Money Management’s issue of October 2002 carried features on active managed funds, investment trusts and the cover story, illustrated by an image of a half-eaten apple with a caterpillar poking out of it. Sounds fun?
This was also the time when Jon Cudby, now the editor of MM, was a staff writer. He authored a survey on the 100 best performing investment trusts, written at a time when the global economy was going through a period of recession and no investment vehicles escaped the impact.
But, according to the survey, every one of the top 100 trusts listed in the story had achieved growth of at least 22 per cent over one year, with Schroder Korea-Europe Fund as the top performing. Meanwhile, Gresham House was the top performer over a five-year period.
The magazine’s cover story suggested ethical investing – considered a small sector then – was slowly becoming mainstream. The story said that sales of ethical funds were down by 14 per cent from 2000 to 2001 but also forecast that socially responsible companies would in the future outperform their peers.
The survey compared the screening methods for socially responsible funds, including standard industry norms such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, arms, pornography, nuclear power among others. In a Table of best performing SRI funds, Morley SF Corporate Bond topped the list, followed by Friends Prov Stewardship.
In other news, the magazine also carried stories on structured products, pension credits, flexible mortgages and more.
Events in October 2002
October 7 - The Long and Winding Road by Will Young and Gareth Gates was number one on the official charts at the start of the month
October 12 – Terrorists detonated bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300 in the worst terrorist act in Indonesia’s history
October 13 - The 53rd Formula One World Drivers’ Champions: Michael Schumacher won by 67 points
October 30 - British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview began transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
More Back in the Day:
November 1996
August 1998
June 1975
