CHANGES IN THE TOP 100 QUOTED MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1948 TO 1968.

For 1948, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research published a list of the 100 largest quoted companies in the United Kingdom. A comparable list has been prepared for 1968, with the assistance of the Statistics Division of the Department of Trade and industry, and the object of this paper is to compare the two population of companies. The companies covered in this study are the largest zoo companies whose ordinary or preference shares were quoted on United Kingdom stock exchanges at the relevant time. Companies whose trading activities were primarily outside the United Kingdom are excluded, as are consolidated subsidiary companies of companies which are already included in the list. Companies engaged primarily in banking, finance, insurance, investment, property and shipping are also excluded. The above definitions are inevitably arbitrary. Their main objective is to define a fairly homogeneous population of quoted companies, engaged primarily in manufacturing and distribution within the United Kingdom, and to select the too largest from this population.