FTSE 250’s best and worst shares of 2025

Potteries-based Goodwin (LSE:GDWN) flew the flag for British engineering in the FTSE 250 after a year when some of the best-known mid-cap names including Trainline (LSE:TRN) and WH Smith (LSE:SMWH) hit turbulence.

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Echoing the ascent of fellow engineer Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) in the FTSE 100, Goodwin shares jumped by 148% in the year to mid-December as it registered the best FTSE 250 performance in 2025.

The mechanical and refractory engineering group, which has reaped the benefit of its pivot towards the defence and nuclear reactor markets, beat off the copper and gold price-fuelled challenge of Atalaya Mining Copper SA (LSE:ATYM) and Hochschild Mining (LSE:HOC) to reach the top.

Gains of about 60% for Johnson Matthey (LSE:JMAT) and Balfour Beatty (LSE:BBY), alongside the significant progress of Kier Group (LSE:KIE) and Chemring Group (LSE:CHG), also highlighted renewed interest in industrial-focused players.

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The FTSE 250 rose by more than 6% overall, which would have been cause for celebration had it not been for the super-sized gains achieved by the FTSE 100 index and the fact that the mid-cap benchmark remains some way short of its record in September 2021.

The index is much more exposed to UK tax hikes and consumer uncertainty than the FTSE 100 index, where 75-80% of revenues are generated overseas.

More than 20 mid-cap stocks lost in excess of 25% of their value during the year, led by Playtech (LSE:PTEC), B&M European Value Retail SA (LSE:BME) and Raspberry Pi Holdings (LSE:RPI) following declines of more than 50%.

However, a fifth of the FTSE 250 rose by 28% or more and 21 finished the year at least 50% higher. The acceleration of Goodwin took its market capitalisation to £1.5 billion, although it had been worth much more in the autumn after shares peaked at near 23,000p.

Goodwin does not usually provide forward guidance but made an exception in October due to an expected doubling of pre-tax profits to more than £71 million in the year to 30 April.

The order book stood at £365 million, which it said did not yet reflect enhanced visibility across multiple key defence and nuclear programmes.

Strong cash generation and a zero net debt position meant the family-controlled business recently paid a special one-off dividend of 532p a share. This followed an 111% increase in the total for 2024/25 to 280p a share.

Outsourcing business Serco Group (LSE:SRP) has been another FTSE 250 beneficiary of favourable defence market conditions after shares rose 84% in the year-to-date.

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Serco employs more than 50,000 people across defence, space, migration, justice, healthcare, mobility and customer services. It secured £5.5 billion of contract awards in 2025, with around two-thirds being in defence.

This exposure has been aided by the purchase of the US-based MT&S (Mission Training and Satellite) ground network communications software business from Northrop Grumman Corp.

Serco chief executive Anthony Kirby recently told investors alongside an upgrade in profit guidance: “The global government services market is substantial, with high barriers to entry and strong growth prospects, particularly in the defence sector.”

Best FTSE 250 stocks in 2025

Source: ShareScope as at 19 December 2025. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

A record gold price and return to the dividend-paying ranks were among factors in the 123% rise of Hochschild Mining.

However, the year wasn’t all plain sailing after its new Mara Rosa mine in Brazil was affected by heavier-than-usual seasonal rainfall and contractor performance issues. The shares fell back to 316p in November before re-accelerating to a multi-year high above 500p.

Spain-based Atalaya Mining Copper also doubled in value as production rates improved at a time when outages at some of the world’s biggest mines and structural demand led to the strongest year for the price of copper since 2009.

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Jupiter Fund Management (LSE:JUP) rose to its highest level in more than three years after it struck a £100 million deal to buy CCLA, which manages more than £15 billion of assets on behalf of charities, religious institutions and local authorities.

The move addressed City concerns that material outflows over the last few years have left the business with a cost base too high for the level of assets under management.

Other risers from the financial sector included Close Brothers Group (LSE:CBG), which doubled in value in 2025 after ending its three-year slump towards the end of 2024.

Some much-needed clarity for investors after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its consultation paper on an industry-wide motor finance redress scheme helped shares finish the year at 480p, down from more than 1,500p in 2021.

Worst FTSE 250 stocks in 2025

Source: ShareScope as at 19 December 2025. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

At the wrong end of the FTSE 250 index, luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Ordinary Shares (LSE:AML) lost another 42% of its value in addition to the 50% slide seen the previous year.

Its latest setback came in October when it said current year wholesale sales volumes will fall by a “mid-high digit percentage” and that losses will be greater than City forecasts.

As well as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on car imports the marque has been hit by new taxes on luxury cars in China. It is reviewing future cost and capital expenditure but continues to target an improvement in profitability and cash flow in 2026.

B&M European Value Retail finished the year more than 50% lower after two profit warnings in as many weeks in October highlighted the challenges facing new chief executive Tjeerd Jegen as he rolls out his back-to-basics turnaround plan.

WH Smith is under similar pressure after August’s disclosure of US accounting errors cost the job of chief executive Carl Cowling and left shares down 46% at their lowest level in 13 years.

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Among other FTSE 250 laggards, Domino's Pizza Group (LSE:DOM) fell 45% to its lowest level in a decade after the company and its franchisees were hit by the challenge of higher wages and employee taxation costs at a time of low consumer confidence.

The consumer reviews website Trustpilot Group (LSE:TRST) finished the year down 47% at 164p but had been as low as 130p earlier in December following an attack by a US short-selling firm. The shares have fallen from February’s 350p despite a run of five earnings upgrades in the year to September.

A recent upgrade to full-year guidance also failed to reverse the downward trend for Trainline (LSE:TRN), which fell by 49% in 2025.

The impact of economic and tariffs uncertainty on European growth and concerns over UK plans for a single public sector retail website and app have weighed on the shares.

Raspberry Pi Holdings (LSE:RPI) ended the year near 300p, a far cry from January’s peak of 766p when the low-cost general-purpose computing platform was valued at more than £1 billion. The shares were initially priced at 280p in one of the UK’s few IPOs of 2024.

The initial strong performance was driven by opportunities among industrial-focused original equipment manufacturers and AI positioning through its suite of add-on products.

However, sentiment suffered amid a rapid rise in spot prices for the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) used in single board computers and compute modules.