PROSPECTUS

dated December 31, 2023

 

Motley Fool 100 Index ETF

(CBOE BZX: TMFC)

Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF

(CBOE BZX: TMFG)

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

(CBOE BZX: TMFM)

Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF

(CBOE BZX: TMFS)

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

(NYSE Arca: TMFX)

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

(NYSE Arca: TMFE)

 

 

Each a series of The RBB Fund, Inc.
2000 Duke Street
Suite 275
Alexandria, VA 22314

 

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

     

Motley Fool 100 Index ETF

2

Summary Section

2

Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF

9

Summary Section

9

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

17

Summary Section

17

Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF

24

Summary Section

24

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

31

Summary Section

31

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

39

Summary Section

39

Additional Information about the Funds

46

Management of the Funds

61

How to Buy and Sell Shares

64

Dividends, Distributions, and Taxes

65

Distribution

68

Additional Considerations

68

Financial Highlights

70

For More Information

76

No securities dealer, sales representative, or any other person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations, other than those contained in this Prospectus or in approved sales literature in connection with the offer contained herein, and if given or made, such other information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by the Motley Fool 100 Index ETF, the Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF, the Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF, the Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF, the Motley Fool Next Index ETF, or the Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF (each a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”) or The RBB Fund, Inc. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities offered hereby in any jurisdiction or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer.

 

 

SUMMARY SECTION

 

MOTLEY FOOL 100 INDEX ETF

 

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Motley Fool 100 Index ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The Motley Fool 100 Index ETF (the “Fool 100 Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the total return performance of the Motley Fool 100 Index (the “Fool 100 Index” – for more on this, see the “Principal Investment Strategies” section).

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fool 100 Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.50%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.50%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fool 100 Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fool 100 Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Fool 100 Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$51

$160

$280

$628

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fool 100 Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fool 100 Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fool 100 Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fool 100 Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 6% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Fool 100 Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Fool 100 Index. Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser” or “Motley Fool”) serves as the investment adviser to the Fool 100 Fund. The Fool 100 Index was developed by The Motley Fool, LLC (“TMF”), an affiliate of the Adviser.

 

The Motley Fool 100 Index

 

The Fool 100 Index was established by TMF in 2017 and is a proprietary, rules-based index designed to track the performance of the 100 largest, most liquid U.S. companies that have been recommended by TMF’s analysts and newsletters.

 

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To be eligible for inclusion in the Fool 100 Index, a company must be among the 100 largest domestic firms by market capitalization in TMF’s “recommendation universe.” That recommendation universe includes all companies domiciled in the United States that are either active recommendations of a newsletter published by TMF or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database.

 

Each of the 100 largest company’s share of the Fool 100 Index (or “weighting”) is set to equal the company’s share of all Fool 100 Index companies’ aggregate market value. The Fool 100 Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly. From time to time, the Fool 100 Index may include more or less than 100 companies as a result of events such as acquisitions, spin-offs and other corporate actions.

 

The Fool 100 Index is calculated and administered by Solactive AG (the “Index Calculation Agent”), which is not affiliated with the Fool 100 Fund, the Adviser or TMF. Additional information regarding the Fool 100 Index, including its value, is available on the websites of the Fool 100 Index at www.fool100.com and the Index Calculation Agent, at www.solactive.com.

 

The Fool 100 Fund’s Investment Strategy

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fool 100 Fund’s total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Fool 100 Index. The Adviser expects that, over time, if it has sufficient assets, the correlation between the Fool 100 Fund’s performance and that of the Fool 100 Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.

 

The Fool 100 Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest in all of the component securities of the Fool 100 Index. However, the Fool 100 Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy, meaning it may invest in a sample of the securities in the Fool 100 Index whose risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Fool 100 Index as a whole, when the Adviser believes it is in the best interests of the Fool 100 Fund (e.g., when replicating the Fool 100 Index involves practical difficulties or substantial costs, a Fool 100 Index constituent becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations that apply to the Fool 100 Fund but not to the Fool 100 Index).

 

The Fool 100 Fund generally may invest up to 20% of its total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) in securities or other investments not included in the Fool 100 Index, but which the Adviser believes will help the Fool 100 Fund track the Fool 100 Index. For example, the Fool 100 Fund may invest in securities that are not components of the Fool 100 Index to reflect various corporate actions and other changes to the Fool 100 Index (such as reconstitutions, additions and deletions).

 

The Fool 100 Fund is non-diversified for the purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”), which means that the Fool 100 Fund may invest in fewer securities at any one time than a diversified fund. To the extent the Fool 100 Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry, the Fool 100 Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Fool 100 Index. As of August 31, 2023, securities in the information technology, communication services and consumer discretionary sectors represented a significant portion of the Fool 100 Index.

 

The Fool 100 Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending securities.

 

The Fool 100 Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Fool 100 Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Fool 100 Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Fool 100 Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Fool 100 Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fool 100 Fund’s principal risks are presented in alphabetical order

 

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to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fool 100 Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Fool 100 Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fool 100 Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Fool 100 Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Fool 100 Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cyber security incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Fool 100 Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fool 100 Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Fool 100 Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Fool 100 Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

Equity Markets Risk. The equity securities held in the Fool 100 Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Fool 100 Fund invests. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stocks and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers.

 

ETF Risk. The Fool 100 Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks:

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fool 100 Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Fool 100 Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Fool 100 Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than the NAV when you buy Shares of the Fool 100 Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those Shares in the secondary market. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fool 100 Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Index Rankings and Methodology Risk. The Fool 100 Index is comprised of the 100 largest U.S. companies that are either active recommendations of TMF’s newsletter or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database, and are weighted based on their market value relative to the total market value of other companies in the Fool 100 Index. Factors used by TMF’s analysts in their qualitative and quantitative analysis of companies

 

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included in the Fool 100 Index, and the weight placed on those factors, may not be predictive of a security’s value and, thus, have an adverse effect on the Fool 100 Fund. In addition, changes in TMF’s recommendations or rankings methodologies may have an adverse effect on the Fool 100 Fund. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in the Fool 100 Index methodology. Moreover, the methodology and the calculation of the Fool 100 Index could be subject to errors. If the composition of the Fool 100 Index reflects such errors, the Fool 100 Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.

 

Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. Investments in securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.

 

Market Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets. The Fool 100 Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fool 100 Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a high percentage of its assets in a limited number of securities. Since the Fool 100 Fund is non-diversified, its NAV, market price and total returns may fluctuate or fall more than a diversified fund. Gains or losses on a single stock may have a greater impact on the Fool 100 Fund.

 

Passive Investment Risk. The Fool 100 Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser does not attempt to take defensive positions in any market conditions, including adverse markets. The Fool 100 Fund and its Adviser will not sell shares of an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry, or sector, unless that security is removed from the Fool 100 Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Fool 100 Index as addressed in the Index methodology.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to replicate the Fool 100 Index, which is adjusted and rebalanced quarterly, the Fool 100 Fund may incur relatively high portfolio turnover. High portfolio turnover may result in increased transaction costs and may lower Fund performance.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Fool 100 Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

 

Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer discretionary sector can be significantly affected by the performance of the overall economy, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence and spending, and changes in demographics and consumer tastes.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Fool 100 Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker- dealers. The Fool 100 Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fool 100 Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fool 100 Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Fool 100 Index. In addition, the Fool 100 Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Fool 100 Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Fool 100 Index.

 

Performance Information: The bar chart and performance table illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Fool 100 Fund. The bar chart shows the changes in performance of the Fool 100 Fund from year to year. The table illustrates how the Fool 100 Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year and since-inception periods compare

 

5

 

with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Fool 100 Index. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Fool 100 Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com.

 

Year Return
2019 34.23%
2020 41.62%
2021 25.29%
2022 -30.46%

 

Best Quarter: 26.83% in the quarter ended June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter: -21.72% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 29.02%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

Fool 100 Fund

1 Year

Since Inception,
January 29, 2018

Return Before Taxes

-30.46%

9.43%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-30.50%

9.32%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-18.00%

7.46%

Motley Fool 100 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-30.11%

9.98%

S&P 500 Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-18.11%

8.12%

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fool 100 Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with Fund

Bryan Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer, Senior Portfolio Manager

Inception (January 29, 2018)

Anthony Arsta, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

Inception (January 29, 2018)

Charles L. Travers, Jr.

Portfolio Manager

January 3, 2023

 

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Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fool 100 Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Fool 100 Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.17%.

 

The Fool 100 Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Fool 100 Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Fool 100 Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is made through an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Fool 100 Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Fool 100 Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Fool 100 Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fool 100 Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Fool 100 Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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SUMMARY SECTION

 

Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF

 

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Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The investment objective of the Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF (“the Global Opportunities Fund”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Global Opportunities Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.85%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.85%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Global Opportunities Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Global Opportunities Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Global Opportunities Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$87

$271

$471

$1,049

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Global Opportunities Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Global Opportunities Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Global Opportunities Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 4% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Global Opportunities Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”), and pursues its investment objective by using a quality growth investing style. The Global Opportunities Fund invests in a focused portfolio of the common stocks of high-quality U.S. companies and the common stocks and depositary receipts (including unsponsored depositary receipts) of high-quality companies that are organized under the laws of other countries around the world.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, in at least three different countries, and will invest at least 40% of its assets outside of the United States, or, if the conditions are not favorable, will invest at least 30% of its assets outside the United States. The Global Opportunities Fund seeks to stay fully invested and does not attempt to time the market. Although the Global Opportunities Fund does not have market capitalization constraints for its investments, it is expected that investments in the securities of U.S. companies having smaller and middle market capitalizations, which Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) considers to be companies with market capitalizations less

 

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than $10 billion, and the securities in foreign companies, including companies organized under the laws of emerging market countries, will be important components of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment program. As a result, the Global Opportunities Fund has the freedom to go anywhere to make investments for its shareholders.

 

In identifying investments for the Global Opportunities Fund, the Adviser looks for securities of companies that have high-quality businesses with strong market positions, manageable leverage, robust streams of free cash flow, and trade at attractive prices. In managing the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment portfolio, the Adviser regularly reviews and adjusts the Global Opportunities Fund’s allocations to particular markets and sectors to maintain a diversified mix of investments that the Adviser believes offer the best overall potential for long-term growth of capital. The Global Opportunities Fund will sell securities in which it has invested based upon the Adviser’s analysis of fundamental investment criteria, including its assessment of the current value of a security relative to the security’s current market price, business fundamentals relating to the issuer, and developments affecting the issuer’s business prospects and risks.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund prefers to invest in high-quality businesses when possible. To identify these high quality businesses, the Adviser engages in research to evaluate each company under consideration using four criteria: management, culture, and incentives; the economics of the business; competitive advantage; and trajectory. The Adviser’s approach employs a long-term mindset and a balance of qualitative and quantitative factors.

 

Management, Culture, and Incentives.

 

The Adviser believes that management is a key element to long-term success at most businesses. Among the factors the Adviser considers are: manager and board of director fit, the clarity of vision and strategies, main-line culture and turnover, ownership in the business, the sensibility of incentives, capital allocation choices and results, external transparency and candor, and overall treatment of stakeholders.

 

Economics of the Business.

 

The Adviser believes that the economic performance of a business is a signal for quality. The Adviser’s process looks at the company’s long-term return on capital, the scalability of its business model, relative and absolute margins, business and product cyclicality, and other key performance indicators to gain insight into its potential for future performance.

 

Competitive Advantage.

 

The Adviser seeks companies that offer certain characteristics that allow them to generate and sustain outsized returns on capital on an absolute basis as well as in comparison to their peers. Competitive advantages may include pricing power, geographic barriers to entry, network effects, regulatory barriers to entry, and superior brands, among others. The Adviser also assesses the strength of the supporting capabilities each company possesses that reinforce these advantages to result in unique positioning.

 

Trajectory.

 

Companies often display superior economics over the short term due to favorable product cycles, customer preference, temporary or tactical advantages or other reasons. As the Adviser’s desire is to own companies in the Global Opportunities Fund that can be kept in the portfolio for many years, a core part of the Adviser’s process is to consider what the company might look like over a period of ten or more years. The Adviser considers whether the company seems likely to grow, to increase profitability through additional products or other offerings, and if it has optionality and the financial capacity that may make it a larger, stronger business in the future than it might be today.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund’s investment portfolio is focused, generally composed of between 30 and 50 investment positions, with the 10 largest positions representing not more than 60% of the Global Opportunities Fund’s net assets. To limit the risks associated with highly concentrated holdings, the Global Opportunities Fund does not invest more than 5% of its net assets in any one class of the securities of any one issuer at the time of purchase. If a portfolio holding grows to be greater than 5% of the Global Opportunities Fund’s net assets the Adviser may not add additional capital to the position. However, the Adviser may maintain an allocation above 5% indefinitely, provided it continues to meet the Adviser’s investment criteria.

 

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While investing in a particular sector is not a principal investment strategy of the Global Opportunities Fund, its portfolio may be significantly invested in a sector as a result of the portfolio management decisions made pursuant to its principal investment strategy. Currently, the Global Opportunities Fund is significantly invested in the industrials sector, communication services sector, financials sector, consumer discretionary sector, and information technology sector, which means it will be more affected by the performance of such sectors than a fund that is not so significantly invested. The Global Opportunities Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending securities.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Global Opportunities Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Global Opportunities Fund will achieve its investment objective. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Global Opportunities Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Active Management Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund is subject to management risk as an actively-managed investment portfolio. The Adviser’s investment approach may fail to produce the intended results.

 

Company and Market Risk. The common stock of a company may not perform as well as expected, and may decrease in value, because of factors related to the company (such as poorer-than-expected earnings or management decisions, changes in the industry in which the company is engaged, or a reduction in the demand for a company’s products or services). A variety of factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets may adversely affect securities markets generally, which could adversely affect the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investments in common stocks. In addition, the rights of holders of common stock are subordinate to the rights of preferred shares and debt holders.

 

Foreign Investments Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund invests in the securities of foreign companies. Investing in securities of foreign companies involves risks generally not associated with investments in the securities of U.S. companies, including the risks associated with fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, less stringent investor protections, unreliable and untimely information about issuers, and political and economic instability. Foreign securities in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests may be traded in markets that close before the time that the Global Opportunities Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”). Furthermore, certain foreign securities in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests may be listed on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other days when the Global Opportunities Fund does not calculate its NAV. As a result, the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s holdings may change on days when shareholders are not able to purchase or redeem the Global Opportunities Fund’s shares.

 

Investment Style Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund pursues a quality growth style of investing. Quality growth investing focuses on companies that appear attractively priced in light of factors such as the quality of management, sustainability of competitive advantage, or growth potential of cash flow. If the Adviser’s assessment of a company’s quality or intrinsic value or its prospects for exceeding earnings expectations or market conditions is inaccurate, the Global Opportunities Fund could suffer losses or produce poor performance relative to other funds. In addition, the stocks of quality companies can continue to be undervalued by the market for long periods of time. As a consequence of our investing style we expect the Global Opportunities Fund will underperform the market and its peers over short timeframes.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Global Opportunities Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

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Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and global economy, interest rates, competition, and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Also, companies in the consumer discretionary sector may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their respective profitability. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products and services in the marketplace.

 

 

Financial Sector Risk. The operations and businesses of financial services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, the availability and cost of capital funds, and interest rate changes. General market downturns may affect financial services companies adversely.

 

 

Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector could be affected by, among other things, government regulation, world events and economic conditions, insurance costs, and labor relations issues.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Currency Risk. Currency risk results from changes in the rate of exchange between the currency of the country in which a foreign company is domiciled or keeps its books and the U.S. dollar. Whenever the Global Opportunities Fund holds securities valued in a foreign currency or holds the currency itself in connection with its purchases and sales of foreign securities, changes in the exchange rate add to or subtract from the value of the investment in U.S. dollars. The Global Opportunities Fund generally does not seek to hedge currency risk, and although the Adviser considers currency risks as part of its investment process, its judgments in this regard may not always be correct.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Global Opportunities Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Global Opportunities Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Global Opportunities Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Global Opportunities Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Global Opportunities Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Global Opportunities Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Global Opportunities Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

Depositary Receipts Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund may purchase depositary receipts (American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), European Depositary receipts (“EDRs”), Global Depositary receipts (“GDRs”), and Non-Voting Depositary Receipts (“NVDRs”)) to facilitate its investments in foreign securities. By investing in ADRs rather than investing directly in the securities of foreign issuers, the Global Opportunities Fund can avoid currency risks during the settlement period for purchase and sales. However, ADRs do not eliminate all the risks inherent in investing in the securities of foreign issuers. Depositary receipts may be issued in a sponsored program, in which an issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of depositary receipts, or in an unsponsored program, in which the issuer may not be directly involved. The holders of depositary receipts that are unsponsored generally bear various costs associated with the facilities, while a larger portion of the costs associated with sponsored depositary receipts are typically borne by the foreign issuers.

 

Emerging Market Countries Risk. Investing in emerging market countries involves risks in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in more developed foreign markets. In many less developed markets, there is less governmental supervision and regulation of business and industry practices, stock exchanges, brokers,

 

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and listed companies than there is in more developed markets. The securities markets of certain countries in which the Global Opportunities Fund may invest may also be smaller, less liquid, and subject to greater price volatility than those of more developed markets. The information available about an emerging market issuer may be less reliable than for comparable issuers in more developed capital markets. The Global Opportunities Fund seeks to invest no more than 50% of its net assets in emerging market countries.

 

ETF Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks: “Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk,” “Secondary Market Trading Risk,” and “Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk.”

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“APs”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Global Opportunities Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as authorized participants (“APs”). In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Global Opportunities Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Global Opportunities Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Global Opportunities Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker-dealers. The Global Opportunities Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Small and Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund invests in securities of companies of all sizes, including those that have relatively small market capitalizations. Investments in securities of these companies involve greater risks than do investments in larger, more established companies. The prices of securities of small-cap companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments specific to the company or its industry, or the securities markets generally, than are securities of larger capitalization companies.

 

Performance Information: The bar chart and performance table below illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Global Opportunities Fund. The Global Opportunities Fund has adopted the performance of the MFAM Global Opportunities Fund (the “Predecessor Fund”) as the result of a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Global Opportunities Fund (the “Reorganization”). Prior to the Reorganization, the Global Opportunities Fund had not yet commenced operations. The Global Opportunities Fund’s total net operating expense ratio is lower than the net operating expense ratio of the Predecessor Fund. Returns in the bar chart and table for the Predecessor Fund have not been adjusted.

 

The Predecessor Fund, a series of The RBB Fund, Inc. that operated as a publicly sold open-end mutual fund, commenced operations on December 21, 2016 by acquiring the assets and liabilities of the Motley Fool Independence Fund, a series of The Motley Fool Funds Trust (the “MFFT Global Predecessor Fund”), in exchange for shares of the Predecessor Fund.

 

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Accordingly, the performance information shown below for periods prior to December 21, 2016 is that of the MFFT Global Predecessor Fund, which was also a publicly-sold open-end mutual fund. The MFFT Global Predecessor Fund was also advised by the Adviser and had the same investment objective and strategies as the Global Opportunities Fund and Predecessor Fund.

 

The bar chart shows the changes in performance of the Predecessor Fund from year to year. The table illustrates how the Predecessor Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year, five-year and since inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Global Opportunities Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com/resources.html.

 

Year Return
2015 -1.37%
2016 2.87%
2017 30.60%
2018 -3.84%
2019 31.40%
2020 36.02%
2021 8.12%
2022 -28.40%

 

Best Quarter: 28.73% in the quarter ended June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter: -20.78% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The Predecessor Fund’s year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 14.12%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

 

1 Year

5 Years

Since Inception of
Institutional Shares
(June 17, 2014)

Return Before Taxes

-28.40%

5.88%

7.04%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-28.51%

4.53%

5.72%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-16.73%

4.67%

5.57%

FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-17.87%

5.35%

6.43%

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

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Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with
the Fund

Start Date with
Predecessor Fund
or MFFT Global
Predecessor Fund

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer, Senior Portfolio Manager

2021

2014

Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®

Lead Portfolio Manager

2021

2009

Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

2021

2014

Michael J. Olsen, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

2021

2020

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Global Opportunities Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Global Opportunities Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.25%.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Global Opportunities Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Global Opportunities Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Global Opportunities Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Global Opportunities Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Global Opportunities Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Global Opportunities Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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SUMMARY SECTION

 

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

 

16

 

 

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The investment objective of the Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF (the “Mid-Cap Growth Fund”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.85%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.85%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$87

$271

$471

$1,049

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Mid-Cap Growth Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 18% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and pursues its investment objective by using a quality growth investing style. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests in a focused portfolio of the common stocks of high-quality companies domiciled in the United States that are engaged in a broad range of industries.

 

Under normal market conditions, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by United States companies having mid-market capitalizations. For this purpose, Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) currently defines mid-market capitalization companies as having similar market capitalizations to the companies in the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index, which is used for the purpose of determining range and not for targeting portfolio management. As of October 31, 2023, the average dollar-weighted market cap of the Russell Midcap Growth Total Return Index was approximately $23.8

 

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billion. The median market cap was approximately $10.0 billion and the largest stock included in the index had a market cap of approximately $51.6 billion. Under normal circumstances, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund seeks to stay fully invested and does not attempt to time the market.

 

In identifying investments for the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, the Adviser looks for securities of companies that have high quality businesses with strong market positions, manageable leverage, robust streams of free cash flow, and trade at attractive prices. In managing the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio, the Adviser regularly reviews and adjusts the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s allocations to maintain a diversified mix of investments that the Adviser believes offer the best overall potential for long-term growth of capital. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund will sell securities in which it has invested based upon the Adviser’s analysis of fundamental investment criteria, including its assessment of the current value of a security relative to the security’s current market price, business fundamentals relating to the issuer, and developments affecting the issuer’s business prospects and risks.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund prefers to invest in high-quality businesses when possible. To identify these high-quality businesses, the Adviser engages in research to evaluate each company under consideration using four criteria: management, culture, and incentives; the economics of the business; competitive advantage; and trajectory. The Adviser’s approach employs a long-term mindset and a balance of qualitative and quantitative factors.

 

Management, Culture, and Incentives.

 

The Adviser believes that management is a key element to long-term success at most businesses. Among the factors the Adviser considers are: manager and board of director fit, the clarity of vision and strategies, main-line culture and turnover, ownership in the business, the sensibility of incentives, capital allocation choices and results, external transparency and candor, and overall treatment of stakeholders.

 

Economics of the Business.

 

The Adviser believes that the economic performance of a business is a signal for quality. The Adviser’s process looks at the company’s long-term return on capital, the scalability of its business model, relative and absolute margins, business and product cyclicality, and other key performance indicators to gain insight into its potential for future performance.

 

Competitive Advantage.

 

The Adviser seeks companies that offer certain characteristics that allow them to generate and sustain outsized returns on capital on an absolute basis as well as in comparison to their peers. Competitive advantages may include pricing power, geographic barriers to entry, network effects, regulatory barriers to entry and superior brands, among others. The Adviser also assesses the strength of the supporting capabilities each company possesses that reinforce these advantages to result in unique positioning.

 

Trajectory.

 

Companies often display superior economics over the short term due to favorable product cycles, customer preference, temporary or tactical advantages or other reasons. As the Adviser’s desire is to own companies in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund that can be kept in the portfolio for many years, a core part of the Adviser’s process is to consider what the company might look like over a period of ten or more years. The Adviser considers whether the company seems likely to grow, to increase profitability through additional products or other offerings, and if it has optionality and the financial capacity that may make it a larger, stronger business in the future than it might be today.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio is focused, generally composed of at least 30 investment positions, with the 10 largest positions representing not more than 60% of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s net assets. To limit the risks associated with highly concentrated holdings, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund generally does not invest more than 5% of its net assets in securities of any one issuer at the time of purchase. If a portfolio holding grows to be greater than 5% of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s net assets the Adviser may not add additional capital to the position. However, the Adviser may maintain an allocation above 5% indefinitely, provided it continues to meet the Adviser’s investment criteria.

 

While investing in a particular sector is not a principal investment strategy of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, its portfolio may be significantly invested in a sector as a result of the portfolio management decisions made pursuant to its principal investment strategy. Currently, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund is significantly invested in the industrials sector, consumer

 

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discretionary sector, health care sector, and information technology sector, which means it will be more affected by the performance of such sectors than a fund that is not so significantly invested. The Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending portfolio securities.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Mid-Cap Growth Fund will achieve its investment objective. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. The following are the principal risks that could affect the value of your investment:

 

Active Management Risk. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund is subject to management risk as an actively-managed investment portfolio. The Adviser’s investment approach may fail to produce the intended results.

 

Company and Market Risk. The common stock of a company may not perform as well as expected, and may decrease in value, because of factors related to the company (such as poorer-than-expected earnings or management decisions, changes in the industry in which the company is engaged, or a reduction in the demand for a company’s products or services). A variety of factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets may adversely affect securities markets generally, which could adversely affect the value of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investments in common stocks. In addition, the rights of holders of common stock are subordinate to the rights of preferred shares and debt holders.

 

Investment Style Risk. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund pursues a quality growth style of investing. Quality growth investing focuses on companies that appear attractively priced in light of factors such as the quality of management, sustainability of competitive advantage, or growth potential of cash flow. If the Adviser’s assessment of a company’s quality or intrinsic value or its prospects for exceeding earnings expectations or market conditions is inaccurate, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund could suffer losses or produce poor performance relative to other funds. In addition, the stocks of quality companies can continue to be undervalued by the market for long periods of time. As a consequence of our investing style we expect the Mid-Cap Growth Fund will underperform the market and its peers over short time frames.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and global economy, interest rates, competition, and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Also, companies in the consumer discretionary sector may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their respective profitability. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products and services in the marketplace.

 

 

Financial Sector Risk. The operations and business of financial services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, the availability and cost of capital funds, and interest rate changes. General market downturns may affect financial services companies adversely.

 

 

Health Care Sector Risk. Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by regulatory changes. Other risk factors include rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure and limited product lines, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product or service liability.

 

 

Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector could be affected by, among other things, government regulation, world events and economic conditions, insurance costs, and labor relations issues.

 

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Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests in securities of mid-capitalization companies. Investments in securities of these companies may involve greater risks than do investments in larger, more established companies. The prices of securities of mid-cap companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments specific to a company or its industry, or the securities markets generally, than are securities of larger capitalization companies.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Mid-Cap Growth Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

ETF Risk. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks: “Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk,” “Secondary Market Trading Risk,” and “Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk.”

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Mid-Cap Growth Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker-dealers. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

20

 

 

Performance Information: The bar chart and performance table below illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Mid-Cap Growth Fund. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund has adopted the performance of the MFAM Mid-Cap Growth Fund (the “Predecessor Fund”) as the result of a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Mid-Cap Growth Fund (the “Reorganization”). Prior to the Reorganization, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund had not yet commenced operations. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s total net operating expense ratio is lower than the net operating expense ratio of the Predecessor Fund. Returns in the bar chart and table for the Predecessor Fund have not been adjusted.

 

The Predecessor Fund, a series of The RBB Fund, Inc. that operated as a publicly sold open-end mutual fund, commenced operations on December 21, 2016 by acquiring the assets and liabilities of the Motley Fool Great America Fund, a series of The Motley Fool Funds Trust (the “MFFT GA Predecessor Fund”), in exchange for shares of the Predecessor Fund. Accordingly, the performance information shown below for periods prior to December 21, 2016 is that of the MFFT GA Predecessor Fund, which was also a publicly-sold open-end mutual fund. The MFFT GA Predecessor Fund was also advised by the Adviser and had the same investment objective and strategies as the Mid-Cap Growth Fund and Predecessor Fund.

 

The bar chart shows the changes in performance of the Predecessor Fund from year to year. The table illustrates how the Predecessor Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year, five-year and since-inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Mid-Cap Growth Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com/resources.html.

 

Year Return
2015 -2.74%
2016 7.60%
2017 29.39%
2018 -11.20%
2019 30.39%
2020 32.68%
2021 5.15%
2022 -27.72%

 

Best Quarter: 30.42% in the quarter ended June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter: -20.15% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The Fund’s year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 11.29%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

 

1 Year

5 Years

Since Inception of
Institutional Shares
(June 17, 2014)

Return Before Taxes

-27.72%

3.15%

6.35%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-27.72%

1.76%

5.34%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-16.41%

2.57%

5.15%

Russell Midcap Growth Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-26.72%

7.64%

8.86%

 

21

 

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor.

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with
the Fund

Start Date with
Predecessor Fund
or MFFT Global
Predecessor Fund

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer, Senior and Lead Portfolio Manager

2021

2014

Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

2021

2010

Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

2021

2014

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.27%.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is in an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Mid-Cap Growth Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Mid-Cap Growth Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

22

 

 

SUMMARY SECTION

 

MOTLEY FOOL SMALL-CAP GROWTH ETF

 

23

 

 

Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The investment objective of the Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF (the “Small-Cap Growth Fund”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Small-Cap Growth Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.85%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.85%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Small-Cap Growth Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Small-Cap Growth Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$87

$271

$471

$1,049

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 62% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and invests primarily in equity securities of small capitalization companies listed on a United States exchange and selected by Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investment adviser. The Small-Cap Growth Fund pursues its investment objective by using a quality growth style. The Small-Cap Growth Fund invests in a focused portfolio of the common stocks of high-quality companies domiciled in the United States that are engaged in a broad range of industries.

 

Under normal market conditions, the Small-Cap Growth Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities issued by small capitalization companies. For this purpose, the Adviser currently defines small capitalization companies as being within the same range of market capitalizations as the companies in the Russell 2000 Growth Total Return Index (the “Index”). The Index is used for the purpose of determining ranges of market capitalizations and not for targeting portfolio management. As of October 31, 2023, the median market capitalization of the Index was $1.0 billion and the largest stock was $12.6 billion. Under normal circumstances, the

 

24

 

 

Small-Cap Growth Fund seeks to stay fully invested and does not attempt to time the market. The Small-Cap Growth Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a significant portion of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or small number of issuers. In addition, at any given time, the Small-Cap Growth Fund may have a significant portion of its net assets invested in securities of issuers within a particular sector, such as the information technology, health care, industrial, real estate sector and consumer discretionary sectors.

 

In identifying investments for the Small-Cap Growth Fund, the Adviser looks for securities of companies that have high-quality businesses with strong market positions, manageable leverage, and the potential for robust streams of free cash flow. In managing the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio, the Adviser regularly reviews and adjusts the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s allocations to maintain a mix of investments that the Adviser believes offer the best overall potential for long-term growth of capital. The Small-Cap Growth Fund will sell securities in which it has invested based upon the Adviser’s analysis of fundamental investment criteria, including its assessment of the current value of a security relative to the security’s current market price, business fundamentals relating to the issuer, and developments affecting the issuer’s business prospects and risks.

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund prefers to invest in high-quality businesses when possible. To identify these high-quality businesses, the Adviser engages in research to evaluate each company under consideration using four criteria described in more detail below: (i) management, culture, and incentives; (ii) the economics of the business; (iii) competitive advantage; and (iv) trajectory. The Adviser’s approach prizes a long-term mindset and a balance of qualitative and quantitative factors.

 

Management, Culture, and Incentives.

 

The Adviser believes that management is a key element to long-term success at most businesses. Among the factors the Adviser considers are: manager and board of director fit, the clarity of vision and strategies, main-line culture and turnover, ownership in the business, the sensibility of incentives, capital allocation choices and results, external transparency and candor, and overall treatment of stakeholders.

 

Economics of the Business.

 

The Adviser believes that the economic performance of a business is a signal for quality. The Adviser’s process looks at the company’s long-term return on capital, the scalability of its business model, relative and absolute margins, business and product cyclicality, and other key performance indicators to gain insight into its potential for future performance.

 

Competitive Advantage.

 

The Adviser seeks companies that offer certain characteristics that allow them to generate and sustain outsized returns on capital on an absolute basis as well as in comparison to their peers. Competitive advantages may include pricing power, geographic barriers to entry, network effects, regulatory barriers to entry and superior brands, among others. The Adviser also assesses the strength of the supporting capabilities each company possesses that reinforce these advantages to result in unique positioning.

 

Trajectory.

 

Companies often display superior economics over the short term due to favorable product cycles, customer preference, temporary or tactical advantages or other reasons. As the Adviser’s desire is to own companies in the Small-Cap Growth Fund that can be kept in the portfolio for many years, a core part of the Adviser’s process is to consider what the company might look like over a period of ten or more years. The Adviser considers whether the company seems likely to grow, to increase profitability through additional products or other offerings, and if it has optionality and the financial capacity that may make it a larger, stronger business in the future than it might be today.

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio is focused, generally composed of between 30 and 40 investment positions.

 

While investing in a particular sector is not a principal investment strategy of the Small-Cap Growth Fund, its portfolio may be significantly invested in a sector as a result of the portfolio management decisions made pursuant to its principal investment strategy. While the Small-Cap Growth Fund does not place any restrictions on its level of sector concentration, it will limit its investments in industries within any particular sector to less than 25% of the Fund’s total assets. As of

 

25

 

 

August 31, 2023, the Small-Cap Growth Fund is significantly invested in the health care, industrials and information technology sectors, which means it will be more affected by the performance of such sectors than a fund that is not so significantly invested. The Small-Cap Growth Fund may not invest more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid securities.

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending securities.

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Small-Cap Growth Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Small-Cap Growth Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Small-Cap Growth Fund’s principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Small-Cap Growth Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Small-Cap Growth Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Small-Cap Growth Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cyber security incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Small-Cap Growth Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Small-Cap Growth Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Small-Cap Growth Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Small-Cap Growth Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held in the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Small-Cap Growth Fund invests. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stocks and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers.

 

ETF Risk. The Small-Cap Growth Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks:

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Small-Cap Growth Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Small-Cap Growth Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Small-Cap Growth Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than the NAV when you buy Shares of the Small-Cap Growth Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those Shares in the secondary market. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

26

 

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Investment Style Risk. The Small-Cap Growth Fund pursues a quality growth style of investing. Quality growth style investing focuses on companies that appear attractive in light of factors such as the quality of management, sustainability of competitive advantage, or growth potential of cash flow. If the Adviser’s assessment of a company’s quality or intrinsic value or its prospects for exceeding earnings expectations or market conditions is inaccurate, the Small-Cap Growth Fund could suffer losses or produce poor performance relative to other funds. In addition, the stocks of quality companies can continue to be undervalued by the market for long periods of time. As a consequence of its investing style the Small-Cap Growth Fund may underperform the market and its peers over short timeframes.

 

Management Risk. The Small-Cap Growth Fund is subject to management risk as an actively-managed investment portfolio. The Adviser’s investment approach may fail to produce the intended results.

 

Market Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors. The Small-Cap Growth Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Small-Cap Growth Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a high percentage of its assets in a limited number of securities. Since the Small-Cap Growth Fund is non-diversified, its NAV, market price and total returns may fluctuate or fall more than a diversified fund. Gains or losses on a single stock may have a greater impact on the Small-Cap Growth Fund.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Small-Cap Growth Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

 

Health Care Sector Risk. Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by regulatory changes. Other risk factors include rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure and limited product lines, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product or service liability.

 

 

Industrial Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector could be affected by, among other things, government regulation, world events and economic conditions, insurance costs, and labor relations issues.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Small-Cap Growth Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker-dealers. The Small-Cap Growth Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Small Cap Companies Risk. Investments in securities of small-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than securities of larger-capitalization companies. The securities of small-capitalization companies generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than larger capitalization stocks or the stock market as a whole. Some small capitalization

 

27

 

 

companies have limited product lines, markets, and financial and managerial resources and tend to concentrate on fewer geographical markets relative to larger capitalization companies. There is typically less publicly available information concerning smaller-capitalization companies than for larger, more established companies. Small-capitalization companies also may be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, government regulation, borrowing costs and earnings.

 

Performance Information:

 

The bar chart and performance table illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Small-Cap Growth Fund. The bar chart shows the changes in performance of the Small-Cap Growth Fund from year to year. The table illustrates how the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year and since-inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Small-Cap Growth Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com.

 

 

Year Return
2019 38.33%
2020 57.90%
2021 -2.29%
2022 -32.99%

Best Quarter: 36.00% in the quarter ended June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter: -24.42% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 13.94%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

Small-Cap Growth Fund

1 Year

Since Inception,
October 29, 2018

Return Before Taxes

-32.99%

7.39%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-33.04%

6.76%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-19.49%

5.90%

Russell 2000 Growth Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-26.36%

4.71%

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Small-Cap Growth Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

28

 

 

Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with Fund

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer, Senior Portfolio Manager

Inception (October 29, 2018)

Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

Inception (October 29, 2018)

Charles L. Travers, Jr.

Portfolio Manager

January 3, 2023

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.61%.

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Small-Cap Growth Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Small-Cap Growth Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is made through an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Small-Cap Growth Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Small-Cap Growth Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Small-Cap Growth Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Small-Cap Growth Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

29

 

 

SUMMARY SECTION

 

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

 

30

 

 

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The Motley Fool Next Index ETF (the “Next Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the total return performance of the Motley Fool Next Index (the “Next Index” – for more on this, see the “Principal Investment Strategies” section).

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Next Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.50%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.50%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Next Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Next Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Next Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$51

$160

$280

$628

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Next Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Next Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Next Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Next Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 27% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Next Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Next Index. Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) serves as the investment adviser to the Next Fund. The Next Index was developed by The Motley Fool, LLC (“TMF”), an affiliate of the Adviser.

 

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The Next Index

 

The Next Index was established by TMF in 2021 and is a proprietary, rules-based index designed to track the performance of mid- and small-capitalization U.S. companies that have been recommended by TMF’s analysts and newsletters. TMF’s “recommendation universe” includes all companies domiciled in the United States that are either active recommendations of a newsletter published by TMF or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database, subject to universe continuity rules.

 

To be eligible for inclusion in the Next Index, a security must first meet the existing eligibility criteria of the Motley Fool 100 Index, a proprietary, rules-based index designed to track the performance of the 100 largest, most liquid U.S. companies that have been recommended by TMF’s analysts and newsletters. However, the Next Index excludes the 100 largest securities that meet the Motley Fool 100 Index eligibility criteria, subject to universe continuity rules, and consists of the next largest companies with a 3-month average daily value traded greater than or equal to $1 million. The selection universe consists of companies of all market capitalizations. For this purpose, the Adviser defines small- and mid-capitalization companies as companies having capitalizations similar to, or less than, the companies in the Russell Midcap Index. To create the Motley Fool 100 Index, the largest 100 companies (based on market capitalization, but not restricted to any capitalization constraints) are selected. Given that the selection universe is dynamic, there is no guarantee that the smallest companies that make up the top 100 will always fit the definition of large capitalization, or that the first company (or companies) outside the top 100 will not fit the definition of large capitalization. Historically, the market capitalization weighting methodology has resulted in the Motley Fool 100 Index, under commonly accepted definitions, having attributes of a large capitalization index, and the Next Index having attributes of a small- and mid-capitalization index.

 

With respect to universe continuity, the Next Index is constructed utilizing a buffering methodology. The buffer is intended to reduce index turnover from movements in constituent weightings that could result in a company dropping out of the index only to be added back with the next rebalance. Specifically, stocks ranked in the top 105 positions based on TMF’s analyst opinion database (70% of the 150-stock target) are automatically included in the candidate universe. Additionally, companies that were previously eligible based on their TMF analyst ratings will still be included as long as their rank is equal to or better than 195 (130% of the 150-stock target). Stocks are then added based on conviction score rank until the 150-stock target is reached.

 

Once the eligible universe is determined, inclusion in the Motley Fool 100 Index and the Next Index are determined jointly based on market capitalization and index continuity rules. A buffer of 30% of the Motley Fool 100 Index membership target - or 30 stocks - is used to prevent frequent turnover around the Motley Fool 100 Index/Next Index cutoff.

 

Specifically, stocks ranked in the top 70 positions based on firm-level market capitalization (70% of the 100-stock target) are automatically included in the candidate universe for the Motley Fool 100 Index. Additionally, companies that were previously included in the Motley Fool 100 Index will still be included as long as their market capitalization rank is equal to or better than 130 (130% of the 100-stock target). Stocks are then added to the Motley Fool 100 Index based on conviction score rank until the 100-stock target is reached. The remaining stocks are included in the Next Index.

 

Each selected company’s share of the Next Index (or “weighting”) is set to equal the company’s share of all Next Index companies’ aggregate market value. The Next Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly. The Next Index will typically include 150 – 450 companies at any one time.

 

The Next Index is calculated and administered by Solactive AG (the “Index Calculation Agent”), which is not affiliated with the Next Fund, the Adviser or TMF. Additional information regarding the Next Index, including its value, is available on the websites of the Next Index at www.foolindices.com and the Index Calculation Agent, at www.solactive.com.

 

The Next Fund’s Investment Strategy

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Next Fund’s total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Next Index. The Adviser expects that, over time, if it has sufficient assets, the correlation between the Next Fund’s performance and that of the Next Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.

 

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The Next Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest in all of the component securities of the Next Index. However, the Next Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy, meaning it may invest in a sample of the securities in the Next Index whose risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Next Index as a whole, when the Adviser believes it is in the best interests of the Next Fund (e.g., when replicating the Next Index involves practical difficulties or substantial costs, a Next Index constituent becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations that apply to the Next Fund but not to the Next Index).

 

The Next Fund generally may invest up to 20% of its total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) in securities or other investments not included in the Next Index, but which the Adviser believes will help the Next Fund track the Next Index. For example, the Next Fund may invest in securities that are not components of the Next Index to reflect various corporate actions and other changes to the Next Index (such as reconstitutions, additions and deletions).

 

The Next Fund is non-diversified for the purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”), which means that the Next Fund may invest in fewer securities at any one time than a diversified fund. To the extent the Next Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry, the Next Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Next Index.

 

The Next Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending securities.

 

The Next Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Next Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Next Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Next Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Next Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Next Fund’s principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Next Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Next Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Next Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Next Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Next Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cyber security incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Next Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Next Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Next Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Next Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

ETF Risk. The Next Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks: “Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk,” “Secondary Market Trading Risk,” and “Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk.”

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Next Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Next Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step

 

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forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Next Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than the NAV when you buy Shares of the Next Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those Shares in the secondary market. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Next Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Equity Markets Risk. The equity securities held in the Next Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Next Fund invests. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stocks and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers.

 

Index Rankings and Methodology Risk. Factors used by TMF’s analysts in their qualitative and quantitative analysis of companies included in the Next Index, and the weight placed on those factors, may not be predictive of a security’s value and, thus, have an adverse effect on the Next Fund. In addition, changes in TMF’s recommendations or rankings methodologies may have an adverse effect on the Next Fund. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in the Next Index methodology. Moreover, the methodology and the calculation of the Next Index could be subject to errors. If the composition of the Next Index reflects such errors, the Next Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.

 

Market Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets. The Next Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.

 

Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. Investments in securities of mid-capitalization companies may involve greater risks than do investments in larger, more established companies. The prices of securities of mid-cap companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments specific to a company or its industry, or the securities markets generally, than are securities of larger capitalization companies.

 

New Fund Risk. The Next Fund is a recently organized, non-diversified management investment company with a limited operating history. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Next Fund will grow to, or maintain, an economically viable size, in which case the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of The RBB Fund, Inc. (the “Company”) may determine to liquidate the Next Fund.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Next Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a high percentage of its assets in a limited number of securities. Since the Next Fund is non-diversified, its NAV, market price and total returns may fluctuate or fall more than a diversified fund. Gains or losses on a single stock may have a greater impact on the Next Fund.

 

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Passive Investment Risk. The Next Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser does not attempt to take defensive positions in any market conditions, including adverse markets. The Next Fund and its Adviser will not sell shares of an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry, or sector, unless that security is removed from the Next Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Next Index as addressed in the Index methodology.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to replicate the Next Index, which is adjusted and rebalanced quarterly, the Next Fund may incur relatively high portfolio turnover. High portfolio turnover may result in increased transaction costs and may lower Fund performance.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Next Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and global economy, interest rates, competition, and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Also, companies in the consumer discretionary sector may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their respective profitability. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products and services in the marketplace.

 

 

Health Care Sector Risk. Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by regulatory changes. Other risk factors include rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure and limited product lines, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product or service liability.

 

 

Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector could be affected by, among other things, government regulation, world events and economic conditions, insurance costs, and labor relations issues.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Next Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker- dealers. The Next Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The securities of small-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than securities of larger-capitalization companies. The securities of small-capitalization companies generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than larger capitalization stocks or the stock market as a whole. Some small capitalization companies have limited product lines, markets, and financial and managerial resources and tend to concentrate on fewer geographical markets relative to larger capitalization companies. There is typically less publicly available information concerning smaller-capitalization companies than for larger, more established companies. Small-capitalization companies also may be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, government regulation, borrowing costs and earnings.

 

Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Next Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Next Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Next Index. In addition, the Next Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Next Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Next Index.

 

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Performance

 

The bar chart and performance table illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Next Fund. The bar chart shows the performance of the Next Fund for one year. The table illustrates how the Next Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year and since-inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Next Index. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Next Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com.

 

Year Return
2022 -27.88%

 

Best Quarter: 5.56% in the quarter ended December 31, 2022
Worst Quarter: -21.23% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The Fund’s year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 3.18%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

Next Index Fund

1 Year

Since Inception,
December 31, 2021

Return Before Taxes

-27.88%

-28.20%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-27.92%

-28.24%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-16.48%

-21.49%

Motley Fool Next - Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-27.74%

-27.98%

Russell Midcap Growth Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-26.72%

-26.97%

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Next Index Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

 

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Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with Fund

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer; Senior Portfolio Manager

Since Inception in 2021

Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

Since Inception in 2021

Charles L. Travers, Jr.

Portfolio Manager

January 3, 2023

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Next Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Next Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.29%.

 

The Next Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Next Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Next Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is made through an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Next Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Next Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Next Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Next Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Next Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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SUMMARY SECTION

 

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

 

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Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

 

Summary Section

 

Investment Objective

 

The Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF (the “Capital Efficiency Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the total return performance of the Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index (the “Capital Efficiency 100 Index” – for more on this, see the “Principal Investment Strategies” section).

 

Fees and Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Capital Efficiency Fund (“Shares”). This table and the Example below do not include the brokerage commissions that investors may pay on their purchases and sales of Fund Shares.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment):

 

Management Fees

0.50%

Distribution (12b-1) Fees

0.00%

Other Expenses

0.00%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.50%

 

Example

 

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Capital Efficiency Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Capital Efficiency Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that: (1) your investment has a 5% return each year, and (2) the Capital Efficiency Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$51

$160

$280

$628

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Capital Efficiency Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Capital Efficiency Fund’s performance. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Capital Efficiency Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 25% of the average value of its portfolio.

 

Principal Investment Strategies

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) and employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC (the “Adviser”) serves as the investment adviser to the Capital Efficiency Fund. The Capital Efficiency 100 Index was developed by The Motley Fool, LLC (“TMF”), an affiliate of the Adviser.

 

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The Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index

 

The Capital Efficiency 100 Index was established by TMF in 2021 and is a proprietary, rules-based index designed to track the performance of the highest scoring stocks of U.S. companies, measured by a company’s capital efficiency, that have been recommended by TMF’s analysts and newsletters, and that also meet certain liquidity requirements. Capital efficiency is a measure of how a business turns its investments into revenue and profit and it provides insight into the company’s return on invested capital.

 

TMF’s “recommendation universe” includes all companies domiciled in the United States that are either active recommendations of a newsletter published by TMF or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database, subject to universe continuity rules. With respect to universe continuity, the Capital Efficiency 100 Index is constructed utilizing a buffering methodology. The buffer is intended to reduce index turnover from movements in constituent weightings that could result in a company dropping out of the index only to be added back with the next rebalance. Specifically, stocks ranked in the top 105 positions based on TMF’s analyst opinion database (70% of the 150-stock target) are automatically included in the candidate universe. Additionally, companies that were previously eligible based on their TMF analyst ratings will still be included as long as their rank is equal to or better than 195 (130% of the 150-stock target). Stocks are then added based on conviction score rank until the 150-stock target is reached.

 

Company shares that meet the requirements for universe inclusion must also meet the minimum requirements for liquidity and for calculating the Capital Efficiency Factor Score (defined herein). Specifically, the liquidity requirements mandate that at least $1 million worth of a company’s shares trade daily, on average, during the preceding three months. With respect to calculating capital efficiency, a company must report gross profits (or net revenues for financial companies) and meet a minimum total assets threshold as of the most recent filing prior to each index weighting date. TMF’s proprietary Capital Efficiency Factor Score is a composite score that incorporates growth, profitability, and stability metrics in assessing a company’s capital efficiency. To determine final index membership, candidate stocks are first ranked based on their composite scores. The top 100 stocks are then selected based on index continuity rules.

 

Each selected company’s share of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index (or “weighting”) is set to equal the company’s share of all Capital Efficiency 100 Index companies’ aggregate market value multiplied by their respective Capital Efficiency Factor Scores. A maximum position size limit of 5% is also enforced (tested at the time of rebalancing and subject to index continuity rules). The Capital Efficiency 100 Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly.

 

The Capital Efficiency 100 Index will typically include 100 companies at any one time and may contain companies of any size capitalization.

 

The Capital Efficiency 100 Index is calculated and administered by Solactive AG (the “Index Calculation Agent”), which is not affiliated with the Capital Efficiency Fund, the Adviser or TMF. Additional information regarding the Capital Efficiency 100 Index, including its value, is available on the websites of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index at www.foolindices.com and the Index Calculation Agent, at www.solactive.com.

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund’s Investment Strategy

 

Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Capital Efficiency Fund’s total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in the component securities of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. The Adviser expects that, over time, if it has sufficient assets, the correlation between the Capital Efficiency Fund’s performance and that of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index, before fees and expenses, will be 95% or better.

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund will generally use a “replication” strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest in all of the component securities of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. However, the Capital Efficiency Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy, meaning it may invest in a sample of the securities in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index whose risk, return and other characteristics closely resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index as a whole, when the Adviser believes it is in the best interests of the Capital Efficiency Fund (e.g., when replicating the Capital Efficiency 100 Index involves practical difficulties or substantial costs, a Capital Efficiency 100 Index constituent becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations that apply to the Capital Efficiency Fund but not to the Capital Efficiency 100 Index).

 

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The Capital Efficiency Fund generally may invest up to 20% of its total assets (exclusive of any collateral held from securities lending) in securities or other investments not included in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index, but which the Adviser believes will help the Capital Efficiency Fund track the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. For example, the Capital Efficiency Fund may invest in securities that are not components of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index to reflect various corporate actions and other changes to the Capital Efficiency 100 Index (such as reconstitutions, additions and deletions).

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund is non-diversified for the purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”), which means that the Capital Efficiency Fund may invest in fewer securities at any one time than a diversified fund. To the extent the Capital Efficiency 100 Index concentrates (i.e., holds more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry, the Capital Efficiency Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Capital Efficiency 100 Index.

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending securities.

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

 

Principal Investment Risks

 

The value of the Capital Efficiency Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Capital Efficiency Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in the Capital Efficiency Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Capital Efficiency Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Capital Efficiency Fund’s principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Capital Efficiency Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to the Capital Efficiency Fund’s assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Capital Efficiency Fund, the Adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent the Capital Efficiency Fund’s investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Capital Efficiency Fund and the Adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cyber security incidents affecting third-party service providers, and such third-party service providers may have limited indemnification obligations to the Capital Efficiency Fund or the Adviser. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Capital Efficiency Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Capital Efficiency Fund or its shareholders. Issuers of securities in which the Capital Efficiency Fund invests are also subject to cyber security risks, and the value of these securities could decline if the issuers experience cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures.

 

ETF Risk. The Capital Efficiency Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, it is exposed to the following risks: “Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk,” “Secondary Market Trading Risk,” and “Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk.”

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an authorized participant (“AP”) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Capital Efficiency Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are institutional investors and may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Capital Efficiency Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to net asset value (“NAV”) and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to the Capital Efficiency Fund Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than the NAV when you buy Shares of the Capital Efficiency Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those Shares in the secondary market. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares

 

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substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although Shares are listed on a national securities exchange, the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Exchange”), and may be traded on U.S. exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. During periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Capital Efficiency Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

Equity Markets Risk. The equity securities held in the Capital Efficiency Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Capital Efficiency Fund invests. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stocks and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers.

 

Index Rankings and Methodology Risk. Factors used by TMF’s analysts in their qualitative and quantitative analysis of companies included in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index, and the weight placed on those factors, may not be predictive of a security’s value and, thus, have an adverse effect on the Capital Efficiency Fund. In addition, changes in TMF’s recommendations or rankings methodologies may have an adverse effect on the Capital Efficiency Fund. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index methodology. Moreover, the methodology and the calculation of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index could be subject to errors. If the composition of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index reflects such errors, the Capital Efficiency Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.

 

Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.

 

Market Risk. The trading prices of equity securities and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors including economic, political, financial, public health crises (such as epidemics or pandemics) or other disruptive events (whether real, expected or perceived) in the U.S. and global markets. The Capital Efficiency Fund’s NAV and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to these and other factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long periods of time.

 

Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. The securities of mid-capitalization companies may involve greater risks than do investments in larger, more established companies. The prices of securities of mid-cap companies tend to be more vulnerable to adverse developments specific to a company or its industry, or the securities markets generally, than are securities of larger capitalization companies.

 

New Fund Risk. The Capital Efficiency Fund is a recently organized, non-diversified management investment company with a limited operating history. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Capital Efficiency Fund will grow to, or maintain, an economically viable size, in which case the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of The RBB Fund, Inc. (the “Company”) may determine to liquidate the Capital Efficiency Fund.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Capital Efficiency Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a high percentage of its assets in a limited number of securities. Since the Capital Efficiency Fund is non-diversified, its NAV, market price and total returns may fluctuate or fall more than a diversified fund. Gains or losses on a single stock may have a greater impact on the Capital Efficiency Fund.

 

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Passive Investment Risk. The Capital Efficiency Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser does not attempt to take defensive positions in any market conditions, including adverse markets. The Capital Efficiency Fund and its Adviser will not sell shares of an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry, or sector, unless that security is removed from the Capital Efficiency 100 Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index as addressed in the Index methodology.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. In seeking to replicate the Capital Efficiency 100 Index, which is adjusted and rebalanced quarterly, the Capital Efficiency Fund may incur relatively high portfolio turnover. High portfolio turnover may result in increased transaction costs and may lower Fund performance.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent the Capital Efficiency Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.

 

 

Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The success of consumer product manufacturers and retailers is tied closely to the performance of the overall domestic and global economy, interest rates, competition, and consumer confidence. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Also, companies in the consumer discretionary sector may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their respective profitability. Changes in demographics and consumer tastes can also affect the demand for, and success of, consumer products and services in the marketplace.

 

 

Health Care Sector Risk. Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by regulatory changes. Other risk factors include rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure and limited product lines, loss or impairment of intellectual property rights and litigation regarding product or service liability.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. In addition to market or economic factors, companies in the information technology sector and companies that rely heavily on technology are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Capital Efficiency Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker- dealers. The Capital Efficiency Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Small-Capitalization Companies Risk. The securities of small-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than securities of larger-capitalization companies. The securities of small-capitalization companies generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than larger capitalization stocks or the stock market as a whole. Some small capitalization companies have limited product lines, markets, and financial and managerial resources and tend to concentrate on fewer geographical markets relative to larger capitalization companies. There is typically less publicly available information concerning smaller-capitalization companies than for larger, more established companies. Small-capitalization companies also may be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, government regulation, borrowing costs and earnings.

 

Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Capital Efficiency Fund and its Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, the Capital Efficiency Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. In addition, the Capital Efficiency Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index.

 

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Performance

 

The bar chart and performance table illustrate the risks and volatility of an investment in the Capital Efficiency Fund. The bar chart shows the performance of the Capital Efficiency Fund for one year. The table illustrates how the Capital Efficiency Fund’s average annual total returns for the one-year and since-inception periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. Past performance, both before and after taxes, does not necessarily indicate how the Capital Efficiency Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.fooletfs.com.

 

Year Return
2022 -25.64%

 

Best Quarter: 6.79% in the quarter ended December 31, 2022
Worst Quarter: -18.56% in the quarter ended June 30, 2022

 

The Fund’s year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was 23.42%.

 

PERFORMANCE TABLE
(Average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

 

Capital Efficiency 100 Index Fund

1 Year

Since Inception,
December 31, 2021

Return Before Taxes

-25.64%

-25.98%

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-25.71%

-26.04%

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

-15.13%

-19.79%

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 - Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-25.46%

-25.78%

S&P 500 Total Return Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

-18.11%

-18.28%

 

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. In certain cases, the figure representing “Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares” may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Capital Efficiency Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

 

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Management

 

Investment Adviser

 

Motley Fool Asset Management, LLC serves as the investment adviser.

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Team Member

Primary Titles

Start Date with Fund

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

Chief Investment Officer; Senior Portfolio Manager

Since Inception in 2021

Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®

Portfolio Manager

Since Inception in 2021

Charles L. Travers, Jr.

Portfolio Manager

January 3, 2023

 

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

Shares are listed on the Exchange, and investors can only buy and sell Shares through brokers or dealers at market prices, rather than NAV. Because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Capital Efficiency Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.fooletfs.com. The median bid-ask spread for the Capital Efficiency Fund’s most recent fiscal year was 0.29%.

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in large blocks known as “Creation Units,” which only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem. Creation Units generally consist of 25,000 Shares, though this may change from time to time. The Capital Efficiency Fund generally issues and redeems Creation Units in exchange for a portfolio of securities closely approximating the holdings of the Capital Efficiency Fund (the “Deposit Securities”) and/or a designated amount of U.S. cash.

 

Tax Information

 

Fund distributions are generally taxable as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains (or a combination), unless your investment is made through an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. Distributions on investments made through tax-deferred arrangements may be taxed later upon withdrawal of assets from those accounts.

 

Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank) (an “Intermediary”), the Capital Efficiency Fund’s investment adviser, or its affiliates may pay Intermediaries for certain activities related to the Capital Efficiency Fund, including participation in activities that are designed to make Intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, including the Capital Efficiency Fund, or for other activities, such as marketing, educational training or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the Intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Capital Efficiency Fund over another investment. Any such arrangements do not result in increased Capital Efficiency Fund expenses. Ask your salesperson or visit the Intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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Additional Information about the Funds

 

Investment Objective – Fool 100 Fund

 

The Fool 100 Fund seeks investment results (before fees and expenses) that correspond generally to the total return performance of the Fool 100 Index. The Fool 100 Fund’s investment objective has been adopted as a non-fundamental investment policy and may be changed without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

 

Investment Objective – Global Opportunities Fund

 

The Global Opportunities Fund investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Global Opportunities Fund’s investment objective is a fundamental investment policy and may not be changed without shareholder approval.

 

Investment Objective – Mid-Cap Growth Fund

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment objective is a fundamental investment policy and may not be changed without shareholder approval.

 

Investment Objective – Small-Cap Growth Fund

 

The Small-Cap Growth Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Small-Cap Growth Fund’s investment objective has been adopted as a non-fundamental investment policy and may be changed without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

 

Investment Objective – Next Fund

 

The Next Fund seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the total return performance of the Next Index. The Next Fund’s investment objective is a non-fundamental investment policy and may be changed without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

 

Investment Objective – Capital Efficiency Fund

 

The Capital Efficiency Fund seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the total return performance of the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. The Capital Efficiency Fund’s investment objective is a non-fundamental investment policy and may be changed without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

 

Additional Investment Strategies – Fool 100 Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund

 

The Fool 100 Fund, Next Fund, and Capital Efficiency Fund, using an “indexing” investment approach, each seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Fool 100 Index, Next Index, and the Capital Efficiency 100 Index (each, an “Index”), respectively. A number of factors may affect a Fund’s ability to achieve a high correlation with its Index, including a Fund’s expenses, differences between the securities held in a Fund’s portfolio and those included in its respective Index, the timing or magnitude of changes to the composition of its Index, regulatory policies, and high portfolio turnover rate. There can be no guarantee that a Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation with its Index.

 

The Adviser may sell securities that are represented in an Index or purchase securities not yet represented in an Index if the Adviser believes such securities are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in that Fund’s Index. The Adviser may utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques in seeking to track an Index.

 

As a result of its investments, a Fund’s distributions for any taxable year may exceed its earnings and profits, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For a given taxable year, fund distributions, if any, that exceed earnings and profits may be treated as a return of capital to shareholders.

 

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Additional Principal Investment Strategies – Global Opportunities Fund

 

The Global Opportunities Fund pursues its investment objective by investing in a focused portfolio of the common stocks of high-quality U.S. companies and of high-quality companies that are organized in other countries around the world. It employs a quality growth based investment strategy and seeks long-term performance by acquiring securities of high quality companies at prices that the Adviser believes to be attractive.

 

The portion of the Global Opportunities Fund’s assets allocated to investments in the United States and other countries will vary based on the Adviser’s judgment of the relative attractiveness of available investment opportunities in different markets. The Global Opportunities Fund invests in issuers of all capitalization sizes, engaged in a broad range of industries. However, it is expected that investments in the securities of U.S. small-cap companies and foreign companies will be important components of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment program. The Global Opportunities Fund currently considers small and middle market companies to be companies with market capitalizations of less than $10 billion. In managing the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment portfolio, the Adviser regularly reviews and adjusts the Global Opportunities Fund’s allocations to particular markets and sectors to maintain a diversified mix of investments that the Adviser believes offer the best overall potential for long-term growth of capital. While investing in a particular sector is not a principal investment strategy of the Global Opportunities Fund, its portfolio may be significantly invested in a sector as a result of the portfolio management decisions made pursuant to its principal investment strategy. The Global Opportunities Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, in at least three different countries, and will invest at least 40% of its assets outside of the United States, or, if the conditions are not favorable, will invest at least 30% of its assets outside the United States.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund seeks long-term investment returns that exceed the return of the FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index. This index is a market-capitalization weighted index representing the performance of large, mid and small cap companies in Developed and Emerging markets. The index is comprised of approximately 9,500 securities from 49 countries and captures 98% of the world’s investable market capitalization. The performance of the FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index reflects reinvestment of all distributions and changes in market prices. The FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index and its constituent country indices are rebalanced on a semi-annual basis.

 

The FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index is widely recognized by investors in international markets as a benchmark for portfolios of Global securities. However, the Global Opportunities Fund may invest in countries that are not included within the FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index (such as emerging market countries), and its investment portfolio is not weighted in terms of countries or issuers in correlation with the FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index. For this reason, the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment performance should not be expected to track, and may exceed or trail, the FTSE

 

Global All Cap Net Tax Index. In addition, the performance of the FTSE Global All Cap Net Tax Index may not correlate with the performance of U.S. markets. Under normal market circumstances, the Global Opportunities Fund seeks to stay fully invested, primarily in common stocks, and does not attempt to time the market.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund’s investment portfolio is focused, generally composed of at least 30 investment positions, with the 10 largest positions representing not more than 60% of the Global Opportunities Fund’s net assets. Although investments in small-cap companies and foreign companies are a focus of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investment program, there are no pre-set targets for investing in companies of any particular capitalization size or in any particular country, region, or industry. The Global Opportunities Fund’s investments in companies of various sizes and in particular industries, market segments, and instruments will vary over time based on the Adviser’s assessment of their overall potential to produce long-term capital appreciation. To limit the risks associated with highly concentrated holdings, the Global Opportunities Fund does not invest more than 5% of its net assets in any one class of securities of any one issuer at the time of purchase. The Global Opportunities Fund will sell securities in which it has invested based upon the Adviser’s analysis of fundamental investment criteria, including its assessment of the current value of a security relative to the security’s current market price, business fundamentals relating to the issuer, and developments affecting the issuer’s business prospects and risks.

 

The Global Opportunities Fund may invest in common stocks of foreign companies either directly or by purchasing ADRs, EDRs, GDRs, and NVDRs. ADRs are U.S. dollar-denominated instruments that trade on U.S. exchanges or in the over-the-counter market and are issued by domestic banks. These instruments represent indirect ownership interests in securities of foreign issuers deposited in a domestic bank or a correspondent bank. EDRs represent interests in securities

 

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of foreign issuers that access the Euromarkets. GDRs are receipts representing interests in securities of foreign issuers that trade in two or more capital markets. NVDRs also represent financial interests in an issuer but the holder is not entitled to any voting rights.

 

Additional Principal Investment Strategies – Mid-Cap Growth Fund

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund pursues its investment objective by investing in a focused portfolio of the common stocks of high-quality companies domiciled in the United States that are engaged in a broad range of industries. It employs a quality growth investment strategy and seeks long-term performance by acquiring securities of high-quality companies at prices that the Adviser believes to be attractive.

 

Under normal market conditions, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by United States companies having mid-market capitalizations. For this purpose, the Adviser currently defines mid-market capitalization companies as having similar market capitalizations to the companies in the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index, which is used for the purpose of determining range and not for target portfolio management.

 

Under normal circumstances, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund seeks to stay fully invested and does not attempt to time the market. In managing the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio, the Adviser regularly reviews and adjusts the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s allocations to maintain a diversified mix of investments that the Adviser believes offer the best overall potential for long-term growth of capital. While investing in a particular sector is not a principal investment strategy of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, its portfolio may be significantly invested in a sector as a result of the portfolio management decisions made pursuant to its principal investment strategy. There are no pre-set targets for investing in companies of any particular sector or industry. The Mid-Cap Growth Fund will sell securities in which it has invested based upon the Adviser’s analysis of fundamental investment criteria, including its assessment of the current value of a security relative to the security’s current market price, business fundamentals relating to the issuer, and developments affecting the issuer’s business prospects and risks.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund seeks long-term investment returns that exceed the return of the Russell Midcap® Total Return Growth Index. This index is an unmanaged, free float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the performance of the mid-cap growth segment of the U.S. stock market. The performance of the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index reflects reinvestment of all distributions and changes in market prices. The Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis.

 

The Russell Midcap® Total Return Growth Index is widely recognized by investors as a benchmark for portfolios of mid-capitalization securities domiciled in the United States. However, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio is not weighted in terms of market capitalization, sectors, industries or issuers in correlation with the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index. For this reason, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment performance should not be expected to track, and may exceed or trail, the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index. In addition, the performance of the Russell Midcap® Growth Total Return Index may not correlate with the performance of the broader U.S. indexes.

 

The Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s investment portfolio is generally composed of at least 30 investment positions, with the 10 largest positions representing not more than 60% of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s net assets. To limit the risks associated with highly concentrated holdings, the Mid-Cap Growth Fund generally does not invest more than 5% of its net assets in any one class of securities of any one issuer at the time of purchase.

 

Additional Investment Strategies – Small-Cap Growth Fund

 

Under normal market conditions, the Small-Cap Growth Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by small capitalization companies (the “80% Policy”). For this purpose, the Adviser currently defines small capitalization companies as being within the range of market capitalizations as the companies in the Russell 2000 Growth Total Return Index.

 

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Additional Principal Risk Information

 

The value of a Fund’s investments may decrease, which will cause the value of the Fund’s Shares to decrease. As a result, you may lose money on your investment in a Fund, and there can be no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. An investment in a Fund is subject to one or more of the principal risks identified in the following table. The principal risks identified are discussed in more detail in the disclosure that immediately follows the table.

 

 

Fool 100
Fund

Global
Opportunities
Fund

Mid-Cap
Growth
Fund

Small-Cap
Growth
Fund

Next
Fund

Capital
Efficiency
Fund

Active Management Risk

 

   

Company and Market Risk

Currency Risk

 

       

Cyber Security Risk

Depositary Receipts Risk

 

       

Emerging Market Countries Risk

 

       

Equity Markets Risk

ETF Risk

Foreign Investments Risk

 

       

Index Rankings and Methodology Risk

     

Investment Style Risk

 

   

Large-Capitalization Investing Risk

       

New Fund Risk

       

Non-Diversification Risk

   

Passive Investment Risk

     

Portfolio Turnover Risk

     

Sector Risk

Securities Lending Risk

Small-Capitalization Investing Risk

 

 

Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk

 

 

Tracking Error Risk

     

 

Active Management Risk. The Adviser actively manages the Funds’ investments. Consequently, a Fund is subject to the risk that the investment techniques and risk analyses employed by the Adviser may not produce the desired results. This could cause a Fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives. Additionally, legislative, regulatory or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to the Adviser in connection with managing a Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment goal.

 

Company and Market Risk. The common stock of a company may not perform as well as expected, and may decrease in value, because of factors related to the company. Among these factors are adverse developments regarding the company’s business or management decisions, changes in the industry in which the company is engaged, and a reduction in the demand for a company’s products or services. In this regard, there is a risk that the judgments of the Adviser about the value and appreciation potential of particular securities will be incorrect. In addition, if a company becomes insolvent, owners of the company’s common stock will have the lowest priority among owners of that company’s different classes of securities as to the distribution of the company’s assets.

 

General market and economic factors may adversely affect securities markets generally, which could adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments in common stocks. In addition, the rights of holders of common stock are subordinate to the rights of preferred shares and debt holders.

 

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A Fund’s NAV and investment return will fluctuate based upon changes in the value of its investments. There is no assurance that a Fund will realize its investment objective, and an investment in a Fund is not, by itself, a complete or balanced investment program. You could lose money on your investment in a Fund, or a Fund could underperform other investments.

 

Periods of unusually high financial market volatility and restrictive credit conditions, at times limited to a particular sector or geographic area, have occurred in the past and may be expected to recur in the future. Some countries, including the United States, have adopted or have signaled protectionist trade measures, relaxation of the financial industry regulations that followed the financial crisis, and/or reductions to corporate taxes. The scope of these policy changes is still developing, but the equity and debt markets may react strongly to expectations of change, which could increase volatility, particularly if a resulting policy runs counter to the market’s expectations. The outcome of such changes cannot be foreseen at the present time. In addition, geopolitical and other risks, including events such as war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, social unrest, natural disasters, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, the spread of infections illness or other public health threats, may add to instability in the world economy and markets generally. As a result of increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets, the value and liquidity of a Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by events impacting a country or region, regardless of whether the Fund invests in issuers located in or with significant exposure to such country or region.

 

The outbreak of COVID-19 and efforts to contain its spread have resulted in international and domestic travel restrictions and disruptions, closed international borders, enhanced health screenings at ports of entry and elsewhere, disruption of and delays in healthcare service preparation and delivery, quarantines, event and service cancellations or interruptions, disruptions to business operations (including staff reductions), supply chains and consumer activity, as well as general concern and uncertainty that has negatively affected the economic environment. These disruptions have led to instability in the marketplace, including stock and credit market losses and overall volatility. The impact of COVID-19, and other infectious illness outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics that may arise in the future, could adversely affect the economies of many nations or the entire global economy, the financial performance of individual issuers, borrowers and sectors and the health of the markets generally in potentially significant and unforeseen ways. Health crises caused by the recent outbreak may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in a country or region. In the event of a pandemic or an outbreak, there can be no assurance that the Funds and their service providers will be able to maintain normal business operations for an extended period of time or will not lose the services of key personnel on a temporary or long-term basis due to illness or other reasons. Although vaccines for COVID-19 are widely available, the full impacts of a pandemic or disease outbreaks are unknown and the pace of recovery may vary from market to market, resulting in a high degree of uncertainty for potentially extended periods of time.

 

Currency Risk. Currency risk results from changes in the rate of exchange between the currency of the country in which a foreign company is domiciled or keeps its books and the U.S. dollar. Whenever the Global Opportunities Fund holds securities valued in a foreign currency or holds the currency itself in connection with its purchases and sales of foreign securities, changes in the exchange rate add to or subtract from the value of the investment in U.S. dollars. The Global Opportunities Fund generally does not seek to hedge currency risk, and although the Adviser considers currency risks as part of its investment process, its judgments in this regard may not always be correct.

 

Cyber Security Risk. With the increased use of technologies such as the internet to conduct business, each Fund is susceptible to operational, information security and related risks. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber-attacks include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (e.g., through “hacking” or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyber-attacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Cyber security failures or breaches by the Adviser and other service providers (including, but not limited to, the Funds’ accountant, custodian, transfer agent and administrator), and the issuers of securities in which the Funds invest, have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses, interference with a Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, impediments to trading, the inability of Fund shareholders to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or

 

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additional compliance costs. In addition, substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. While the Adviser has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber-attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified. Furthermore, a Fund cannot control the cyber security plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund and issuers in which the Fund invests. A Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

 

Depositary Receipts Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund may purchase depositary receipts, including ADRs, EDRs, GDRs, and NVDRs to facilitate its investments in foreign securities. By investing in ADRs rather than investing directly in the securities of foreign issuers, the Global Opportunities Fund can avoid currency risks during the settlement period for purchase and sales.

 

However, ADRs do not eliminate all the risks inherent in investing in the securities of foreign issuers. However, ADRs do not eliminate all the risk inherent in investing in the securities of foreign issuers. The information available for ADRs, EDRs, GDRs, and NVDRs is subject to the accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards of the market or exchange on which they are traded, and those standards may be more uniform and more exacting than those to which many foreign issuers may be subject.

 

Depositary receipts may be issued in a sponsored program, in which an issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of depositary receipts, or in an unsponsored program, in which the issuer may not be directly involved. The holders of depositary receipts that are unsponsored generally bear various costs associated with the facilities, while a larger portion of the costs associated with sponsored depositary receipts are typically borne by the foreign issuers.

 

The depositary of an unsponsored facility frequently is under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications received from the issuer of the deposited securities or to pass through the voting rights to facility holders with respect to the deposited securities. Available information concerning the issuers may not be as current for unsponsored depositary receipts and the prices of unsponsored depositary receipts may be more volatile than would be the case if the receipts were sponsored by the issuers.

 

Emerging Market Countries Risk. Investing in emerging market countries involves risks in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in more developed foreign markets. In many less developed markets, there is less governmental supervision and regulation of business and industry practices, stock exchanges, brokers, and listed companies than there is in more developed markets. The securities markets of certain countries in which the Global Opportunities Fund may invest may also be smaller, less liquid, and subject to greater price volatility than those of more developed markets. In the event of a default on an investment in a foreign debt obligation, it may be more difficult for the Global Opportunities Fund to obtain or to enforce a judgment against the issuer of that security. The Global Opportunities Fund may also be subject to emerging markets risk to the extent that it invests in companies that are not domiciled in an emerging market but have customers, products, or transactions associated with emerging markets. The Global Opportunities Fund seeks to invest no more than 50% of its net assets in emerging market countries.

 

In addition, emerging markets countries may have more or less government regulation and generally do not impose as extensive and frequent accounting, auditing, financial and other reporting requirements as the securities markets of more developed countries. As a result, there could be less information available about issuers in emerging and frontier market countries, which could negatively affect the Adviser’s ability to evaluate local companies or their potential impact on the Fund’s performance. Further, investments in securities of issuers located in certain emerging countries involve the risk of loss resulting from problems in share registration, settlement or custody, substantial economic, political and social disruptions and the imposition of exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions). The legal remedies for investors in emerging and frontier markets may be more limited than the remedies available in the U.S., and the ability of U.S. authorities (e.g., SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice) to bring actions against bad actors may be limited.

 

Equity Markets Risk. The price of equity securities may rise or fall because of changes in the broad market or changes in a company’s financial condition, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, sectors or industries selected for a Fund or the securities market as a whole, such as changes in economic or political conditions. Equity securities are subject to “stock market risk” meaning that

 

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stock prices in general (or in particular, the types of securities in which a Fund invests) may decline over short or extended periods of time. When the value of a Fund’s securities goes down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk that other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change. These investor perceptions are based on various and unpredictable factors including: expectations regarding government, economic, monetary and fiscal policies; inflation and interest rates; economic expansion or contraction; and global or regional political, economic, and banking crises.

 

ETF Risk. Each Fund is an ETF, and, as a result of an ETF’s structure, each Fund is exposed to the following risks:

 

 

Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. Only an AP may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. A Fund may have a limited number of financial institutions that may act as APs. In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions. These events, among others, may lead to a Fund’s Shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than the NAV when you buy Shares of a Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those Shares in the secondary market. A diminished market for an ETF’s shares substantially increases the risk that a shareholder may pay considerably more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. In periods of market volatility, APs, market makers and/or liquidity providers may be less willing to transact in Fund Shares.

 

 

Secondary Market Trading Risk. Although each Fund’s Shares are listed for trading on the Exchange and may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for Shares will develop or be maintained. Trading in a Fund’s Shares may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons that, in the view of the Exchange, make trading in Shares inadvisable. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange is subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to Exchange “circuit breaker” rules, which temporarily halt trading on the Exchange. Additional rules applicable to the Exchange may halt trading in Shares when extraordinary volatility causes sudden, significant swings in the market price of Shares. There can be no assurance that Shares will trade with any volume, or at all, on any stock exchange. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of a Fund’s Shares may begin to mirror the liquidity of the Fund’s underlying holdings, which can be significantly less liquid than the Fund’s Shares. In addition, during periods of market stress, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount). This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines.

 

 

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV Risk. As with all ETFs, Shares of each Fund may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate a Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility or periods of steep market declines. The market price of Shares during the trading day, like the price of any exchange-traded security, includes a “bid/ask” spread charged by the exchange specialist, market makers or other participants that trade Shares. In times of severe market disruption, the bid/ask spread can increase significantly. At those times, Shares are most likely to be traded at a discount to NAV, and the discount is likely to be greatest when the price of Shares is falling fastest, which may be the time that you most want to sell your Shares. The Adviser believes that, under normal market conditions, large market price discounts or premiums to NAV will not be sustained because of arbitrage opportunities.

 

Foreign Investments Risk. The Global Opportunities Fund invests in the securities of foreign companies. including companies located in both developed and emerging market countries. A significant portion of the Global Opportunities Fund’s investments in foreign companies may be made through the purchase of depositary receipts

 

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that represent indirect interests in the securities of foreign companies. Investing in securities of foreign companies involves risks generally not associated with investments in the securities of U.S. companies. These risks may relate to those associated with fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, more or less foreign government regulation; less public information; less stringent investor protections; less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards; and less economic, political and social stability in the countries in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests. Securities of foreign issuers generally trade and thus may be purchased and sold by the Global Opportunities Fund in foreign markets. The principal risks generally associated with foreign investing include the following: Country risk arises from political, social, economic, and other conditions that are unique to a particular country or region. These conditions may relate to the existence of less publicly available information, inferior regulatory oversight (for example, less demanding accounting, auditing, corporate governance, investor relations, and financial reporting standards), the possibility of government-imposed restrictions, and even the nationalization of assets. The liquidity of foreign investments may be more limited than for comparable U.S. investments. Therefore, at times, it may be difficult to sell foreign securities at favorable prices. Foreign securities in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests may be traded in markets that close before the time that the Global Opportunities Fund calculates its NAV. Furthermore, certain foreign securities in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests may be listed on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other days when the Global Opportunities Fund does not calculate its NAV. As a result, the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s holdings may change on days when shareholders are not able to purchase or redeem the Global Opportunities Fund’s shares.

 

Index Rankings and Methodology Risk. The Fool 100 Index is comprised of the 100 largest U.S. companies that are either active recommendations of a Motley Fool newsletter or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database, and are weighted based on their market value relative to the total market value of other companies in the Fool 100 Index. The Next Index is comprised of small- and mid-capitalization U.S. companies that are either active recommendations of TMF’s newsletter or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database subject to liquidity and index continuity rules, and are weighted based on their market value relative to the total market value of other companies in the Next Index. The Capital Efficiency 100 Index is comprised of the highest scoring liquid stocks of U.S. companies, measured by a company’s capital efficiency, that are either active recommendations of TMF’s newsletter or are among the 150 highest rated U.S. companies in TMF’s analyst opinion database subject to index continuity rules, and are weighted based on their market value relative to the total market value of other companies in the Capital Efficiency 100 Index. Factors used by TMF’s analysts in their qualitative and quantitative analysis of companies included in an Index, and the weight placed on those factors, may not be predictive of a security’s value and, thus, have an adverse effect on a Fund. In addition, changes in TMF’s recommendations or rankings methodologies may have an adverse effect on a Fund. Factors that affect a security’s value can change over time, and these changes may not be reflected in an Index’s methodology. In addition, the following risks result from TMF’s business operations:

 

 

There are no assurances that TMF will continue to provide stock recommendations to the degree currently provided by it, or that it will continue to provide newsletter and/or other services at all. The Motley Fool may decrease the number of equity analysts that it employs, or the number of covered companies and/or industries.

 

 

Analysts may leave TMF or cease providing recommendations, in which case any securities covered by that analyst may no longer be included in the universe of stocks covered by TMF. In such case, those securities may be removed from an Index during the next rebalance of the Index, despite the fact that expectations regarding such security’s performance may be unchanged. Similarly, changes in analysts could result in changes to the composition of an Index and, thus, could result in increased portfolio turnover for a Fund.

 

 

TMF’s members who subscribe to its recommendation services and others who have access to that information will have advance knowledge of information that will be reflected in an Index. While TMF’s recommendations can change on any given day, an Index will only be rebalanced quarterly.

 

In addition to the risks inherent in TMF’s operations and the compilation of an Index, the methodology and the calculation of an Index could be subject to errors. If the composition of an Index reflects such errors, a Fund’s portfolio can be expected to reflect the errors, too.

 

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Investment Style Risk. Each Fund pursues a quality growth style of investing. Quality growth style investing focuses on companies that appear attractively priced in light of factors such as the quality of management, sustainability of competitive advantage, or growth potential of cash flow. If the Adviser’s assessment of a company’s quality or intrinsic value or its prospects for exceeding earnings expectations or market conditions is inaccurate, a Fund could suffer losses or produce poor performance relative to other funds. In addition, the stocks of quality companies can continue to be undervalued by the market for long periods of time. As a consequence of its investing style a Fund may underperform the market and its peers over short timeframes.

 

Large-Capitalization Investing Risk. Each Fund may invest in the securities of large-capitalization companies. As a result, the Funds performance may be adversely affected if securities of large-capitalization companies underperform securities of smaller-capitalization companies or the market as a whole. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature compared to smaller companies and therefore subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion.

 

Mid-Capitalization Investing Risk. The value of securities of mid-cap companies may be more volatile than the value of securities of companies with larger capitalizations and also tend to be more adversely affected by issuer-specific events and political, market and economic developments than the securities of larger companies. Mid capitalization companies often have narrower commercial markets and more limited operating histories, product lines, and managerial and financial resources than larger, more established companies. As a result, performance can be more volatile and they face greater risk of business failure, which could increase the volatility of a Fund’s portfolio. Additionally, mid-capitalization companies may have less market liquidity than larger capitalization companies, and they can be sensitive to changes in interest rates, borrowing costs and earnings.

 

New Fund Risk. Each of the Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund is a recently organized, non-diversified management investment company and has a limited operating history. There is a risk that the Fund will not grow or maintain an economically viable size, in which case the Board may determine to liquidate the Fund. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time. This impact may be positive or negative, depending on the direction of market movement during the period affected. If the Fund fails to attract a large amount of assets, shareholders of the Fund may incur higher expenses as the Fund’s fixed costs would be allocated over a smaller number of shareholders.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. Each of the Fool 100 Fund, Small-Cap Growth Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund is non-diversified, which means that they may invest a high percentage of their assets in a limited number of securities. Since the Funds are non-diversified, their NAV, market price and total returns may fluctuate or fall more than a diversified fund. Gains or losses on a single stock may have a greater impact on the Funds.

 

Passive Investment Risk. Each of the Fool 100 Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser will not sell shares of an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry, or sector, unless that security is removed from a Fund’s Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a reconstitution of a Fund’s Index as addressed in a Fund’s Index methodology. Each Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of securities included in, its Index, regardless of investment merit. The Funds do not take defensive positions under any market conditions, including conditions that are adverse to the performance of the Funds.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. A Fund may trade all or a significant portion of the securities in its portfolio in connection with each rebalance and reconstitution of its Index. A high portfolio turnover rate increases transaction costs, which may increase a Fund’s expenses. Frequent trading may also cause adverse tax consequences for investors in a Fund due to an increase in short-term capital gains.

 

Sector Risk. To the extent a Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors. The Funds may concentrate their portfolio investments in the following sectors, among others:

 

 

Communication Services Sector Risk (only a principal risk of the Fool 100 Fund, Global Opportunities Fund, Small-Cap Growth Fund, and Capital Efficiency Fund). The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line,

 

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cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites and Internet search engines. The communication services sector of a country’s economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Communication services companies are particularly vulnerable to the potential obsolescence of products and services due to technological advancement and the innovation of competitors. While all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

 

 

Consumer Discretionary Sector Risk. The consumer discretionary sector (which includes companies in industries such as consumer and household durables, consumer services, media, retailing, and automobiles) can be significantly affected by the performance of the overall economy, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence and spending, and changes in demographics and consumer tastes. Success depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Competition in this sector is exacerbated by the shift toward online shopping, which may affect a company’s margins and its stock price. Faster-than-expected interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and rising oil prices could dampen the ability of consumers to spend on discretionary items, which may adversely affect companies in this sector. There are also indications that consumers, especially millennials, have different spending habits and some companies in this sector might have difficulty adjusting to these, and other, consumer trends.

 

 

Financial Sector Risk (only a principal risk of the Global Opportunities Fund, Mid-Cap Growth Fund, and Small-Cap Growth Fund). Financial services companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which may limit both the amounts and types of loans and other financial commitments they can make, and the interest rates and fees they can charge. The profitability of financial services companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds, and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change or as a result of increased competition. During a general market downturn, numerous financial services companies may experience substantial declines in the valuations of their assets, take action to raise capital (such as the issuance of debt or equity securities), or even cease operations. These actions may cause the securities of a financial services company to experience dramatic declines in value. Credit losses resulting from financial difficulties of borrowers and financial losses associated with investment activities can negatively impact the sector.

 

 

Health Care Sector Risk (only a principal risk of the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Small-Cap Growth Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund). Companies in the health care sector are subject to extensive government regulation and their profitability can be significantly affected by restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure (including price discounting), limited product lines and an increased emphasis on the delivery of healthcare through outpatient services. Companies in the health care sector are heavily dependent on obtaining and defending patents, which may be time consuming and costly, and the expiration of patents may also adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Health care companies are also subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. In addition, their products can become obsolete due to industry innovation, changes in technologies or other market developments. Many new products in the health care sector require significant research and development and may be subject to regulatory approvals, all of which may be time consuming and costly with no guarantee that any product will come to market.

 

 

Industrials Sector Risk (only a principal risk of the Fool 100 Fund, Global Opportunities Fund, Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Small-Cap Growth Fund, and Next Fund). The industrials sector includes companies engaged in the manufacture and distribution of capital goods, such as those used in defense, construction and engineering, companies that manufacture and distribute electrical equipment and industrial machinery and those that provide commercial and transportation services and supplies. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely

 

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affected by changes in government regulation, world events and economic conditions. In addition, companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by environmental damages, product liability claims, labor disputes and exchange rates.

 

 

Information Technology Sector Risk. Market or economic factors impacting information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technological advances could have a significant effect on the value of the Fund’s investments. The value of stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability. Additionally, companies in the technology sector may face dramatic and often unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel.

 

Securities Lending Risk. Each Fund may seek to increase its income by lending portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker-dealers. Portfolio securities loans are secured continuously by collateral maintained on a current basis at an amount at least equal to the market value of the securities loaned. The value of the securities loaned by a Fund will not exceed 33 1/3% of the value of the Fund’s total assets. A Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund. Lending a Fund’s portfolio securities involves the risk of delay in receiving additional collateral if the value of the securities goes up while they are on loan. A Fund may lose money from securities lending if, for example, it is delayed in or prevented from selling the collateral or from recovering the securities loaned or if it incurs losses on the reinvestment of cash collateral.

 

Small-Capitalization Investing Risk. Each of the Global Opportunities Fund, Small-Cap Growth Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund invests in securities of small-capitalization companies. The securities of small-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than securities of larger-capitalization companies. The securities of small-capitalization companies generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than larger capitalization stocks or the stock market as a whole. Some small capitalization companies have limited product lines, markets, and financial and managerial resources and tend to concentrate on fewer geographical markets relative to larger capitalization companies. There is typically less publicly available information concerning smaller-capitalization companies than for larger, more established companies. Small-capitalization companies also may be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, government regulation, borrowing costs and earnings.

 

Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of each of the Fool 100 Fund, Next Fund and Capital Efficiency Fund and its respective Index may differ from each other for a variety of reasons. For example, each Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by its respective Index. In addition, the Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.

 

Additional Information About Non-Principal Risks of the Funds. This section provides additional information regarding certain non-principal risks of investing in the Funds. The risk listed below could have a negative impact on a Fund’s performance and trading prices.

 

 

Activities of Affiliates of the Adviser Risk. Companies affiliated with the Adviser, including The Motley Fool, LLC, publish information, opinions, and recommendations regarding the purchase and sale of securities, possibly including securities that are held by or being considered for purchase or sale by the Funds. These opinions and recommendations may be consistent with, or opposed to, the views of the Adviser and may adversely affect the prices of securities held by the Funds or the prices at which the Funds can purchase or sell a security. The Funds, the Adviser, and the Adviser’s publishing affiliates have adopted procedures designed to prevent personnel of the publishing affiliates from obtaining or using nonpublic information about each Fund’s holdings or the Adviser’s strategy or actual or potential portfolios. These procedures are also designed to prevent the Adviser and its personnel from using pre-publication information obtained from the publishing affiliates and to assure that investment decisions for the Funds are consistent with what the Adviser believes to be in the Funds’ best interest. Additionally, the members of the Adviser’s Investment Committee provide advisory services on behalf of another

 

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affiliate, Motley Fool Wealth Management, LLC (“MFWM”), particularly for MFWM’s separately managed accounts. The advice given on behalf of MFWM, consistently with the mandates of its various strategies, may also be consistent with or opposed to the views of the Adviser in relation to the Funds and may adversely affect the prices of securities held by the Funds or the prices at which they can purchase or sell a security. MFWM and the Adviser have adopted procedures to assure that neither MFWM nor the Adviser (or their respective clients) can benefit from any informational or trading advantage over the other. A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of information regarding their portfolio securities and the procedures designed to minimize conflicts between the Funds, the Adviser, MFWM, and the Adviser’s publishing affiliates is contained in the statement of additional information (“SAI”).

 

 

Closed-End Funds Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may invest in publicly traded shares of closed-end investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”) and business development companies to indirectly access particular types of investments (such as private equity investments), markets, or industry sectors in which it would otherwise be difficult or costly for the Global Opportunities Fund to invest. Shares of these companies may trade at a discount from or premium to their net asset values per share, which change from time to time and may be significant. Closed-end investment companies and business development companies incur various expenses, including investment advisory fees (which, in the case of a business development company, may be performance-based compensation). The Global Opportunities Fund will bear these expenses when it invests in such companies, which are in addition to the fees and expenses of the Global Opportunities Fund.

 

 

Convertible Securities Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may purchase convertible debt obligations and convertible preferred stock. The holders of these securities are entitled to exchange the securities for common stock (or other equity securities) of a company, typically at a fixed price within a specified period of time. Until conversion, the holder is entitled to interest (in the case of convertible debt) or dividends (in the case of preferred stock). These instruments have risks that are similar to debt securities because of their interest or dividend features and have risks that are similar to equity securities because of their conversion features.

 

 

Costs of Buying or Selling Shares Risk. Investors buying or selling Shares of each Fund in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers, as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of a Fund’s Shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price at which an investor is willing to buy Shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell Shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for Shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if Shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if Shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, a relatively small investor base in a Fund, asset swings in a Fund and/or increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads. Due to the costs of buying or selling Shares, including bid/ask spreads, frequent trading of Shares may significantly reduce investment results and an investment in Shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.

 

 

Debt Securities Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may invest in non-convertible debt securities on a temporary basis to earn income pending investment of its assets in common stocks and equity-related securities or to seek capital appreciation when the Adviser believes an issuer’s debt securities are undervalued based on its fundamental analysis. These securities include bonds and other debt obligations, including obligations issued by U.S. and foreign corporations, the U.S. government or foreign governments or their agencies, and municipal governments. The securities may pay fixed, variable, or floating rates of interest and may include zero-coupon obligations. The Global Opportunities Fund may invest in both investment grade debt securities and non-investment grade debt securities (known as high-yield bonds or junk bonds). Investment grade debt securities are those securities rated BBB or better by S&P Global Ratings or Baa or better by Moody’s Investors Service, or that are unrated and have been determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality to these rated securities. Except during periods of adverse market or economic conditions, when the Global Opportunities Fund may assume a defensive investment position, the Global Opportunities Fund will not invest more than 15% of its net assets in non-convertible debt securities.

 

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All debt securities are subject to certain risks. One risk is that the issuer may not be able to meet its principal or its interest-payment obligations. Another risk is that the value of debt securities generally declines as interest rates rise. The value of debt securities may also decline as a result of a change in market perception of the creditworthiness of the issuer and a change in general market liquidity. Any decline in the value of debt securities as a result of changes in credit quality or future interest rates will generally be greater for securities having longer maturities. Non-investment grade securities, especially high-yield bonds, which are speculative investments, are more sensitive to these risks, particularly credit risk. In addition, the markets for non-investment grade securities may be thinner and less active than are the markets for investment grade securities. The Global Opportunities Fund will not invest more than 10% of its net assets in non-investment grade debt securities and do not invest in debt securities that are in default as to payment of interest or principal.

 

 

ETF Investing Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may purchase shares of ETFs that are registered as investment companies under the 1940 Act and shares of similar investment vehicles that are not registered under the 1940 Act (together with the ETFs, “Traded Funds”) to gain exposure to the general market, individual countries or regions, or industry sectors. The Global Opportunities Fund may use these instruments to allocate their assets to markets or industry sectors the Adviser deems attractive while it pursues investment in the securities of companies in those markets or sectors.

 

Generally, the Traded Funds in which the Global Opportunities Fund invests hold portfolios of investments designed to track the performance of a particular index (or group of securities having specified characteristics) or of a “basket” of stocks from within a particular industry sector or group. Their shares are traded on securities exchanges. Traded Funds involve risks generally associated with investments in securities, including the risk that the general level of prices, or that the prices of securities within a particular sector, may increase or decline and thereby affect the value of the shares of the Traded Funds. To the extent that Traded Funds incur various expenses, including investment advisory fees, the Global Opportunities Fund, when investing in Traded Funds, will bear duplicative fees and expenses, which shareholders of the Global Opportunities Fund will bear indirectly. The Global Opportunities Fund does not invest in actively managed Traded Funds.

 

The market for an ETF’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the ETF’s underlying portfolio holdings, which could lead to differences between the market price of the ETF’s shares and the underlying value of those shares. An ETF’s market price may deviate from the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio holdings, particularly in times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the ETF shares bought or sold. An active trading market for shares of the ETF may not develop or be maintained. In times of market stress, market makers or authorized participants may step away from their respective roles in making a market in shares of the ETF and in executing purchase or redemption orders, which could also lead to variances between the market price of the ETF’s shares and the underlying value of those shares.

 

 

Forward Foreign Currency Contracts Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may (but are not required to) enter into forward foreign currency contracts to hedge its exposure to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates pending their purchase and sale of foreign securities. These contracts represent obligations to purchase or to sell a specified amount of currency at a future date and at a specified price agreed to by the parties at the time they enter into the contracts and allow the Global Opportunities Fund to “lock in” the U.S. dollar prices of securities. However, there may be an imperfect correlation between the securities being purchased or sold and the forward contracts entered into, and there is a risk that a counterparty will be unable or unwilling to fulfill its obligation under a forward contract.

 

 

Illiquid Investments Risk (only applies to Small-Cap Growth Fund). The Funds invest primarily in publicly traded securities and do not generally purchase securities that have legal or contractual restrictions on resale or that are illiquid. However, total return swaps entered into by the Fund may be illiquid. In addition, liquid securities purchased by the Fund may become illiquid because of issuer-specific events or changes in market conditions. Illiquid investments are subject to the risk that the Funds will not be able to sell the investments when desired or at favorable prices. The Fund will not purchase an illiquid investment if, as a result, more than 15% of the value of the Fund’s net assets would be so invested.

 

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Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) Risk (only applies to Small-Cap Growth Fund). While the Small-Cap Growth Fund has no limit on the amount of its assets that can be invested in IPOs, seeking investments in IPOs is not part of the Fund’s principal investment strategy. By definition, securities issued in IPOs have not traded publicly until the time of their offerings. Special risks associated with IPOs may include, among others, the fact that there may be only a limited number of shares available for trading. The market for those securities may be unseasoned. The issuer may have a limited operating history. These factors may contribute to price volatility. The limited number of shares available for trading in some IPOs may also make it more difficult for the Small-Cap Growth Fund to buy or sell significant amounts of shares without an unfavorable impact on prevailing prices. In addition, some companies initially offering their shares publicly are involved in relatively new industries or lines of business, which may not be widely understood by investors. Some of the companies involved in new industries may be regarded as developmental stage companies, without revenues or operating income, or the near-term prospects of them. Many IPOs are by small- or micro-cap companies that are undercapitalized.

 

 

Legal and Regulatory Change Risk. The regulatory environment for investment companies is evolving, and changes in regulation may adversely affect the value of a Fund’s investments and its ability to pursue its trading strategy. In addition, the securities markets are subject to comprehensive statutes and regulations. The SEC and other regulators and self-regulatory organizations and exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of market emergencies. The effect of any future regulatory change on a Fund could be substantial and adverse.

 

 

Preferred Stock Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may invest in preferred stocks. Like common stock, preferred stock represents equity ownership interests in a company and participates in a company’s earnings. However, unlike common stocks, preferred stocks are entitled to stated dividends. These dividends are sometimes “cumulative,” which means that if previous stated dividends have not been paid, the dividends payable on the preferred stock will have a priority over distributions to holders of common stock and a preference on the distribution of a company’s assets in the event of the company’s dissolution. Preferred stock may also be “participating,” which means that its holders are entitled to dividends in excess of stated dividends in certain cases. The Global Opportunities Fund does not require a minimum credit rating for its preferred stock. The Adviser considers a company’s liquidity and credit condition as well as the position of the security in the company’s capital structure in assessing preferred stock it considers for the Global Opportunities Fund. The risks of preferred stock are similar to the risks associated with common stock.

 

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund and Mid-Cap Growth Fund). The Funds may invest in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). REITs are pooled investment vehicles that manage a portfolio of real estate or real estate-related loans to earn profits for their shareholders. REITs are generally classified as equity REITs, mortgage REITs, or a combination of equity and mortgage REITs. Equity REITs invest the majority of their assets directly in real property, such as shopping centers, nursing homes, office buildings, apartment complexes, and hotels, and derive income primarily from the collection of rents. Equity REITs can also realize capital gains by selling properties that have appreciated in value. Mortgage REITs invest the majority of their assets in real estate mortgages and derive income from the collection of interest payments. REITs can be subject to extreme volatility because of fluctuations in the demand for real estate, changes in interest rates, and adverse economic conditions. Similar to regulated investment companies, REITs generally are not subject to federal income tax on income distributed to shareholders, provided they comply with certain requirements. The failure of a REIT to continue to qualify as a REIT for tax purposes can materially affect its value. A fund indirectly bears its proportionate share of any expenses paid by a REIT in which it invests. REITs often do not provide complete tax information until after the end of the calendar year. Consequently, because of the delay, it may be necessary for a fund investing in REITs to request permission to extend the deadline for issuance of Forms 1099-DIV beyond January 31. In the alternative, amended Forms 1099-DIV may be sent.

 

 

RIC Compliance Risk. Each Fund has elected to be, and intends to continue to qualify each year for treatment as, a RIC under Subchapter M of Subtitle A, Chapter 1, of the Code. To continue to qualify for federal income tax treatment as a RIC, each Fund must meet certain source-of-income, asset diversification and annual distribution requirements. If for any taxable year a Fund fails to qualify for the special federal income tax treatment afforded to RICs, all of that Fund’s taxable income will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates (without any deduction for distributions to its shareholders) and its income available for distribution will be reduced. Under certain circumstances, a Fund could cure a failure to qualify as a RIC, but in order to do so, the Fund could incur significant Fund-level taxes and could be forced to dispose of certain assets.

 

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Short-Term Investments Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund and Mid-Cap Growth Fund). During periods of adverse market or economic conditions, the Funds may temporarily invest all or a substantial portion of their assets in high quality, fixed-income securities, money market instruments, and shares of money market mutual funds, or it may hold cash. At such times, to preserve capital, the Funds would not be pursuing their stated investment objective with its usual investment strategies. The Funds may also hold these investments for liquidity purposes.

 

 

Total Return Swaps and Participatory Notes Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may enter into total return swaps and participatory notes to gain exposure to foreign securities markets or foreign securities that might otherwise be difficult or costly to access or purchase because of foreign regulatory restrictions or foreign tax laws. A total return swap is an individually negotiated agreement through which the Global Opportunities Fund can, in exchange for a specified fixed or floating payment, derive an investment return that is based on the investment performance of a specified index or basket of securities or that is based on changes in the price of a specific foreign security. A participatory note is a financial instrument used by foreign investors to invest in a particular country’s securities. Securities brokerages in the country buy the securities, then issue to foreign investors participatory notes that derive their value from the underlying securities. Any dividends or capital gains collected from the underlying securities are passed through to the foreign investors. Use of these instruments involves various risks. These include the risks that the Global Opportunities Fund may not be able to terminate or offset their positions at the time they wish to do so or at a favorable price and that, as a result of the failure of a counterparty or legal or operational issues, the Global Opportunities Fund may not receive payments required to be made to them under the terms of a swap or participatory note. Total return swaps also may involve leverage and the related risk of loss. When the Global Opportunities Fund enter into a total return swap transaction, a segregated account consisting of cash, U.S. government securities, or liquid securities equal to the value of the swap transaction is established and maintained. The Global Opportunities Fund will not enter into a total return swap or participatory note if, as a result, the value of its positions in illiquid investments would exceed 15% of the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s net assets, respectively.

 

 

Warrants and Rights Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund and Mid-Cap Growth Fund). Rights are similar to warrants but normally have a short duration and are distributed directly by the issuer to its shareholders. Warrants and rights are not dividend-paying investments and do not have the voting rights of common stock. They also do not represent any rights in the assets of the issuer. As a result, warrants and rights may be considered more speculative than direct equity investments. In addition, the values of warrants and rights do not necessarily change with the values of the underlying securities, and these instruments may cease to have value if not exercised before their expiration dates. The use of warrants and rights can increase the volatility of the Funds’ portfolio. If a Fund invests in these instruments at unfortunate times or judges market conditions incorrectly, it may incur substantial losses. Changes in the liquidity of the secondary markets in which these instruments trade can result in significant, rapid, and unpredictable changes in their prices, and these conditions could also cause losses to the Funds.

 

 

When-Issued, Delayed-Delivery, and Forward-Commitment Transactions Risk (only applies to Global Opportunities Fund). The Global Opportunities Fund may purchase securities on a “when-issued” basis and may purchase or sell securities on a “delayed-delivery” or “forward-commitment” basis to hedge against anticipated changes in interest rates or securities prices. These transactions involve a commitment by the Global Opportunities Fund to purchase or sell securities at a future date (ordinarily one or two months later). The price of the underlying securities, which is generally expressed in terms of yield, is fixed at the time the commitment is made, but delivery and payment for the securities takes place at a later date. No income accrues on securities that have been purchased pursuant to a when-issued, delayed-delivery, or forward-commitment basis before delivery to the Global Opportunities Fund. When-issued, delayed-delivery, and forward-commitment securities may be sold before the settlement date. If the Global Opportunities Fund dispose of the right to acquire a when-issued security before their acquisition or dispose of their right to deliver or receive against a delayed delivery or forward commitment, they may incur a gain or loss. When the Global Opportunities Fund enter into such a transaction, a segregated account consisting of cash, U.S. government securities, or liquid securities equal to the value of the when-issued, delayed-delivery, or forward-commitment transaction is established and maintained. Purchasing securities on a forward-commitment, when-issued, or delayed-delivery basis when the Global

 

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Opportunities Fund is fully or almost fully invested may result in greater potential fluctuation in the value of the Global Opportunities Fund’s net assets. There is a risk that securities purchased on a when-issued or delayed-delivery basis may not be delivered and that the purchaser of securities sold by the Global Opportunities Fund on a forward basis will not honor its purchase obligation. In these cases, the Global Opportunities Fund may incur a loss.

 

Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

 

Each Fund’s entire portfolio holdings are publicly disseminated each day the Fund is open for business through the Funds’ website located at www.fooletfs.com and may be made available through financial reporting and news services or any other medium, including publicly available internet web sites. Additional information regarding the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Funds’ portfolio securities is available in the Funds’ SAI.

 

Management of the Funds

 

The Board of The RBB Fund, Inc. (the “Company”), of which each Fund is a series, is responsible for supervising the operations and affairs of the Funds. The Adviser is responsible for the daily management and administration of each Fund’s operations.

 

Investment Adviser

 

The Adviser is a wholly owned subsidiary of Motley Fool Investment Management, LLC, a subsidiary of The Motley Fool Holdings Inc. (“TMF Holdings”), a multimedia financial-services holding company that also owns The Motley Fool, LLC (“TMF”), which publishes investment information and analysis across a wide range of media, including investment-newsletter services, websites, and books. TMF Holdings is controlled by David Gardner and Tom Gardner. The Adviser is located at 2000 Duke Street, Suite 275, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.

 

The Adviser is a separate legal entity and all discretionary asset management services for the Funds are made independently by portfolio managers at the Adviser. Neither Messrs. David Gardner or Tom Gardner, nor any TMF analyst is involved in the investment decision-making or daily operations of the Adviser. With respect to its actively-managed Funds, the Adviser does not attempt to track any TMF services and, as such, actively-managed Funds may diverge completely from TMF’s services.

 

Subject to the overall supervision of the Board, the Adviser manages the overall investment operations of the Funds in accordance with each Fund’s investment objective and policies and formulates a continuing investment strategy for each Fund pursuant to the terms of investment advisory agreements between the Company and the Adviser (each, an “Advisory Agreement” and together, the “Advisory Agreements”). Under the terms of the Advisory Agreements, each Fund pays a unitary management fee that is computed and paid monthly based on each Fund’s average daily net assets. From the unitary management fees, the Adviser pays most of the expenses of the Funds, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. However, under each Advisory Agreement, the Adviser is not responsible for interest expenses, brokerage commissions and other trading expenses, taxes and other extraordinary costs such as litigation and other expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of business.

 

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The Adviser receives an advisory fee from each Fund at an annual rate of each Fund’s average daily net assets as indicated in the following table under the “Contractual Advisory Fee” heading. For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023, the Adviser received an advisory fee as indicated under the “Actual Advisory Fee Received” column.

 

 

Contractual Advisory Fee
as of the fiscal year ended
8/31/23

Actual Advisory Fee
Received for fiscal year
ended 8/31/23

Fool 100 Fund

0.50%

0.50%

Global Opportunities Fund

0.85%

0.85%

Mid-Cap Growth Fund

0.85%

0.85%

Small-Cap Growth Fund

0.85%

0.85%

Next Fund

0.50%

0.50%

Capital Efficiency Fund

0.50%

0.50%

 

A discussion regarding the Board’s approval of the Advisory Agreement between the Adviser and the Company on behalf of each Fund, including the factors the Board considered with respect to its approval, is available in the Funds’ annual report to shareholders dated August 31, 2023.

 

The Adviser’s Investment Management Team

 

Motley Fool 100 Index ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Charles L. Travers, Jr., and Anthony L. Arsta, CFA® are the Fool 100 Fund’s portfolio managers and they each are responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Fool 100 Fund’s assets.

 

Motley Fool Global Opportunities ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®, Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®, and Michael J. Olsen, CFA®, are the Global Opportunities Fund’s portfolio managers and they each are responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Global Opportunities Fund’s assets.

 

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®, and Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®, serve as the portfolio managers to the Mid-Cap Growth Fund and are each responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Mid-Cap Growth Fund’s assets.

 

Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Charles L. Travers, Jr., and Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA® serve as portfolio managers to the Small-Cap Growth Fund and they are each responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Small-Cap Growth Fund’s assets.

 

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Charles L. Travers, Jr., and Anthony L. Arsta, CFA® serve as portfolio managers to the Next Fund and they each are responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Next Fund’s assets.

 

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

 

Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®, Charles L. Travers, Jr., and Anthony L. Arsta, CFA® serve as portfolio managers to the Capital Efficiency Fund and they each are responsible for the portfolio management decisions for the Capital Efficiency Fund’s assets.

 

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Bryan C. Hinmon, CFA®

 

Bryan Hinmon is the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) and Senior Portfolio Manager at the Adviser, as well as Chairman of the Adviser’s Investment Committee, having served in the CIO, Senior Portfolio Manager and Chairman capacity since 2017. Mr. Hinmon serves as a Portfolio Manager for each of the Funds.

 

As CIO of the firm, Mr. Hinmon is responsible for leading the investment team, maintaining the firm’s investment philosophy, and managing client assets.

 

He also works as an analyst and Portfolio Manager, identifying and researching investments for the firm’s affiliate, Motley Fool Wealth Management’s separately managed account strategies. He joined the Adviser in 2014 after more than four years at TMF where he helped manage Motley Fool Pro, a long/short and options portfolio service. Mr. Hinmon also served as a senior analyst on Motley Fool Options for more than four years and led the company’s Analyst Development Program for two years.

 

Before life at TMF, Mr. Hinmon was a portfolio manager at Bulwark Capital Management, a hedge fund with an approach that balanced fundamental long-term equity investing, option income, and special situations. Earlier in his career, he worked as a research analyst for an asset manager in Naples, Florida, that provided portfolio management and operated a covered-call hedge fund. Mr. Hinmon graduated from Stetson University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a former member of The Boston Security Analysts Society and is a current member of the CFA Society of Colorado.

 

Anthony L. Arsta, CFA®

 

Tony Arsta is a Portfolio Manager at the Adviser, having served in that role since 2009. Mr. Arsta complements his quality growth at a reasonable price investing focus with applications of statistical analysis and investor psychology. Mr. Arsta serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Fool 100 Fund, Global Opportunities Fund, Mid-Cap Growth Fund, Next Fund and the Capital Efficiency Fund. After joining TMF in 2008, he contributed his writing and analysis to Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio, as well as several other Foolish newsletter services. Mr. Arsta earned his M.B.A. with distinction from DePaul University, with a concentration in finance, and also holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mr. Arsta holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Colorado.

 

Nathan G. Weisshaar, CFA®

 

Nate Weisshaar is a Portfolio Manager at the Adviser, having served in that role since 2014. Mr. Weisshaar serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Global Opportunities Fund, Mid-Cap Growth Fund, and Small-Cap Growth Fund. Mr. Weisshaar has a particular interest in international and banking stocks. After joining TMF in 2007 as an equity research analyst for Motley Fool Global Gains and several other newsletters, Mr. Weisshaar subsequently became a co-advisor on Motley Fool Champion Shares PRO and Motley Fool Share Advisor, TMF’s newsletter products for the UK market, while living in London from 2011 to 2014. After graduating from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in finance, Mr. Weisshaar worked as a banking consultant at United Bankers Bank in Minnesota. Mr. Weissharr holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of theCFA Society of Washington, D.C.

 

Michael J. Olsen, CFA®

 

Michael Olsen is a Portfolio Manager for the Global Opportunities Fund since 2020. Prior to joining Motley Fool Asset Management in 2019, Michael worked for its sister company, TMF, since 2005, where he most recently served as advisor for its dividend-oriented stock-picking products and co-advisor for PRO UK, a UK-focused investment service. Previously, he worked as an analyst on the company’s international, small-cap, and value newsletters, among others. Although his experience is diverse, his investment approach is singularly focused – buying high-quality enterprises at reasonable prices. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), a D.C. based consulting firm. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond, where he earned a degree in business administration with a finance concentration. Mr. Olsen holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Society of Washington, D.C.

 

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Charles L. Travers Jr.

 

Charly Travers is a portfolio manager at the Adviser, having served in that role for the Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth Fund, the Motley Fool 100 Index Fund, Motley Fool Next Index Fund, and the Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index Fund since 2023. Prior to that, he was a portfolio manager with 1623 Capital, LLC, an affiliate of the Adviser, from 2020 to 2022 where he managed a long-short hedge fund strategy. Mr. Travers was previously a portfolio manager at the Adviser from 2014 to 2020, and was an analyst at The Motley Fool, LLC from 2005 to 2014. Charly focuses on identifying companies that have opportunities to reinvest their profits and earn high returns on capital. He has experience analyzing companies in a wide range of industries.

 

On joining The Motley Fool in 2005, Charly contributed research on biotechnology companies to Motley Fool Rule Breakers. He subsequently became an associate advisor for Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio and was one of the founding advisors on Motley Fool Share Advisor, a newsletter product for the U.K. market. He earned his M.A. in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University and also holds an M.S. in pharmacological and physiological sciences from St. Louis University.

 

The SAI provides additional information about the compensation of each Portfolio Manager, other accounts managed by them, and their ownership of Shares of the Funds.

 

How to Buy and Sell Shares

 

Each Fund issues and redeems its Shares at NAV only in Creation Units. Only APs may acquire Shares directly from a Fund, and only APs may tender their Shares for redemption directly to a Fund, at NAV. APs must be (i) a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation, a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC; or (ii) a DTC participant (as discussed below). In addition, each AP must execute a Participant Agreement that has been agreed to by the Distributor, and that has been accepted by the Transfer Agent, with respect to purchases and redemptions of Creation Units. Once created, Shares trade in the secondary market in quantities less than a Creation Unit.

 

Investors can only buy and sell Shares in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares are listed for trading on the secondary market on an Exchange and can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other publicly traded securities.

 

When buying or selling a Fund’s Shares through a broker, you will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges, and you may pay some or all of the spread between the bid and the offer price in the secondary market on each leg of a round trip (purchase and sale) transaction. In addition, because secondary market transactions occur at market prices, you may pay more than NAV when you buy Shares, and receive less than NAV when you sell those Shares.

 

Book Entry

 

Shares are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding Shares.

 

Investors owning a Fund’s Shares are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for all Shares. DTC’s participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of Shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have Shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of Shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of Shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book entry or “street name” through your brokerage account.

 

Share Trading Prices on the Exchange

 

Trading prices of a Fund’s Shares on the Exchange may differ from the Fund’s daily NAV. Market forces of supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors may affect the trading prices of Shares. To provide additional information regarding the indicative value of Shares, the Exchange or a market data vendor disseminates information every 15 seconds through the facilities of the Consolidated Tape Association, or other widely disseminated means, an updated “intraday indicative value” (“IIV”) for Shares as calculated by an information provider or market data vendor. The Funds are neither

 

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involved in nor responsible for any aspect of the calculation or dissemination of the IIVs and make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the IIVs. If the calculation of the IIV is based on the basket of Deposit Securities, such IIV may not represent the best possible valuation of a Fund’s portfolio because the basket of Deposit Securities does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of the current Fund portfolios at a particular point in time. The IIV should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of a Fund’s NAV because the IIV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which is computed only once a day, typically at the end of the business day. The IIV is generally determined by using both current market quotations and/or price quotations obtained from broker-dealers that may trade in the Deposit Securities.

 

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Shares

 

The Funds impose no restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Shares. In determining not to approve a written, established policy, the Board evaluated the risks of market timing activities by Fund shareholders. Purchases and redemptions by APs, who are the only parties that may purchase or redeem Shares directly with the Funds, are an essential part of the ETF process and help keep share trading prices in line with NAV. As such, the Funds accommodate frequent purchases and redemptions by APs. However, the Board has also determined that frequent purchases and redemptions for cash may increase tracking error and portfolio transaction costs and may lead to the realization of capital gains or loses. To minimize these potential consequences of frequent purchases and redemptions, the Funds employ fair value pricing and impose transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Funds in effecting trades. In addition, the Funds reserve the right to reject any purchase order at any time.

 

Determination of Net Asset Value

 

Each Fund’s NAV is calculated as of the scheduled close of regular trading on the NYSE, generally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, each day the NYSE is open for business. The NAV for a Fund is calculated by dividing the Fund’s net assets by its Shares outstanding.

 

In calculating its NAV, a Fund generally values its assets on the basis of market quotations, last sale prices, or estimates of value furnished by a pricing service or brokers who make markets in such instruments. If such information is not available for a security held by the Fund or is determined to be unreliable, the security will be valued at fair value estimates under guidelines established by the Board.

 

Fair Value Pricing

 

If market quotations are unavailable or deemed unreliable by the Funds’ administrator, in consultation with the Adviser, securities will be fair valued by the Adviser, as the Funds’ valuation designee (the “Valuation Designee”), in accordance with procedures adopted by the Board and under the Board’s ultimate supervision. Relying on prices supplied by pricing services or dealers or using fair valuation involves the risk that the values used by a Fund to price its investments may be higher or lower than the values used by other investment companies and investors to price the same investments. In addition, fair value pricing could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate each Fund’s NAV and the prices used by the respective Index. For example, this may result in a difference between the Fool 100 Fund’s performance and the performance of the Fool 100 Index. The Board has adopted a pricing and valuation policy for use by each Fund and its Valuation Designee in calculating the Fund’s NAV. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act, each Fund has designated the Adviser as its “Valuation Designee” to perform all of the fair value determinations as well as to perform all of the responsibilities that may be performed by the Valuation Designee in accordance with Rule 2a-5. The Valuation Designee is authorized to make all necessary determinations of the fair values of portfolio securities and other assets for which market quotations are not readily available or if it is deemed that the prices obtained from brokers and dealers or independent pricing services are unreliable.

 

Dividends, Distributions, and Taxes

 

Dividends and Distributions

 

Each Fund intends to pay out dividends, if any, and distribute any net realized capital gains to its shareholders at least annually.

 

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Dividend Reinvestment Service

 

Brokers may make the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service available to their customers who own Shares. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and capital gains will automatically be reinvested in additional whole Shares of a Fund purchased on the secondary market. Without this service, investors would receive their distributions in cash. In order to achieve the maximum total return on their investments, investors are encouraged to use the dividend reinvestment service. To determine whether the dividend reinvestment service is available and whether there is a commission or other charge for using this service, consult your broker. Brokers may require a Fund’s shareholders to adhere to specific procedures and timetables.

 

Taxes

 

As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of a Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information. Except where otherwise indicated, the discussion relates to investors who are individual United States citizens or residents. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of a Fund.

 

Unless your investment in shares of a Fund is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA plan, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when: (i) the Fund makes distributions; (ii) you sell your shares listed on the Exchange; and (iii) you purchase or redeem Creation Units.

 

Taxes on Distributions

 

Each Fund intends to distribute, at least annually, substantially all of its net investment income and net capital gains income. For federal income tax purposes, distributions of investment income are generally taxable as ordinary income or qualified dividend income. Taxes on distributions of capital gains (if any) are determined by how long a Fund owned the investments that generated them, rather than how long a shareholder has owned his or her shares of the Fund. Sales of assets held by a Fund for more than one year generally result in long-term capital gains and losses, and sales of assets held by a Fund for one year or less generally result in short-term capital gains and losses. Distributions of a Fund’s net capital gain (the excess of net long-term capital gains over net short-term capital losses) that are reported by a Fund as capital gain dividends (“Capital Gain Dividends”) will be taxable as long-term capital gains, which for non-corporate shareholders are subject to tax at reduced rates. Distributions of short-term capital gain will generally be taxable as ordinary income. Dividends and distributions are generally taxable to you whether you receive them in cash or reinvest them in additional shares.

 

Distributions reported by a Fund as “qualified dividend income” are generally taxed to non-corporate shareholders at rates applicable to long-term capital gains, provided holding period and other requirements are met. “Qualified dividend income” generally is income derived from dividends paid by U.S. corporations or certain foreign corporations that are either incorporated in a U.S. possession or eligible for tax benefits under certain U.S. income tax treaties. In addition, dividends that a Fund receives in respect of stock of certain foreign corporations may be qualified dividend income if that stock is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market. The amount of a Fund’s distributions that qualify for this favorable treatment may be reduced as a result of the Fund’s securities lending activities, if any. Corporate shareholders may be entitled to a dividends-received deduction for the portion of dividends they receive from a Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations, subject to certain limitations. The amount of the dividends qualifying for this deduction may, however, be reduced as a result of a Fund’s securities lending activities, if any.

 

Shortly after the close of each calendar year, you will be informed of the character of any distributions received from a Fund.

 

U.S. individuals with income exceeding specified thresholds are subject to a 3.8% Medicare contribution tax on all or a portion of their “net investment income,” which includes interest, dividends, and certain capital gains (including capital gains distributions and capital gains realized on the sale of shares of a Fund). This 3.8% tax also applies to all or a portion of the undistributed net investment income of certain shareholders that are estates and trusts.

 

In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax for the year in which they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Distributions are generally taxable even if they are paid from income or gains earned by a Fund before your investment (and thus were included in the shares’ NAV when you purchased your shares of the Fund).

 

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You may wish to avoid investing in a Fund shortly before a dividend or other distribution, because such a distribution will generally be taxable to you even though it may economically represent a return of a portion of your investment. This adverse tax result is known as “buying into a dividend.”

 

Taxes When Shares are Sold on the Exchange

 

For federal income tax purposes, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of shares of a Fund generally is treated as a long-term capital gain or loss if those shares have been held for more than 12 months and as a short-term capital gain or loss if those shares have been held for 12 months or less. However, any capital loss on a sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent of Capital Gain Dividends paid with respect to such shares of a Fund. Any loss realized on a sale will be disallowed to the extent shares of a Fund are acquired, including through reinvestment of dividends, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the sale of shares. If disallowed, the loss will be reflected in an upward adjustment to the basis of the shares acquired.

 

IRAs and Other Tax-Qualified Plans

 

The one major exception to the preceding tax principles is that distributions on and sales of shares of a Fund held in an IRA (or other tax-qualified plan) will not be currently taxable unless it borrowed to acquire the shares.

 

U.S. Tax Treatment of Foreign Shareholders

 

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the United States or if you are a foreign entity, distributions (other than Capital Gain Dividends) paid to you by a Fund will generally be subject to a U.S. withholding tax at the rate of 30%, unless a lower treaty rate applies. Each Fund may, under certain circumstances, report all or a portion of a dividend as an “interest-related dividend” or a “short-term capital gain dividend,” which would generally be exempt from this 30% U.S. withholding tax, provided certain other requirements are met.

 

Foreign shareholders will generally not be subject to U.S. tax on gains realized on the sale of shares in a Fund, except that a nonresident alien individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more in a calendar year will be taxable on such gains and on capital gain dividends from a Fund.

 

However, if a foreign investor conducts a trade or business in the United States and the investment in a Fund is effectively connected with that trade or business, then the foreign investor’s income from a Fund will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax at graduated rates in a manner similar to the income of a U.S. citizen or resident.

 

Each Fund is generally required to withhold 30% on certain payments to shareholders that are foreign entities and that fail to meet prescribed information reporting or certification requirements.

 

All foreign investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the tax consequences in their country of residence of an investment in a Fund.

 

Backup Withholding

 

Each Fund (or a financial intermediary, such as a broker, through which a shareholder owns shares of the Fund) generally is required to withhold and remit to the U.S. Treasury a percentage of the taxable distributions and sale or redemption proceeds paid to any shareholder who fails to properly furnish a correct taxpayer identification number, who has underreported dividend or interest income, or who fails to certify that he, she or it is not subject to such backup withholding. The current backup withholding rate is 24%.

 

Taxes on Purchases and Redemptions of Creation Units

 

An AP having the U.S. dollar as its functional currency for U.S. federal income tax purposes who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally recognizes a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the sum of the AP’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus the amount of cash paid for such Creation Units. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Any gain or loss realized by an AP upon a creation of Creation Units will be treated as capital gain or loss if the AP holds the securities exchanged therefor as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon

 

67

 

 

the creation of Creation Units will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the securities exchanged for such Creation Units have been held by the AP for more than 12 months, and otherwise will be short-term capital gain or loss.

 

The Company on behalf of each Fund has the right to reject an order for a purchase of Creation Units if the AP (or a group of APs) would, upon obtaining the Creation Units so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of a Fund and if, pursuant to Section 351 of the Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. The Company also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination. If a Fund does issue Creation Units to an AP (or group of APs) that would, upon obtaining the Creation Units so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund, the AP (or group of APs) may not recognize gain or loss upon the exchange of securities for Creation Units.

 

An AP who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the sum of the aggregate market value of any securities received plus the amount of any cash received for such Creation Units and the AP’s basis in the Creation Units. Any gain or loss realized by an AP upon a redemption of Creation Units will be treated as capital gain or loss if the AP holds the shares comprising the Creation Units as capital assets, and otherwise will be ordinary income or loss. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the redemption of Creation Units will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares comprising the Creation Units have been held by the AP for more than 12 months, and otherwise will generally be short-term capital gain or loss. Any capital loss realized upon a redemption of Creation Units held for six months or less will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any amounts treated as distributions to the applicable AP of long-term capital gains with respect to the Creation Units (including any amounts credited to the AP as undistributed capital gains).

 

Each Fund may include a payment of cash in addition to, or in place of, the delivery of a basket of securities upon the redemption of Creation Units. A Fund may sell portfolio securities to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause the Fund to recognize investment income and/or capital gains or losses that it might not have recognized if it had completely satisfied the redemption in-kind. As a result, a Fund may be less tax efficient if it includes such a cash payment in the proceeds paid upon the redemption of Creation Units.

 

Persons purchasing or redeeming Creation Units should consult their own tax advisers with respect to the tax treatment of any creation or redemption transaction.

 

The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the possible consequences under current federal tax law of an investment in a Fund. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. You also may be subject to state and local tax on Fund distributions and sales of shares of a Fund. Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in Shares of a Fund under all applicable tax laws. For more information, please see the section entitled “DIVIDENDS, DISTRIBUTIONS, AND TAXES” in the SAI.

 

Distribution

 

The Distributor, Quasar Distributors, LLC, is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC. The Distributor distributes Creation Units for the Funds on an agency basis and does not maintain a secondary market in Shares. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Funds or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Funds. The Distributor’s principal address is 111 East Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 2200, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.

 

Additional Considerations

 

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

 

The Adviser, out of its own resources and without additional cost to the Funds or their shareholders, may pay intermediaries, including affiliates of the Adviser, for the sale of Fund Shares and related services, including participation in activities that are designed to make intermediaries more knowledgeable about exchange traded products. Payments are generally made to intermediaries that provide shareholder servicing, marketing and related sales support, educational training or support, or access to sales meetings, sales representatives and management representatives of the intermediary. Payments may also be made to intermediaries for making Shares of a Fund available to their customers generally and in investment programs. The Adviser may also reimburse expenses or make payments from its own resources to intermediaries in consideration of services or other activities the Adviser believes may facilitate investment in the Funds.

 

68

 

 

The possibility of receiving, or the receipt of, the payments described above may provide intermediaries or their salespersons with an incentive to favor sales of Shares of the Funds, and other funds whose affiliates make similar compensation available, over other investments that do not make such payments. Investors may wish to take such payment arrangements into account when considering and evaluating any recommendations relating to the Funds and other ETFs.

 

Premium/Discount Information

 

Information regarding how often Shares traded on the Exchange at a price above (i.e., at a premium) or below (i.e., at a discount) the NAV is available, free of charge, on the Funds’ website at www.fooletfs.com/resources.

 

Continuous Offering

 

The method by which Creation Units are purchased and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, at any point a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner which could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the Prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the Securities Act.

 

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into individual Shares, and sells such Shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a supply of new Shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for Shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to categorization as an underwriter.

 

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are effecting transactions in Shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of Shares, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act is not available with respect to such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. As a result, broker dealer-firms should note that dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with Shares that are part of an over-allotment within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(a) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the Securities Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to Shares of a Fund are reminded that under Rule 153 of the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Exchange is satisfied by the fact that such Fund’s Prospectus is available on the SEC’s electronic filing system. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 of the Securities Act is only available with respect to transactions on an exchange.

 

Additional Information

 

The Funds enter into contractual arrangements with various parties, including among others the Funds’ investment adviser, who provide services to the Funds. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended (or “third party”) beneficiaries of, those contractual arrangements.

 

The Prospectus and the SAI provide information concerning the Funds that you should consider in determining whether to purchase Shares of a Fund. The Funds may make changes to this information from time to time. Neither this Prospectus nor the SAI is intended to give rise to any contract rights or other rights in any shareholder, other than any rights conferred explicitly by federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.

 

NO PERSON HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED TO GIVE ANY INFORMATION OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS NOT CONTAINED IN THIS PROSPECTUS OR IN THE FUNDS’ SAI INCORPORATED HEREIN BY REFERENCE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFERING MADE BY THIS PROSPECTUS AND, IF GIVEN OR MADE, SUCH REPRESENTATIONS MUST NOT BE RELIED UPON AS HAVING BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE COMPANY OR ITS DISTRIBUTOR. THIS PROSPECTUS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFERING BY THE COMPANY OR BY THE DISTRIBUTOR IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFERING MAY NOT LAWFULLY BE MADE.

 

69

 

 

Financial Highlights

 

The following financial highlights tables are intended to help you understand each Fund’s financial performance for the period of its operations. The financial performance presented for the Global Opportunities Fund and Mid-Cap Growth Fund reflects the financial history of the Institutional Class shares of the MFAM Global Opportunities Fund and MFAM Mid-Cap Growth Fund, respectively (each, a “Predecessor Fund”). Each of the Global Opportunities Fund and Mid-Cap Growth Fund are the accounting successor to its corresponding Predecessor Fund as a result of a reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the respective Fund following the close of business on December 10, 2021. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund Share. Total returns in the tables represent the rate an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in a Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions). The financial information for the periods shown has been audited by Tait, Weller & Baker LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with the Funds’ financial statements, is included in the annual report, which is available upon request.

 

Motley Fool 100 Index ETF

 

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022

   

2021

   

2020

   

2019

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

                                       

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 33.99     $ 42.16     $ 33.67     $ 22.46     $ 22.10  

Net investment income/(loss)(1)

    0.13       0.08       0.05       0.11       0.15  

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    7.57       (8.15 )     8.59       11.23       0.32  

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    7.70       (8.07 )     8.64       11.34       0.47  

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

                                       

Net investment income

    (0.14 )     (0.02 )     (0.10 )     (0.13 )     (0.11 )

Net realized capital gains

          (0.08 )     (0.05 )            

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

    0.14       (0.10 )     (0.15 )     (0.13 )     (0.11 )

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 41.55     $ 33.99     $ 42.16     $ 33.67     $ 22.46  

Market value, end of period

  $ 41.53     $ 34.00     $ 42.20     $ 33.66     $ 22.42  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(2)

    22.71 %     (19.18 )%     25.74 %     50.67 %     2.27 %

Total investment return/(loss) on market price(3)

    22.63 %     (19.24 )%     25.91 %     50.89 %     1.93 %

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

                                       

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 549,523     $ 417,269     $ 528,011     $ 337,547     $ 185,871  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.50 %     0.50 %     0.50 %     0.50 %     0.50 %

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.37 %     0.20 %     0.15 %     0.43 %     0.69 %

Portfolio turnover rate

    6 %     15 %     23 %     26 %     26 %

 

(1)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(2)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

 

 

 

70

 

 

MOTLEY FOOL GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES ETF

 

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022

   

2021

   

2020

   

2019

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

                                       

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 24.75     $ 37.03     $ 30.17     $ 25.09     $ 25.97  

Net investment income/(loss)(1)

    0.11       0.30       (0.05 )     *     0.05  

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    2.65       (10.00 )     9.03       6.21       0.80  

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    2.76       (9.70 )     8.98       6.21       0.85  

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

                                       

Net investment income

    (0.06 )     (077 )           (0.04 )      

Net realized capital gains

    (0.10 )     (1.81 )     (2.12 )     (1.09 )     (1.73 )

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

    (0.16 )     (2.58 )     (2.12 )     (1.13 )     (1.73 )

Redemption and small-balance account fees

                             

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 27.35     $ 24.75     $ 37.03     $ 30.17     $ 25.09  

Market Value, end of period

  $ 27.32     $ 24.74     $     $     $  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(2)

    11.24 %     (27.61 )%     30.86 %     25.64 %     5 %

Total investment return/(loss) on market price (2)

    11.19 %     (27.65 )%     %     %     %

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

                                       

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 429,966     $ 433,652       181,509     $ 122,406     $ 92,760  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.85 %     0.87 %     0.95 %     0.95 %     0.95 %

Ratio of expenses to average net assets (before waivers and reimbursement of expenses and/or recapture of previously waived fees)

    0.85 %     0.88 %     0.98 %     1.00 %     0.99 %

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.45 %     1.08 %     (0.16 )%     (0.01 )%     0.19 %

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets (before waivers and reimbursement of expenses and/or recapture of previously waived fees)

    0.45 %     1.07 %     (0.19 )%     (0.16 )%     0.15 %

Portfolio turnover rate

    4 %     14 %     12 %     10 %     11 %

 

*

Amount represents less than $0.005 per share.

(1)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(2)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

 

71

 

 

Motley Fool Mid-Cap Growth ETF

 

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022

   

2021

   

2020

   

2019

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

                                       

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 22.68     $ 33.20     $ 29.79     $ 24.48     $ 27.50  

Net investment income/(loss)(1)

    0.07       (0.04 )     (0.09 )     (0.02 )     0.02  

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    1.87       (8.38 )     6.90       6.79       (1.88 )

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    1.94       (8.42 )     6.81       6.77       (1.86 )

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

                                       

Net investment income

                             

Net realized capital gains

          (2.10 )     (3.40 )     (1.46 )     (1.16 )

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

          (2.10 )     (3.40 )     (1.46 )     (1.16 )

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 24.62     $ 22.68     $ 33.20     $ 29.79     $ 24.48  

Net asset value, on market price

  $ 24.58     $ 22.62     $     $     $  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(2)

    8.58 %     (26.66 )%     24.38 %     28.77 %     (5.97 )%

Total investment return/(loss) on market price(3)

    8.65 %     (26.84 )%     %     %     %

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

                                       

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 194,346     $ 209,044     $ 54,460     $ 39,488     $ 29,205  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.85 %     0.90 %     0.95 %     0.95 %     0.95 %

Ratio of expenses to average net assets (before waivers and reimbursement of expenses and/or recapture of previously waived fees)

    0.85 %     0.88 %     0.98 %     1.00 %     0.98 %

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.29 %     (0.17 )%     (0.30 )%     (0.06 )%     0.10 %

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets (before waivers and reimbursement of expenses and/or recapture of previously waived fees)

    0.29 %     (0.15 )%     (0.33 )%     (0.11 )%     0.07 %

Portfolio turnover rate

    18 %     2 %     15 %     14 %     4 %

 

(1)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(2)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

 

 

72

 

 

Motley Fool Small-Cap Growth ETF

 

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
YEAR
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
PERIOD
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022

   

2021

   

2020

   

2019(1)

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

                                       

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 25.18     $ 40.73     $ 32.59     $ 23.33     $ 20.00  

Net investment income/(loss)(2)

    0.04       (0.15 )     (0.19 )     (0.07 )     *

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    4.00       (14.53 )     10.48       9.67       3.33  

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    4.04       (14.68 )     10.29       9.60       3.33  

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

                                       

Net realized capital gains

    (0.08 )     (0.87 )     (2.15 )     (0.34 )      

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

    (0.08 )     (0.87 )     (2.15 )     (0.34 )      

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 29.14     $ 25.18     $ 40.73     $ 32.59     $ 23.33  

Market value, end of period

  $ 29.17     $ 25.18     $ 40.74     $ 32.68     $ 23.34  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(3)

    16.13 %     (36.66 )%     32.00 %     41.58 %     16.65 %(5)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price(4)

    16.21 %     (36.65 )%     31.54 %     41.88 %     16.69 %(5)

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

                                       

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 72,855     $ 78,050     $ 189,382     $ 106,745     $ 71,153  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.85 %     0.85 %     0.85 %     0.85 %     0.85 %(6)

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.15 %     (0.46 )%     (0.51 )%     (0.29 )%     (0.01 )%(6)

Portfolio turnover rate

    62 %     11 %     21 %     27 %     21 %(5)

 

*

Amount represents less than $0.005 per share.

(1)

Inception date of the Fund was October 29, 2018.

(2)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(4)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

(5)

Not annualized.

(6)

Annualized.

 

 

 

73

 

 

Motley Fool Next Index ETF

 

FOR THE
Period
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
PERIOD
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022(1)

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

               

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 15.02     $ 20.00  

Net investment income/(loss)(2)

    0.02       0.03  

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    0.76       (5.01 )

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    0.78       (4.98 )

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

               

Net realized capital gains

    (0.03 )      

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

    (0.03 )      

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 15.77     $ 15.02  

Market value, end of period

  $ 15.78     $ 15.01  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(3)

    5.21 %     (24.88 )%(5)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price(4)

    5.39 %     (24.97 )%(5)

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

               

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 29,183     $ 32,678  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.50 %     0.50 %(6)

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.15 %     0.26 %(6)

Portfolio turnover rate

    27 %     11 %(5)

 

(1)

Inception date of the Fund was December 30, 2021.

(2)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(4)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

(5)

Not annualized.

(6)

Annualized.

 

 

74

 

 

Motley Fool Capital Efficiency 100 Index ETF

 

FOR THE
PERIOD
ENDED
AUGUST 31

   

FOR THE
PERIOD
ENDED
AUGUST 31

 
   

2023

   

2022(1)

 

PER SHARE OPERATING PERFORMANCE

               

Net asset value, beginning of period

  $ 15.37     $ 20.00  

Net investment income/(loss)(2)

    0.09       0.05  

Net realized and unrealized gain/(loss) from investments

    3.72       (4.68 )

Net increase/(decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    3.81       (4.63 )

Dividends and distributions to shareholders from:

               

Net realized capital gains

    (0.06 )        

Total dividends and distributions to shareholders

    (0.06 )        

Net asset value, end of period

  $ 19.12     $ 15.37  

Market value, end of period

  $ 19.15     $ 15.38  

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value(3)

    24.81 %     (23.13 )%(5)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price(4)

    24.99 %     (23.09 )%(5)

RATIO/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

               

Net assets, end of period (000’s omitted)

  $ 22,460     $ 20,754  

Ratio of expenses to average net assets

    0.50 %     0.50 %(6)

Ratio of net investment income/(loss) to average net assets

    0.53 %     0.50 %(6)

Portfolio turnover rate

    25 %     17 %(5)

 

(1)

Inception date of the Fund was December 30, 2021.

(2)

Per share data calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(3)

Total investment return/(loss) on net asset value is calculated assuming a purchase of shares on the first day and a sale of shares on the last day of each period reported and includes reinvestments of dividends and distributions, if any.

(4)

Total investment return/(loss) on market price is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market price on the first day of the period, reinvestment of dividends and distributions at market price during the period and redemption at market price on the last day of the period.

(5)

Not annualized.

(6)

Annualized.

 

 

75

 

 

For More Information

 

For more information about the Funds, the following documents are available free upon request:

 

Annual/Semiannual Reports

 

Additional information about the Funds’ investments is available in the Funds’ annual and semiannual reports to shareholders. The annual report contains a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected each Fund’s performance during their most recently completed fiscal year.

 

Statement of Additional Information

 

The SAI dated December 31, 2023 provides more details about the Funds and their policies. The current SAI is on file with the SEC and is incorporated by reference into (and is legally a part of) this Prospectus.

 

TO OBTAIN INFORMATION

 

The SAI is available, without charge, upon request along with the semiannual and annual reports. To obtain a free copy of the SAI, semiannual or annual reports or if you have questions about the Funds:

 

By Internet

 

Go to www.fooletfs.com.

 

By Telephone

 

Call 1-800-617-0004 or your securities dealer.

 

By Mail

 

Write to:

 

Motley Fool Funds
c/o U.S. Bank Global Fund Services
P.O. Box 701
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0701

 

From the SEC

 

Information about the Funds (including the SAI) and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by sending an electronic request to [email protected].

 

Investment Company Act File Number 811-05518

 

 

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