SLI’s record mutual fund sales signal strong start to 2007

Standard Life Investments has experienced a record start to the year. Key highlights for the leading investment house over the three months to 31st March 2007, include -

Its strongest quarter yet for mutual fund sales with March being the strongest sales month in the history of the company. Total net retail inflows during March amounted to £276.3m

Mutual fund retail sales inflows for the first quarter of 2007 saw large increases both in net and gross sales. Net retail sales increased from £333m (Q1 2006) to £587.1m (Q1 2007) – representing a 76.3% increase in sales, comparing favourably with an industry average decrease in net retail sales of -32.99%. Gross retail sales increased by 74.76% from 420m in Q1 2006 to £734m in Q1 2007 beating the industry average increase in gross sales of 13.18%.

SLI is ranked the 3rd top selling retail fund manager in the UK based on net retail sales figures. This is a rise from 6th place for the same period last year.

Worldwide net investment sales for the first quarter rose to a record £2,264m, exceeding net inflows on the same period last year (Q1 06: £2,257m).

UK net inflows reached £2,129m, up by 9% (Q1 06: £1,953m) with segregated fund inflows rising by 195% to £772m (Q1 06: £262m).

Third party funds under management rose to £42.4bn, an increase of £3.9bn since 31st December 2006. Third party business now accounts for 31% of the £137bn in total funds under management. This compares with 8.4% when SLI was established in 1998.
Standard Life Investments total funds under management rose by nearly £5bn in the quarter to £137bn (31 December 2006: £132.1bn)

Keith Skeoch, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Life Investments, said: “Standard Life Investments has made a record start to the year with strong growth in both retail and segregated funds. Our performance is robust, our processes are consistent and our people are the right people for the job – this simple combination helps us to continue to grow and deliver strong returns for our clients.

“After a record year in 2006, it was particularly pleasing to see our mutual fund retail sales maintain their momentum. Four out of five of our top-selling funds have produced top decile performance over 2 and 3 years in their relevant sectors. We have seen customers investing in unparalleled numbers due partly to the exceptional performance delivered across the board. Our Select Property Fund remains the top seller and having recently passed through the £1.5bn mark in funds under management, it has returned a highly attractive 26% to investors.

“Innovation and progression are also key factors to our success and so it is fitting that this quarter has seen the successful launch of two global REIT funds, a UK Property Development fund and the company’s first direct investment in the Polish and German property markets. We were also awarded a mandate by Icelandic Securities Ltd to manage a new High Yield Bond.

“Performance of both our retail and institutional products remained strong with 18 out of 23 pooled pension funds beating the median over the twelve months to 31 March 2007. During the first quarter of 2007 14 out of 23 funds produced top quartile performance with seven of these funds being top decile. 14 out of 23 mutual funds produced top quartile performance during the first quarter of 2007 with 20 of the 23 above median.

“Strong performance attracts attention and this was reflected by our win of two Best Overall Group Awards in the ‘Equity Large’ and ‘UK Equity Large’ categories at the UK Lipper Fund Awards, and the ‘Investment Manager of the Year’ and ‘Specialist Manager of the Year (UK Equities)’ at the UK Pension Awards 2007. In addition to this, the UK Smaller Companies Fund won the ‘Best Performing Smaller Companies Award’, PLC Awards 2007.

“We continue to see a strong pipeline of business building on our impressive performance track record and product developments in both the retail and institutional markets.”