Press releases 2005

11 November 2005

INVESTAQUEST WINNER MAKES GAINS OF 155.5 PER CENT

Dr Michael Langton, a GP from Mirfield in Yorkshire, was today crowned 'Britain's Best Investor', winning the £40,000 grand prize in InvestaQUEST, the stock-picking competition organised by the London Stock Exchange in association with Barclays Stockbrokers. 

Using the competition alias 'Dr Sous', Michael used all of the twenty trades available to him during the month long national final to make gains of 155.5 per cent on an initial fantasy portfolio of £50,000.  His winning portfolio was worth £127,749.97, nearly £6,000 clear of the next best-placed of the one hundred national finalists.

Dr Langton is a regular investor, but said his approach to InvestaQUEST was very different to his normal investment decision-making process:

"I wouldn't normally pick the kind of stocks that I chose for InvestaQUEST; you have to go for high risk stocks to stand a chance of winning over such a short period of time. 

"I chose a few renewable energy companies such as Alkane Energy and Biofuels, because that's an area that I have an interest in. 

"I haven't quite decided what to do with the prize money – I didn't like to think that I'd win.  I might spend some of it on solar panels for my house.  I think that's appropriate since I backed so many renewable energy stocks."

Yorkshire was home to two of the top three competitors in the national finals of InvestaQUEST.  Richard Bowers of Leeds, who beat 'Dr Sous' to second place in the regional phase of the competition, came second in the national phase with a final portfolio value of £121,946, securing himself a runners-up prize of £5,000.  The other runners-up prize will go to Mark Annis, from Ringwood in Hampshire, who came third with a portfolio value of £110,946 and also won his regional round. 

Clara Furse, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, said;

"Congratulations to Dr Langton on winning InvestaQUEST.  His success, and the gains achieved by so many of the 10,000 InvestaQUEST entrants, demonstrate the potential of equities as an investment.

"Whether they have been inspired to start building up their own stock portfolios, or have decided that collective investment schemes - investment funds - are a better option for them, we hope that everyone who has taken part in the competition has enjoyed the experience. InvestaQuest was designed to help everyone gain a better understanding of how the stock market works and the crucial role that equities can play in meeting the nation's saving requirements."

Ray Greenshields, Managing Director of Barclays Wealth Management, said:

"The rollercoaster ride of recent weeks with markets leaping and falling by as much as a 100 points in a single day has provided the InvestaQUEST finalists with a real taste of the excitement of investing in the stock market. It has been fascinating to see how different investing strategies, both high risk and more cautious, have brought so many of the participants investing success. Barclays Stockbrokers is delighted to be able to provide Dr Langton his thoroughly deserved £40,000 prize."

During the one month national final, the top ten performers from each of ten InvestaQUEST regions were given a notional £50,000 investment to split between ten different stocks.  They were allowed to make twenty substitutions during the month.   The ten competition regions were: East Anglia, London, Midlands, Northern Ireland, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales and Yorkshire and the North East.  The ten competitors from Yorkshire and the North East performed best, followed by the finalists from East Anglia.  The top performers in each region were as follows;

For further information please contact:

Richard Campbell / Rebecca Clark, Capital MS&L:   020 7307 5342

Catherine Mattison, London Stock Exchange Press Office:  020 7797 1395

Emma Rees, Barclays Stockbrokers:     020 7116 6191