Advertising company WPP and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty rejoined the FTSE 100, filling the spots left by the takeovers of financial firms Schroders and Beazley.
For both Balfour and WPP, their promotion to the FTSE 100 from the FTSE 250 index of second-liners--which became effective Thursday--marks a return to the U.K.'s blue-chip benchmark. Balfour left the FTSE 100 in September 2009, while WPP was demoted in December last year, according to FTSE Russell data.
Shares in Balfour and WPP were down in European morning trading. Their moves to the FTSE 100 were eclipsed by broad-based stock losses after the latest economic updates clouded the U.S. economic picture, Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter said.
Nevertheless, Balfour shares have gained 28% since the start of the year, as the company benefits from rising demand that led it to upgrade its expectations in August. WPP shares have risen about 10% in the year to date after the company laid out a three-year turnaround plan. Both companies have market capitalizations above 4 billion pounds ($5.31 billion), according to FactSet data.
The changes happened outside of FTSE Russell's regular quarterly review of the FTSE 100 composition and were prompted by the completion of two takeovers of index constituents--Nuveen's 9.9 billion-pound acquisition of U.K. asset manager Schroders, and Zurich Insurance Group's 8.2 billion-pound purchase of insurer Beazley.
As part of the changes, online fashion retailer Asos and copper and gold miner Meridian Mining will move to the FTSE 250 from the FTSE SmallCap.
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