On 20th February we were delighted to host the Research Challenge Local Final. In the spacious surrounds of Mercers offices on the banks of the Lee in Cork, a group of talented teams came together to present their analysis and buy/sell/hold recommendation on this years subject company CRH holdings to a panel of distinguished judges from the investment community, including John Mullane, CFA, FCA Eileen Rowsome Eoin Diffley and Ken Power.
Congratulations to all involved. The winning team from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School included Nell Breathnach, Sam Crean, Fanny Menardo, Conor Schmidt and Tomás Ó Ceallaigh will now advance to the sub-regional finals. The team was supported by Dr. Cormac Mac Fhionnlaoich, Academic Director of the MSc (Finance) programme and industry mentor Marie Gillespie
The presentation was the culmination of months of research, and interviews with company management, competitors and clients. All participating teams received hands-on mentoring, and intensive training in financial analysis and professional ethics delivered through the CFA Institute network, their faculty advisor and a dedicated industry mentor. Thank you to our mentors for this year Alan Mai, CFA Marie Gillespie Lisa O'Sullivan, CFA Deirdre Maher Ronan McCabe, CFA, CAIA Owen Dwyer
This year's competition was generously supported by Nearwater Capital