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Embargoed: 12.00pm:   Monday 25 October 1999

INVESTMENT FUND SALES UNAFFECTED BY VOLATILE MARKETS

  • Investment fund gross sales of £3.2bn - up 6% on August 1999
  • Total funds under management - £213bn
  • ISA gross sales rise by 10% to £619mn (£562mn in August 1999)
  • ISA funds under management increase to £3.9bn
Unit trust and OEIC gross sales rose by 6% in September to £3.2bn. This was 41% up on the same period last year, largely a reflection of the market turbulence in the late summer of 1998. Industry funds under management were slightly dented by the recent falls in world markets, dropping just over 2% to £212.8bn from £217.8bn the previous month. Repurchases were pretty well level with previous months this year.Just under 2 million investment fund Individual Savings Accounts have now been opened, over half of which are as regular savings plans. ISA gross sales were up 10% on last month to £619mn and funds under management reached £3.9bn. ISA repurchases increased noticeably this month to £13mn. This is however a very small proportion of overall funds and simply an indication of normal business patterns emerging.Sales forces and tied agents handled the majority of ISA sales in September, taking 43% of the business. IFAs accounted for 36% of ISA business and direct 20%. This pattern is not so dissimilar to the PEP distribution split, although in terms of total unit trust and OEIC sales IFAs are responsible for 50% , leaving sales forces with 28% and direct 16%.Anne McMeehan, Director of Communications, commented:
"In spite of a 3.5% fall in the FTSE 100 and a 3.8% decline in the FT All-Share indices - September saw over £1.6bn poured into unit trusts and OEICs investing in the UK."Interestingly, in the overseas markets retail and institutional investors were of two minds.The US, largely shunned by the institutions was nevertheless well up on the retail investors buy list."

The latest regular saving figures show a continuing decline in the number of plans which now stand at 1.5 million plans, down 9% from 1.6 million last quarter. In contrast, sales have increased by 21% to £381.7mn. This is mainly due to an increase in regular ISA investments, which went up by 32% to £321.3mn.

Regular Savings Plans: Q3 1999 (1st July 1999 to 30th September 1999)

Plans:

   Q1 98 Q2 98 Q3 98 Q4 98 Q1 99 Q2 99 Q3 99 Q4 99
PEP/ISA 1,273,589 1,548,076 1,648,484 1,748,146 1,759,588 1,342,113 1,165,696   
Non-PEP/ISA 225,006 229,737 236,435 246,502 256,867 298,615 321,891    
Total 1,498,595 1,777,813 1,884,919 1,994,648 2,016,455 1,640,728 1,487,587   

Sales: £mn

   Q1 98 Q2 98 Q3 98 Q4 98 Q1 99 Q2 99 Q3 99 Q4 99
PEP/ISA £332.8 £352.2 £374.8 £396.6 £431.0 £243.6 £321.3   
Non-PEP/ISA £40.5 £41.1 £43.6 £54.8 £84.3 £70.6 £60.4   
Total £373.3 £393.3 £418.4 £451.4 £515.3 £314.2 £381.7    

Note: Figures represent totals for the quarter, not monthly totals within the quarter.

Summary table: September Unit Trust, ISA and PEP sales

  

Sep 99

Aug 99

Sep 98

Total fund value

£212.8 bn

£217.7 bn

£157.7 bn

PEP fund value

£55.0 bn

£57.7 bn

£41.9 bn

ISA fund value

£3.882 bn

£3.162 bn

  
Accounts

13.6 mn

13.5 mn

10.7 mn

Gross sales

£3,231.2 mn

£3,037.1 mn

£2,291.0 mn

Repurchases

£2,086.7 mn

£1,669.2 mn

£2,123.4 mn

Total net sales

£1,144.6 mn

£1,367.9 mn

£143.3 mn

Net retail sales

£917.2 mn

£1,038.0 mn

£330.4 mn

Net institutional sales

£227.4 mn

£329.9 mn

£-187.1 mn

Net PEP sales

£-172.0 mn

£-139.8 mn

£406.0 mn

Net ISA sales

£606 mn

£555 mn

  

For further information please contact:

Anne McMeehan, Director of Communications, AUTIF, +44 (0)20 7831 0898
Michael Quach, Head of Statistics, AUTIF, +44 (0)20 7831 0898
Clare Arber, PR Manager, AUTIF, +44 (0)20 7831 0898

Notes to Editors:

Best selling funds in September

Net Retail Sales
UK All Companies, UK General Bonds

Net Institutional Sales
Balanced Managed, UK All Companies

Worst selling funds in September

Net Retail Sales
Guaranteed/Protected Funds, North America Specialist

Net Institutional Sales
Japanese Specialist, North America

PEPs:
The tables detailing stocks and flows via PEPs relate to plans operated by unit trust managers only and not to plans operated by all PEP Plan Managers.

  1. Summary of total Unit Trust/OEIC and PEP sales - 1992 to 1999
  2. Sector summary - September 1999
  3. Retail gross - September 1999
  4. Retail repurchases - September 1999
  5. Retail net sales - September 1999
  6. Institutional business - gross, repurchases and net sales - Sept 1999
ISAs:
The ISA tables relate to accounts operated by unit trust managers only and not to accounts operated by all ISA managers.
  1. ISA sales and repurchases – September 1999
  2. ISA gross sales – September 1999
  3. ISA repurchases – September 1999
  4. ISA net sales – September 1999

Charts

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