The Investment Management Association (IMA) has published its monthly statistics for authorised investment funds for April 2014:

  • UK Equity Income sector sees highest net retail sales on IMA records at £500 million
  • Fund net retail sales were £2.9 billion – the highest since April 2011
  • ISAs saw net retail sales of £1.3 billion
  • Equity was the best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £1.4 billion

Daniel Godfrey, IMA Chief Executive, said:

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"Fund sales were just shy of the £3 billion mark in April with £1.3 billion coming from investors making the most of their tax-free ISA allowances by rushing to meet the end of tax year deadline or topping up at the start of the new one.

"The IMA UK Equity Income Sector was the best-selling sector for both ISAs and funds overall. However investors also channelled money into mixed asset and property funds – property in particular has been seeing consistent growth in sales over the last year."

ASSET CLASSES

Equity continues to be the best-selling asset class since March 2013 with net retail sales of £1.4 billion in April.

Mixed Asset was the second best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £511 million.

Property was the third best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £446 million, the highest since December 2009.

The fixed income asset class saw net retail sales of £270 million, the best net inflow since May 2013.

NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*

UK equity funds were by far the best-selling region in April 2014 for the sixth consecutive month, with net retail sales of £644 million.

Global equity funds were the second best-selling region with net retail sales of £375 million.

European equity funds were the third best-selling with net retail sales of £285 million.

IMA SECTOR RANKINGS

The top five best-selling IMA sectors for April 2014 were:

1.UK Equity Income with net retail sales of £500 million, the highest ever recorded since IMA began collecting data in 1992. The last time this sector was the best-selling was in September 2013.

2.Property with net retail sales of £446 million, the highest since December 2009.

3.Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares with net retail sales of £281 million.

4.Global with net retail sales of £257 million – the highest since August 2011.

5.Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares with net retail sales of £192 million.
The worst-selling IMA sector for April 2014 was Protected with a net retail outflow of £95 million.

RETAIL DISTRIBUTION

In April 2014, UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £8.2 billion, representing a 56% market share (52% in April 2013).

Gross retail sales for Other Intermediaries (includes Wealth Managers, Stockbrokers and IFAs) totalled £5.1 billion in April 2014, a market share of 35% (39% in April 2013).

Direct gross retail sales in April 2014 were £1.4 billion, representing a market share of 9.4% (9.5% in April 2013)

FUND PLATFORM PRODUCT SALES

For the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact) net sales for April 2014 were £1.5 billion.

ISAs had the highest net sales at £908 million, followed by Personal Pensions (£346 million), Unwrapped (£202 million) and Insurance Bonds (£12 million).

For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of Apri 2014 were £169 billion, compared with £146 billion a year earlier.

ISAs

In April 2014, net retail sales of ISAs through fund companies and the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact) were £1.3 billion, compared to £1 billion in April 2013.

The top three best-selling sectors for ISAs based on the five fund platforms were:

1.UK Equity Income (£184 million net sales)
2.UK All Companies (£97 million net sales)
3.Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares (£83 million net sales)

FUND OF FUNDS

Net retail sales for funds of funds in April 2014 were £520 million, the highest since April 2012. Net retail sales of funds of funds invested with different asset management firms were £371 million, compared to £150 million for funds of funds invested into the same firm’s funds.

Funds under management for funds of funds were at £91 billion as at the end of April 2014, accounting for 11.5% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.3% in April 2013.

TRACKER FUNDS

Tracker funds saw net retail sales of £377 million in April 2014.

Funds under management for tracker funds were £77 billion as at the end of April 2014. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 9.8%, compared with 9.0% in April 2013.

ETHICAL FUNDS

Net retail sales of ethical funds were £58 million in April 2014 – the highest since July 2007.

Funds under management for ethical funds were £9.2 billion at the end of April 2014. Their share of industry funds under management was 1.2%.

OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS

In April 2014, net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds were £226 million.