Net retail sales of £358m meant the sector achieved its highest total since April 2007. But, according to Morningstar data, Invesco Perpetual Income and High Income were among the funds with the biggest outflows during the month, while year-to-date to the end of September they were at the foot of the table with combined outflows of over £800m.
Let’s not get carried away, after all these figures appear tiny given the size of these multi-billion pound funds, and we also have to take into account income payments. true
Still, what the IMA and Morningstar data does point to is the increasingly popularity of other funds, though it may be of no great surprise that the Adrian Frost-led Artemis Income has had the most inflows so far this year, at £467m.
Some smaller funds are also gaining in popularity, including Unicorn UK Income, Marlborough Multi-Cap Income and Majedie UK Income which between them attracted close to £550m during the period.
“With the Unicorn fund, it is clear that investors are chasing performance, while the Marlborough fund works as a great diversifier, particularly for investors in Artemis Income,” says Adrian Lowcock, senior investment manager at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Carl Stick’s Rathbone Income also makes for a good core holding in the sector, as does Threadneedle UK Equity Income, though the data shows that Vanguard’s FTSE UK Equity Income Index tracker has also seen inflows [£160m] which demonstrates that passives are gaining in popularity even in an income sector.”
Lowcock adds that in the past three months (which takes in Woodford’s announcement) Hargreaves Lansdown has seen outflows of around £450m for Invesco Perpetual Income and £200m for Invesco Perpetual High Income.
“This is not a big concern given how the figures for Woodford’s funds tend to dominate in the way others won’t – it is more to do with the size of the funds than an issue in itself – but it is clear that his funds have been seeing outflows for months,” he notes.
Like everyone, we’ll be watching very closely for the latest October data once it’s released, while I’m sure Woodford himself will be confident of topping the inflows charts once he starts his new venture next year.
