Collection
Big UK shares, explained
The FTSE 100 is a list of around a hundred of the biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Between them they cover banking, energy, mining, healthcare and the everyday brands you already know.
Being large and familiar does not make a company a safe bet or a good one - it just means there is plenty of public information to read. The names below are the biggest UK-listed companies in the Almanac, each with a full plain-English explainer.
HSBC Holdings
HSBA.L
Balanced+71%
AstraZeneca PLC
AZN.L
Out of favour+14%
Shell
SHEL.L
Dividend payer+25%
Rolls-Royce Holdings
RR.L
Balanced+37%
Rio Tinto
RIO.L
Dividend payer+59%
Unilever PLC
ULVR.L
Balanced-2%
British American Tobacco p.l.c.
BATS.L
Balanced+11%
BP
BP.L
High-growth+39%
GSK
GSK.L
Balanced+38%
Barclays PLC
BARC.L
Dividend payer+37%
Lloyds Banking Group
LLOY.L
Dividend payer+51%
Glencore plc
GLEN.L
Balanced+78%
BAE Systems plc
BA.L
Balanced+15%
National Grid plc
NG.L
Out of favour+10%
NatWest Group
NWG.L
Dividend payer+38%
Compass Group
CPG.L
High-growth+22%
Standard Chartered
STAN.L
Dividend payer+62%
RELX PLC
REL.L
Out of favour-33%
London Stock Exchange Group plc
LSEG.L
Dividend payer-10%
Anglo American plc
AAL.L
Balanced+81%
Diageo plc
DGE.L
Balanced-10%
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC
CCEP.L
Balanced+11%
Antofagasta
ANTO.L
Balanced+93%
Reckitt Benckiser
RKT.L
Dividend payer-10%
Haleon plc
HLN.L
Balanced-1%
Tesco PLC
TSCO.L
Balanced+15%
3i Group
III.L
Dividend payer-31%
SSE plc
SSE.L
Balanced+27%
Prudential
PRU.L
Balanced+19%
Vodafone Group
VOD.L
Balanced+44%
30 names · each links to its full, plain-English explainer.