The appointment of several women to top jobs at Europe-based companies in the past year – and the departure of others – is bound to lead to a shake-up in the Financial Times’ 2007 ranking of the continent’s top 25 women in business.

A number of women in last year’s ranking have left their jobs, and women have taken over the leading executive roles at big international companies including Anglo American, the mining group now headed by Cynthia Carroll, and Alcatel Lucent, the telecommunications company led by Patricia Russo.

The 2007 ranking will be revealed here in four tranches. The first is revealed on Monday October 8, with the top 10 unveiled on October 11, the opening day of the Women’s Forum in Deauville, France.

As in previous years, the list has been compiled from candidates who have to be based in Europe - regardless of nationality - and who hold executive roles.

This year, the ranking will be based on recommendations from correspondents of the Financial Times and Financial Times Deutschland, aided by Egon Zehnder, the executive search consultancy. Those recommendations were then ranked using a blend of data about the size, growth and (where relevant) share price performance of the candidates’ companies, and adjusted according to the level of responsibility, recent record and perceived potential of the individual women.

Last year’s top five were:
• Ana Patricia Botín, chairman of Spain’s Banesto
• Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of Areva, the French nuclear group
• Valerie Gooding, chief executive of Bupa, the British private healthcare company
• Antonia Ax:son Johnson, who heads Axel Johnson of Sweden
• Wanda Rapaczynski, who has since stepped down as head of Agora, the Polish media group

Research: Anne-Britt Dullforce and Neil McDonald.