UK pension funds continued this year’s performance slump recording negative returns in the third quarter of 2000 – down 0.4% overall, according to the WM Company’s pension fund performance measurement survey.
This follows the 0.6% decline in the first and second quarters of the year.
Indications for October, however, look slightly more encouraging with the index figure for total assets at 0.7%.
Comprising the results of more than 1,000 UK pension funds, the survey shows that equity returns for the third quarter, at 1.1%, were 0.5% above the FTSE All Share Index.
UK equity funds have so far out-performed the index this year with figures currently up 1.5%. UK bonds fared better, returning 1.1% for the quarter. Overseas bonds returned just 0.1%
“On the back of the declining expectation of any further rise in interest rates, bonds generated positive returns in quarter three. Overseas equities, however, under-performed, with the exception of the US,” says Peter Warrington, executive director at WM.

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