Page 314 - Profile's Unit Trusts & Collective Investments - September 2025

Offshore unit trusts performance figures

Offshore unit trusts performance figures

In South African parlance, offshore unit trusts are those which are domiciled in a foreign country
and priced in a foreign currency. These “non-rand-denominated funds” must not be confused with
South African unit trusts which invest in foreign assets – the latter are rand-denominated funds
domiciled in SA which make use of institutional foreign investment allowances to invest in shares
and other securities listed on overseas exchanges (such as London, New York and Tokyo). Under
the ASISA classification these are called Global and Regional funds (although Worldwide funds also
have the flexibility to invest most or all of their assets in overseas assets).
In buying into an offshore fund an investor is making a non-SA investment – capital is physically
moving overseas. In order to invest in these funds, therefore, South African residents need approved
cash resources outside of SA or need to make use of the foreign investment allowance.
The funds on the following pages are FSCA approved offshore funds, ie, funds that are registered
in SA for marketing purposes. A South African investor with a foreign investment allowance is not
restricted to FSCA approved funds but these are obviously more accessible to South Africans.

Performance
The tables on the following pages show the performance of overseas unit trusts, ETFs and mutual
funds that are marketed in SA. These are funds that are not domiciled in SA. They are priced in
foreign currencies like dollars, pounds and euros.
The performance tables on the following pages show the investment returns of the offshore
funds in both rands and US dollars. The rand performance figures facilitate comparison with rand-
denominated funds domiciled in SA (especially the Global and Regional funds). “Rand performance”
does mean, of course, that the returns shown include the effects of foreign exchange movements.
If the rand has been weakening, the returns to South Africans (in rands) of an offshore fund will
be enhanced (ie, better than the returns achieved by the fund in its base currency). If the rand has
been strengthening, the returns of the fund will be reduced compared to the fund’s base currency.
Note that not all offshore funds are denominated in US dollars – the US dollar returns for those
funds priced in other foreign currencies (like pounds and euros) are therefore also affected by forex
movements between those currencies and the dollar. See “Foreign, Offshore and Global Funds” in
Chapter 2 for more information on the differences between local and offshore funds.
In line with all performance statistics produced by ProfileData, the rates of return for offshore
funds exclude initial charges and/or commissions but include dividends, which are reinvested into
the fund.
In summary, the basis of the performance figures for offshore unit trusts on the following pages
are as follows:
R Distributions are included (ie, reinvested) where applicable (not all offshore funds pay out
income)
R All upfront costs are excluded
R Percentage returns for more than a year are annualised to show average annual growth
R Returns are annual compound growth rates
R Performance is calculated in rands based on the ZAR-base currency exchange rate at each
event date
R Performance is calculated in dollars based on the USD-base currency exchange rate (where
applicable) at each event date

312 Profile’s Unit Trusts & Collective Investments September 2025