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Four Year 11 pupils from King Edward’s School, Bath have beaten more than 10,000 other teams across the UK to reach the final of a national investment competition.

In getting to the final of the 2017 Student Investor Challenge, the team of Year 11 boys, trading as ‘Alberto & Co, actively manged several virtual investment portfolios, over a period of three months. This included buying, selling and holding a range of FTSE 100 shares, exchange-traded funds and commodities, as well as successfully predicting the rise and fall in the value of stocks and shares. In doing so, they outperformed the market and grew their portfolios to the value of £106,000.

KES pupils, Faisal Attia, Fin Cook, Ben Watson and Harry Harman will now compete against seven other schools in a series of live trading challenges and will deliver an investment presentation to a panel of finance experts. At stake is an all-expenses paid trip to New York City and £2,000 for their school.

The Student Investor Challenge is the largest investment competition for schools in the UK. It is run each year by financial education charity, The London Institute of Banking & Finance and challenges the hundreds of thousands of teenagers who take part each year to research, analyse and interpret the financial markets and to work together to negotiate the challenging world of investment management.

Mr Michael Barber, a teacher from the KES Economics and Business Studies Department, commented, “The boys have worked extremely hard since November and shown a real dedicated focus each week to analyse the markets and make accurate predictions. They have applied their knowledge of the GCSE course and their understanding of the financial markets has propelled them to the final of this prestigious competition, in which KES has a very rich history. I am sure they will acquit themselves very well.”

Alison Pask, Managing Director, Financial Capability & Community Outreach, at The London Institute of Banking & Finance, added, “As we have seen over the past six months, global events have led to some very unstable markets, so this year’s competition has been harder than ever for the competitors.

“That the team from King Edward’s School has been able to successfully manage two investment portfolios, which is more than many professionals have been able to do, in such challenging conditions, shows the level of dedication they have put into the competition and their understanding of financial markets. We wish them the best of luck in the final.”

www.studentinvestor.org