The findings have been published by web experts Contensis as part of new research: Big Players, Slow Web Pages: Which FTSE 100 and 250 Businesses Value their Online Presence the Most.
WIth an average accessibility score of 79, travel and hospitality is the only sector to dip below 80, and a full 12 points lower than the leader software and IT.
Other industries which also existentially rely on their online presence - like retail and grocery - also failed to make it into the top half of the table, with media and publishing companies coming out on top.
Overall, the study also found that FTSE 250 companies are doing better than their FTSE 100 counterparts, loading a whole second faster and getting better scores for accessibility too.
The full league table highlights the great disparity online where on average the homepages of chemicals, mining, oil and gas businesses take six seconds longer than media and publishing to load.
Sector / Industry | Performance | Accessibility score | Homepage speed index | Score |
Media and publishing | 69.29 | 84.43 | 100.00 | 253.71 |
Manufacturing and logistics | 55.25 | 84.69 | 92.43 | 232.37 |
Software and IT | 46.50 | 91.17 | 72.84 | 210.51 |
Insurance | 45.82 | 88.91 | 75.27 | 210.00 |
Aerospace and Defence | 45.38 | 80.00 | 73.77 | 199.14 |
Finance | 44.93 | 86.78 | 60.71 | 192.43 |
Healthcare and life sciences | 48.20 | 80.10 | 59.62 | 187.92 |
Services | 44.73 | 84.91 | 53.87 | 183.51 |
Telecoms and technology | 42.00 | 93.63 | 40.72 | 176.35 |
Retail and Grocery | 36.35 | 85.75 | 52.20 | 174.30 |
Property and construction | 43.70 | 85.41 | 44.51 | 173.62 |
Travel, hospitality and leisure | 40.96 | 79.18 | 53.43 | 173.57 |
Utilities | 38.50 | 83.13 | 43.14 | 164.76 |
Food and beverages | 35.93 | 82.57 | 15.34 | 133.84 |
Chemicals, mining, oil and gas | 40.87 | 81.70 | 0.00 | 122.57 |
Mitchells & Butlers PLC, one of the largest operators of restaurants, pubs and bars in the UK, performed the best of all hospitality businesses listed on either the FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 indices. It had a homepage load speed five seconds faster than the industry average and an accessibility score into the high eighties - a full seven points higher than the industry norm.
Across the board, construction and engineering firm, John Laing, had the best Google Lighthouse performance with a score of 100 for overall performance, 97 for accessibility and a homepage load speed of less than half a second.
The best performing FTSE 100 business Kingfisher, which owns B&Q, among other home improvement brands, had an accessibility score into the mid-nineties and a homepage load speed of just over two seconds.
Richard Chivers, co-founder of content management system, Contensis, and chief executive officer of Zengenti, the software company which makes Contensis, commented: “This research shows us just how much the big players value their online presence. Industries that you’d expect to be doing really well, like travel and hospitality, are not performing as you might think. In fact travel and hospitality had the lowest average accessibility score of all industries.
“I think the biggest eye-opener is that, consistently, we all need to up our game when it comes to accessibility. Travel and hospitality businesses, for example, have the lowest average accessibility score, yet with some 22 percent of the UK population having a long-term illness, impairment or disability, more can be done which would be win-win for the sector and customers.”
Tags: Contensis
