The investment arm of the Church of England outperformed many companies in the financial markets last year with an above-average 15.2 per cent return on investments.
The Church Commissioners, who manage the £5.3 billion Church investments which they grew from £4.8 billion in spite of challenging economic times, gave more than £200 million towards the Church’s mission last year.
Although most of the costs of the Church’s mission is met by the giving of parishioners, the commissioners’ contribution amounted to about 17p in the pound. Most of this went to supporting the poorer dioceses.
Andreas Whittam Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner, said: “These results are good news for the Church and its vital role in the life of the nation. Our mission is to support the Church’s ministry, particularly in areas of need and opportunity – we meet that by ensuring our investments achieve sustainable long-term growth.”
Andrew Brown, commissioners’ secretary, said: “Investment performance was strong across the board in 2010 underlying the importance of our diversified portfolio.”
The main factors behind the fund’s strong performance included the higher weighting in shares, particularly those held in companies with overseas interests, the bias to higher performing smaller companies within UK shareholdings and the low weighting in UK government bonds, index-linked bonds and UK investment grade bonds and higher investment in property compared with the average pension fund.
The main spends included £114.0 million for clergy pensions and £46.8 million for parish mission and ministry. A further £27.5 million went on supporting bishops, including archbishops, in their diocesan and national ministries, mainly for staff costs.