In the Press

STAR is often covered in the press and media. Below is a selection of some of these articles- full articles are available on request.

Investors Chronicle
June 2009
Feature article on the STAR system ‘Rapid Recovery Plays’:
“John Mulligan’s STAR share screening process has proved its worth over the years. The system identifies shares that combine low valuations with above-average expected earnings growth rates. Now, as confidence resurfaces, Mr Mulligan adds extra filters to his screening process to identify those shares that will prove most profitable for investors as the recovery takes hold.”

Interactive Investor Website
May 2006 to February 2008
During this period, John Mulligan wrote regular monthly columns on the STAR portfolios for the Interactive Investors Website, which are available in the Interactive Investor archives here: http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/article_overview.jsp?section=ModelPortfolios&catEnforce=Star

Investors Chronicle
November 2, 2007
Another cover article by John Mulligan, providing an update on STAR’s performance:
“The record of the basic 10 share growth selections over the past two decades is summarised in the table ‘How STAR has performed’ on page 10. This record shows that the STAR selections have outperformed the All-Share Index in 17 of the past 22 years… Its advantage is that it has been proven to be remarkably reliable over the long haul.”

IRS Report
May 17, 2007
Another of John Mulligan’s regular updates in the IRS Report entitled “Mid-cap stocks still dominate the STAR selections”:
“As explained in The IRS Report on 17th March – issue no. 268 – the basic STAR methodology is contrarian by nature. It usually selects shares in unfashionable sectors that have been overlooked by the market. Over the longer term this can be an advantage although taking a shorter term view, say less than 6 months, performance results may be disappointing.”

Investors Chronicle
October 20, 2006
Cover article by John Mulligan on the STAR system:
“The estimated earnings data for several hundred large-cap companies as produced by a number of leading analysts was then tabulated on a monthly basis over a 10-year period. All the shares covered were then ranked using nine different equations, labelled as Versions A through to H. The equations covered key variables such as expected future earnings growth rates, current share valuations, dividend yields, sector weightings and, not least, step changes to expected profits and earnings growth. The brest results were from Versions A, B and H… It was from this basic analysis that the Share Tracking and Ranking (STAR) share selection and management methods evolved.”

Interactive Investor Website
March 1, 2006
The STAR system was the feature for March’s editorial by Richard Beddard:
“Ultimately, the proof is in the performance and, since 1999, Star's ten share portfolio has outgrown the
FTSE All-Share by an average of 1.6% a month. It adds up. If you had put £10,000 into it on 11 January
1999, it would be worth £36,500 today (excluding costs). Going back further, Mr Mulligan's testing shows
that £10,000 invested in Star in 1985 would have been worth £319,400 twenty years later. The same
investment in the FTSE All-Share would have returned you £38,300. Just put those numbers together side-by-side; £38,000 and £319,000. That is the difference between an index, and a Star.”

IRS Report
December 17, 2005
One of John Mulligan’s regular updates in the IRS Report entitled “Good start as High-Yield Portfolio outpaces the FTSE All-Share Index”:
“First I shall look at how these selections have fared over the past two months and then see if any changes should be made. The October High Yield Portfolio: The portfolio as a whole has done well in comparison with the wider share market. The average rise in value, at just under 4.5%, has been more than double the FTSE All-Share Index gain of 1.7%. A further plus point is that the portfolio should receive useful dividends over the coming months.”

Investors Chronicle Stock-Screening Newsletter
November 2005
“I bet very few of you have heard of John Mulligan and his STAR system. But what he has quietly developed is a hugely effective system of stock selection… So, in aggregate, his STAR shares produced average returns seven times greater than the market [end of 1985 to end of 2003]. That’s why we think his system is hugely interesting – and why, for this issue, we’ve asked him to explain his methods and identify the most promising shares. Over to John…”

Financial Times
February 5/6, 2005
In “Forecasting honours shared by brokers”, Philip Coggan concludes a test of bank and broker forecasts using the STAR system:
“However, with the exception of Teather and Greenwood, all the portfolios assembled using the system beat the FTSE All-share index over 2004, indicating that it often makes sense to pay attention to analysts’ forecasts even when they are wrong.”

Financial Times
February 25, 2004
In “Stock Picking: Now for a progress report”, Philip Coggan provides an update on testing of STAR:
“October's selection process produced the following 10 stocks: Avon Rubber, Brammer, Charter, HBOS, Hiscox, Imperial Tobacco, Lloyds TSB, Mowlem, SVB Holdings and UK Coal. As at the end of January, that list had modestly outperformed the FTSE All-Share index, gaining an average 4.2 per cent against the index's 3.8 per cent rise.”

Financial Times
January 17, 2004
In “Analysts will be put to the test”, Philip Coggan and John Mulligan prepare to use the STAR system the test forecasts from banks and brokers:
“Mulligan's star system (featured last year in the FT Money Guide) starts with a group of stocks. He selects the quartile (25 per cent) from that group with the lowest prospective price-earnings ratios. Of those, he selects the companies with the fastest earnings growth… He will be applying [the STAR] approach to the forecasts made by the 10 banks and brokers and we will report back on how the chosen stocks perform.”

Bloomberg
December 2003
Andrea Page talks about income from shares in her article “Cash Injections”:
“[STAR] also generates two listings of 10 and 20 high income shares. “The idea is to create a template that’s east to understand,” says John Mulligan, managing director of MD Management, who developed the system and back-tested it to 1985. “This is not stock tipping – it’s a methodology related to a constant flow of information.” He adds that, since 1999, the 10 income selections have returned over 40% against 26% decline in the FTSE All-Share.”

Financial Times
October 25, 2003
In “A ‘mechanical’ approach”, Philip Coggan takes a look at the STAR system:
“The star share system was set up by John Mulligan, who worked in the City before joining the United Nations as a consultant economist. He set up a financial advisory company, MD Management, in 1986 and spent a long time researching the relationship between earnings' forecasts and the subsequent performance of share prices… The star system managed to make money in both 2000 and 2001, although it did fall 16.4 per cent in 2002. He calculates that someone who invested £1,000 in the star system at the end of 1985 would have accumulated £17,620, before costs, by the end of last year, compared with just £2,660 had they invested in the All-Share.”