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For immediate release: Tuesday 27 February 2007

INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS
January 2007

Summary  

• Investment funds under management £411 billion (January 2006 £359 billion)
• Total net industry sales £732 million (January 2006 £1.9 billion)
• Net retail sales £893 million (January 2006 £1.1 billion)
• Net ISA sales £31 million (January 2006 £82 million)

Funds under management 

Investment funds under management of £411 billion in January saw a small rise from December and were 15% higher than January 2006. ISA funds under management of £51 billion, however, saw a marginal fall in January, but were 11% higher than the previous year.

Graph showing funds under management since January 2006.

ISA sales 

Net ISA sales of £31 million in January were 71% lower than December and were down 62% from January 2006.  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 £732 million, with bonds accounting for inflows of £345 million. Of the £893 million net retail sales, £576 million was invested in equities, of which £392 million was via property funds, followed by £116 million in balanced funds.

Graph showing net retail sales over the last 13 months.

Gross retail sales by sector and distribution channel 

The most popular sector in January was UK All Companies, representing 18% of gross retail sales. The sector was favoured by intermediaries and accounted for 17% of gross retail business through this channel.

The most popular distribution channel in January was the intermediary channel representing 83% of gross retail business. Gross ISA sales of £234 million from fund supermarkets made them the dominant distributor of ISAs, followed by £169 million through sales force/tied agents.

Best selling sector

The Specialist sector remained the most popular net retail sector for the thirteenth consecutive month with inflows of £351 million. Property funds in this sector accounted for net retail sales of £392 million in January.  The sector with the biggest outflows in January was Europe excluding UK with net outflows of £144 million.   

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the IMA commented:

"2007 opened with a relatively quiet month by recent standards, but net inflows from retail investors were still very healthy at just under £900 million. Once again ISA distribution continued to be dominated by fund supermarkets and it will be interesting to see how this develops during the 2007 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