The government want more British people to start investing and could hardly have had a better advertising campaign handed to them, as the FTSE 100 – the index of the biggest firms listed on the London Stock Exchange – posted the best annual returns across 2025 since the rebound from the financial crisis.
In total, the UK’s biggest stock market index gained 1,758.36 points, or 21.5 per cent, from the last trading day of 2024 to December 31 2025.
That’s in comparison to the 16.7 per cent gains made by the collection of Europe’s biggest firms, the Stoxx 600, America’s S&P 500 which gained 17 per cent, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite which rose 21 per cent across the year.
The strong gains realised by the British-listed contingent in the FTSE 100 were particularly notable among many mining corporations, defence firms and finance businesses.
That came despite the backdrop of political and economic uncertainty on both a domestic and global landscape all year, which included the dramatic stock market drops from Trump tariffs being announced, the oil price shock as Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, Rachel Reeves’ delayed Budget and a worryingly stagnant British economy.
It marks a fifth-straight year of gains for the FTSE 100 and means the index has risen in eight of the last ten years, though the usual gains are rarely this outsized, as evidenced by this being the best year since 2009 when it rose 22.1 per cent in the aftermath of the global financial crash.
Over the last decade the FTSE 100 has averaged around 9 per cent gains, a far higher return for money than savings accounts will typically offer – and a notable difference when interest rates are in lowering cycles, as is the case now.
Closing 2025 at 9,931.38, the index shot past record high levels on multiple occasions through the year and teetered close to surpassing the 10,000 mark for the first time.
The year’s success for the blue-chip index has meant it has outperformed European and US peers, including France’s Cac 40 – while the gains were more or less on par with Germany’s Dax.
Investors were drawn to the steady gains of FTSE-listed firms despite broader weaknesses in the UK economy and political uncertainty prompting significant volatility in the global stock markets.
It was a particularly strong year for precious metal producer Fresnillo, whose share price soared by about five-fold over 2025, while gold miner Endeavor Mining’s shares jumped by nearly three-fold.
Defence firms Rolls-Royce and Babcock also strengthened considerably during a year where geopolitical tensions continued to rise, with their share prices roughly doubling.