Investors in many Bermuda Stock Exchange-listed stocks saw their wealth grow in 2016 as The Royal Gazette/BSX Index soared to gains of almost 50 per cent.

Much of the spike came in the latter stages of the year and was driven by the index’s largest component, Butterfield Bank.

But the bank was by no means the only big winner on the BSX, as five other companies on the exchange’s domestic board recorded double-digit percentage gains during the year against a backdrop of a return to growth in the economy.

The index closed yesterday at 1,927.79, up more than 623 points, or 47.8 per cent, since the start of 2016. However, the recovery still has a long way to go to reach pre-crisis levels — the index ended 2007 at 4,909.92.

Butterfield’s increase of more than 60 per cent was driven by its initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange in mid-September with a target price of $23.50.

The offering drew a vote of confidence from the market, with a broad range of institutional investors snapping up Butterfield shares. Since then, the stock has rocketed to $31.71 in New York, with the BSX-listed shares scaling similar heights, propelled by bullish sentiment for the banking sector as a whole after the election of Donald Trump as the next US president and expectations for rising interest rates.

Butterfield started the year with a market capitalisation of just over $930 million, which had risen to almost $1.7 billion by the close of trading yesterday.

For the bank, 2016 was the culmination of seven years of recovery since it was brought to its knees by hundreds of millions of dollars of losses from soured investments linked to the US housing market. As if to draw a line under that episode, the bank repaid the principal early on the $200 million of government-guaranteed preference shares issued in 2009, plus all dividends due. And its IPO also gave the rescuers who injected $550 million of capital into the bank in 2010 the opportunity to exit at a handsome profit.

The second-largest component of the index, insurer BF&M Ltd, also had a strong year, gaining 21.7 per cent. Its shares closed at $20.50 yesterday and investors also received 88 cents per share in dividends during the year, adding up to a total return of 26.9 per cent.

In April, with the share price lagging at $16.30, the insurer announced the first share buyback in its history, authorising the repurchase of 500,000 shares representing 5.7 per cent of BF&M common shares outstanding.

The buyback process has added liquidity to trading of BF&M shares and supported the share price by reducing the number of shares outstanding.

BF&M was not the only BSX-listed company to buy back shares in 2016 on the basis that they were undervalued. Just last month, Ascendant Group, owner of power utility Belco announced it had repurchased 710,000 of its own shares — amounting to 6.6 per cent of shares listed — most of them for cancellation.

Like BF&M, Ascendant has also seen its stock price gain significantly during the year, by an impressive 40.6 per cent. It ended yesterday with a share price of $6.75 and a market capitalisation of $72 million, making it the sixth-largest company on the BSX domestic board. The 32 cents per share paid out in dividends during the year boosted the full-year return on Ascendant to a handsome 47.3 per cent.

Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd, the parent company of this newspaper, is also looking to buy back its own shares under a $1 million buyback programme announced in 2015. This year, its stock has risen 9.2 per cent to $7.10 and with the 20 cents paid out in dividends, the total return for the year amounted to 12.3 per cent.

Investors in Bermuda Aviation Services Ltd should also be satisfied with their 2016. Starting the year at $2.25, BAS shares rose 42.2 per cent to $3.20 by yesterday. Another 20 cents per share in dividends racked up a total return of 48.9 per cent.

Polaris was another company to reward investors in spectacular style. The owner of Stevedoring Services, which operates Hamilton docks, returned to profit in 2016 after a comprehensive restructuring. Its stock rose 30.2 per cent during the year to close yesterday on $4.05. Add on the 23 cents per share Polaris paid out in dividends this year and the total return is 37.6 per cent.

KeyTech Ltd shares had perhaps the most volatile trading year on the BSX. In a year of complex restructuring around the deal which gave US firm ATN a 51 per cent stake in KeyTech, the company ended the year with 42.3 million shares listed, nearly three times the 15.5 million listed at the start of 2016.

When that considerable dilution is considered, the share price, which had fallen from $3 to $2.95 by yesterday, held up very well, while the company’s market capitalisation has almost tripled to just shy of $125 million.

Insurer Argus Group had a positive year, its stock climbing 13.9 per cent to close on $4.60 yesterday. Add on the 17 cents per share of dividend payments and Argus shareholders can celebrate a total 2016 return of just over 18 per cent.

The shares of LOM Financial Ltd and Watlington Waterworks ended the year where they started it, while West Hamilton Holdings Ltd, down 5.8 per cent, and Devonshire Industries Ltd, down 4.2 per cent, saw modest declines.