%20--%3e%3csvg%20width='63.297821mm'%20height='39.29665mm'%20viewBox='0%200%2063.297821%2039.29665'%20version='1.1'%20id='svg8765'%20inkscape:version='1.1%20(c4e8f9ed74,%202021-05-24)'%20sodipodi:docname='OBALogoSingle2.svg'%20xmlns:inkscape='http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape'%20xmlns:sodipodi='http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/DTD/sodipodi-0.dtd'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:svg='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%3e%3csodipodi:namedview%20id='namedview8767'%20pagecolor='%23ffffff'%20bordercolor='%23666666'%20borderopacity='1.0'%20inkscape:pageshadow='2'%20inkscape:pageopacity='0.0'%20inkscape:pagecheckerboard='0'%20inkscape:document-units='mm'%20showgrid='false'%20fit-margin-top='0'%20fit-margin-left='0'%20fit-margin-right='0'%20fit-margin-bottom='0'%20inkscape:zoom='1.1759259'%20inkscape:cx='179.85827'%20inkscape:cy='102.04724'%20inkscape:window-width='1920'%20inkscape:window-height='972'%20inkscape:window-x='0'%20inkscape:window-y='27'%20inkscape:window-maximized='1'%20inkscape:current-layer='layer1'%20/%3e%3cdefs%20id='defs8762'%20/%3e%3cg%20inkscape:label='Layer%201'%20inkscape:groupmode='layer'%20id='layer1'%20transform='translate(-31.351095,-50.101677)'%3e%3cpath%20style='fill:none;stroke:%233584e4;stroke-width:3.965;stroke-linecap:square;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:4;stroke-dasharray:none;stroke-opacity:1'%20d='m%2077.07508,77.78787%2014.84134,8.87817%20V%2052.83397%20L%2034.08359,86.5521%20V%2053.69366%20l%2015.27351,9.31107'%20id='path8388'%20sodipodi:nodetypes='cccccc'%20/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Five FTSE Growth Stocks Worth Researching in 2026
Important: This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Past growth is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investing involves risk and you may get back less than you invest. Please consult a qualified financial adviser authorised by the FCA before making any investment decisions.
The FTSE 100 is commonly characterised as a value-and-income index dominated by miners, banks and oil majors. That framing is correct on a weighted-average basis but obscures a meaningful cohort of UK-listed compounders — businesses with multi-year revenue track records, international exposure and durable margin profiles that look much closer to the US large-cap quality bench than to their headline-index peers.
This note profiles five of them. The criteria are conventional: sustained revenue growth not dependent on one-off events, evidence that growth converts to operating margin, and a business model with international demand exposure. Openbook's reward scoring framework is used as a reference rather than a recommendation; scores are model outputs based on historical financials, not forward-looking predictions. Live company data is available through the Openbook stock screener, and our guide on how to screen stocks walks through building a growth screen like this yourself.
AstraZeneca (AZN.L)
Openbook Reward Score: 68 / 100 · Growth Score: 74 / 100
The FTSE 100's largest company by market capitalisation and the cleanest example of what UK-listed quality growth looks like at scale. AstraZeneca compounded revenue at roughly 18% annually between 2020 and 2025, almost entirely through volume rather than acquisition, with the oncology franchise — Tagrisso, Enhertu, Calquence and Imfinzi — accounting for over 40% of group sales.
The consensus debate is not about the current business; it is about the valuation. AZN trades at roughly 30x forward earnings and 20x trailing revenue, multiples that price in continued double-digit pipeline-driven growth through the second half of the decade. The relevant questions for investors are whether the pipeline depth — 170-plus projects, more than 20 in late-stage trials — can offset biosimilar competition on Tagrisso from the late 2020s, and whether the China exposure (approximately 12% of revenue) is best understood as a structural advantage or a geopolitical risk.
A full breakdown is available in our AstraZeneca research note.
Rolls-Royce (RR.L)
Openbook Reward Score: 72 / 100 · Growth Score: 81 / 100
The clearest operating turnaround on the London exchange of the last three years. Civil aerospace flying hours have recovered past the pre-pandemic baseline; the per-flying-hour service revenue model means each incremental hour over the cost breakeven point converts to high-margin recurring revenue. Defence has benefited from the post-2022 step-up in NATO spending commitments. Power Systems is a smaller but growing exposure to data centre backup power.
The current debate centres on whether the re-rating has run ahead of fundamentals. Investors researching the name should focus on the trajectory of large engine flying hours — the operational metric that drives civil aerospace — and on the credit Rolls-Royce should receive for the SMR programme, which is a long-duration option that may or may not deliver commercial returns inside the next decade. A more detailed analysis is in our Rolls-Royce research note.
Halma (HLMA.L)
Openbook Reward Score: 71 / 100 · Growth Score: 69 / 100
The longest-running compounder on the FTSE 100, and the cleanest example of the serial-acquirer model that has defined UK industrial quality investing for thirty years. Halma operates a decentralised portfolio of safety, environmental and medical technology businesses — fire detection, water quality, gas analysis, medical devices — acquired in niche end markets where pricing power is supported by regulatory mandates. Revenue has grown in every year for more than two decades. The ordinary dividend has been raised for over 45 consecutive years.
The valuation has been a question for the entire history of the business. Halma trades at a sustained premium to the FTSE industrials average that reflects the consistency of the track record; the relevant research question is whether the decentralised acquisition model continues to function at increasing scale, and whether the supply of suitable acquisition targets — small, profitable, niche — keeps pace with the cash generation that funds it.
Experian (EXPN.L)
Openbook Reward Score: 66 / 100 · Growth Score: 63 / 100
The strongest example of a UK-listed data network business. Experian operates credit bureaus in the UK, US, Brazil and a growing list of emerging markets, and has built a consumer-facing business — credit monitoring, identity protection, score improvement tools — that now has over 160 million members globally. The structural advantage is unit economics: data collected from one client (a lender) is monetised across financial services, insurance, fraud prevention and direct-to-consumer channels. Incremental cost on each additional client is low.
The investment debate centres on competitive position in the US credit bureau market against Equifax and TransUnion, the growth runway in Latin America (where Brazil is the established base and Mexico and Colombia are early-stage), and the regulatory direction of travel on consumer data — particularly the CFPB's ongoing review of credit reporting practice in the US. The geographic mix is the differentiator from the listed peers.
Diploma (DPLM.L)
Openbook Reward Score: 63 / 100 · Growth Score: 61 / 100
A smaller-cap version of the Halma model. Diploma distributes specialised technical products — industrial seals, electronic controls, life science consumables — through a network of niche businesses in the UK, North America and Europe. The five-year revenue CAGR sits at approximately 15%, split roughly evenly between organic growth and acquisitions.
The questions to research are integration risk from the elevated acquisition pace, balance sheet leverage following the larger recent deals, and whether the historically high gross margins on industrial distribution remain defensible as customers consolidate suppliers. The business is more cyclical than Halma in end-market exposure but offers a meaningfully smaller absolute valuation premium for that risk.
What to Weigh Before Buying Any of These
Growth equities trade at higher multiples than income equities because investors are paying for future earnings rather than current cash returns. That premium creates three specific exposures worth thinking through.
The first is de-rating risk. If growth disappoints — even by a small margin — high-multiple stocks fall more than the headline earnings revision suggests, because the market revises down both the earnings estimate and the multiple it applies to that estimate. The combined effect is rarely intuitive in advance.
The second is interest rate sensitivity. Growth equities are more rate-sensitive than value equities because their valuation is more dependent on discounted future cash flows. A move in the long end of the gilt curve compresses growth multiples disproportionately.
The third is competitive disruption. The current cohort of UK quality compounders has been remarkably stable; the next decade is likely to introduce more variation as AI-native competitors enter markets that have historically been protected by complexity rather than capital intensity.
None of these are reasons to avoid growth equity exposure. They are reasons to size positions appropriately and to be specific about the operating evidence that would change your mind.
Start exploring UK stocks on Openbook →
This article is produced for educational purposes only and does not constitute a financial promotion, investment advice, or a personal recommendation. Past performance and historical growth rates are not reliable indicators of future results. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invest. Openbook scores are model outputs based on historical financial data and do not predict future performance. Openbook Analytics is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide investment advice.