UK Biggest Companies 2023

This material, whether or not it states any opinions, is for general information purposes only and it does not take into account your personal circumstances or objectives. This material has been prepared using the thoughts and opinions of the author and these may change. However, City Index does not plan to provide further updates to any material once published and it is not under any obligation to keep this material up to date. This material is short term in nature and may only relate to facts and circumstances existing at a specific time or day.

As a result, many leading British multinationals’ revenue depend on how well the global economy does as a whole. If the global economy slows, many leading British companies sales might not increase as much as it did before. This is the list of the largest companies of the United Kingdom by market capitalization. Only the top UK companies are shown in this list and companies that are not publicly traded are excluded. The ranking and the market cap data shown on this page are updated daily. This is the list of the 1000 largest public listed companies from the United Kingdom by market capitalization with links to their reference stock, sector and industry.

  • In 2021, the United Kingdom had a GDP of $3.131 trillion, ranking #6 in the world in terms of nominal GDP.
  • It is not intended for distribution to residents in any country where such distribution or use would contravene any local law or regulatory requirement.
  • Founded in 1902, British American Tobacco (BAT) has changed significantly over the past 100 years.
  • Although the price of crude oil per barrel plummeted in March 2020, affecting the share prices of many oil stocks, it has soared once again in early 2022 due to tensions between Russia and the West.
  • It was established during the privatisation of the UK energy sector in the 1990s.

Its headquarters are located in West London and it has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. With 60,000 employed members, BP plc ranks 12th on the list of largest employers in the Uk. “Supermajors” or “Big Oil” is the name given to the six or seven biggest oil and gas companies of the world to emphasise their power and impact value based on their massive revenues. Aviva Plc is a leading insurance company in Britain with sales of $45.1 billion according to Forbes. Imperial Brands Plc is the world’s fourth largest tobacco company with headquarters in the United Kingdom. For fiscal year 2021, Imperial Brands Plc had revenue of £32.791 billion, up 0.7% year over year.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company is a Fortune Global 500 company and has a market cap of over $38 billion. Topping the list is not just one of the UK’s biggest UK, but globally the biggest employer, the Compass Group. Discover why so many clients choose us, and what makes us a world-leading provider of spread betting and CFDs. All of the largest UK companies are constituents of the FTSE 100 – which tracks the top 100 stocks on the London Stock Exchange.

When searching for a UK Biggest Companies Investment Platforms broker, it’s crucial to compare several factors to choose the right one for your UK Biggest Companies Investment Platforms needs. Our comparison tool allows you to compare the essential features side by side. By comparing these essential features, you can choose a UK Biggest Companies Investment Platforms broker that best suits your needs and preferences for UK Biggest Companies Investment Platforms. Our UK Biggest Companies Investment Platforms broker comparison table simplifies the process, allowing you to make a more informed decision. Lloyds Banking Group is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. The company was founded in 1908 as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to capitalize on oil discoveries in Iran.

BP (£83.71 billion)

This could be attributed to the rising demand of coal, as well as the company’s ability to profit from volatile commodity prices. In addition, the IC Markets platform enables access to a variety of financial markets worldwide. IC Markets is a world-leader when it comes to innovation and they are always looking at ways to improve
and to maintain their competitive advantage. The organisation manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine-related items. English American Tobacco was established in 1902 and is settled in London. Rio Tinto is an Anglo-Australian mining organisation with its head office in London.

With the newfound strength of the merger, the company also carried out numerous acquisitions. Against Covid-19 the company produced the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which was considered the best vaccine. In 1896, twelve banks in London and the English provinces joined as joint-stock banks under the name Barclays and Co.Barclays bank was the first bank in the world to deploy a cash dispenser in 1967. Shell forex and crypto brokerage white label solutions was formed in 1907 after a merger between the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company of the UK. The founding of GSK is an interesting story of multiple mergers over many years. However, it started expanding fast by selling packaged groceries and by the time its founder, John James Sansbury, passed away, the store had spread to 128 locations.

The biggest insurance companies in the UK

Lind plc is a global multinational chemical company domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the UK, since 2018. It is the world’s largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. Lloyds Banking Group is one of the leading financial services companies in the UK. According to Forbes, Lloyds Banking Group had sales of $58.5 billion in 2022, which under current exchange rates is £47.25 billion.

Similar to BP, Royal Dutch Shell operates in all areas of the oil and gas industry, such as production, refining, transport, distribution and extraction of petrochemicals. Royal Dutch Shell has three listings on the LSE, Euronext Amsterdam, and NYSE. Royal Dutch Shell is an Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company that has headquarters in the Netherlands.

GlaxoSmithKline plc

If the British economy grows, it is likely that many of the leading British companies by revenue will also benefit in terms of more sales in the UK. In the long term, the growth rate of the global economy will rebound as well. Centrica plc (further Centrica) is a multinational utilities oriented company that specializes in gas and energy supply across the United Kingdom, Ireland and North America. Altogether, the company’s activities have resulted in $39.59B in revenues as of 2019.

The biggest UK companies by market cap

In 2021, Anglo American Plc had sales of $41.6 billion, up from sales of $25.4 billion in 2020. In 2021, the company also had attributable free cash flow of $7.8 billion, up from $1.2 billion in 2020. Barclays is a major British bank with a top commercial and investment bank.

Related UK Biggest Companies Alternatives

It is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company. Shell is vertically integrated into every area of oil & gas including exploration, production, refining, transport, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation, and trading. Shell is a British multinational oil and gas company, which is known as one of the oil and gas “supermajors”. Number 8th largest employer in the UK is the oil and gas giant, Shell plc. Unilever is a British multinational consumer goods company that deals in a myriad of products, including food, condiments, ice cream, cleaning agents, cosmetics, etc. Alternatively, you can buy and take ownership of these stocks via a share dealing account.

Like the other major stocks covered here, BP isn’t listed solely on the London Stock Exchange, featuring on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and NYSE too. HSBC shares are dual listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, asics jobs, employment 2021 with secondary listings on the NYSE and Bermuda Stock Exchange. Its roots go back to the ‘Hand in Hand Fire and Life Insurance Company’ founded in 1696, which makes it arguably one of the oldest companies on the London Stock Exchange.

Lloyds Banking Group plc (further Lloyds Banking Group) is a British financial institution with origins that can be traced back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland in 1695. Lloyds Banking financial intelligence, revised edition Group delves into categories such as retail and commercial banking, insurance, pensions and more. The company has expanded overseas operations across Western and Eastern countries.

In sixth place is Rio Tinto, which is a dual-listed company traded on both the London Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange while also having joint headquarters in London and Melbourne. Rio Tinto Group was founded in 1873 when some investors purchased a mine in the Rio Tinto area in Spain. Some of the minerals it mines are aluminium, coal, gold, iron ore and diamond, amongst many more. One of the largest public utilities companies in the world, it is the 14th biggest company in the UK by market cap.

Shell was formed in 1907 through the merger of Dutch and British petroleum and transport companies. By 1920 it had become the largest producer of oil in the world and has continued to thrive, being the second largest investor-owned oil company in the world, behind only ExxonMobil. The company is active worldwide in over 140 countries and has over 40,000 service stations. Insurance company Aviva is another stock that has a high revenue that isn’t quite matched by sky-high profit, generating income of £2.7 billion in 2022. RIO is the eighth-biggest company in the UK by market cap, but the first by profit – earning $21 billion in 2022 from revenues of $63 billion. One of the world’s biggest oil and gas providers, Shell has long been one of the most-valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange.