"Starwars", a team of 4 school students from Haberdashers Boys School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, outperformed over 7,600 other teams from across the UK to win the second ifs Student Investor Challenge monthly prize.
The ifs Student Investor Challenge, sponsored by Deutsche Bank and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust is a free to enter competition open to teams of 4 students aged between 14 and 19.
The challenge is designed to educate young people about stocks and shares and is being undertaken by over 30,000 school and college students across the UK. The challenge involves investing a fantasy £100,000 in the stock market over a three month period.
There is a monthly prize for the best performing team in each of the 3 months that the challenge takes place and the "Starwars" team has picked up the prize for the best performance in December.
The team said, "November was not a good month for us so we decided to change our strategy, identifying those stocks that would give a quick return. We did this by reading newspapers and brokers tips, looking at stocks that had gone down drastically in the last few months, and finding stocks that were trading within a certain range".
The strategy proved profitable as another team continued, "We bought stock in PartyGaming as we had seen it had fallen drastically, from over £1 to 30p. We knew it had fallen due to the American government banning online gambling - an important source of their revenue. However, we thought that the market had over-reacted and may bounce back, it jumped by over 10%."
"Whilst we did make losses on one or two stocks by following our strategy we had a spectacular December and grew by over 18% to win the December Prize!"
Mrs. Shah, the students’ teacher who was responsible for registering the team, said, "The team has found the competition very exciting. It has given them the opportunity to find out how the stock market operates and what drives shares higher or lower."
Anne Kiem, Director of External Affairs at the ifs School of Finance concluded, "The "Starwars" team from Borehamwood have done incredibly well to outperform thousands of other teams from across the UK.
I understand their strategy was backed up by widely reading the financial press and this coupled with a coherent plan of action has reaped impressive dividends for the team.
I wish them, and all the other teams involved, the very best of luck for the remainder of the competition."
The challenge runs until February and will be followed by a regional and national final with the overall winning team receiving an all expenses paid trip to New York and £2,000 for their school.
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