Best gainers and fallers of 2024: which British shares rose to the stars or fell into the doldrums?

London’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices are up less than five percent in the past year, underperforming the best savings accounts currently available.

They were also badly beaten by the S&P 500, which rose about 25 percent in the same period through the end of December.

The outlook doesn’t look entirely positive for the UK market either, although there could be some benefit from attractive (i.e. cheap) valuations for FTSE participants.

Of course, there have been London-listed companies that have continued to perform strongly.

Within the FTSE 350 index, Metro Bank is by far the biggest gainer, having made a gain of 170 percent in the past year.

The bank saw its shares rise on improved expectations in the summer and predicted a return to profitability in the fourth quarter of the year.

Similarly, fellow FTSE 250 financial services firm CMC Markets has gained more than 150 percent in the past year. This is despite the company going through a recent recession, with shares falling 13 percent after the company refrained from raising its guidance in November.

Michael Field, stock market strategist at Morningstar, said: ‘The winners list includes names such as Metro Bank, Standard Chartered and insurer Beazley. While on the list of decliners we have Schroders and Prudential.

“Here, falling inflation and interest rates can take some of the credit or debt, highlighting which business models work well under pressure.”

While FTSE 100’s Beazley and Standard Chartered both posted gains, up 57.51 percent and 49.33 percent respectively, banks Barclays and NatWest had an even more successful year, with gains of 74.57 percent and 88. 24 percent.

On the other hand, however, insurance company Prudential lost 27.3 percent, while Schroders lost 22.38 percent.

Banking group Close Brothers fell by almost 72 percent, making it the worst performing company in the FTSE 250 over the period.

The rest of the picture is also one of relative confusion. Risers and fallers cannot easily be categorized by sector, with some companies posting huge profits in 2024 while their competitors in the sector suffered.

Within the industrial sector, for example, aerospace company Rolls-Royce is up almost 92 percent in 2024, but fellow industrial company Spirax, which produces industrial machinery, is down 32.3 percent.

Field told This is Money: ‘The most interesting thing about the whole list of risers and fallers is that it is not hugely sector-driven, as we would normally expect.

‘There are of course some themes, such as basic materials that will come under pressure in 2024, stocks like Glencore, Croda etc, but for the most part many risers and fallers operate within the same sectors.’

Glencore lost 23.1 percent for the year, while Croda fell 31.62 percent.

Even then, gold producer Hochschild Mining was a winner in the basic materials space, with a 98.88 percent gain through 2024.

Furthermore, Field added, “Even airlines haven’t moved in the same direction.”

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines was the best-performing FTSE 100 constituent, up 98.92 percent through 2024.

Meanwhile, FTSE 250 member Wizz Air has fallen 34.74 percent in the same period, with the Budapest-based company plagued by plane strandings due to engine quality issues and Airbus delivery delays.

The consumer sector also saw a mixed bag of stock price movements, Field said, with many companies suffering from tighter consumer spending in recent years.

Field said: ‘On the winners list we have Currys and the enigmatically named Imperial Brands, with the former up over 80 per cent over the year and the latter up over 50 per cent.

‘But it was certainly not the case that all consumer companies did well in 2024, with household names such as JD Sports and PZ Cussons, owner of brands such as St Tropez and Imperial Leather, performing terribly over the same period.

‘At a time of belt-tightening, consumers are being forced to consider what they really want to spend their hard-earned money on.’

While Currys rose by about 84 percent and Imperial Brands by 50.79 percent, JD Sports and PZ Cussons fell by 42.19 percent and 45.43 percent respectively.

In addition to JD Sports, four other FTSE 100 consumer companies were among the worst performers in the index. Frasers fell 31.19 per cent and B&M 29.03 per cent, while Vistry and Entain fell 28.17 per cent and 27 per cent each.

“The sands are shifting, creating a divide between companies that are built to take advantage of this and those that don’t,” Field says.

‘With interest rates expected to fall further in 2024, we expect pressure on many parts of the economy to ease, but this will take time, so expect more of the trends we’ll see in 2024 as we enter a new year Field said.

DIY INVESTMENT PLATFORMS

A. J. Bell

A. J. Bell

Easy investing and ready-made portfolios

Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown

Free fund trading and investment ideas

interactive investor

interactive investor

Invest for a fixed amount from € 4.99 per month

Sax

Sax

Get £200 back in trading fees

Trade 212

Trade 212

Free trading and no account fees

Affiliate links: If you purchase a product, This is Money may earn a commission. These deals have been chosen by our editors because we believe they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.

Compare the best investment account for you