Politicians and business leaders often refer to small and mid-size quoted companies (SMQCs) as being pivotal to the future of the British economy. But the definition of “small and mid-size” can cover a huge range of companies, and the difference between the UK’s largest companies and the rest is stark, as we present in this paper.

In particular, we examine the companies quoted on the UK’s public equity markets to highlight the difference in size between the largest 100 companies and the rest.

We also present data that show the massive contribution that SMQC make to our society and to the stock market.

They represent 93% of all the companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by number (when investment companies and certain other categories are excluded – see ‘Our sample’ for more detail).

They collectively have a market capitalisation of £428bn by value, representing 20% of the total market capitalisation of the LSE (with the same exclusions) 1.