 66.33
10 (15) AstraZeneca 66.11
11 (46) WPP Group 65.67
12 (33) British Aerospace 65.14
13 (43) GKN 64.64
14 (59) W Morrison 64.50
15 (40) Rolls-Royce 64.38
16 (79) BSkyB 64.06
17 (-) Sage Group 63.87
18 (16) Smiths Industries 63.29
19 (-) Logica 63.20
20 (31) Whitbread 63.17
21 (45) Airtours 63.08
22 (61) Hays 62.98
23 (96) Scottish Power 62.83
24 (68) Scottish & Newcastle 62.74
25 (-) FI Group 62.73
26 (131) Iceland 62.50
27 (20) Legal & General Group 61.86
28 (9) Lloyds TSB 61.83
29 (10) Boots 61.79
30 (25) The British Land Co 61.73
31 (132) JD Wetherspoon 61.56
32 (17) Diageo 61.40
33 (53) Bass 61.17
34 (63) Next 60.92
35 (188) Centrica 60.86
36 (129) Compass 60.78
37 (87) Debenhams 60.70
38 (115) Anglian Water 60.53
39 (126) BBA 60.50
40 (99) Severn Trent Water 60.47
41 (110) CMG 60.33
42 (57) Aegis 60.25
43 (127) Prudential Corporation 60.13
44 (22) Reuters Holdings 60.10
45 (159) BAA 59.93
46 (23) HSBC 59.86
47 (8) Shell Transport & Trading 59.77
48 (112) British Airways 59.46
49 (81) Euromoney 59.25
50 (111) Royal Bank of Scotland 59.14
51 (84) Hammerson 59.05
52 (-) Redrow 59.00
53 (71) Dixons 58.93
54 (130) PowerGen 58.83
55 (-) Wilson Bowden 58.83
56 (37) Rentokil Initial 58.83
57 (-) CGU 58.77
58 (-) London Bridge Software 58.72
59 (29) Emap 58.60
60 (35) Bank of Scotland 58.50
61 (49) 3i 58.29
62 (75) Sema 58.13
63 (78) Misys 58.00
64 (93) BOC 57.88
65 (185) BG 57.88
66 (21) British Telecom (BT) 57.83
67 (155) National Grid 57.71
68 (143) Hanson 57.56
69 (117) Ladbroke Group 57.50
70 (-) Kwik-Fit 57.40
71 (-) Invensys 57.29
72 (91) Capital Radio 57.25
73 (26) Stakis 57.20
74 (189) United Utilities 57.20
75 (-) St James Place 57.17
76 (108) Thames Water 57.06
77 (172) Taylor Nelson 56.80
78 (30) TI Group 56.58
79 (100) Chelsfield 56.50
80 (51) Sun Life & Provincial 56.38
81 (52) Kingfisher 56.25
82 (69) Northern Foods 56.22
83 (-) PizzaExpress 56.05
84 (48) Land Securities 55.88
85 (192) Burford 55.86
86 (158) Burmah Castrol 55.71
87 (55) Nycomed Amersham 55.69
88 (27) J Sainsbury 55.67
89 (114) Electrocomponents 55.67
90 (60) Wolseley 55.56
91 (119) Millennium & Copthorne 55.43
92 (32) Perpetual 55.32
93 (-) Allied Zurich 55.08
94 (74) Bodycote 55.00
95 (80) Cobham 54.88
96 (101) Rio Tinto 54.78
97 (-) Scottish & Southern Energy 54.71
98 (85) Standard Chartered 54.67
99 (123) Close Brothers 54.43
100 (113) Slough Estates 54.41
101 (-) Bovis Homes 54.33
102 (215) South Staffordshire 54.17
103 (106) Energis 54.08
104 (41) M&G Group 54.02
105 (88) Norwich Union 53.91
106 (95) Pearson 53.88
107 (65) Abbey National 53.83
108 (161) British Steel 53.45
109 (128) Hyder 53.33
110 (18) Orange 53.33
111 (145) Alliance UniChem 53.08
112 (73) Colt Telecom 53.00
113 (124) Morgan Crucible 52.90
114 (-) Serco Group 52.79
115 (140) Amvescap 52.73
116 (203) Johnson Matthey 52.60
117 (-) Beazer 52.43
118 (184) Newsquest 52.25
119 (217) Brixton Estates 52.23
120 (227) P&O 52.21
121 (3) Schroders 52.17
122 (-) Admiral 52.17
123 (-) Bryant 52.14
124 (135) Stagecoach 52.04
125 (-) Jarvis 52.00.
