The London Stock Exchange has confirmed that Ocado will be promoted into the FTSE 100 after a year of unprecedented deals, while M&S narrowly avoided being demoted.
The promotion for the online grocery retailer to become one of the UK’s top 100 businesses will be effective after market close on June 15.
Ocado has been selling its technology to international partners, with the most recent being a deal with US retail giant Kroger earlier this month.
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On the back of the Kroger tie-up shares in Ocado rose 44 per cent, adding £1.6 billion to its stock market value and making it worth more than M&S.
The latter was valued at £4.8 billion before its full-year report last week revealed poor figures and a new tranche of store closures as part of its five-year turnaround plan.
As a result, speculation from analysts had been rife that M&S had a chance of falling out of the top 100 during the quarterly reshuffle after its shared dropped 5.5 per cent this year.
However, according to Thomson Reuters data based on last Thursday’s closing prices, M&S had been just nine spots away from being relegated into the FTSE 250 zone.
M&S, often regarded as a bellwether for the health of UK retail, has been a member of the FTSE 100 since 1984.
The London Stock Exchange undergoes a reshuffle of the FTSE 100 index every three months.
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