Irish oil explorer Tullow was last night confirmed as a member of Britain's elite FTSE 100 index following a regular review of constituent companies.
The changes, based on the closing stock market prices on Tuesday, will take effect from the start of business on September 24th.
Shares in Tullow climbed 4.5p to 560p in London yesterday ahead of the news. The stock has climbed over 30 per cent since mid-August following news of a second oil discovery by the group in Ghana.
The group, founded in 1985 by Aidan Heavey, is the first Irish company to gain admission to the blue-chip index since Fran Rooney's ill-fated Baltimore Technologies. It came close to winning entry in the last review only for its share price to falter in the run- up to the June review.
Only companies with UK domicile are eligible for membership of the FTSE 100 - a provision that accounts for the absence of Irish heavyweights such as AIB and CRH, despite London listings.
Tullow moved its domicile to London in 2001, although it maintains its corporate headquarters in Dublin.
Joining Tullow in the benchmark index will be housebuilder Taylor Wimpey and mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse. They replace property firm Segro, utility company Kelda and power group Drax.
Taylor Wimpey became Britain's biggest housebuilder in July when it combined Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey, while Carphone Warehouse has benefited from increasing investor confidence in its broadband strategy and progress in the unbundling of telephone exchanges, analysts said.
The FTSE 100 reserve list will contain TUI Travel, Thomas Cook Group, First Group, London Stock Exchange, Invensys, and Ladbrokes. Reserve lists are created at each quarterly review, and contain the next six companies ranked in order of market capitalisation below the FTSE 100.
Reserve list stocks are used to maintain the index at 100 companies, should that number be reduced as a result of corporate actions, such as merger and acquisitions activity or delistings, between quarterly reviews. ( Additional reporting, Reuters )
