





The UK’s most profitable FTSE 100 company is little known 3i (private equity and venture capital) which generates a staggering £5,206,406 ($6,858,685 USD) of profit per employee. The Oil & Gas industry generates the highest revenue per employee at £3,733,442 ($4,918,268 USD).

However, Real Estate Investment Trusts are the UK’s most profitable industry, with companies averaging just over £686,000 ($903,705 USD) of profit per employee.

The full data set and interactive charts for all FTSE 100 companies can be found below, but first a few other highlights.

The 5 most profitable companies per employee are: 3i, Land Securities, BHP, Segro and British Land.

The 5 companies with the highest revenue per employee are: 3i, St. James’s Place, Royal Dutch Shell, Prudential and BP.

Surprisingly banks are not among the 5 most profitable industries, which are: Real Estate Investment Trusts, Oil & Gas Producers, Financial Services, Mining, Mobile Telecommunications.

In terms of revenue per employee the top 5 are: Oil & Gas Producers, Life Insurance, Electricity, Real Estate Investment Trusts and Mining.

In total, FTSE 100 companies employ 4,895,201 people (not all of whom work in the UK).

(not all of whom work in the UK). And they generate profits of over £312 billion ($411 billion USD) from revenues of just over £2 trillion ($2.64 trillion USD).

($411 billion USD) from revenues of just over ($2.64 trillion USD). Compass Group is the largest employer with 550,000 employees but has the lowest revenue per employee (just £40,855) and third lowest profit per employee (£3,818).

but has the lowest revenue per employee (just £40,855) and third lowest profit per employee (£3,818). Segro has the fewest employees at just 279.

Company Name Employees Profit Per Employee Revenue Per Employee 3i 281 £5,206,406 £4,669,039 Land Securities 615 £834,146 £1,385,366 BHP 26,146 £774,115 £1,578,444 Segro 279 £745,878 £1,065,233 British Land 835 £556,886 £887,425 Royal Dutch Shell 84,000 £517,619 £3,840,714 BP 69,700 £395,409 £3,604,161 Antofagasta 6,200 £388,710 £766,129 Rio Tinto 46,807 £351,016 £855,214 Rightmove 520 £345,615 £467,827 Legal & General 7,629 £304,103 £1,392,057 Shire plc 23,044 £279,899 £666,117 Berkeley Group Holdings 2,800 £279,393 £964,286 Fresnillo 4,817 £238,738 £433,880 Standard Life Aberdeen 9,651 £215,522 £788,519 Hargreaves Lansdown 1,310 £215,115 £318,168 National Grid 23,023 £208,487 £662,381 Persimmon 4,713 £203,374 £725,652 United Utilities 5,347 £192,631 £325,416 Prudential 22,912 £175,454 £3,777,933 Schroders 4,619 £174,215 £556,397 London Stock Exchange 4,908 £167,278 £399,348 St. James's Place 2,155 £165,244 £4,213,457 Taylor Wimpey 5,193 £159,831 £764,491 Vodafone Group 95,049 £154,236 £570,758 Randgold Resources 4,003 £148,928 £309,768 Barratt Developments 6,193 £136,234 £778,298 Diageo 30,051 £133,773 £404,645 Severn Trent 6,256 £132,385 £270,141 ITV 6,055 £131,957 £516,928 InterContinental Hotels 6,658 £121,508 £267,348 Imperial Brands 33,800 £114,201 £448,521 Anglo American 69,000 £109,855 £380,290 SSE 20,786 £109,689 £1,502,454 Ashtead 15,996 £108,152 £231,933 GVC Holdings 2,657 £97,249 £391,419 Aviva 30,021 £92,935 £1,170,514 GlaxoSmithKline 98,462 £88,359 £304,889 Croda International 4,309 £86,981 £317,939 Experian 16,500 £86,667 £282,424 AstraZeneca 61,100 £84,943 £363,993 Reckitt Benckiser 40,000 £82,750 £287,750 Glencore 145,977 £81,314 £1,407,619 Smith & Nephew 15,933 £80,336 £299,379 International Consolidated Airlines 62,238 £80,015 £431,890 Lloyds Banking Group* 67,905 £77,682 £261,836 Informa 7,539 £74,081 £233,453 Unilever 160,566 £72,369 £389,746 RELX Group 31,000 £72,258 £237,097 Direct Line Group 10,808 £71,577 £320,133 easyJet 12,280 £66,368 £439,739 BT Group 105,800 £63,422 £224,197 Paddy Power Betfair 7,640 £61,937 £229,058 Mondi 26,207 £61,816 £315,565 Sky plc 31,578 £61,752 £419,279 Centrica 33,138 £58,241 £845,555 RSA Insurance Group 12,636 £57,771 £561,887 Burberry 10,135 £57,070 £269,364 Carnival Corporation 99,200 £54,234 £185,081 Johnson Matthey 12,348 £53,936 £1,143,505 Just Eat 2,919 £53,032 £187,153 Ferguson 33,000 £51,818 £674,848 HSBC* 228,899 £49,284 £220,228 Micro Focus 16,100 £44,815 £119,876 Admiral Group 9,696 £43,833 £116,543 CRH 85,000 £43,059 £345,647 DCC 11,146 £42,846 £1,279,383 Halma 6,341 £38,032 £170,320 Evraz 70,186 £36,475 £154,304 Coca-Cola HBC AG 29,427 £36,361 £258,266 Sage Group 13,292 £35,059 £133,163 Rolls-Royce Holdings 50,000 £34,800 £326,200 Bunzl 18,154 £33,679 £472,623 Royal Bank of Scotland Group* 70,900 £31,580 £179,408 Next 28,318 £31,040 £143,372 Smurfit Kappa 46,000 £30,000 £216,739 Smiths Group 22,000 £27,818 £145,909 NMC Health 13,739 £25,645 £116,457 Melrose Industries 11,351 £24,967 £184,125 Smith, D.S. 28,500 £24,035 £202,456 TUI Group 55,773 £23,488 £396,787 BAE Systems 83,200 £22,596 £220,192 Standard Chartered 82,838 £19,689 £159,951 WPP plc 134,413 £17,558 £113,605 Pearson 32,500 £17,077 £138,769 Whitbread 50,000 £16,804 £66,000 Rentokil Initial 36,000 £13,819 £66,944 Associated British Foods 133,000 £13,759 £116,391 Marks & Spencer 80,787 £13,616 £132,447 British American Tobacco 60,593 £13,137 £334,857 Intertek 43,906 £12,518 £63,089 Kingfisher 78,000 £11,385 £149,487 Sainsbury's 121,200 £9,983 £234,818 Morrisons 105,487 £7,641 £163,622 Tesco 440,658 £6,150 £128,944 Ocado 12,799 £5,532 £114,071 Compass Group 550,000 £3,818 £40,855 Royal Mail 161,851 £3,509 £62,836 Barclays* 79,900 £0 £234,043

* Profit per employee is calculated using EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation) with the exception of Banks which which is based on Profit before tax. See methodology section for more.

Industy Number of Employees Industry Profit Profit Per Employee Real Estate Investment Trusts 1,729 £1,186,100,000 £686,003 Oil & Gas Producers 153,700 £71,040,000,000 £462,199 Financial Services 20,769 £5,437,500,000 £261,808 Mining 302,950 £60,276,160,000 £198,964 Mobile Telecommunications 95,049 £14,660,000,000 £154,236 Life Insurance 62,717 £9,486,100,000 £151,252 Gas, Water & Multiutilities 67,764 £8,588,200,000 £126,737 Household Goods & Home Construction 58,899 £6,724,500,000 £114,170 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 182,606 £20,340,000,000 £111,387 Electricity 20,786 £2,280,000,000 £109,689 Beverages 59,478 £5,090,000,000 £85,578 Personal Goods 170,701 £12,198,400,000 £71,461 Fixed Line Telecommunications 105,800 £6,710,000,000 £63,422 Chemicals 16,657 £1,040,800,000 £62,484 Forestry & Paper 26,207 £1,620,000,000 £61,816 Nonlife Insurance 33,140 £1,928,600,000 £58,196 Health Care Equipment & Services 29,672 £1,632,340,000 £55,013 Tobacco 94,393 £4,656,000,000 £49,326 Construction & Materials 96,351 £3,943,400,000 £40,927 Software & Computer Services 29,392 £1,187,520,000 £40,403 Support Services 174,702 £7,006,060,000 £40,103 Banks 530,442 £20,426,000,000 £38,508 Electronic & Electrical Equipment 6,341 £241,160,000 £38,032 Industrial Metals & Mining 70,186 £2,560,000,000 £36,475 Media 243,605 £8,642,220,000 £35,476 General Industrials 96,500 £2,677,000,000 £27,741 Aerospace & Defense 133,200 £3,620,000,000 £27,177 Travel & Leisure 846,446 £16,965,790,000 £20,044 General Retailers 190,024 £3,021,800,000 £15,902 Food Producers 133,000 £1,830,000,000 £13,759 Food & Drug Retailers 680,144 £4,796,800,000 £7,053 Industrial Transportation 161,851 £568,000,000 £3,509

Industry Number of Employees Industry Revenue Revenue Per Employee Oil & Gas Producers 153,700 £573,830,000,000 £3,733,442 Life Insurance 62,717 £141,400,000,000 £2,254,572 Electricity 20,786 £31,230,000,000 £1,502,454 Real Estate Investment Trusts 1,729 £1,890,200,000 £1,093,233 Mining 302,950 £321,100,000,000 £1,059,911 Chemicals 16,657 £15,490,000,000 £929,939 Gas, Water & Multiutilities 67,764 £46,700,000,000 £689,156 Financial Services 20,769 £13,868,800,000 £667,764 Mobile Telecommunications 95,049 £54,250,000,000 £570,758 Household Goods & Home Construction 58,899 £26,420,000,000 £448,564 Personal Goods 170,701 £65,310,000,000 £382,599 Tobacco 94,393 £35,450,000,000 £375,558 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 182,606 £67,610,000,000 £370,251 Nonlife Insurance 33,140 £11,690,000,000 £352,746 Support Services 174,702 £58,660,000,000 £335,772 Beverages 59,478 £19,760,000,000 £332,224 Construction & Materials 96,351 £31,470,000,000 £326,618 Forestry & Paper 26,207 £8,270,000,000 £315,565 Aerospace & Defense 133,200 £34,630,000,000 £259,985 Fixed Line Telecommunications 105,800 £23,720,000,000 £224,197 Health Care Equipment & Services 29,672 £6,370,000,000 £214,681 Banks 530,442 £112,860,000,000 £212,766 General Industrials 96,500 £18,950,000,000 £196,373 Media 243,605 £45,503,270,000 £186,791 Electronic & Electrical Equipment 6,341 £1,080,000,000 £170,320 Industrial Metals & Mining 70,186 £10,830,000,000 £154,304 Food & Drug Retailers 680,144 £104,000,000,000 £152,909 General Retailers 190,024 £26,966,300,000 £141,910 Software & Computer Services 29,392 £3,700,000,000 £125,885 Travel & Leisure 846,446 £103,110,000,000 £121,815 Food Producers 133,000 £15,480,000,000 £116,391 Industrial Transportation 161,851 £10,170,000,000 £62,836

Methodology & Data

The top 100 companies come from the FTSE 100 Index which is made up of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation.

Our list actually only has 99 companies, since we excluded the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, which as the name suggests, is a traded investment trust rather than a regular company.

We calculated profit for most companies using EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation) as it’s a good way to compare profitability of different types of companies. The one exception are banks where we used profit before tax. This was done because banks make a large portion of their profits from interest, so it does not make sense to exclude it.

Charts were created using a logarithmic scale to make them more readable.

Industries are based on FTSE ICB sector.

Most of the data comes from either the London Stock Exchange and/or Yahoo Finance, with some additional information coming from Wikipedia.

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