UK equities are having their time in the sun. The FTSE 100 recently hit an all-time high of 9,000, driven by a broad recovery in equity prices. To put it another way, the rally wasn’t just driven by a handful of outperformers. In fact, during the first half of the year, UK equities have done better than their US peers, reversing a decade-long trend of US outperformance. Since the start of 2025, the FTSE All-Share has delivered a total return of just over 9% in local currency terms. In US dollar terms, it produced a total return of 19%, significantly outperforming the S&P 500’s 6%.
According to numbers compiled by the wealth-management giant Schroders, the outperformance has been driven not by earnings growth, but by multiple expansion – a side effect of investors’ confidence improving. Over the first half, Schroders calculated the UK’s total return was driven by a 10% increase in valuation and a 2% return from dividends….
