Which firms are listed on the ISEQ 20?

by - 16/10/2012

"The ISEQ 20 Index is made up of the 20 largest and most liquid companies quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange."

Representing a cross section of the firms on the exchange, the index provides an interesting barometer of the Irish economy.

During the Celtic Tiger era, at one stage the index rose to stand at just over 1500 before declining sharply to a low of under 300. The index stood at 525.44 points, as of 08:30 am on Monday, October 15th.

Here we look at the 20 firms which currently make up the index.

1. Aer Lingus

The low-cost airline provides both long-haul and short-haul passenger transportation and cargo services, operating 43 aircraft and carrying around 10 million passengers a year. Aer Lingus operates more than 80 routes throughout the UK and Europe from its bases at Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Belfast and London Gatwick airports. The firm also operates to four gateways in the US including New York-JFK, Boston, Chicago and Orlando.

2. ARYZTA AG

ARYZTA AG is a global food business focused on baking. The firm is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and also has operations across the globe. The firm has a primary listing on the Six Swiss Exchange and a secondary one on the ISE.

3. Bank of Ireland

Established in 1783 by Royal Charter, Bank of Ireland is a diversified financial services group and operates across a range of sectors, including retail, insurance, corporate and commercial. The government holds a stake in the bank after the travails of the Irish financial services industry over the past few years.

4. C&C

The firm is a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded alcoholic drinks. Its principal brands are Bulmers and Magners. The company has its headquarters in Dublin with manufacturing operations in Clonmel, Tipperary, Glasgow and Somerset.

5. CRH

CRH is an international building materials group, employing over 75,000 people across 36 countries. Headquartered in Dublin, the group was formed through a merger in 1970 of two leading Irish public companies, Cement Limited and Roadstone Limited.

6. DCC

Headquartered in Dublin, the firm employs over 8,500 people in 10 countries. DCC operates across five sectors; energy, information technology and entertainment products, healthcare, environmental and food, providing sales, marketing, distribution and business support services.

7. Dragon Oil

Dragon Oil is an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company, working principally offshore Turkmenistan. The group’s headquarters are in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and it employs more than 1,200 people internationally.

8. Elan

Elan specialises in neuroscience-based biotechnology, with work including research, development and commercial activities for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease and autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Headquartered in Dublin, Elan was incorporated as a private limited company in December 1969 and became a public limited company in January 1984.

9. FBD

The company is one of Ireland's largest property and casualty insurers, providing insurance for farmers, private individuals and business owners. FBD was founded in the late 1960s by Irish farmers.

10. Glanbia

Headquartered in Kilkenny and listed on the Irish and London Stock Exchanges, the food group has manufacturing and processing facilities in seven countries with sales and technical support locations in 14 countries and employs more than 3,000 people. Formed through a merger of Avonmore Foods and Waterford Foods, it was renamed Glanbia in 1999.

11. Grafton

Dating back to 1907, Grafton Group was started when William Thomas Chadwick established his first business, Chadwicks (Dublin) Limited, to supply builders merchants and major building contractors with Irish and imported cement and plaster. In the late 1980s, the company changed its name to Grafton and has grown to employ over 9,000. The company operates in the builders merchanting, DIY retailing and mortar manufacturing markets in Britain and Ireland. In Ireland the company trades under the brands Woodie’s DIY, Heiton Buckley, Chadwicks and MacNaughton Blair. The company also operates in Belgium and Poland.

12. Irish Continental Group(ICG)

ICG is a shipping and transport group, providing transport of passengers and cars, freight and container freight on routes between Ireland, the UK and continental Europe.

13. Kenmare Resources

Founded in 1972, Kenmare specialises in exploration for commercial deposits of natural resources and the development and operation of mines. The firm’s main asset is the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in Mozambique.

14. Kerry Group

Kerry provides food, food ingredients and flavours to the Irish and UK markets. Founded in Listowel, Kerry, in 1972, the company has grown to achieve annual sales in the region of €5.3 billion. The group is currently in an expansion phase and recently announced over 800 new jobs in a new research centre in Kildare.

15. Kingspan Group

Founded in the late 1960s as a small engineering business by Eugene Murtagh, Kingspan was originally involved in the manufacture of steel frame buildings and structural sections. It now manufactures insulation and building envelope solutions. Based in Ireland, the company also has operations across Europe, the US, India, Australasia and the Middle East.

16. Paddy Power

Betting and gaming group Paddy Power has more than 3,000 employees and over 300 shops worldwide. Around four-fifths of the company’s business is now done online and it recently announced a large number of jobs at its new headquarters in Dublin.

17. Providence Resources

Providence Resources is an Irish-based upstream oil and gas company active in Ireland and the UK. The company's share price jumped last week after it was understood that it could recover as much as 280 million barrels of oil at its Barryroe field off the Cork coast.

18. Ryanair Holdings

Now one of the largest airlines in Europe, Ryanair was founded by the Ryan family in the mid-1980s. The airline currently operates over 1,500 routes and has 51 bases across Europe and posted profits of €504 million for the year ended March 31st, 2012.

19. Smurfit Kappa Group

Paper-based packaging group Smurfit Kappa operates in 30 countries and employs more than 38,000 people in its operations worldwide with around 800 of those in Ireland. The firm's products include containerboard, solid board, corrugated and solid board packaging, graphic board and sack paper.

20. Total Produce

A spin-off of Fyffes, the company is made up of the former general produce and distribution division of the company. Total Produce operates out of 90 facilities across 19 countries and grows, sources, imports, packages, distributes and markets over 200 lines of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers.

More Details: http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/FEATURE%3A+Which+firms+are+listed+on+the+ISEQ+20%3F/id/19410615-5218-507b-ce70-805c66858097