P&O sails in FTSE 100

Ports and ferries group P&O tonight won the race to replace BPB in the ranks of the UK’s top 100 companies after the plasterboard maker stopped trading following a foreign takeover.

BPB was delisted from the London market when it was bought by French firm Saint-Gobain last month for almost £3.9bn.

P&O will replace it in the FTSE 100 Index when the market opens on Thursday having closed trading today as the 75th biggest UK stock – the highest placed company not already a member of London’s elite.

But it could only be a temporary admission, with P&O set to be delisted itself if the proposed £3.3bn takeover by Dubai Ports World goes through.

It was the approach from DP World which moved P&O up from 101st position to 75th, as its share price soared from 310.25p in October to to 486.75p today.

The decision to promote P&O into the top flight after a five year absence came at FTSE’s quarterly review.

FTSE tonight confirmed P&O’s new status, and said two other firms - newly-listed Kazakh copper mine Kazakhmys and homebuilder Persimmon – were likely to join the iconic shipping brand subject to confirmation from the review committee tomorrow.

A company automatically joins the FTSE 100 Index if it is one of the 90 biggest stocks by market value when the review takes place.

In this quarter, that was at the close of business today, when Persimmon stood at 84th in the table and Kazakhmys 86th.

But the pair will join the FTSE 100 Index later than P&O – on December 16 - because P&O’s admission was brought forward following BPB’s exit from the market.

Kazakhmys, based in Kazakhstan, became the first company from the former Soviet Union to gain full listing on the London Stock Exchange when it joined in October. It is the world’s tenth largest miner and smelter of copper with a market value of £3.2bn, and employs 6,000 workers.

Like P&O, homebuilder Persimmon benefited from takeover activity as its share price jumped from 830p at the end of October to 1138.5p today after it agreed to buy competitor Westbury for £643m.

The likely addition of Kazakhmys and Persimmon looked like bad news for bookmaker William Hill and Pizza Hut owner Whitbread, which were set to lose their status in the FTSE 100 Index.

William Hill joined the top flight of blue chip stocks in April 2004 but closed business today in 120th position – the lowest FTSE 100 Index listed company – while Whitbread was next in line at 105th after gaining entry in December 2002.