12:04pm Friday 29th September 2006
By Gill Jenkins
STOCK trader Don Iszatt is in line to scoop £30,000 after winning the regional heat of a shares competition.
Mr Iszatt made an original investment' of £50,000 in mid-May in the fantasy shares competition InvestaQuest run by the London Stock Exchange.
Since then he has seen the value of his investment rise to £206.661.26 and his shrewd decisions have put him though to the national finals.
Mr Iszatt of Icen Way, Dorchester, who led the competition from the start - more than doubling the value of his portfolio in six weeks - said: "My approach was high-risk and high-return, focusing only on those AIM shares with a significant upside potential.
"These are shares that would usually only have a small weighting in a real-life balanced portfolio.
"All through it was a high-risk approach. I still did a lot of research, including following the news announcements issued on the London Stock Exchange's Regulatory News Service."
Mr Iszatt plans to invest his £1,000 winnings in the stock market and says he is thrilled to be in line to win the £30,000 in the national finals.
"I can't believe it," he said. "I've got a 10-to-one shot of winning £30,000.
"Those are quite good odds really."
Mr Iszatt was well ahead of his nearest rivals in the competition, including his wife Martine, who came fifth in the regional heat after her investment rose to £57,954.47.
Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers, said: "Financial professionals across the city will be shaking in their pin-striped suits when they see the performance generated by these portfolios.
"It's amazing what can be achieved once the shackles of risk, diversity and assets allocation are abandoned.
"Players have clearly benefited from the freedom to pick sexy, volatile stocks that would normally result in sleepless nights if it were their own financial futures on the line."
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thisisdorset.net