SEDOL number:

The number shown is the SEDOL number of the company’s primary listed equity security. The SEDOL number uniquely identifies each security traded on the London Stock Exchange, and appears against its listing in the Stock Exchange Daily Official List, or S.E.D.O.L.

EPIC code: s

The code shown is the EPIC code of the company’s primary listed equity security. It is particularly useful for locating traded securities within ICV’s Topic3 screen service.

The EPIC code is an alphabetical reference code allocated to each traded security within the London Stock Exchange’s EPIC computer system, whick tracks and records all bid, offer and deal prices. EPIC is the acronym for Exchange Price Information Computer.

BLMBG (Bloomberg) code:

This code identifies traded securities when using Bloomberg information screens. The Bloomberg code is usually the same as the EPIC code, but on certain occasions is different.

Activities analysis

This panel analyses the proportions of turnover and profits directly attributable to the activities and regions indicated. The headings and figures are derived from the latest published annual report.

Presentation

The figures represent the company’s own breakdown of turnover and profit, and are analysed by percentage. The headings are based on the descriptions used by the company and may be abbreviated for space reasons. No attempt has been made to standardise activity headings across all companies, nor the grouping of different geographical regions.

Use of headings

Similar companies can use markedly different bases for grouping both business segments and geographic areas. The Companies Act leaves the company a wide margin of discretion to define its own headings. It is equally non-specific as to the precise definition of turnover and profit. For example, the breakdown of profit given by a company, whether by region or by activity, can be shown at either operating or pre-tax profit level, and the definition of operating profit can itself vary between companies.

Limitations

The practical and legal requirements relating to company reporting allow companies a wide range of presentation options for turnover and profit analysis.

Whilst it would be possible to apply strict rules to ensure comparability, the practical effect would be to either exclude many companies from showing a breakdown within Company REFS, or to require the use of a table structure too complex to fit within the available space. A case-by-case approach has been adopted to provide a broad-brush indicator of how a company’s main areas of product and regional activity inter-relate.