Current Account received an interesting little note from a friend in ING Barings this week, which commented on the implications if so-called "freefloat weighting" is adopted by the main international stock indices.

Essentially this would mean that only free-floating shares would be included in the FTSE, Dow Jones and MSCI indices - a move that would have a very significant impact on a whole bundle of Irish companies if it was adopted by the ISEQ and the various euro indices so loved by our fund managers.

Think about it - Independent's weighting in an index could be reduced downwards to reflect Tony O'Reilly's non free-floating 27 per cent stake; likewise the 26 per cent he and his in-laws hold in Waterford Wedgwood.

The co-op weighting in Kerry, IAWS and Glanbia would also be excluded when allocating index weightings. And what about the likes of Ardagh, Abbey, FBD, Horizon, Icon, Iona, Kingspan, Marlborough, Readymix and UTV, where there is at least one shareholder or linked shareholding group holding more than 25 per cent of the equity. If the move was extended to indices where Irish stocks appear, it could have a very significant impact on stocks with a restricted free float, with investors reducing their weighting to reflect the actual number of shares available for sale or purchase.