What are the five biggest british firms for the last 50 years?

Question

What are the five biggest british firms for the last 50 years?

Answer 1

The current top 5 are -

BP

HSBC

Vodafone Group

GlaxoSmithKline

Royal Dutch Shell

In the past companies like ICI, EMI, British Oxygen and United Steel would have been in.

Answer 2

To find out the five biggest British companies by market capitalization, buy a quality newspaper tomorrow and look at the business pages. On the page detailing share prices, you'll find market capitalizations.

My guess for the current top five would be: HSBC, Vodaphone, GlaxoSmithKline, RBS and BP. Shell might also be one of them but it's an oddly organized company. It used to be RoyalDutchShell, a 60% Dutch, 40% British company but they reorganized. I think it's now a mainly British company but still part Dutch.

I would guess that the Stock Exchange could give you the top 5 British companies by market capitalization for each of the last fifty years.