Constituent lists inDatastream AFOMIRC Update

What is a constituent list?

A company constituent list is a list which can be used to extract information such asshare price, market value, earnings per share and accounts items for a number ofdifferent companies at the same time. Datastream offers many pre-definedconstituent lists for market indices e.g. FTSE100 or S&PCOMP and sector indicese.g. the automobile or banking industry.

Why might you want to create your own?

There may be occasions when you need to filter existing lists to remove or addcompanies to fit with your own requirements. Or you may simply want to create abespoke list of companies or other items from the results of a search.

How do I create a constituent list?

First you will need to have a list of Datastream mnemonics or codes to work from.The easiest way to do this will be to use the Datastream AFO in Excel. DatastreamAFO is an Excel add-in appearing in the Excel menu bar. If you can’t immediatelysee it, check under ‘Add-Ins’. As an example we will create a list of FTSE100companies, excluding those in the banking or finance industries.

From the Datastream AFO Menu

1. Select Static Request on the AFO.

2. Click on the orange Find Series button.

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3. Enter your search term in thesearch box and click on Search orhit enter.

4. The FTSE 100 index is the top series displayed in the results. The constituent listFTSE 100 Constituents is displayed beneath the link to the index

5. Click on the blue mnemonic for‘LFTSE100’. You will be returned to thesearch box and the selected series willhave been added to your search (seeright).

Choosing a datatype

Next add your Datatypes / Expressions to specify the data you want displayed.Because Datastream assigns each company a unique mnemonic (code) and usesthat to identify them, you will also need to instruct it to display the company name asa piece of data. If you do not do so, the list will include only the mnemonics and notthe company names.

Adding your datatypes

6. In the Static Request box, click on the orange Datatypes button. A list of datatypes will be displayed. Always check that the correct series ‘Equities’ is showingin the box beside the search boxes, as this will determine the datatypesavailable.

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7. To the left of the datatypes displayed is a list of options to refine your selection.You could restrict to either static or time series. If you can’t immediately see thedatatype you require, enter your term, e.g. ‘name’ in the search box and hit‘enter’. The results will be displayed. Select ‘name’ by clicking on the relevantblue symbol, i.e. ‘NAME’. To include more items e.g. Industry, repeat the processor browse the list.

• If you are unsure of which datatype to use, you can view definitions by clicking onthe arrow (>) icons to the left of the datatype names. Items with three stars tendto be the primary or key ones.

• You can select single or multiple data items by using the checkboxes next to themnemonics list to make selections and then clicking on ‘Use’.

8. The datatypes you have selected should now be in the search box. If you do notselect a specific date, the most recent information will be returned. You may alsochoose from the display options listed below:

• Normally displaying Row and Column titles will be enough.• Clicking Transpose data will change the order of column and row display.• It is recommended that Embed is not selected.

9. Once you are happy with your selection click ‘Submit’ and a list of FTSE 100Companies with Datastream codes, Company name and Industry Name willappear. Note that the columns will appear in the order entered in your search.

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10. In order to filter out the list of Finance and banking companies use the Data sortoption within Excel and choose to sort by Industry Group.

11.You can then easily delete the companies you wish to exclude from your list byhighlighting and deleting them.

Creating your constituent list

Once you are happy with your list of companies, you are ready to create yourconstituent list.

12.Highlight the Datastream codes for the companies you require and click on‘Create List (From Range)’ on the Excel Datastream toolbar.

13.A dialogue box will appear. Enter a List description whichyou will remember. Copy this and paste into the next boxensuring that the name ends in .LLT

14.Select the boxes ‘Store List Locally’ and ‘Upload List’. Thiswill allow you to access your list from any Datastream PC.• Untick the box ‘Validate on Upload’. If you leave this

ticked and no information can be found for one of yourcodes, the list creation will fall over and you will need to remove the failedcodes. This could happen several times in creating one list.

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15.Click on OK. If successful, a message box will appear confirming your list nameon the mainframe. Note down this name e.g. L#G99459 as this will allow you tofind it on all Datastream computers. The locally loaded list name (that you definedearlier) will only be available on the PC you used to create it

Your list is now ready to use to retrievedata.

How to use your saved list

Now that you have created a list, you can use it with either a static or a time seriesrequest. You might use it to retrieve information such as share price, market valueetc. for your group of companies. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Click on Time Series Request on the Datastream toolbar. When the search boxappears, use the ‘List Picker’ icon, beneath the Find Series button to select yourlist.

2. When you click on it, a list of all locally loaded lists will appear and you can selectyours and click on OK to include it in the search.

3. If you are using a different PC and you need to call up a centrally stored list,select the ‘User Created Mainframe Lists’, type in the List number e.g. L#G99614and then select your list from the constituents. Click OK to confirm.

4. Your list will be added to your search. You can then choose the datatypes yourequire and run your search.

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Contacting us

Management Information and Resource Centre (MIRC)

+44 (0) 1234 754440 mirc@cranfield.ac.uk

som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mirc