Important information - the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest.
It’s official. The FTSE 100 has hit 10,000 points. At the ripe age of 42, the blue-chip index which launched at 1,000 points has finally achieved ‘ten-bagger’ status. This is being celebrated as a victory for the London market and rightly so. The UK has spent so long in the shadow of the US that some people had forgotten it was capable of growth at all.
However, there are plenty of British stocks that have delivered even better returns - in less than half the time. These companies have plenty to teach us about how to invest, and where the next explosive growth stories could come from.
The UK’s fastest growing stocks since 2010
- Games Workshop
- Ashtead
- 4imprint
- Diploma
- Goodwin
- Avon Technologies
- Galliford Try
- JD Sports Fashion
- PPHE Hotel Group
- Halma
Source: FactSet, 19.12.25. Based on share price performance between 1.01.10 and 19.12.25. Please remember past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Games Workshop: the rise of the underdog
Games Workshop is one of the UK’s biggest success stories of recent years. Its share price has increased more than 70-fold since the beginning of 2010, and it stormed into the FTSE 100 in December 2024. If you had told people this a decade ago, however, they might have been sceptical.
Games Workshop sells Warhammer - a sci-fi tabletop battle game played with tiny plastic figurines. It also sells the materials to assemble and paint the models.
To an outsider, it’s not a hugely enticing premise. The product sounds niche, and ‘hobby’ stocks have struggled on public markets in the past. However, Games Workshop has a secret weapon: its fanbase. The company has fostered a powerful sense of community, which has allowed it to keep acquiring new customers and growing sales. It has also made good use of its intellectual property: in 2024, Amazon secured the rights to turn the Warhammer 40,000 universe into films and television series.
As such, Games Workshop has prompted investors to rethink what counts as a ‘defensive’ stock. Warhammer is not cheap - a 3cm tall, unpainted space marine could set you back £30 - and it’s hardly ‘essential’. And yet, even during the cost-of-living crisis, people kept buying.
Games Workshop has also proved that not all growth stories are linked to era-defining technology. Plastic models with a good story behind them can go viral too.
- More on Games Workshop
Ashtead: a route to the US economy
Ashtead started life in a sleepy Surrey village but it is now the second-biggest equipment rental company in North America, with an 11% market share.1 It has achieved this by making lots of bolt-on acquisitions over many years, while keeping an iron grip on its profit margin. This has turbocharged its value - its share price has increased more than 60-fold since the start of 2010.
This strategy is not easy to pull off - many British companies have floundered in the States, unable to gain a foothold. Tesco, for example, famously retreated from the region after just six years, having misjudged the market. Companies that do manage it, however, are worth paying attention to, given the size of the US economy and the potential for growth.
Next year will bring big changes for Ashtead. It is due to move its primary listing from London to New York in March and rebrand as Sunbelt Rentals. However, it will retain a secondary listing in the UK.
More on Ashtead Group
4imprint: the power of reinvention
The UK’s top performing stocks since 2010 are an eclectic bunch. However, 4imprint is perhaps the strangest. This FTSE 250 company sells promotional merchandise, like t-shirts, tote bags and pens emblazoned with company logos.
Like Ashtead, it makes almost all of its money in the US and has become an unlikely bellwether for the American economy. Sales and profits surged in the aftermath of the pandemic, when corporate activity cranked up after lockdown. In contrast, demand has been under pressure this year and tariffs have spooked some shareholders. This hasn’t knocked the stock too far off its perch, however: shares are up more than 30-fold since the start of 2010.
4imprint has shown also how internal changes can transform a company’s investment case. Ironically, until 2018, 4imprint invested very little in its own marketing. Sales were driven by physical catalogues, and it would send out free boxes of merchandise samples to clients.
Shortly before the pandemic, however, the group stepped up its marketing investment. This meant that its products reached more people and allowed management to be more flexible with pricing. Revenue per dollar spent on marketing jumped as a result, and its share price followed suit.
Looking ahead
Nobody knows for sure where the FTSE 100 will go in 2026, or which sectors will thrive or struggle. However, this whistlestop tour suggests that growth can come from some unlikely places; exposure to the US can turbocharge profits; and changes within companies can be just as powerful as external market forces.
Our Select 50 includes a range of funds investing in the UK, including actively managed options such as the Fidelity Special Situations Fund and Liontrust UK Growth Fund. It also includes two UK tracker funds, the iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF for the FTSE 100 index and the Vanguard FTSE 250 ETF for the FTSE 250 index.
| (%) As at 31 Dec | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games Workshop | -9.3 | -10.5 | 20.5 | 40.5 | 46.9 |
| Ashtead | 74.3 | -19.2 | 17.4 | -6.1 | 4.1 |
| 4imprint | 10.4 | 54.1 | 14.8 | 9.5 | -14.3 |
| FTSE All-Share | 18.3 | 0.3 | 7.9 | 9.5 | 24.0 |
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns
Source: FE, total returns from 31.12.20 to 31.12.25. Excludes initial charge.
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- Read: The four strategies for investing in 2026
- Read: Will 2026 be a good year to retire?
- Read: The surprise winner in fund best sellers of 2010, 2015 and 2020.
Source:
Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Withdrawals from a pension product will not be possible until you reach age 55 (57 from 2028). Eligibility to invest in an ISA and tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. Select 50 is not a personal recommendation to buy or sell a fund. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.
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