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Embargoed until 12 noon: Tuesday 2 April 2002

 

 INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS
FEBRUARY 2002

• Investment funds under management £233 billion

• Gross industry sales £3.7 billion (February 2001 £3.8 billion)

• Gross retail sales £2.3 billion (February 2001 £2.4 billion)

• Gross ISA sales £450 million (February 2001 £762 million)

• Gross ISA sales through fund supermarkets estimated to be at least a further £70 million in February

Investment fund retail sales are at their highest level since last summer.  Gross retail sales of unit trusts and OEICs rose to £2.28 billion in February, a figure that was last reached in July 2001 (£2.30 billion), only 5 per cent below February 2001.  Sales of investment fund ISAs rose to £450 million, an increase of 18 per cent on January (£380 million).  Although reported ISA sales are still 41% lower than February 2001 (£762 million), they are at their highest since last August (£468 million).

The proportion of ISAs sold through fund supermarkets has been increasing in recent months and IMA will be collecting these data more systematically in coming months.  Although complete data are not yet available, IMA estimates that ISA funds under management through supermarkets are in the region of £1 billion, with gross sales for February in excess of £70 million.  The net sales for February are approximately £60 million.  These are in addition to the totals reported above.  Provisional estimates for January are that sales were around two-thirds those in February.

Sales forces and tied agents were responsible for 37% of ISA sales in February, with IFAs accounting for 35%.  27% of investment was made ‘direct’.  However, two thirds of funds overall were bought through IFAs, with only 16% of these sales made through sales forces/ tied agents and 13% ‘direct’ with the fund management company.

Private investors continue to favour income-oriented funds, particularly those within the UK Corporate Bond, UK Equity Income and UK Other Bond sectors.

Clare Arber, Head of Communications at the IMA, commented:

 “It’s still early days yet, but these figures are showing clear signs of a rising trend as the ISA season approaches.  With the end of the tax year in sight, investors are re-organising their portfolios, with some showing renewed confidence in the stockmarket as a long term investment. ”

Please note that the fund supermarket data is a provisional indication only, for guidance purposes and has not been included in IMA’s  attached monthly statistics.  It is the IMA’s intention to develop robust data for fund supermarket sales over the coming months. 

Summary table: February – Unit Trust/OEIC, ISA and PEP data

	Feb-02	Jan-02	Feb-01
Total funds under management	£233.3 bn	£233.4 bn	£257.6 bn
ISA funds	£21.3 bn	£21.2 bn	£19.1 bn
PEP funds	£45.3 bn	£45.7 bn	£55.0 bn
OEIC funds	£87.6 bn	£84.7 bn	£75.1 bn
Total gross sales	£3,656.4 m	£3,470.9 m	£3,767.7 m
Gross retail sales	£2,282.5 m	£2,041.2 m	£2,394.5 m
Gross ISA sales	£449.8 m	£380.0 m	£761.7 m
Gross PEP sales	£88.5 m	£84.3 m	£174.2 m
Gross institutional sales	£1,373.9 m	£1,429.8 m	£1,373.2 m
Total repurchases	£2,619.5 m	£2,744.3 m	£3,038.7 m
Retail repurchases	£1,603.2 m	£1,390.5 m	£1,342.3 m
ISA repurchases	£130.4 m	£104.4 m	£114.8 m
PEP repurchases	£335.7 m	£254.0 m	£426.1 m
Institutional repurchases	£1,016.3 m	£1,353.7 m	£1,696.5 m
Total net sales	£1,036.8 m	£726.7 m	£729.0 m
Net retail sales	£679.2 m	£650.6 m	£1,052.2 m
Net ISA sales	£319.3 m	£275.6 m	£646.8 m
Net PEP sales	£-247.1 m	£-169.7 m	£-251.9 m
Net Institutional sales	£357.6 m	£76.1 m	£-323.2 m
Total accounts	18.31 m	18.08 m	17.23 m
ISA accounts	7.220 m	7.204 m	5.872 m
PEP accounts	8.09 m	8.12 m	8.86 m
Number of funds	1,978	1,949	1,940
Number of companies	139	138	154
Number of OEIC providers	63	63	49

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For further information please contact:

Dick Saunders, Chief Executive,  IMA, 020 7831 0898

Clare Arber,  Head of Communications,  IMA, 020 7831 0898

Dorian Carrell,  Head of Statistics,  IMA, 020 7831 0898

Notes to Editors:

Copies of all monthly sales statistics from December 1997 are available on the AUTIF Website (www.investmentuk.org) under ‘Industry Data’.

Best selling funds in February

Worst selling funds in February

Detailed Monthly Sales Figures