Burberry dumped out of the FTSE 100 after 15 years - here's everything you need to know

Pedestrians walk past the store of British fashion label Burberry, in central London

(Image credit: HENRY NICHOLLS / Contributor)

published 5 September 2024

Burberry has been dumped out of the FTSE 100 index of Britain's biggest listed companies after 15 years in the top flight.

The historic British brand, which is known for its check print and trench coats, appears to have fallen out of fashion after its share price slumped by almost half over the past six months. It has been replaced by insurer Hiscox, which has seen its share price rise by a fifth over the past year.

The FTSE 100 index is reshuffled four times a year, enabling top-performing companies to enter, while laggards slip out into the lower tier FTSE 250.

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FTSE Russell, the global index provider, said: “In the rebalance, Burberry Group will leave the FTSE 100 and enter the FTSE 250.

“The rules-driven, impartial quarterly reviews ensure the indexes continue to portray an accurate reflection of the market they represent.”

Burberry has felt the impact of a slowdown in the wider luxury sector, with demand from shoppers dented during the cost-of-living crisis. It ousted its chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd after just over two years in July and axed dividend payouts following a sales slump. Akeroyd was replaced as CEO by industry veteran Joshua Schulman, who was previously the boss of American fashion brands Michael Kors and Coach.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Turning things around from here is a tough task for the new chief executive, Joshua Schulman.

"His experience at brands such as Michael Kors, Coach, and Jimmy Choo should help Burberry build back up its brand desirability, but this is likely going to take considerable investment and patience."

Raspberry Pi promoted to the FTSE 250

At the same time the reshuffle has seen Raspberry Pi, the British microcomputer maker, enter the FTSE 250 only three months after listing.

The IPO was cited as a victory for the London market, which has suffered from a number of UK-listed firms being bought out or moving abroad.

Paddy Power-owner Flutter, for example, has shifted its main stock market listing to New York, while German-owned Tui signed off a plan to delist from London in February.

Before Raspberry Pi’s IPO, London’s stock market has struggled to attract interest from high-growth technology firms, which have shown a preference to list in New York. Indeed, the London Stock Exchange lost out to the US last year when UK chip maker Arm Holdings chose Wall Street over London for its stock market return.

Eben Upton, chief executive of Raspberry Pi, said at the time: "The quality of the interactions during the marketing process has underlined our belief that London has the right calibre and sophistication of investor to support growing, ambitious technology businesses such as Raspberry Pi."

Chris is a freelance journalist, and was previously an editor and correspondent at the Financial Times as well as the business and money editor at The i Newspaper. He is also the author of the Virgin Money Maker, the personal finance guide published by Virgin Books, and has written for the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, South China Morning Post, TimeOut, Barron's and The Guardian. He is a graduate in Economics.