Composition of the AEX

As I mentioned in my first blog, the AEX is composed of 25, mostly Dutch, companies. In this blog I am going to tell you some more about the biggest, and most succesfull companies.

In the AEX index there are quite a few unknown companies, like Boskalis, Wolters Kluwer, ASML, Fugro and Corio. There are also some companies that are welknown, at least in The Netherlands they are. ING for instance is a Dutch financial institution, who offer banking and insurance services. Because of their good reputation they are a attractive for stock buyers. With offices all over the world, they are not just well known in The Netherlands but also in countries like the United States of America, Germany and even as far as Australia.

Another well known company in the AEX index is Ahold. Ahold is a major international supermarket operator from Dutch origin. Ahold is not just part of the AEX index, but also of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. They have several companies under their name, like Albert Heijn (a Dutch retailer), Gall & Gall (liqour shop), Etos (drug store) and many more.

The most succesfull and well known company in the AEX is Unilever. Unilever is a multinational corporation, formed of British and Dutch parentage. They own many of the world's consumer product brands in foods and personal care. They employed 174.000 people worldwide. To give you an impression of how big this company is, these are some of the brands they own; AdeZ, Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Bleu Band, Bona, Calvé, Cif, Conimex, Dove, Hertog, Knorr, Lipton, Ola, Robijn and many more. In total they own 54 brands worldwide.

Before march 2009, Fortis was also a part of the AEX. Fortis was a financial instition who offered banking and insurance services. But they did not make it through the financial crisis.