LONDON -- The last five years have been tough for those in retirement. Portfolio valuations have been hammered and annuity rates have plunged. There's no sign of things improving anytime soon, either, as the eurozone and the U.K. economy look set to muddle through at best for some years to come.

A great way of protecting yourself from the downturn, however, is by building your retirement fund with shares of large, well-run companies that should grow their earnings steadily over the coming decades. Over time, such investments ought to result in rising dividends and inflation-beating capital growth.

In this series, I'm tracking down the U.K. large-caps that have the potential to beat the FTSE 100 (UKX) over the long term and support a lower-risk income-generating retirement fund (you can see the companies I've covered so faron this page).

Today, I'm going to take a look atBG Group (LSE: BG.L) , the highly successful gas exploration and production company whose share price has risen by more than 400% over the last 10 years.

Gas futuresBG Group has thoroughly outperformed the FTSE 100 over the last 10 years, thanks to stonking outright growth that's been consistently reflected in its share price and dividends:

Total Return

2007

2008

2009

2010

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Is BG Group the Ultimate Retirement Share?