Reference index:

Morningstar® Australia Dividend Yield Focus Equal Weighted Index™

Index description:

The Morningstar® Australia Dividend Yield Focus Equal Weighted Index™ tracks the performance of a portfolio of 25 high quality dividend paying Australian securities, excluding A-REITs (Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts). The Index is derived from the Morningstar® Australia Index™, a broad market index representing 97% of Australian equity market capitalisation.

After screening companies for quality, based on a combination of Morningstar's Economic Moat™ rating, Morningstar Quantitative Economic Moat rating and Morningstar Distance to Default measure, Morningstar selects only the top 25 securities by trailing 12-month dividend yield for inclusion in the Index. The securities in the Index are equally weighted.

An Economic Moat is a structural feature that allows a firm to sustain excess profits over a long period of time. Companies with a narrow moat are those Morningstar believe are more likely than not to achieve excess returns for at least the next 10 years. Wide moat companies are those in which Morningstar has very high confidence that excess returns will remain for at least 10 years, and more likely than not for 20 years.

If a company does not have an Economic Moat rating, then a Morningstar Quantitative Economic Moat Rating will be used in its place.

Distance to Default is a measure of a company's financial health based on Morningstar's assessment of the value of the firms' assets being sufficient to cover the firm's liabilities.

Key Index criteria

• Companies that are assigned a Morningstar Economic Moat Rating of narrow or wide must have a Morningstar Distance to Default score in the top 50% within their respective Morningstar sector cohorts.
• Current constituents that are assigned a moat rating of narrow or wide must have a Morningstar Distance to Default score in the top 60% within their respective Morningstar sector cohorts.
• Companies that do not have either a Morningstar Economic Moat Rating or a Morningstar Quantitative Economic Moat rating assigned to them must have a Morningstar Distance to Default score in the top 30% within their respective Morningstar sector cohorts.
• Current constituents that do not have either a Morningstar Economic Moat Rating or a Morningstar Quantitative Economic Moat rating assigned to them must have a Morningstar Distance to Default score in the top 36% within their respective Morningstar sector cohorts.

Index provider:

Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd. Morningstar is not a related body corporate of VanEck.

The Morningstar® Australia Dividend Yield Focus Equal Weighted Index™ was created and is maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell or promote DVDY and bears no liability with respect to the Fund or any security. Morningstar® and Morningstar® Australia Dividend Yield Focus Equal Weighted Index™ are trademarks of Morningstar, Inc. and have been licensed for use by VanEck.