- Index launched on 12 October 1992
- Combined market capitalisation of more than £450* billion today
FTSE Russell today celebrates the 25th anniversary of one of its flagship UK indexes, the FTSE 250. On 12 October 1992, following a consultation with the FTSE Advisory Committee, the FTSE 250 Index was launched, marking the start of a new era for market participants who wanted to benchmark their investments to mid cap UK equities.
The market capitalisation of the companies included in the original FTSE 250 was just over £98 billion. Today, that figure has more than quadrupled to over £450 billion in 2017* and captures approximately 17 per cent of the FTSE UK Index Series’ total market capitalisation.
The FTSE 250 is part of the FTSE UK Index Series, which also includes the FTSE 100 and FTSE All-Share indexes. The FTSE UK Index Series is designed to represent the performance of eligible companies listed on London Stock Exchange, providing market participants with a comprehensive and complementary set of indexes that measure the performance of all capital and industry segments of the UK equity market.
Mark Makepeace, CEO of FTSE Russell, said:
“When we launched the FTSE 250 there were plenty of sceptics who thought index compilers should only be thinking in terms of large- and small-cap. FTSE Russell was a pioneer in this sense but even we couldn't have predicted the success of the FTSE 250, a benchmark which is now widely acknowledged as a true reflection of the British economy”.
FTSE 250 Stats
- Largest daily rise: 7.75% (19 September 2008)
- Largest daily fall: 7.19% (24 June 2016)
- Highest daily value traded: £3.25 billion (19 September 2008)
- First ETF launch: 26 March 2004 (iShares FTSE 250 UCITS ETF)
- FTSE Green Revenues: 48 companies in FTSE 250 have green revenues vs 28 in FTSE 100
- Greenest constituent: Pennon Group (99% green revenues)
- Revenue generated oversees by constituent companies: 51% compares to 76% for FTSE 100
- London Stock Exchange average share of lit trading in FTSE 250 stocks: 68.6%**
- Turquoise Plato average share of dark pool trading in FTSE 250 stocks: 21.7%**
More information on the history of the FTSE 250 along with additional statistics can be found here.
