SABMiller & BHP Billiton come out on top

Only one FTSE 100 share has consistently beaten the blue chip index every year since 2001, according to a new study by financial website The Motley Fool - Fool.co.uk.

Strong Brew

Who would dare to bet against SABMiller beating the FTSE 100 index again this year? The South African brewer has outperformed the index every year for nine straight years. Furthermore, with the prospects of a summer kicker from the World Cup, SABMiller could make it "played ten - win ten".

However, beating the market consistently has not been enough for SABMiller to dislodge BHP Billiton as the best performing FTSE 100 share since 2001. While shares in SABMiller have increased 284%, its rise has been dwarfed by the performance of the miner, which has risen 708% over nine years.

Slow and Steady

As you might expect, blue chips beat the market once every two years. However, some companies have trounced the market more often.

Both Reckitt Benckiser and BHP Billiton have beaten the market in eight out of nine years. They are followed by a cluster of seven companies that have each beaten the market seven times in nine years. They include miner Anglo American, defence contractor BAE Systems and cigarette companies British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco. There is even one bank on the list -- Standard Chartered has beaten the market in seven out of the last nine years.

You can't win every time

Between 2001 and 2009, shares in ten companies have more than doubled in value even though they failed to beat the index year in, year out.

Notably, while Rolls-Royce has only beaten the index five times in nine years, its shares have risen 188%. M&S has only beaten the market in six out of nine years, but its shares have doubled in that time. One company, Electrocomponents, has never beaten the market in any year between 2001 and 2009. It is no longer in the FTSE 100. 

David Kuo, Director at The Motley Fool, says: "The fact that only one company has beaten the market year in, year out over nine years shows how difficult it can be to pick market-beating shares. But continually beating the market isn't the be all and end all of investing.

"We sometimes focus far too much on the short term, and making decisions because a share has underperformed in the short term can damage our wealth. Shares, even in the best companies, can have periods when they may underperform the market."