Grocery delivery service Ocado appears to have escaped the drop to the FTSE 250 with property group British Land now heading down a division.
That’s the prediction of Hargreaves Lansdown, which said metal basher IMI will win promotion back to the FTSE 100 and replace British Land in FTSE Russell’s latest quarterly review.
The wealth platform highlights that British Land, (market value £3.1bn), has taken another lurch downward recently as rising interest rates have kyboshed investment demand for property, knocking another chunk off its asset value.
IMI (£4.2bn), by contrast, is storming ahead, with its shares up 23% this year so far on the back of an upgrade to full-year earnings guidance following a strong performance in the first quarter, helped by recent acquisitions.
Talk recently has been that, possibly embarrassingly, Ocado might be replaced by its UK partner Marks & Spencer in the FTSE 100 so differing are their fortunes at present.
But in a fortuitous piece of timing, at the last moment, Ocado saved itself despite a storming run by the food and clothes retailer M&S over the past fortnight.
If the calculation happened right now the outcome might be different with M&S currently valued at £3.6bn, while Ocado has hit a five-year-low of £3.2bn.
Other big names swapping places include ASOS and Capita, with the online fashion group dropping out of the FTSE 250 and being replaced by the outsourcer.
Capita seems to have shrugged off the effects of a cyberattack in March while worries over its balance sheet and turnround plan have sunk ASOS.