Quiz of the Year 2023: The answers

See how you fared in the Investors’ Chronicle Christmas Quiz

January 3, 2024

Did you try your luck with our Quiz of the Year 2023? The quiz is now closed, but you can find all the answers below. We'll be in touch with the winner shortly.

Round 1: The year in review

1. As of 8 December, three of these FTSE 350 shares had made total returns of more than 100 per cent in 2023. Which had not? D. Sage

2. Several UK businesses fell foul of the Hollywood writer and actor strikes this year. How long did the writers' strike last? D. 148 days

3. Former caterer Yevgeny Prigozhin's Russian coup attempt was quickly aborted in June. Which of the below is not known to have sampled his cuisine in the past? D. Tony Blair

4. Rising mortgage rates put pressure on homeowners. A quarter of all UK properties are owned with a mortgage or a loan, but how many are owned outright, according to the ONS? C. 37%. However, as a second ONS dataset puts the figure for England (which forms the bulk of the UK data) at a lower level, we will also accept B. 28%.

5. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank shook markets in the spring. Between 2014 and 2022 there were an average of 5 US bank failures per year, but what's the running total so far in 2023? A. 5

6. As companies like BYD make electric vehicle inroads, China's share of the total EU car market has risen from an estimated 1 per cent in 2021 to which figure this year? B. 2.8%

7. Donald Trump rose up the polls this year and is now favourite for the 2024 US presidential election. Who is the only previous US president to have served two non-consecutive terms? C. Grover Cleveland

8. A share sale valuing artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI at $86bn was paused in November amid boardroom upheaval and the temporary ousting of founder Sam Altman. What, according to subsequent reports, is the latest valuation targeted by bankers? B. $86bn

9. The Danish economy grew by 1.7 per cent in the first half of 2023. What would the figure have been without the contribution of a pharmaceutical industry propelled forward by Novo-Nordisk's weight-loss drugs? B. -0.3%

Round 2: Who said what?

1. "We need the connectivity that comes from better infrastructure."

F. Jeremy Hunt

2. "We're going to see more technological changes in the next 10 years than we've seen in the last 50 years."

E. Joe Biden

3. “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of AI."

C. Sam Altman

4. "Every investment we make, we destroy value."

B. Tufan Erginbilgic

5. "Make no mistake, you will see the numbers turning from here."

H. Margherita Della Valle

6. "I don't recall saying it with exactly that phrasing."

D. Sam Bankman-Fried

7. "We have seen real bottlenecks along global supply chains, including because of the deliberate policies of other countries."

G. Ursula von der Leyen

8. "The worshipping at the altar of diversification, I think that is really crazy.”

A. Charlie Munger

Round 3: Movers and shakers

1. BP scaled back its energy transition target earlier this year, having previously aimed to cut oil and gas production by 40 per cent by 2030. What is the new reduction goal? A. 25%

2. CRH was one of a handful of companies to move their primary listing to the US. The construction of which of these projects did not use its materials? D. The Channel Tunnel

3. There were nine takeover offers for UK companies announced in the third quarter of 2023. How many of them targeted Aim companies? D. 7

4. As of the start of December, what was the top-performing 2023 AIC investment trust sector by share price total return? A. Private equity

5. How much did UK water companies pay out in dividends last year, according to FT analysis, following on from the £540mn paid in 2021? A. £1.4bn

6. Which company did Terry Smith's Fundsmith 'run away' from this summer, 18 months after first investing? B. Amazon

7. The cut to NI contribution rates will cost the government £10bn in 2024/25. But how much will it raise in that period from previously announced freezes to income tax thresholds, according to the OBR? B. £23.3bn