Pensions move back in the black
FUND managers looking after company pension schemes have broken their losing streak - but they still lag the share market's benchmark index.
Latest figures show pooled pension funds, which manage schemes on behalf of small and medium companies, rose an average 2.1% in the first quarter of this year, a sharp recovery on the year-earlier period and the quarter in 2000.
But that lagged the 2.3% advance by the FTSE 100, Russell Mellon CAPS found. Specialist funds and bond funds also trailed the blue-chip index.
Undervalued old economy stocks led the market, with returns nclimbing 7.6%. Growth stocks such as technology, media and telecoms fell 4.3%. The best performing fund was managed by GAM, owned by UBS, which returned 9.5%. The worst performer was Singer & Friedlander, whose balanced fund shrank by 2.2%.
UBS' overall performance weakened. Ranked in the top five last year, it slipped to 44 out of 85 over the quarter and 20 out of 83 over 12 months. Its flagship fund grew 2%. Merrill Lynch's flagship returned 2.5%, ranking 31 and Deutsche Asset Management was one place behind with a return of 2.4%. Schroders' balanced fund ranked 33, also returning 2.4%, while Gartmore ranked 40, with its balanced fund growing by 2.2%.
The survey covered 84 fund management groups and pooled funds with assets of £212bn.
