Changes to our charges and pricing from February 2019

Last updated 1 February 2019

With effect from 1 February 2019, Artemis made two changes to how its funds operate:

• the way in which fund charges are calculated, moving from variable expenses to an administration fee with a discount applied based on fund size.
• how our unit trust funds are priced, changing from ‘bid price’ and ‘offer price’ to a single ‘mid price’.

There is no change to the way in which funds’ investments are managed, and you do not have to take any action.

Changes to our funds’ charges

The costs of running a fund are termed the ‘ongoing charges’ and are ultimately paid by investors. The ongoing charges can be found in the funds’ Key Investor Information Documents (KIIDs), factsheets and on the fund pages on this website.

Previously, these were calculated by adding together:

• the annual management charge which is a fixed percentage paid to Artemis for managing the fund.
• other costs incurred in operating each fund, such as fees paid to the trustee, administrator, custodians, lawyers and accountants. These varied over time depending on the costs actually incurred.

As a result, this meant that the total ongoing charges figures varied over time, giving an element of uncertainty to investors about the actual costs a fund could incur.

From 1 February 2019, the total ongoing charges for each fund are fixed, with a discount applied to the ‘other costs’ based on each fund’s size. They are paid to Artemis and Artemis then pays all of the costs which were previously paid directly by the funds. The precise basis of these calculations is set out in the letters to investors which you can find below.

The level of charges has changed as a result. The amount paid by some funds went up, while the amount paid by some other funds stayed the same or went down.

Change to pricing basis for unit trust funds

Previously, we calculated and published two prices for each unit trust fund:

• the ‘offer price’ (also known as the purchase or creation price), which was the price at which investors bought units.
• the ‘bid price’ (also known as the redemption or cancellation price), which was the price at which investors sold units.

From 1 February 2019, these were replaced by a single price known as the ‘mid price’, which applies to both purchases and sales, with the first ‘mid’ prices published on 4 February 2019. (This approach was already used by our ‘OEIC’ funds).

We also added a mechanism to allow us to make an adjustment (known as a ‘dilution adjustment’) to the mid price. This is to avoid existing investors being adversely affected if a fund has to buy or sell assets in response to large purchases or sales, because the fund (rather than the incoming or outgoing investors) pays the costs of buying or selling those assets, an effect known as ‘dilution’.

Why did we make these changes?

We believe that the changes are in investors’ long-term interests. We understand that information about fund prices and costs can sometimes be complicated, making it difficult to appreciate the actual cost of investment or to compare costs between funds. Using a single price should make buying or selling simpler to understand, as the same price will apply.

The changes mean that we can describe our prices and charges as simply as we can, to help you understand them more easily.

What is the new charges and pricing basis for each fund?

How can I find out more?

You can find more detailed information in the following documents which were sent to investors who invested directly with Artemis (all documents open in a new window):

• Letter to investors regarding changes to Artemis unit trust funds (PDF)
• Letter to investors regarding changes to Artemis OEIC funds (PDF)

The funds’ prospectuses have been updated as a result of the changes and you can see the updated prospectuses on our fund literature page.

If you require a list of individual unit/share classes and their ISINs, you can download these in Excel format here:

• Unit trust funds unit classes list (XLSX)
• OEIC funds share classes list (XLSX)

Contact us

If you have any questions about the changes or require any further information, please call our Client Services team on 0800 092 2051 (open 8am-6pm weekdays).

Speak to a financial adviser

If you remain uncertain about any of this information, we recommend that you consult a professional adviser.