Demand for the firm’s £13.5bn multi-asset fund helped made it best net seller of funds, according to the latest Pridham Report.
Demand for Vanguard’s £13.5bn multi-asset fund has propelled it to the top of the fund sales charts.
According to the latest Pridham Report, Vanguard pulled in just under £1.3bn in UK net sales in the first quarter.
The study said this was largely driven by its LifeStrategy 80 fund, which invests approximately 80% of its assets in shares and 20% in bonds, using low-cost index funds to achieve this allocation.
In the market volatility this year the fund has returned 0.31%, according to Morningstar, slightly below its EEA Fund GBP Allocation 60-80% Equity peer group. In the previous three years it had returned 16.2% versus the sector average of 7.3%.
LifeStrategy 80 has attracted a net inflow of just under £2.8bn so far this year, according to Morningstar.Fund Group Net Sales, Q1 2025
Fund Group Net Sales, Q1 2025
| Rank | Fund group | Net sales £m |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanguard | £1284 |
| 2 | Artemis | £1126.8 |
| 3 | HSBC Asset Management | £1025.4 |
| 4 | Royal London Asset Management | £701 |
| 5 | Legal & General Investment Management | £637.5 |
| 6 | Scottish Widows | £393.2 |
| 7 | Hargreaves Lansdown | £287 |
| 8 | Fidelity | £269.6 |
| 9 | BNY Investments | £268 |
| 10 | T. Rowe Price | £256.2 |
The Pridham Report stated 54% of fund firms reported net sales growth in the first quarter.
However, net sales did dip slightly across the board to £1bn despite a 3% increase in gross sales during the quarter.
‘Q1 felt like going back in time 12 months, with elevated retail gross sales but muted net sales. Flows were slightly negative overall, but the scale of outflows was limited and certainly not indicative of widespread investor panic,’ said Benjamin Reed-Hurwitz, EMEA Research Leader at ISS which produces the report.
‘Instead, investors and asset allocators played it safe, generally making reallocations at the margins while they digested what recent geopolitical developments mean for long-term return outlooks.’
In what has been a tough climate for active fund managers, Artemis has been flying the flag for this cohort thanks largely to the popularity of its top performing UK Select fund run by Citywire AA-rated duo Ed Legget and Ambrose Faulks. The asset manager was the second biggest net seller in the first quarter, pulling in £1.1bn.
The top 10 also included Royal London Asset Management, which record a net inflow of £700m thanks to support for its short-term fixed income strategies.
Meanwhile BNY Investments reported its highest onshore retail sales in a decade, recording an inflow of £268m on the back of demand for its US equity and bond funds.
T Rowe Price rounded off the top 10, with its £256.2m inflow largely fueled by popularity of its global tech funds.
Fund Group Gross Sales, Q1 2025
| Rank | Fund group | Gross sales £m |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BlackRock | £11,515.2 |
| 2 | Vanguard | £7453 |
| 3 | Legal & General Investment Management | £6509 |
| 4 | Fidelity | £5182.1 |
| 5 | HSBC Asset Management | £4258.2 |
| 6 | Royal London Asset Management | £3479 |
| 7 | Artemis | £2727.8 |
| 8 | M&G | £1630.7 |
| 9 | BNY Investments | £1572.7 |
| 10 | Schroders | £1510.5 |
Reed-Hurwitz noted the shift to fixed income and money market funds during the first quarter, suggesting there was an element of caution among investors as they waited on US president Donald Trump’s tariff announcements on 2 April.
‘This is a fluid, opportunity-rich market – one where many are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to redeploy cash or make more significant portfolio adjustments,’ Reed-Hurwitz noted.
Source: CityWire
