Reluctant investors cause slow summer sales

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Embargoed: 12.00 noon: Monday 30 July 2001

INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS JUNE 2001

RELUCTANT INVESTORS CAUSE SLOW SUMMER SALES

Investment funds under management: £251 billion
Gross industry sales: £4.9 billion (£4.4bn in May 2001)
Gross retail sales: £2.5 billion (£2.6bn in May 2001)
ISA sales: £572 million (£747mn in May 2001)
Net retail sales: £632 million (£807 million in May 2001)
Net institutional sales: £-2.4 billion (£783 million in May 2001)

Overall investment fund sales for June rose to £4.85bn, an increase of 13% on June 2000. Retail sales accounted for £2.5bn (down 4% from £2.6bn) whilst institutional sales rose by 21% to £2.3bn (£1.9bn in May). Institutional investment was offset by a significant increase in institutional repurchases - almost £4.8bn in June - up from £1.1bn the previous month. (This included a withdrawal of in excess of £2bn by a single client, which had an impact on a number of groups.) Private investors appear to have maintained their commitment to the market, with retail repurchases of £1.9bn compared to £1.8bn in May.

ISA gross sales of £572mn were down by 28% on June last year. ISA investors favoured the bond and balanced managed sectors, as well as UK All Companies funds. IFAs were the main sellers of ISAs in June, accounting for 38% of sales. Sales forces and tied agents were responsible for 37% and the ‘direct’ channel, 24%. ISA funds under management remain at £21 billion.

The number of regular savings plans declined by 0.8% to 2.1 million over the second quarter to end of June, although those held within an ISA remained steady at 1.7 million. Regular contributions totalled £560 million (£468 million through ISAs) for the same period, a fall of 0.3%.

Clare Arber, PR Manager at AUTIF, commented:

“Whilst potential investors appear increasingly reluctant to invest in the stockmarket, there is nevertheless little sign of existing investors cashing in their savings. Investment in unit trusts and OEICs is for the long-term and savers seem well aware of the possibility of some volatility in the short-term.”

Regular Savings Plans: Q2 2001 (1^st April 2001 to 30 June 2001 )

	*Q1 1999*	*Q2 1999*	*Q3 1999*	*Q4 1999*	*Q1 2000*	*Q2 2000*	*Q3 2000*	*Q4 2000*
PEP/ISA	1,759,588	1,342,113	1,165,696	1,340,003	1,408,040	1,508,137	1,593,089	1,657,533
Non-PEP/ISA	256,867	298,615	321,891	274,382	294,794	357,795	366,294	362,485
Total	2,016,455	1,640,728	1,487,587	1,614,385	1,702,834	1,865,932	1,959,383	2,020,018

	*Q1 2001*	*Q2 2001*	*Q3 2001*	*Q4 2001*	*Q1 2002*	*Q2 2002*	*Q3 2002*	*Q4 2002*
PEP/ISA	1,745,627	1,745,839
Non-PEP/ISA	368,944	351,644
Total	2,114,571	2,097,483

Sales: £mn

	*Q1 1999*	*Q2 1999*	*Q3 1999*	*Q4 1999*	*Q1 2000*	*Q2 2000*	*Q3 2000*	*Q4 2000*
PEP/ISA	431.0	243.6	321.3	351.3	386.3	421.2	448.0	459.4
Non-PEP/ISA	84.3	70.6	60.4	54.8	60.1	79.5	68.1	99.4
Total	515.3	314.2	381.7	406.2	446.4	500.7	516.2	558.9

	*Q1 2001*	*Q2 2001*	*Q3 2001*	*Q4 2001*	*Q1 2002*	*Q2 2002*	*Q3 2002*	*Q4 2002*
PEP/ISA	475.9	467.9
Non-PEP/ISA	85.9	92.0
Total	561.8	560.0

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

Summary table: June - Unit Trust, ISA and PEP data

	June 01	May 01	June 00
Total funds	£251.0 bn	259.5 bn	267.9 bn
PEP funds	£52.0 bn	£53.4 bn	£60.1 bn
ISA funds	£21.3 bn	£21.4 bn	£15.2 bn
Total gross sales	£4,854.2 m	£4,428.0 m	£4,311.6 m
Total repurchases	£6,640.3 m	£2,837.9 m	£3,233.9 m
Total net sales	£-1,786.1 m	£1,590.1 m	£1,077.7 m
Net retail sales	£631.5 m	£807.3 m	£1,149.1 m
Net institutional sales	£-2,417.6 m	£782.8 m	£-71.5 m
Gross PEP sales	£209.2 m	£167.1 m	£207.4 m
Gross ISA sales	£571.7 m	£746.5 m	£795.5 m
Net PEP sales	£-191.3 m	£-182.4 m	£-290.5 m
Net ISA sales	£463.5 m	£638.7 m	£737.0 m
Total accounts	17.8 m	17.7 m	15.9 m
ISA accounts	6.883 m	6.764 m