2013 has very much been a year of recovery, with the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) gaining 14% to today’s 6,753 — and it touched on a 13-year high of 6,876 in May. The performance of individual shares, however, has covered a very wide range, with some companies in the mining business, for example, having a very tough year. But at the other end of the scale, we’ve seen some FTSE 100 shares doubling in price, lending support to the idea that our economies really are starting to pick up.
Here are three from the FTSE 100 that have rewarded their shareholders very nicely during 2013:
International Consolidated Airlines
It seems such a short time ago that the leisure market was dead and everyone was piling into gold to await the apocalypse. But the gold miners have crashed, and the airlines have soared.
Of our two FTSE 100 airlines, International Consolidated Airlines (LSE: IAG) has led the way with a climb of 117% to 401p, narrowly edging ahead of easyJet‘s relatively meagre doubling. The story has been one of increasing numbers of passengers together with improving load factors and rising capacity, as people are taking to the skies again in considerably larger numbers. IAG’s most recent passenger statistics, for November, showed an 8.4% increase in traffic over a year previously, with capacity up 9.5%.
And IAG is set for a return to profit this year.
Hargreaves Lansdown
Investment manager Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL) has seen its shares climb by 99% over the year, to 1,356p today, reflecting the strengthening of the world’s stock markets in general.
Full-year results released in September included a 22% rise in revenue, with pre-tax profit up 28% and earnings per share up 30% — and the dividend was lifted by 31%. Perhaps of greater long-term importance, the firm saw its total assets under management grow by 38% to £36.4bn — and by first-quarter time reported in October, that had risen further to a record £39.3bn.
Sports Direct International
The resurgence in the leisure business has helped Sports Direct International (LSE: SPD), too, but not quite to the extent of the airlines — we’re looking at a 1-year rise of a relatively modest 87%, to 723p.
Sports Direct has brought home four years of strongly-rising earnings, and there is in excess of 20% forecast for the years to April 2014 and 2015. But after such a great price appreciation, the shares are now on a forward P/E of 23 and there’s no appreciable dividend to speak of yet. The punters are clearly expecting more strong growth.