Vanguard MSCI Australian 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 Australian equity funds would cost $187 (0.37% a year), so VSO is $30 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 · 191 securities · top 10 = 20.9%
Country
Sector
Monthly returns
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1.9 | −1.0 | −9.8 | 4.7 | 1.8 | −0.4 | −1.4 | 5.1 | −2.0 | −5.9 | −7.7YTD | ||
| 2025 | 5.0 | −4.3 | −3.7 | 3.7 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 7.7 | 2.2 | 1.7 | −0.2 | 0.4 | 24.1 |
| 2024 | −0.0 | 2.0 | 4.4 | −2.3 | 0.3 | −1.1 | 4.0 | −0.1 | 4.4 | −1.6 | 2.0 | −3.1 | 8.9 |
| 2023 | 5.4 | −3.8 | −1.9 | 3.3 | −1.7 | 0.3 | 3.5 | −0.8 | −3.8 | −6.2 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 6.3 |
| 2022 | −8.4 | 0.1 | 6.4 | −1.8 | −5.1 | −12.4 | 9.9 | 2.6 | −8.4 | 6.8 | 4.8 | −4.0 | −11.7 |
| 2021 | −1.0 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 3.9 | −1.6 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 21.8 |
| 2020 | 3.8 | −9.0 | −23.6 | 17.5 | 11.2 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 7.6 | −2.6 | 0.9 | 10.0 | 2.5 | 14.8 |
| 2019 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 0.4 | 2.9 | −1.1 | 2.6 | 5.1 | −2.9 | 1.3 | −1.6 | 2.2 | −0.4 | 21.7 |
| 2018 | −0.7 | 0.2 | −1.8 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | −0.8 | 2.3 | −0.2 | −8.4 | −1.3 | −3.0 | −7.4 |
| 2017 | −2.9 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 0.3 | −0.7 | 1.6 | −0.8 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 5.6 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 17.7 |
| 2016 | −4.7 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 2.7 | 3.7 | −1.2 | 8.2 | −0.8 | 0.8 | −4.8 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 16.0 |
| 2015 | 0.9 | 7.7 | −0.4 | −0.2 | 2.7 | −9.5 | 2.9 | −4.4 | −1.8 | 7.2 | −1.4 | 3.0 | 5.6 |
| 2014 | −3.3 | 5.4 | −0.3 | −0.2 | 0.5 | −1.3 | 4.8 | 0.8 | −6.1 | 0.6 | −3.8 | 2.4 | −1.1 |
| 2013 | 4.0 | 2.7 | −1.6 | −2.5 | −5.6 | −5.8 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | −4.1 | 2.6 | 4.5 |
| 2012 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 0.4 | −0.7 | −10.1 | −5.1 | 0.1 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.8 | −1.2 | 3.7 | 5.8 |
| 2011 | −4.2 | −0.9 | −4.2 | −9.7 | 9.2 | −3.7 | −3.6 | −16.7 |
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.
VSO questions answered
Written from the latest data on this page. General information only, not financial advice.
How diversified is Vanguard MSCI Australian Small Companies Index ETF?
Vanguard MSCI Australian Small Companies Index ETF holds 191 securities, and its ten largest positions make up 20.9% of the fund, more spread out than the 53.0% typical of Australian equity funds. That makes it moderately diversified.
Its country exposure is almost entirely Australia (100.0%), and its biggest sector is Materials at 30.0%, based on holdings as at 31 July 2026.
Which ETFs does VSO double up with most?
VSO shares the most holdings with VanEck S&P/ASX MidCap ETF (MVE) (50% overlap), Betashares Australian Ex-20 Portfolio Diversifier ETF (EX20) (48% overlap) and SPDR S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries ETF (SSO) (42% 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 VSO with one of them adds some genuinely different holdings.
How is Vanguard MSCI Australian Small Companies Index ETF managed – active or passive?
Vanguard MSCI Australian 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 Australian equity funds, active funds charge a median 0.85% a year and index funds 0.34%.
What will I pay in fees for VSO?
VSO charges a management fee of 0.30% a year, about $30 for every $10,000 invested. That is cheaper than 66% of the 471 ASX ETFs we track, where the median fee is 0.44%. Among Australian equity funds, the median is 0.35%.
It is the cheapest of the 8 small-company Australian equity funds we track.
If you would rather have a manager choose the investments, active options such as Firetrail Australian Small Companies Fund - Active ETF (FSML) at 0.85% and Spheria Australian Smaller Companies Fund - Active ETF (SPHX) at 1.10% 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 0.07% for VSO.
Does Vanguard MSCI Australian 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 International Small Companies Index ETF (VISM), 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 VSO?
As at 31 July 2026, VSO's ten largest holdings are BlueScope Steel Ltd (2.9%), ALS Ltd (2.2%), Orica Ltd (2.2%), Charter Hall Group (2.1%), NEXTDC Ltd (2.0%), Mineral Resources Ltd (2.0%), GPT Group/The (2.0%), Ampol Ltd (1.9%), Technology One Ltd (1.8%) and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (1.8%). Together they make up 20.9% 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 Australian Small Companies Index ETF performed?
Based on its category, Vanguard MSCI Australian 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 −8.1% over 1 year (median 0.6%; ranked 56 of 65), 11.6% a year over 3 years (median 11.6% a year; ranked 27 of 54) and 3.9% a year over 5 years (median 6.9% a year; ranked 36 of 48). The medians and rankings compare it with Australian equity funds. Since listing in 2011 it has returned 6.0% 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 VSO; 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 0.30% a year, and a much bigger gap is a warning sign.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.