Church of England sells investments fearing market slowdown

Gloomy global outlook prompts church to offload 250m of equities even as it outperforms the market

The Church of England has said it fears a looming global economic slowdown with governments relatively powerless to shore up growth, as it revealed a decision to offload a portion of its substantial stock market holdings.

The church commissioners, who manage the C of E's 7bn investment fund, said they enjoyed market-beating returns of 8.2% last year but warned they would struggle to keep up that pace in future. Over the past 30 years the fund's average annual return has been 9.7%.