High street giant to rejoin Britain’s blue-chip index four years after being relegated
Marks & Spencer is to rejoin the FTSE 100 four years after it was relegated, as the high street stalwart continues to turn its business around.The retailer will return to the blue-chip index alongside technical products supplier Diploma, plus drugmakers Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Dechra Pharmaceuticals, the index compiler FTSE Russell confirmed on Wednesday.They will replace housebuilder Persimmon, investment group Abrdn, insurance firm Hiscox and chemicals business Johnson Matthey from Sept 18.M&S shares have risen nearly 77pc this year as Stuart Machin, the chief executive, spearheads a revival of the retailer, which is battling to avoid the fate of collapsed department stores such as Debenhams and House of Fraser.
Mr Machin wrote on LinkedIn: “Good news for M&S today, and it’s a reflection of everyone’s hard work – but the sky didn’t fall in when we left the FTSE 100 four years ago, and it doesn’t change our priorities today.
“To be frank, it’s just another day, and we’re only as good as our customers shopping with us today tell us we are. That’s what matters, and if we do right by our customers, we’ll do right by our shareholders.”
M&S was among the businesses that founded the FTSE 100 in 1984, but was demoted to the midcap FTSE 250 in 2019.