Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich on winning side in rocky FTSE year

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich may not be able to bag a UK visa but it hasn’t stopped him emerging among the Footsie’s big winners this year.

Shares in the Russian steelmaker, in which the billionaire owns a 31% stake, have soared 37% this year as steel prices climbed on rising Chinese demand.

The firm, which has operations in Russia, the US, Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy and Kazakhstan, recorded strong earnings and maintained its dividend — something few firms can claim to have achieved this year.

But the crown went to Ocado as the online grocer finally came good after years of debate over its business model. Under chief executive Tim Steiner the company signed a number of international tie-ups, including agreeing a deal with Sweden’s ICA and Kroger in the US. Steiner’s 4% stake is now worth £200 million.

Another winner was John Fallon, boss of Pearson whose turnaround — which has involved a string of sell-offs and job cuts — finally bore fruit. Shares rose 28%.

But it was a rough year for a string of blue chips with the FTSE 100 on course to fall 12%. Cigarette giant British American Tobacco lost 48%. There were hopes vaping could revive the industry but a US clampdown has put that in doubt. Boss Nicandro Durante stepped down after eight years at the helm, to be replaced by chief operating officer Jack Bowles.

Micro Focus was another loser: the turnaround tech specialist bought Hewlett Packard’s Enterprise arm in 2016 for $8.8 billion (£6.9 billion) but, two years on, the business still isn’t integrated and the shares are down 44% this year.

Royal Mail didn’t impress after strikes and writedowns at its US businesses. This is a favourite to be nationalised if Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister next year.