Research Report Disclosure Document

Currency

This Research Report is current as at the date on the report until it is replaced, updated or withdrawn. Our financial product research may be withdrawn or changed at any time as other information becomes available to us. This report will be updated if events affecting the report materially change.

 

Research Criteria

For further information as to:

• the scope and expertise of our research;
• the process by which products are selected for coverage;
• the filters and research methodology applied, and
• Morningstar's ratings and recommendation scales across credit, equity, ETF, fund, and LIC research,

please refer to the Research Overview documents at global.morningstar.com/au/researchdocuments

 

Material Interests and Conflicts of Interest and How We Manage Them

(1) Holding Securities in Product Issuers
No material interests are held by us, our staff, or a related company in the financial products that are the subject of the report or the product issuer. Generally, analysts are not permitted to hold securities in entities that they rate, subject to specific waivers by the Morningstar Securities Trading and Disclosure Policy Committee.

(2) Fees From Publishing This Report
The Morningstar Group and its staff and associates will not receive any direct benefit from the publication of this report. Morningstar does not receive commissions for providing research and does not charge companies to be rated. Where Morningstar provides research it is remunerated by subscribers paying a subscription fee. This fee is variable depending on the client's specific requirements.

(3) Who Do We Rate?
Morningstar has an associated business, Ibbotson Associates Australia, which provides investment management and consulting services.
While the two companies have the same ultimate parent, they have separate reporting lines, and physical and electronic separation of employees and resources.

Morningstar avoids any potential conflict of interest by not undertaking or publishing analyst research on Ibbotson's investment products. Morningstar is therefore not affiliated or related to any financial product providers rated by us.

(4) Providing Other Services
Morningstar may provide a rated product issuer or its related entities with the following services or products for a fee and on an arms
length basis:

• Software products and licences;
• Research or consulting services;
• Equity, credit and fund data services;
• Licences to republish our ratings and research in their promotional material. (Any licensing agreement takes place after the ratings and research have been completed and published to our clients and the wider marketplace, and the product provider therefore cannot influence the outcomes of our assessments. Licensing negotiations are undertaken by sales employees segregated from research employees.);
• Event sponsorship;
• Website advertising.

Morningstar also receives database handling fees from product issuers which are fund managers.

(5) Our Employees
Our employees may from time to time receive nominal gifts/hospitality from clients and/or product providers. We have strict guidelines in place as to the circumstances and extent to which our employees may accept any such gifts/hospitality. The Morningstar Gifts Policy does not permit the receipt of gifts that are individually substantial, or cumulatively substantial. These gifts would be identified by monitoring of the gifts register by the Compliance Manager.

Our Fund Research staff are provided with investment information by the product issuer. Where the product issuer is located outside New South Wales, we generally undertake site visits to their investment team offices and our reasonable travel and accommodation costs in making those site visits are met directly or indirectly by the product issuer.

Our Equity Research staff use publicly available information, however where Morningstar completes research on initial public offers for credit securities, Equity Research staff may be provided with non-public information. Morningstar has strict procedures in place in relation to the handling of inside information.

Our Equity Research staff may undertake site visits and the reasonable transport costs in making those visits are met directly by us or on occasions by the product issuer.

Morningstar can be offered benefits, such as covering the cost of transport or accommodation, for its employees to attend overseas fund manager forums. The costs are paid by the event organiser which in turn charges fees to fund managers on which Morningstar may produce qualitative research reports and ratings. That is, the benefits are indirectly provided by the fund managers. This risk is assessed as low because research staff do not receive any direct benefit and ratings committee structures govern the research ratings process. The Morningstar Compliance Manager and Department Head assess the nature of the benefits and ensure that they are not inappropriate.

Our employees are guided by our Code of Ethics and our related conflicts of interest policies including our Securities Trading and Disclosure Policy which includes procedures for managing potential conflicts of interest for employees trading in financial products upon which they may undertake research.

Morningstar researchers are remunerated by salary and do not receive any commissions or fees. They may be eligible for an annual bonus which is discretionary and relevant to their role.

 

Reasons For Our Opinion and Recommendation

The opinions and recommendations in the research report are based on a reasonable assessment by the researcher who wrote the report of information provided by the product issuer and generally available in the market. Our researchers:

• are well-qualified;
• exercise due care and skill in assessing the information available to them, and
• give their opinions and recommendations on reasonable grounds.

 

Copyright, Disclaimer & Other Information


Financial Services Guide

Please refer to our Financial Services Guide (FSG) for more information. This is available at: www.morningstar.com.au/s/fsg.pdf

 


The Provider

Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd ('Morningstar') ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892 (a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.) of Level 36 Australia Square 264 George Street Sydney NSW 2000 is the provider of the general advice ('the service') provided in this report. The service is provided through the research and rating of investment products.

 


Copyright

© The material contained in this document is copyright of Morningstar, Inc., its licensors and any related bodies corporate that are involved in the document's creation. All rights reserved. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, you may not reproduce, transmit, disseminate, sell or publish this information without the written consent of Morningstar, Inc. and may only use the information for your internal purposes.

 


Trademarks

'Morningstar' and the Morningstar logo are registered trademarks of Morningstar, Inc.

 


Disclaimer

All care has been taken in preparing this report but please note that we base our financial product research on current information furnished to us by third parties (including the financial product issuers) which we cannot necessarily verify. While we will use all reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, we do not guarantee the data or content contained herein to be accurate, complete or timely. To the extent that our research is based on information received from other parties, no liability is accepted by Morningstar, its affiliates nor their content providers for errors contained in the report or omissions from the report. Morningstar determines ratings on the basis of information disclosed to Morningstar by investment product providers and on past performance of products. Past performance does not necessarily indicate a financial product's likely future performance.

To the extent that any of the content of the research report constitutes advice, it is general advice (being a 'class service,' and not a 'personalised service' as defined in the Financial Advisers Act 2008, in respect of New Zealand Products) which has been prepared by Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892 and/or Morningstar Research Limited, subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc, without reference to your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider the advice in light of these matters and, if applicable, the relevant product disclosure statement (Australian products) or Investment Statement (New Zealand products) and the information provided by Morningstar as to the scope and expertise of the research, the process by which products are selected for coverage, the filters and research methodology applied, and the spread of ratings as well as any additional warnings, disclaimers or qualifications before making any decision to invest. Our publications, ratings, and products should be viewed as an additional investment resource, not as your sole source of information.

 


Further Information

If you wish to obtain further information regarding previous research reports and recommendations and our services, please contact us on:

Morningstar.com.au subscribers
Tel: 1800 03 44 55
Email: help.au@morningstar.com

Advisers/Institutions/Others
Tel: +61 2 9276 4446
Email: helpdesk.au@morningstar.com