The FTSE 250 is challenging its all-time high which is a decent achievement given its star performers end up in the FTSE 100.
The senior index, by the way, is not particularly adjacent to its all-time high.
What's also impressive is the FTSE 100 jettisons its unwanted baggage, which ends up being carried by the mid-cap index, and yet still it soldiers on, hitting new heights.
So, who are the “hard-chargers” that look set to make it in the fullness of time into the FTSE 100?
Now, you might think that this is a simple matter of listing the FTSE 250 companies ranked by market capitalisation but that does not give any insight into the long-term trajectory of the stock.
To do that, we have calculated the annual percentage growth over a ten-year and ranked them accordingly. For interest, in the table below we have also listed each company’s market capitalisation and where that ranks it.
Growth rank · Company · Avg. annual % growth · Current market cap. (£mln) · Market cap. rank
1. · Future PLC (LSE:FUTR) · 52.7% · 4,236 · 12
2. · Liontrust Asset Management (LSE:LIO) · 45.6% · 1,253 · 166
3. · Oxford BioMedica PLC (AIM:OXB) · 43.4% · 1,110 · 177
4. · Games Workshop Group PLC (LSE:GAW) · 39.4% · 3,727 · 23
5. · Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC · 35.5% · 5,305 · 5
6 · Allianz Technology Trust · 33.2% · 1,272 · 164
7. · Avon Protection PLC · 32.1% · 822 · 233
8. · IP Group PLC (LSE:IPO) · 31.8% · 1,235 · 168
9. · UNITE Group PLC · 31.0% · 4,640 · 9
Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC
10. · 30.7% · 737 · 240
11. · Sirius Real Estate Ltd (LSE:SRE, FRA:EYI, JSE:SRE) · 30.0% · 1,264 · 165
12. · Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC · 29.2% · 2,036 · 90
It’s worth noting that not all FTSE 250 companies have been around for 10 years. Closes misses from the above list include:
- GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd, which averaged 39.6% growth over nine years;
- The Renewables Infrastructure Group Ltd (+36.2% over seven years);
- Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LSE:UKW, FRA:3GC) (+31.8% over six years);
- GCP Student Living PLC (LSE:DIGS) (+46.7% over five years);
- Kainos (LSE:KNOS) Group PLC (+54.7% over five years);
- Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund (LSE:SEQI) Ltd (+43.6% over five years);
- CMC Markets PLC (LSE:CMCX, FRA:T8Q) (+39.7% over four years);
- Plus500 Ltd (LSE:PLUS) (+33.5% over four years);
- Puretech Health PLC (+36.2% over four years);
- Softcat (LSE:SCT) PLC (+53.5% over four years);
- Volution Group PLC (LSE:FAN) (+31.8% over four years)
- WizzAir Holding PLC (+37.8% over four years).
From perusing that list it becomes evident how significant infrastructure investment has become in recent years and how popular CFD platform operators are; there is also some comfort for longstanding WizzAir shareholders.
On another day, we will look at who are the cart-horses, the lame and the sick that appear to be preventing the mid-cap index from emulating its sexier brethren across the pond. Spoiler alert: it won't make good reading for long-term supporters of oil companies and outsourcing firms.