For the second year in a row, Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) has won the coveted title of Britain’s Most Admired Company in this year’s London Stock exchange-sponsored event on Tuesday.
The FTSE 100 insurance blue chip beat out stalwarts such as AstraZeneca, Ashtead Group, Diageo and Next to take home the title.
Some 251 firms spanning 28 sectors were in the running, with feedback from 300 C-suite peers, financial analysts, and industry experts informing the rankings on 13 criteria.
‘Quality of products’ was cited as the top attribute critical to success, along with ‘financial soundness’ and ‘quality of management’.
António Simões, chief executive of L&G, commented: "It is an honour to be recognised as Britain's Most Admired Company for the second consecutive year.
“Since I joined the business in January, I have been impressed by our authentic sense of purpose, talented people and performance track record.
“This award is testament to the vision and commitment of our teams to delivering positive outcomes for society, our customers and our shareholders, and it is great to see them recognised by peers and other close observers of our business.”
Octopus Energy, soared 209 places to lead its sector, alongside marked improvements for SSE, M&G, Centrica, Iberdrola (Scottish Power), Elementis, Fever-Tree Drinks, Tritax Big Box, Compass Group, and J Sainsbury.
Other sector winners included Bentley in automotives, ARUP in business support services, Sky in media and Tesco in retail
“For the first time, we see that the broader perspective of ‘long-term value potential’ comes into this magic circle of critical success factors,” said Sandra Macleod, chief executive of Echo Research, which led the study.
Julia Hoggett, chief executive of London Stock Exchange plc, added: "We are pleased to honour the forward-looking leaders who have successfully built resilient organisational cultures whilst fostering growth in a rapidly changing environment. Congratulations to all the winners announced today.”
Previous winners of the award include Greggs, Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) and Unilever.