UNIC MBA Students top this year’s CFA Research Challenge
They will now represent Cyprus in the European Research Challenge, competing against 5,700 students from over 1,000 universities globally
A team of MBA students at the University of Nicosia (UNIC) won this year’s highly-competitive CFA Research Challenge, organised for the fifth consecutive year by the Cyprus Financial Analysts Association (CFA Society Cyprus).
As part of the competition, held at the Filoxenia Conference Centre, 25 students, divided into groups of 3-5, from six Cypriot Universities (University of Cyprus, University of Nicosia, European University Cyprus, Neapolis University Pafos, UCLAN Cyprus, Cyprus International Institute of Management) prepared and presented their business model and equity report regarding Petrolina (Holdings) Public Ltd Petroleum Company.
Each group presented their analysis before a special committee for 10 minutes, answering questions from the committee for another 10 minutes, as if they were already active financial analysts in real time. Their presentation was evaluated by a jury of experts, which counted toward 50% of the final score and ranking of each team, while the remaining 50% of the evaluation was awarded for a 12-month financial report each team produced concerning the company’s valuation.
The University of Nicosia winning team, consisting of Lamis Hammoud, Maryam Al-Khandari, Georgios Aggelis and Panagiotis Christofi, will now represent Cyprus at the European Research Challenge, organised by the CFA Institute in Zurich on 10-11 April 2019.
Marios Georgiades, President of CFA Society Cyprus, underlined that this year’s competition received a record number of participants (25 students from six universities), for whom the competition is a real challenge. “They were given an opportunity they don’t have at their Universities, since they were asked to analyse a company under real-market conditions. This means they were asked to prepare a professional report that they will submit for a grade as well as give a live presentation to a committee, which grades them according to the information they provide and their analysis”, he stated.
On his side, Kostakis Lefkaritis, Executive Chairman at Petrolina (Holdings) Public Ltd, who awarded the prize to the winning team, expressed his appreciation to the CFA Society Cyprus for choosing Petrolina as the subject company in this year’s Research Challenge and also congratulated all participating students for their excellent work.
On the occasion of the win, Dr Svetlana Sapuric, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Nicosia, who coordinates the University’s team, stated: “I am happy and proud of our team’s win at this year’s CFA University Challenge. The team worked very hard to produce an impressive equity report and to deliver an equally impressive presentation. I warmly congratulate our four MBA students on this success, as well as our Industry Advisor, Georgia Kari, who provided the team with invaluable help along the way.” Speaking about the next big challenge facing the team, the final phase of the competition, Dr. Sapuric stated that “armed with a strong team spirit and a desire to continue working hard, the team will leverage its strengths in order to achieve the best possible outcome in Zurich!”
The European CFA Research Challenge 2019 kicks things up to a global level and will feature more than 5,700 students from over 1,100 universities in 85 countries.
