Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF
Performance
Total return to 23 Oct 2026, distributions reinvested, before franking. ASX figures are to 30 Sept 2026 and gross of franking, so they run higher for franked Australian funds.
What it costs to hold
Management fee plus trading costs, compared with similar funds.
A typical fund among Global ex-Australia equity funds would cost $297 (0.59% a year), so VISM is $131 cheaper.
Spread is the average gap between buying and selling prices on the ASX. Fees are shown on a flat balance, not compounded on growth. Excludes tax and any adviser or platform fees.
Calendar-year returns
Where the money is
Look-through exposure as at 31 July 2026 · 1277 securities · top 10 = 3.6% · holdings coverage: partial
Country
Sector
Monthly returns
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0.9 | 1.6 | −5.4 | 4.1 | 5.6 | 5.7 | −3.3 | 0.1 | −1.1 | −1.4 | 6.6YTD | ||
| 2025 | 4.1 | −4.3 | −4.0 | −1.5 | 5.7 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 12.2 |
| 2024 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | −3.7 | 1.1 | −1.3 | 9.0 | −4.1 | 0.2 | 3.8 | 6.4 | −2.0 | 17.7 |
| 2023 | 3.2 | 4.4 | −3.4 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 0.1 | −4.9 | −5.4 | 5.5 | 7.3 | 15.9 |
| 2022 | −5.6 | −3.1 | 0.5 | −2.8 | −1.5 | −6.8 | 6.5 | −0.2 | −5.5 | 9.5 | −0.0 | −2.9 | −12.3 |
| 2021 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 3.6 | −0.6 | −2.1 | 2.5 | −0.6 | 21.8 |
| 2020 | 3.3 | −7.9 | −16.4 | 10.0 | 2.3 | −1.4 | 0.3 | 3.7 | −0.4 | 1.8 | 10.9 | 2.4 | 5.6 |
| 2019 | 8.8 | 6.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | −5.1 | 3.3 | 3.9 | −1.8 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 5.8 | −1.0 | 29.1 |
| 2018 | −7.4 | −7.4 |
Total return each month in %, distributions reinvested, before franking. The latest month runs to the last price date. The first year starts from listing.
Top holdings
Most similar funds
Overlap is the share of the portfolio held in common, look-through. Correlation is of daily returns. High overlap means close substitutes.
VISM questions answered
Written from the latest data on this page. General information only, not financial advice.
How diversified is Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF?
Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF holds 1,277 securities, and its ten largest positions make up 3.6% of the fund, more spread out than the 36.4% typical of Global ex-Australia equity funds. That makes it widely diversified.
Its largest country exposure is United States at 77.4%, and its biggest sector is Industrials at 20.3%, based on holdings as at 31 July 2026.
Which ETFs does VISM double up with most?
VISM shares the most holdings with Global X MSCI International Small and Mid Cap ETF (ISMD) (14% overlap), Vanguard Global Value Equity Active ETF (VVLU) (12% overlap) and VanEck MSCI International Small Companies Quality ETF (QSML) (12% overlap). Overlap is the share of the portfolio the two funds hold in common, looking through to the underlying securities.
None of these overlaps is above half, so pairing VISM with one of them adds some genuinely different holdings.
How is Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF managed – active or passive?
Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF is passively managed: it follows an index and holds what that index holds, rather than relying on a manager's stock picks. Its index uses a small-company approach, so it is sometimes called "smart beta".
Among Global ex-Australia equity funds, active funds charge a median 0.75% a year and index funds 0.45%.
What will I pay in fees for VISM?
VISM charges a management fee of 0.32% a year, about $32 for every $10,000 invested. That is cheaper than 65% of the 471 ASX ETFs we track, where the median fee is 0.44%. Among Global ex-Australia equity funds, the median is 0.55%.
It is the cheapest of the 5 small-company Global ex-Australia equity funds we track.
If you would rather have a manager choose the investments, active options such as Dimensional Global Small Company - Active ETF (DGSM) at 0.55% and Ausbil Global SmallCap Fund - Active ETF (GSCF) at 1.20% cost more.
The fee is taken from the fund's assets and is already reflected in its returns. You'll also pay brokerage when you buy or sell, and the bid-ask spread, which has averaged 0.06% for VISM.
Does Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF follow a theme?
Not a theme as such, but it follows a small-company investment style: it focuses on companies below the largest by market size.
Other ASX funds using a small-company approach include Vanguard MSCI Australian Small Companies Index ETF (VSO), iShares S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR), Dimensional Global Small Company - Active ETF (DGSM) and Firetrail Australian Small Companies Fund - Active ETF (FSML).
What is under the hood of VISM?
As at 31 July 2026, VISM's ten largest holdings are Sandisk Corp (1.7%), ATI Inc (0.2%), nVent Electric PLC (0.2%), Carpenter Technology Corp (0.2%), Tenet Healthcare Corp (0.2%), US Foods Holding Corp (0.2%), Woodward Inc (0.2%), Viatris Inc (0.2%), MKS Inc (0.2%) and Guardant Health Inc (0.2%). Together they make up 3.6% of the fund.
Rather than simply weighting companies by market size, its index focuses on companies below the largest by market size.
How well has Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF performed?
Based on its category, Vanguard MSCI International Small Companies Index ETF aims to grow your capital in line with the index it tracks.
To 23 Oct 2026, with distributions reinvested, it returned 7.0% over 1 year (median 6.3%; ranked 55 of 121), 15.9% a year over 3 years (median 16.8% a year; ranked 44 of 82) and 7.6% a year over 5 years (median 9.4% a year; ranked 42 of 66). The medians and rankings compare it with Global ex-Australia equity funds. Since listing in 2018 it has returned 10.2% a year.
Tracking difference is the gap between a fund's return and its index's return. We don't hold index returns, so we can't measure it for VISM; the issuer reports it in the monthly fact sheet. As a guide, a well-run index fund trails its index by about its fee, here 0.32% a year, and a much bigger gap is a warning sign.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.