It’s been another day in which the FTSE 100 has had to yield the stage to the FTSE 250.
The senior index, at 7,083, remains just over 10% off its all-time high of 7,877, set on 22 May 2018.
Since the FTSE 100 set its previous high, the FTSE 250 has gained 10.4%; in other words, the FTSE 250 has gained about the same amount, in percentage terms, as the FTSE 100 has lost since its all-time high.
During that period (i.e. from 22/5/18), the FTSE 250 has had some stunning performances from its constituents, such as Future PLC (LSE:FUTR), which is up 675%; Kainos (LSE:KNOS) Group Ltd, up 333%; Games Workshop Group PLC (LSE:GAW), up 326%; Liontrust Asset Management (LSE:LIO) PLC, up 251%; Petropavlovsk PLC (LSE:POG), up 211%; Pets at Home PLC, up 200%; and Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust PLC – the FTSE 250’s answer to Scottish Mortgage Trust – up 200%.
The best that the FTSE 100 can manage over that period is the aforementioned Scottish Mortgage Trust, which is up 162%.
The Footsie has some heavily-weighted duds weighing it down. The two worst performers, Rolls-Royce Group PLC (-65%) and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines SA (-61%) are both valued at around £6.3bn and are not particularly heavy hitters in terms of influencing the direction of the Footsie but the same cannot be said of the three next worst performers:
- BP PLC (LSE:BP.), down 50%, with a market capitalisation of £59bn;
- Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) PLC (“B” shares), down 48%, with a market cap of £112bn;
- and HSBC Holdings PLC, down 46%, with a market capitalisation of £81bn
Even so, the FTSE 250 has not been without its dead weights. Its largest stock by market cap, the former FTSE 100 stock Carnival PLC (LSE:CCL), is down 71% since the FTSE 100’s last peak. Even after that precipitous fall, with a market capitalisation of £16.7bn, it is more than two times the size of the next largest constituent, former FTSE 100 stalwart and bid target Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC.
Although some companies, such as Renishaw PLC (LSE:RSW), the engineering firm that put itself up for sale this year, have not been targeted by bidders with deep pockets, it has been open season on many other UK mid-caps, with two bids today announced – an agreed bid for Meggitt and indicative bid for Sanne.
If that trend continues, the FTSE 250 is likely to keep outstripping its bigger, better-known brother.