You might have heard: ‘UK stocks’ are on a tear. Check the 14 per cent Sterling-based rise in the FTSE All-Share so far this year (against 7.6 per cent for the MSCI World index), and there’s all the confirmation you need. Some international investors now talk glowingly of London equities, baffled by the tone of gloom hanging over it all.
Dig under the surface, however, and things are a little less bright. Over the past three months, the average share price return from UK stocks that generate at least three-quarters of sales at home – a key test of this week’s Best of British screen – is 2.5 per cent. That’s not bad, but it’s around a third of the rise in the 25 or so £30bn-plus constituents that make up four-fifths of the UK index by value. ‘UK stocks’, in short, doesn’t tell the whole story.
Multinational blue-chips, including resources companies, pharmaceutical companies and global banks, have…
