About
The Study

Britain’s Most Admired Companies study is the longest-running annual survey of corporate reputation in the UK, with data going back to 1990. The study is run by leading reputation specialists and Expert Witnesses, Echo Research, in partnership with the London Stock Exchange.

We measure the reputation of over 250 of Britain’s largest companies across 28 industry sectors, against 13 criteria.

Using responses from board-level representatives, as well as financial analysts and City commentators, the survey is a peer-review of corporate reputation, as seen by a company’s closest critics – its competitors and financial influencers.

Participants rate companies in their sector against the 13 criteria using a scale of 0 – 10 (0=poor, 5=average, 10=excellent). Using these scores, we publish the Britain’s Most Admired Companies ranking overall, by sector and by each criterion.

Tailored insights on your company’s performance based on data gathered in this study are also available.

The Sectors

Aerospace & Defence

Airbus
Babcock International Group
BAE Systems
Chemring Group
Leonardo
Melrose Industries
Parker Meggitt
QinetiQ Group
Rolls-Royce Group
Senior
Thales

Automotive Manufacturers

Aston Martin
Bentley Motors
BMW (UK)
Ford of Britain
Honda Motor Co
Jaguar Land Rover
McLaren Automotive
Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK)
Stellantis
Toyota Manufacturing UK

Beverages / Drinks

Barr (AG)
Britvic
Budweiser Brewing Group UK & Ireland
C&C Group
Carlsberg (UK)
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Diageo plc
Fever-Tree Drinks
Heineken UK
Molson Coors Brewing Co. (UK)

Business Support Services

Arup Group
Ashtead Group
AtkinsRéalis
Bunzl
DCC plc
Experian Group
Intertek Group plc
IWG
Rentokil Initial

Chemicals

BASF (UK)
Croda International
Elementis
Essentra
Ineos
Johnson Matthey
Synthomer
Victrex

Digital Retail & Consumer Services

Amazon (UK)
ASOS
Comparethemarket.com
Deliveroo
eBay UK
Just Eat
Mony Group (MoneySuperMarket)
Ocado
Rightmove
Zoopla

Energy Distribution & Supply

Centrica
Drax Group
E.ON UK
EDF Energy
Iberdrola (Scottish Power)
National Grid
Octopus Energy
OVO Energy
SSE
UK Power Networks

Engineering & Machinery

Coats Group
Dyson
Halma
IMI
Oxford instruments
Renishaw
Rotork
Smiths Group
Spirax Group
Vesuvius
Weir Group

Financial Services

3i Group
abrdn
AJ Bell
Close Brothers Group
Hargreaves Lansdown
IG Group Holdings
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG)
Legal & General
M&G
Man Group
Schroders
St James’s Place
Standard Chartered

Food Producers & Providers

Associated British Foods
Bakkavor Group
Cranswick
Greencore
Hilton Food Group
Nomad Foods (Birds Eye, Iglo,
Findus)
Premier Foods
Tate & Lyle
Unilever

Healthcare

AstraZeneca
Convatec
GSK
Haleon
Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Indivior PLC
Novartis UK
Pfizer UK
Reckitt
Smith & Nephew

Heavy Construction

Balfour Beatty
BAM Construct UK / BAM Nuttall
Costain Group
Galliford Try
Keller Group
Kier Group
Laing O’Rourke
Mace Group
Morgan Sindall Group
Wates

Home Construction

Barratt Redrow
Bellway
Berkeley Group
Crest Nicholson Holdings
McCarthy & Stone
Persimmon
Taylor Wimpey
Vistry Group

Life Assurance & Insurance

Admiral
Allianz UK
Aviva
BUPA
Hiscox
LV General Insurance
Phoenix Group Holdings
Prudential
RSA Insurance

Media

BBC
Daily Mail & General Trust
Future PLC
Informa
ITV
Pearson
Reach plc
RELX
Sky UK
Guardian Media Group
WPP

Metals & Mining

Anglo American
BHP Group
Centamin plc
Endeavour Mining plc
Fresnillo
Glencore
Rio Tinto

Oil & Gas

BP
Capricorn Energy
Diversified Energy
Energean PLC
Equinor
Harbour Energy Plc
John Wood Group
Shell plc
TotalEnergies SE
Tullow Oil

Property / Residential & Commercial REITs

British Land Company
Derwent London
Great Portland Estates (GPE)
Hammerson
Landsec
LondonMetric Property PLC
SEGRO
Shaftesbury Capital PLC (formerly
Capital & Counties)
Tritax Big Box
Workspace Group

Restaurants & Pubs

Domino’s Pizza Group (UK)
Fuller, Smith & Turner
Greene King
Greggs
Marston's
McDonald’s UK
Mitchells & Butlers
Restaurant Group
Stonegate Pub Company
Wetherspoon (JD)
Young & Co.'s Brewery

Retail Banking

Barclays
HSBC Holdings
Lloyds Banking Group
Metro Bank
Monzo
Nationwide
NatWest Group
Revolut
Santander UK
Starling
The Co-operative Bank
Wise

Retailers (Broadline & Home)

Currys Group
Dunelm
Frasers Group plc
Halfords
Howdens
JD Sports
John Lewis Partnership
Kingfisher
Marks & Spencer
Next

Retailers (Food & Personal)

Aldi
Asda
B&M (European Value Retail)
Co-operative Group
Iceland
Lidl GB
Morrison Supermarkets plc
Sainsbury (J)
Tesco
Walgreens Boots Alliance

Software & IT Services

arm
Avast Software
Aveva Group
Bytes
Computacenter
Darktrace
Kainos Group
Sage Group
Softcat
Sophos Group
Spectris plc

Support Services (People & Places)

Capita
Compass Group
G4S
Hays
Mitie Group
PageGroup
Serco Group
SThree

Telecoms

Avanti Communications
BT Group
Gamma Communications
TalkTalk Telecom Group
Telecom plus PLC
Virgin Media O2
Vodafone

Transport (People)

Arriva
easyJet
FirstGroup
Go-Ahead Group
International Consolidated Airlines
Group (IAG)
Jet2
Mobico Group
Ryanair
Trainline
Virgin Atlantic
Wizz Air Holdings

Travel & Leisure

Bet 365
Carnival
Entain plc
Flutter Entertainment
Games Workshop Group plc
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
Rank group
SSP Group
TUI Travel
Whitbread

Water Utilities

Anglian Water
Northumbrian Water
Pennon Group
Scottish Water
Severn Trent Water
Southern Water
Thames Water
United Utilities
Welsh Water
Yorkshire Water

The Criteria

Ability to Attract, Develop & Retain Top Talent

Effectiveness in generating, securing and retaining talented employees (e.g. through excellence in training, work environment, depth of expertise etc.)

Capacity to Innovate

Actively encourages innovation across the business and invests in this accordingly (e.g. R&D, marketing, people, funding)

Clarity of Strategy

Clearly defined and communicated strategic objectives, plans and approaches

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

How committed a company is to employing a diverse team of people, if they are treated fairly and respectfully and if they have equal access to opportunities and resources

Competitiveness

The extent to which the company operates and competes on a domestic and/or global platform

Effective Corporate Governance

Adherence to capacity for and effectiveness in following the ‘rules’ e.g. boardroom management, balancing the interests of a company's many stakeholders, such as shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community

Effective Use of Corporate Assets

Uses corporate assets (financial capital, intellectual capital, trademarks, subsidiaries, investment, infrastructure, networks etc.) to their best – efficiently and effectively

Financial Soundness

Built upon firm financial foundations (has a strong balance sheet) that is suitably leveraged for the type of company

Long-term Value Potential

Company is well positioned as an investment opportunity, given the combinations of growth prospects for its market and its ability to take full advantage of its structure, management and financing