(CSRwire) London - FTSE Group, the global index provider, today confirms the results of the March review of the FTSE4Good global index series. An additional 61 companies worldwide have met the index criteria that assess companies' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices based on principles of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). The largest number of new companies is from Japan (21). Globally, 27 companies will be removed from the index, as they no longer meet the criteria. Changes to the index will take place after the close of the markets on Friday 18th March 2005.

Seven companies from the UK will go into the FTSE4Good index. They are e2v technologies, Management Consulting Group, Morgan Crucible Co., Nord Anglia Education, Surfcontrol and Virgin Mobile Holdings.

The table below shows the breakdown of the number of companies that are joining and leaving the FTSE4Good index by country:
Australia - Additions, 6 Deletions, 2
Canada - Additions, 1 Deletions, 3
France - Additions, 6
Germany - Additions, 5
Italy - Additions, 1 Deletions, 2
Japan - Additions, 21 Deletions, 2
Netherlands - Additions, 1
Spain - Additions, 1
UK - Additions, 7 Deletions, 7
USA - Additions, 12 Deletions, 11
Total Additions, 61 Deletions, 27

The FTSE4Good criteria, which cover areas of environmental sustainability, developing positive relationships with stakeholders and upholding and supporting universal human rights, have evolved since the index was launched in July 2001. The environmental criteria have been tightened significantly - 23 companies will be removed from the index next week because they no longer meet these criteria.


Notes to Editors

About FTSE Group

FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indexes. With offices in Beijing, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index series, which includes world-recognised indexes ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as domestic indexes such as the prestigious FTSE 100. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, AMEX, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg London, Madrid, NASDAQ and Taiwan exchanges, as well as Nomura Securities, Hang Seng and Xinhua Finance of China, FTSE recently signed an agreement with Dow Jones Indexes to develop a single sector classification system for global investors.

FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indexes to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indexes are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.

About FTSE4Good Index Series

FTSE4Good is an innovative series of real-time indices designed to reflect the performance of socially responsible equities. The series, created and managed by global index provider FTSE Group, covers five markets: UK, Europe, Japan, US and Global. Four tradable and five benchmark indices make up the FTSE4Good index series. A committee of independent practitioners in socially responsible investment, (SRI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) review the indices to ensure that they are an accurate reflection of current CSR best practice.

FTSE Group contributes income including licence fees for FTSE4Good to UNICEF, the global charity.

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