JSE announces Investment Challenge winners

Photo credit: https://university.jse.co.za/

The high school learners and university students who took the top positions in this year's JSE Investment Challenge have outperformed the JSE's Top40 and All Share Indices as well as some of the country's top fund managers.

In the Schools Challenge, the winning teams across income, equity and speculator portfolios received prize money of R180,000, while in the University Challenge, the top three prizes were valued at R60,000.

CSI Manager at the JSE, Idris Seedat says these novice traders have performed exceptionally well. "The winning teams have generated exceptional investment returns. Although the participants in the Investment Challenge trade in a risk-free environment because they hold virtual portfolios, the competition still requires them to weigh different investment options against each other and to manage their portfolios to maximise returns."

This challenge, which took place from 10 March to 26 September this year, requires high school learners and university students to invest an imaginary sum of R1 million in JSE-listed shares. In this period, the JSE's All Share Index climbed by just over 4,1% and the Top40 Index by just over 3,4%, and the top performing teams managed to grow their portfolios by between 12% and 62%.

Equity portfolio

In the equity category, the Neverest team from Hoërskool D.F. Malan in Durbanville took first place with members Luke Nel, Tonia Schoeman, Henro Spangenberg and Rouxle Schmeisser growing their portfolio by 62%. Zafar Moosa, Muhammed Dhoda, Muhhamed Jooma and Muhhamad Essa, from the Master Investors team from Maritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg came second by growing their portfolio by 40%. Lucrum Investors Trader, also from Hoërskool D.F. Malan came in third with portfolio growth of 36%. The team consists of Stefan Jordaan, Francis Stoffberg, Iza Mari Gaybba and Marli Ann Opperman.

Income portfolio

The Dream Team 21, from Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town, has claimed first place in the income portfolio, with learners Hannah May Wiltshire and Shannon Boyd. This team added income of just over R35,000 to their portfolio. The Meth Busters from Kingsway High School in Amanzimtoti came in at close second with income of R33,600. This team consists of Thom Reimeringer Visser, Kailish Rajh, Brandon Hall and Jason le Roux. Conquer Divide-DCS from the Dominican Convent School in Johannesburg took third place with an income of R32,700. The team members are Vuyo Mpako, Itumeleng Nxumala, Thabo Dube and Fanele Sibiya.

Speculator portfolio

In the speculator portfolio, the winning team is Super Traders 2.0 from Maritzburg College with team members Mohamed Ebrahim Asmall, Muhammad Riyadh Aziz, Dylan Grubb, Ryan Hodgeson. This team grew their portfolio by 26%. PBHS Bankers from Pretoria Boys High School grew their portfolio by 17% to come in second. The team members are Brandon Fekete, Marthinus Erasmus, Werner Reyneke and Jimmy Fischer. Pretoria Boys High also took third place PBHS Sur+ Traders V3.0 growing their portfolio by 12%. The team members are Dean Pillay, Ruben Mpanya, Kofi Snaman and Kamohelo Motaung.

For the high schools, in first place each of the four team members received R4,000; second place team members received R2,500 each, third place R2,000 each and in fourth as well as fifth place team members received R1,000 each. In addition to the learners being rewarded, successful schools and their mentors also took home winnings.

In the University Challenge, the winning team in the university speculator portfolio is team 311 SWB, consisting of Brian Masondo and Wesley Bohata, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Masondo and Bohata grew their portfolio by 40%. This lucky team walked away with R25,000 in winnings. Team Bearing the Bull from the University of Witwatersrand scooped second place. Its members, Christopher Conrady and Michael Daniel won R20,000 by growing their portfolio by 38%. Futurnity from the University of Pretoria came third and won R15,000. Team members Conradie Fourie, JanJan De Beer, Luhard Jansen van Vuuren and Marco Bence grew their portfolio by 34%.

Changing the financial landscape of South Africa

Seedat says, "The challenge hopes to increase financial literacy and knowledge of investment tools in South Africa. For us it is incredibly satisfying to see financial literacy being taken so seriously. The high level of participation shows that the annual competition for school learners and university students is making an impact and changing the financial landscape of South Africa."

"Congratulations to all the winners of the JSE Investment Challenge. This year's winners have shown excellent teamwork, initiative and are an outstanding example of what we aim to achieve with this project," concludes Seedat.

Registrations for next year's challenge commence again in January next year. To register for 2015, each team will be required to pay a fee of R120 per team per portfolio entered for schools and R150 per team for universities. To find out more about next year's challenge, visit: http://schools.jse.co.za or http://university.jse.co.za and the interactive mobisite: http://schools.jse.co.za/mobile or http://university.jse.co.za/mobile or call 011 520 7116/7344/7168.