Canary Wharf has admitted vacancy rates are rising

The pub and restaurant business is being spun-off from FTSE 100 company Six Continents, but is big enough to be a member of the index in its own right.

The value of Canary Wharf has tumbled recently over worries about the state of the commercial property market in London.

The changes will take effect from Tuesday morning.

One-off change

A reshuffle of the FTSE indexes is usually carried out every three months to make sure the index represents the UK's largest publicly listed companies.

But the demerger of Six Continents has prompted an extra rejig of the FTSE 100.

Following the splitting-off of the pubs business, Six Continents will be left with the hotels side and will rename itself InterContinental Hotels Group.

As well as InterContinental, the hotels group will also include the Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza chains.

Takeover bid

The plan to split Six Continents was approved by its shareholders last month, and the demerger vote blocked a takeover bid from entrepreneur Hugh Osmond.

Mr Osmond argued that Six Continents management had squandered shareholder value and presided over a collapse in its share price.

Canary Wharf shares dropped by about a quarter last month following a disappointing trading update from the firm.

It said vacancy rates had risen to 6.7% at the end of 2002 from 4.5% six months earlier.