INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS
April 2008

UK Domiciled funds

Funds under management 
Funds under management of UK domiciled investment funds were £450.3 billion in April, a rise of 4% from March 2008 and 2% lower than April 2007. UK domiciled ISA funds under management were £93.5 billion. This figure is not directly comparable with previous releases because of the merger of PEPs in to stocks and shares ISAs.

Graph showing UK domiciled funds under management since March 2007

Net sales of UK domiciled investment fund ISAs were £391.1 million in April, higher than the £68.6 million seen in March 2008 but down 31% from the £568.3 million in April 2007.

The most popular UK domiciled ISA sector in April 2008 was UK All Companies, accounting for 17% of gross ISA sales.  In net terms the most popular ISA sector was Cautious Managed.

UK domiciled net sales by asset class 
Net retail sales in April were £1.5 billion. Of this, £630 million was invested in bond funds, followed by £478 million in equity funds.  Institutional holdings of unit trusts and OEICs saw net inflows of £722 million with money market funds accounting for net inflows of £365 million.

Graph showing net retail sales of UK domiciled funds over the last 13 months

Gross retail sales by sector and distribution channel 
The most popular sector in April 2008 was UK All Companies, representing 13% of gross retail sales of UK domiciled funds. 74% of gross retail sales into the UK All Companies sector were via intermediaries. 

The most popular retail distribution channel for  for UK domiciled funds in April was the intermediary channel, representing 84% of gross retail business. Gross ISA sales of £576 million via fund supermarkets made them the dominant distributor of ISAs, followed by £450 million through sales force/tied agents.

Best selling sector for UK domiciled funds 
The UK Other Bond sector was the most popular UK domiciled net retail sales sector with inflows of £456 million. The sector with the biggest outflows in April 2008 was UK All Companies, with net outflows of £182 million. Property funds saw net retail inflows of £71 million.

OVERSEAS FUNDS

Net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds in April 2008 were £9.8 million. Net retail sales of overseas domiciled investment fund ISAs were £6.6 million April 2008, partly reversing the previous month's outflow of £16.5 million.

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the IMA commented:

""After two extremely modest quarters, net retail sales bounced back in April to £1.5 billion, the best performance for a year.  Property funds reversed recent outflows, recording positive flows of some £70 million.  And the IMA's new £1.8 billion Absolute Return sector recorded healthy inflows of over £170 million."

-Ends-

Glossary

Detailed tables
1. Summary table 
2. UK domiciled funds under management by asset class
3. UK domiciled unit trust/OEIC sales
4. UK domiciled net sales by asset class
5. UK domiciled gross retail sales - 10 year summary
6. Overseas domiciled FUM and sales
7. Sector summary - current month
8. Retail business by sector and channel - current month
9. UK domiciled summary of best and worst selling sectors
10. UK domiciled funds under management - 13 month chart
11. UK domiciled net retail sales - 13 month chart
12. Performance of average UK domiciled 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:
Noreen Shah, Press Officer, IMA, 0207 831 0898
Mona Patel, Head of Communications, IMA, 020 7831 0898/ 07834 089332