This first edition of this well‐thought out and nicely produced guide provides concise and unfussy “marketing and financial information for the top companies in the UK”. As the introduction explains, companies are ranked: “by turnover based on the most recently reported available accounts”. An explanation of the financial definitions used is also given, covering sales; profit; assets; shareholder funds; and employees.
Following an unfussy and clearly laid out table of contents and concise introduction, the guide is divided into five sections. Activity Codes, the first of these, running to nine pages in total, is based on the UN International classification standard ISIC activity code numbers. The next section looks at the UK's 250 largest companies ranked by turnover. The information is provided in clearly laid‐out tables, with every other line highlighted. A brief summary of the business description is given, followed by profits and employees. Although this section is called the UK's 250 largest companies, a quick glance at the top 20 alone reveals that many are actually the UK branch of a multinational, such as Wal‐Mart.
The next section divides the top UK companies into Industry Sectors, covering Banks; Mining, Agriculture and Construction; Manufacturing; Food and Tobacco; Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals; Wholesalers; Retailers; Transportation; Oil; Publishing; Communications; Hotels; Restaurants. The guide then lists top UK companies in industry sectors, giving the location of the HQ and a figure for total assets (banks) or turnover (others). The following section lists financial details of the UK's largest 3,000 companies. This includes the industry code; sales; sales for the previous year; percentage change in sales; and profit and sales for this year and last year. Information is also given on assets, equity and employees. The tables also include sales per employee, assets, equity capital, equity capital as a percentage of assets, and the year the company was established.
The final sections provide indexing. A trade index is divided by overall sector, such as coal mining or oil and gas extraction. Companies in each sector are listed alphabetically, with accurate cross‐referencing to information in the earlier sections. The other index is an alphabetical listing of each company. As well as details of the Chairman or Chief Executive where available, contact telephone, fax numbers, and e‐mail addresses are given. Company names are highlighted in bold, and leader dots used to guide the reader's eye across the page to the cross‐reference to earlier sections.
This is a very easy directory to use, thanks to its uncluttered layout, the simplicity of the information, and the clarity of the typeface and cross‐referencing. Although it does not give any information in great depth, a remarkable amount of detail is crammed into its 266 pages. This is not a cheap guide, but would make a valuable reference book in support of business studies, finance, and even marketing or business journalism courses. There are even pages between the sections for notes – though as information professionals we might want to discourage their use! The guide is also available on CD‐ROM.
