Plaid aim for new Wales-based FTSE 100 company within 10 years

The Plaid Cymru government will create the economic conditions for another Welsh company to join the elite FTSE 100 share index within a decade, the party has said.

On Saturday, Enterprise Minister Adam Price will set out targets for 500 "high growth firms" within 10 years.

Speaking at Plaid's conference in Llandudno, Conwy, Price is expected to announce a new programme to help companies grow in size.

"We should want more Welsh firms to succeed, to grow and to compete on the world stage," he will say.

There is currently only one company in the stock index with a headquarters in Wales - the Admiral Group.

Plaid Cymru is gathering for its first party conference since it won the May Senedd election and took over the Welsh government.

On Friday, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth spelled out his demands to Prime Minister Andy Burnham for more powers to be transferred to Cardiff.

Price, who led Plaid before ap Iorwerth, will outline plans for a programme called Sbardun - an "intensive" two-year programme to help an initial 20 Welsh firms "become medium-sized companies" with investment from the Development Bank of Wales.

He is expected to promise a target of 500 high-growth firms within 10 years.

Plaid defines high-growth as "firms that experience a rapid expansion in revenue growth and employment".

Price will say that if the target was achieved, "we will create the conditions for an additional FTSE 100 company here in Wales."

The FTSE 100 represents the 100 largest companies in the UK which trade shares publicly.

He will say: "Scale matters. We should want more Welsh firms to succeed, to grow and to compete on the world stage. But scale is a means, not an end - the end is good jobs everywhere.

"Because success is not measured simply by the number of companies that reach the summit. It is measured by whether people in every part of Wales can build a good life through good work.

"Our ambition is an economy deep enough, broad enough and rooted enough to create opportunity for all, generation after generation."