The FTSE 100 is made up of the largest companies listed in London. But this doesn’t mean that most stocks are UK-focused, far from it.
In fact, it’s quite straightforward to build a Stocks and Shares ISA portfolio of FTSE 100 shares that offer truly global exposure. Here are five that would certainly do the job.
The 800-pound gorilla
Let’s start with the largest stock by market cap in the Footsie today: AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN). This healthcare giant has truly global operations, spanning the areas of oncology, respiratory and immunology, rare diseases, and more.
This year, the firm is expected to rake in $57.5bn in revenue, with a net profit of about $14bn. And it generates this from nearly everywhere, including China and Japan.
| Region | % of total revenue (2024) |
|---|---|
| US | 40% |
| Europe | 16% |
| China | 12% |
| UK | 9% |
| Japan | 6% |
| Rest of world | 17% |
As we can see, investors in AstraZeneca are getting diversified exposure to the whole of the developed world. The reason the US is such a sizeable part is because it has the largest healthcare system of them all.
The stock has fallen 17.5% since the end of August, putting it on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.5. For a profitable firm of this calibre, which also offers a 2.3% dividend yield, I think that’s very attractive.
Asia-focused bank
Turning to another FTSE 100 giant now, we have HSBC (LSE: HSBA). The bank is increasingly focused on Asia these days, as that’s where most of the world’s growth is expected to come from in future.
Indeed, according to the Asian Development Bank, Asia’s middle class is set to swell to roughly 3bn people by 2050. With HSBC increasingly focused on wealth management in the region, the long-term growth story looks very promising.
This year, the bank is expected to earn around $23bn on revenue of almost $67bn. The stock is offering an attractive 5.8% dividend yield.
The other three
The third stock is Airtel Africa. As the name implies, the firm’s operations extend across Africa. Specifically, Airtel is a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services to 166m people in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
The share price has been on a tear, surging 55% this year alone. However, it still looks decent value to me, trading at 12.5 times next year’s forecast earnings. There’s also a well-supported 2.8% dividend yield.
Finally, for even more global portfolio exposure, investors could consider Coca Cola HBC and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. These are both bottling partners for the US beverage giant, selling brands like Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, and Monster.
The former’s markets include Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The other’s portfolio is more weighted toward emerging and developing markets, including Poland, Romania, Nigeria, and Egypt.
A global ISA
Naturally, none of these five stocks are totally risk-free. The Coca-Cola bottlers could suffer during a severe global economic downturn, as this would put pressure on consumer spending.
Meanwhile, HSBC and AstraZeneca may fall foul of regulatory changes in China, especially if trade tensions with the US worsen at some point. Finally, most of Airtel Africa’s revenue is collected in local African currencies, but it’s reported in US dollars, exposing the company to currency risk.
Nevertheless, adding these stocks to an ISA would make it truly global, with vast exposure to Europe, America, Africa, and Asia.
