Net fund sales were just £2.7bn according to the latest Pridham Report, despite the rising stock market and low interest rates.
M&G relinquished their position at the top of the gross sales chart, having reported the greatest gross sales for the past four years. The firm slipped into second place, with gross sales of £2.1bn, as BlackRock took the top spot with £2.3bn.
The top ten fund managers in terms of gross and net sales are shown in the table.
|
Manager |
Gross retail sales (£bn) |
Manager |
Net retail sales (£m) |
|
BlackRock |
2.3 |
Standard Life |
917.3 |
|
M&G |
2.1 |
BNY Mellon |
658 |
|
BNY Mellon |
1.8 |
Cazenove |
498.1 |
|
Invesco Perpetual |
1.7 |
BlackRock |
352.2 |
|
Standard Life Investment |
1.6 |
First State |
245 |
|
Fidelity |
1.2 |
Old Mutual |
159.6 |
|
SWIP |
1.03 |
Skandia |
135.2 |
|
Schroders |
1.03 |
7IM |
115.6 |
|
Jupiter |
0.97 |
Baillie Gifford |
115.3 |
|
Threadneedle |
0.95 |
Threadneedle |
106.6 |
Top performers
BlackRock’s UK Special Situations Fund and the European Dynamics Fund were key contributors to the firm’s Q1 sales success. The performance of the former over the past 12 months is shown in the graph below.
Managed by Richard Plackett, the fund invests primarily in small- and medium-sized companies, and at present is most heavily weighted in the financials sector (18%). Top ten holdings include HSBC, Vodafone and Unilever.
Earlier in the year the fund manager announced that it may cull up to 300 poor performing fund managers due to lower trade levels.
Standard Life, which reported record sales in Q4 2012, also had a strong month thanks to significant inflows into the Global Absolute Return Fund. Sales of this fund accounted for just over half of the fund manager’s quarterly total, and saw the manager take the top spot in terms of net sales.
Other stars
BNY Mellon took third place, marking the fund manager’s 11th consecutive quarter in the top 10, due in no small part to the popularity of its Newton Asia Income Fund.
The fund has been a top quartile performer in its sector over one and three years, being the best performing fund over the latter time frame, according to Trustnet.
Cazenove, meanwhile, had a record quarter as its net sales reached £498m. It’s UK Opportunities Fund, and its Multi Manager Diversity Fund were noted for their contribution.
The UK Opportunities Fund, a top quartile performer over both one and three years, has a heavy focus on the UK economics sector. Top ten holdings as at the end of March include L&G, Barclays and GlaxoSmithKline. The fund’s performance over the past six months is shown in the graph.
In March it was announced that Schroders had made a £424m bid for the Cazenove, and the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.
