THE investment arm of the Church of England has said the total return on its investments in 2013 was 15.9 per cent.

That means the Church Commissioners fund has again beaten its targeted return of matching the Retail Price Index inflation plus five per cent.

The fund added it had grown from £2.4 billion at the start of 1994 to £6.1 billion by the end of 2013.

Andreas Whittam Smith, the First Church Estates Commissioner, said: "Everything that could go right did go right."