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For immediate release: Monday 27 February 2006

INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS
January 2006

Summary 

• Investment funds under management £359 billion (January 2005 £278 billion)
• Total net industry sales £1.9 billion (January 2005 -£140 million)
• Net retail sales £999 million (January 2005 £225 million)
• Net ISA sales £82 million (January 2005 £39 million)

Funds under management 
Investment funds under management of £359 billion in January saw a rise of 3% from December and were 29% higher than January 2005. ISA funds under management rose to £46 billion, and were 23% higher than the previous year.

Graph showing funds under management since January 2005.

ISA sales 
Net ISA sales of £82 million in January were 38% less than December but were more than double those seen in January 2005. The most popular ISA sector in January was UK All Companies, accounting for 28% of gross ISA sales.  

Net sales by asset class 
Total net sales were £1.9 billion with equities accounting for inflows of £984 million. Of the £999 million net retail sales £566 million was invested in equities, followed by £181 million in bonds.  This compares to net retail sales of £225 million in January 2005 and £1.6 billion in December 2005.

Graph showing net retail sales over the last 13 months.


Gross retail sales by sector and distribution channel 
The most popular sector was UK All Companies, representing 17% of gross retail sales. The sector was favoured by intermediaries and accounted for 14% of gross retail business through this channel. 

The most popular distribution channel in January was the intermediary channel representing 81% of gross retail business. Gross ISA sales of £170 million from fund supermarkets made them the dominant distributor of ISAs, followed by £162 million worth of sales through sales force/tied agents. 

Best selling sector 
The Specialist sector was the most popular net retail sector in January with inflows of £248 million. The sector with the biggest outflows in January was UK Smaller Companies with net outflows of £39 million.

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the IMA commented:

“At just shy of £1 billion, net retail sales continued the strong performance of recent months. This gives reason to hope that this buoyancy will carry through to the 2006 ISA season.”  

-Ends-

Glossary

Detailed tables
1. Summary table 
2. Funds under management by asset class
3. Unit trust/OEIC sales
4. Net sales by asset class
5. Gross retail sales – 10 year summary
6. Sector summary – current month
7. Retail business by sector and channel – current month
8. Summary of best and worst selling sectors
9. Funds under management – 13 month chart
10. Net retail sales – 13 month chart
11. Performance of average fund by IMA sector

If you have any comments on presentation of the monthly statistics please e-mail press@investmentuk.org

For further information, please contact:
Helen Stephenson, Communications Officer, IMA,  020 7831 0898
 
Out of hours contact:
Mona Patel, Head of Communications, IMA 07834 089332