Another Irish emigrant eyes the 100 club

Last spring, one of the handful of Irish companies in the FTSE 100, Tullow Oil, fell out of the index after its share price collapsed along with the rest of the exploration industry due to to the slump in the price of a barrel of the black stuff.

This spring, the blue-chip index could be set to welcome another Irish company to the gang, as Smurfit Kappa upgrades its London listing to premium, which could ultimately make it eligible for the FTSE.

CRH, the building materials giant, and DCC, the energy-to-tech conglomerate, are currently the only two true members of the green-jersey gang on the list of 100 largest companies on the London exchange.

There are also a couple of so-called "plastic Paddies" on the FTSE 100, such as Experian and the pharma group Shire. But they are really only Irish as a matter of convenience (and, possibly, tax benefits).

Smurfit Kappa, if it joins the club, is Irish through and through. It is run by a scion of the famous business family whose name hangs over the door. Some of Ireland’s best-known executives have passed through its ranks over the years.

And while it is now a global business, it is undoubtedly run from this country.

Smurfit Kappa’s market cap yesterday of about €4.8 billion (£3.7 billion) would not be enough to get it automatic entry into the FTSE 100, should it be in the running by the next FTSE committee meeting in March. It would probably need to get its value up past £4 billion to gain entry, and possibly up to £4.5 billion to be comfortably ensconced away from the in-out zone. So it has a fair way to go.

The company is probably banking, however, on a wind in its back from the sheer prestige of letting it be known it is planning a tilt. Its share price also jumped 12 per cent yesterday, as investors breathed a sigh of relief at the positive outlook in Smurfit’s annual results.

Smurfit is oversold this year. If it can maintain an upwards trend, the FTSE 100 is in reach in a few months.

Meanwhile, Tullow, which also announced its results yesterday, is down to a market cap of about £1.3 billion. As much as the company is fundamentally sound, it won’t be bothering the FTSE 100 again for quite a while.