YORK students are celebrating success in an international financial competition.

White Rose Investments, five students from the University of York, travelled to Atlanta in the US to take part in the finals of an annual hedge fund management competition, run by Georgia State university and the Southeastern Hedge Fund Association.

They were the first non-American university to make the final shortlist and came second overall, winning $5,000 (around £3,800).

Universities around the world entered, including big-hitters from the American Ivy League, but York was the only British university to enter a team.

Along with the other finalists, they were asked to pitch an investment trading strategy of their devising to a panel of US industry experts.

The winning team came from the University of Tampa, Florida, which also had a second team in the final five, alongside teams from Delaware and South Carolina.

Theo Wilson, of White Rose Investments, said: "We had a great time and got the opportunity to meet professionals in the industry who gave us an insight into their lives.

"The competition itself was exciting. The pressure was off a little once we found out that neither Harvard or MIT had made the final, but we still had to present and take questions for 15 minutes from people who knew their stuff."

Theo's team-mates were Tom Armstrong, Edward Bottomley, Jasmine Gotobed and Gabriel Zedda James.

They were brought together by the Griff investment fund, which operates a student-run equity portfolio of £10,000 at the university, but the idea, concept and delivery were entirely student-led.

Keith Anderson, chairman of the Griff fund at the university, said: "On top of the long flights, the team coped admirably under pressure.

"Their investment concept is not a simple one, as it involves a variation on Piotroski's F-score that measures a company's financial stability, so I was very pleased that they came runners-up.

"Theo and his team have done the University of York proud and I look forward to helping next year's team."

The students' accommodation was paid for by the competition organisers and they received funding for travel costs from York university's maths and economics departments, management school, philosophy, politics and economics department and careers department.

Theo said: "We also managed to get some downtime, going to a major league baseball game and seeing a few local sites, and winning the prize at the end topped it all off!"