FOUR of Britain's best-known blue-chip companies have been thrown out of the FTSE 100 group of companies.

The news came on the day the Footsie fell to a near eight-year low, down 165.7 points at 3287.

Battered airline British Airways, insurer Royal & Sun Alliance, and engineering firms Rolls-Royce and Invensys were relegated to the second division in the traditional spring market reshuffle.

Global index company FTSE confirmed the changes to its benchmark index following a meeting of its independent advisory committee.

The four companies promoted from the FTSE 250 index to replace them were confirmed as water and sewerage group Kelda - formerly Yorkshire Water, Foreign and Colonial Investment Trust, Provident Financial and telecom company Cable and Wireless.

The changes announced last night will be applied to the index after the close of business on March 21.

Quite what the FTSE 100 newcomers are letting themselves in for depends largely on movements in Iraq and how traders cope with more uncertainty over the coming days.

Analysts said the fall below the 3400 mark had been significant as it may have triggered technical selling by some institutional investors.

The latest slump also means the Footsie has fallen in six of its last seven sessions.

* News of the FTSE 100 reshuffle came as a double blow to Lord Marshall.

The ousting of both BA and Invensys from the Footsie marks the first time in ten years that Lord Marshall has not been chairman of a FTSE 100 company.

When BA, which he has chaired since 1993, fell out of the Footsie last September Lord Marshall regained his status as a blue-chip chairman thanks to Invensys, which he has chaired since 1999.