Congratulations to both teams who entered this year who were placed first and second as a result of making the most money over a five month period commencing last January.
All school based teams were given £100,000 fantasy money to construct a portfolio of ten to fifteen shares from the FTSE350 Index.
The winning team, Leverage Bears, made an impressive 5.9% and Icarus made about 1%. Both teams outperformed the FTSE All Share Index which fell 4.8% and the bluechip FTSE100 index slipping 5.7%.They were also the only teams in the challenge to make money. The equity markets were very volatile due to the financial stability of Greece and other EU countries, the UK General Election and the global economy retreating into a double dip recession. Both teams benefited from making bold investments in riskier shares which paid off in the short term.
With the exception of last year, Birkdale School has now won first place in this challenge since 2004 and has continuously outperformed the FTSE350 index as well as many city traders following the FTSE based equity indices.
