Monday 8 March 2010

IMA STATISTICS SHOW GOOD START TO 2010 FUND SALES

Investment fund statistics - January 2010

The Investment Management Association today publishes the fund sales statistics for January 2010. 

Key findings:  

• Net retail sales - the best January on record
• Equities more popular than Bonds
• Investors favouring Global, Asian and US Equities - with UK and European Sectors amongst the least popular
• Property the best selling IMA Sector for January

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the IMA, comments:     

"We've seen a good start to the year with net retail sales of £1.8 billion - the highest sales for any January.  As in recent years, January sales have come in slightly below those of December.

Equities proved more popular than Bonds, in contrast to a year ago.  Equity investors appear to be becoming more adventurous, preferring the Global, Asian and North American Sectors to the UK and Europe. 

"Property was the most popular IMA Sector in January, as it had been in the last quarter of 2009.  By contrast, the least popular IMA Sector in January was Sterling Corporate Bond, which had topped the sales charts for the first eight months of last year." 

UK DOMICILED FUNDS

SALES

January 2010 saw net retail sales of £1.8 billion - the highest January ever, 55% higher than in January 2009. 

The figures were slightly below December's £2.2 billion. January sales are generally lower than those in December, and have been so for the last eight years in succession.

(See Table 3, and Chart 2)

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT

Funds under management totalled £470.1 billion at the end of January 2010, slightly below the £480.6 billion in December, but a third (32%) higher than the previous January, when funds stood at £357.1 billion.

(See Table 2)

ASSET CLASSES

Equities started the year as the leading asset class, accounting for 30% of net retail sales (£549 million).  Bonds, which led sales during much of 2009, accounted for 17% of net retail sales (£317 million) in January, behind Other (£375 million) and Property (£373 million). Absolute Return-UK comprised 59% of the ‘Other' asset class.

Within Equities, investors favoured Global, Asian and North American Sectors, with all these regions represented in the Top 5 IMA Equity Sectors - this continues the broad trend seen last year.   

Europe and the UK, by contrast, are the least popular, with net outflows from all European and most UK Sectors, and UK All Companies the least popular Equity Sector of all.   Last January UK Equity Income was the most popular Equity Sector. 

Within Bonds, there is a similar trend, with Global Bonds the most popular, and £ Corporate Bonds the least popular. 

(See Table 4)

IMA SECTORS

Property is starting the year as the top selling IMA Sector, with net retail sales of £373 million in January 2010.  Property was the most popular IMA Sector in both October and November 2009, and was the 4^th most popular IMA Sector during the year as a whole.

The lowest selling IMA Sector in January 2010 was £ Corporate Bond, which had outflows of £228 million.  £ Corporate Bond was the best selling IMA Sector in 2009, coming top for the first eight months of the year. 

(See Table 7 and Table 8) 

ISAs

ISA sales started the year with net retail sales of £174 million, slightly below December's level (‑17%), but massively ahead of the £2 million achieved in January 2009.

(See  Table 3 and Table 7) 

INSTITUTIONAL FUNDS

Institutional funds achieved net sales of £932 million in January, nearly three times the £330 million achieved in December, and ahead of the £756 million in January 2009. 

In contrast to Retail sales, Equities saw an outflow (£340 million) and Bonds were the highest selling asset class. 

(See Table 4)

OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS

Overseas domiciled funds sold to UK investors in 2009 totalled £1.6 billion net retail, in contrast to the outflow of £663 million in 2008. 

(See Table 5)

-ENDS-

Notes for Editors

For more details on the figures given in the press release, please see the tables below.

All tables

1   Summary table
2   Funds under management - by asset class
3   Sales - gross, net and ISAs
4   Sales - net sales by asset class 
5   Offshore funds - funds under management and sales
6   Sectors - funds under management and sales 
7   Sectors - gross and net sales 
8   Sectors - best and worst selling
9  Sectors - investment performance

Graphs

1  Funds under management - by month
2  Sales - net retail sales by year

The IMA's figures for fund sales cover UK authorised unit trusts and open ended investment companies (OEICs).  The IMA publishes these figures on a monthly basis.

Funds comprise a key element of the UK's £3 trillion asset management industry, which also covers pension and insurance company funds, including £1 trillion invested on behalf of overseas clients.  Each year the IMA publishes its annual Asset Management Survey, which looks at the industry in the round.

For further information, please contact:

Noreen Shah, Press Officer, IMA, 020 7831 0898
Ginny Broad, Head of Communications, IMA, 020 7831 0898 or 07834 089332

The IMA's press releases and statistical information can all be found at www.investmentuk.org

Note: Gross retail sales are new sales or switches recorded, repurchases are when investors sell their investments.  Net retail sales comprise total sales minus repurchases.