UCT takes top honours at South African leg of Global Investment Research Challenge

CFA South Africa (non-profit local society of CFA Institute) representing Chartered Financial Analysts has for a second year running, announced the University of Cape Town as the Global Investment Research Challenge winners for 2010.

The GIRC is an educational initiative in which leading industry professionals guide students on how to research and report on a publicly traded company.This event spans over three months, and consisted of analyses of a public company while being mentored by a professional research analyst; writing a sell-side research report, and finally presenting the research results and recommendations to a high-profile panel of experts.

Both the written report and the presentations contribute to the overall score for a team. Marks for the presentations are awarded to teams based on their investment case, their poise, and their ability to answer the judges’ questions. The event is sponsored by CFA Institute as well as local CFA Institute member societies, of which the latter each host country heats of the Challenge.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Cape Town (UCT), University of Johannesburg (UJ), University of Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of Pretoria (UP) all participated in the competition with UCT, UJ, Wits and UP reaching the final to defend their individual reports and analysis on telecommunication company Vodacom to the panel of judges.

UCT will, on 3 March 2011 represent South Africa at the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regional final of the GIRC in Madrid, Spain, where the team of students will defend their report on Vodacom against the other finalists in the region. The winner of the EMEA regional competition proceeds to the global finals that will be held on 8 April 2011 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

“The competition this year was fierce, with the participating teams elevating the standard from last year. All the teams participating were worthy competitors. It is a great achievement by UCT to have won the local GIRC two years in a row. Last year, the team made it all the way to the finals, which demonstrates the virtues important for success in the investment profession: ethics, analytics, rigour and tenacity. We wish them all the best going forward,” said CFA South Africa President Elbie Louw, CFA

The panel of judges for the 2010 local competition were Arthur Thompson (Past President of CFA South Africa and President Council Representative for the EMEA East Region), Chris Gilmour (Absa Asset Management) and Peter Armitage (Investec).

“As industry professionals with years of experience, we were impressed by the students analytical ability and skill to sell their recommendations,” added Armitage.