UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT
COMPANIES
Investment Company Act file number 811-22767
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First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, IL 60187
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(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
W. Scott Jardine, Esq.
First Trust Portfolios L.P.
120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, IL 60187
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(Name and address of agent for service)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (630) 765-8000
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Date of fiscal year end: December 31
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Date of reporting period: December 31, 2017
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Form N-CSR is to be used by management investment companies to file reports with
the Commission not later than 10 days after the transmission to stockholders of
any report that is required to be transmitted to stockholders under Rule 30e-1
under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30e-1). The Commission may
use the information provided on Form N-CSR in its regulatory, disclosure review,
inspection, and policymaking roles.
A registrant is required to disclose the information specified by Form N-CSR,
and the Commission will make this information public. A registrant is not
required to respond to the collection of information contained in Form N-CSR
unless the Form displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget
("OMB") control number. Please direct comments concerning the accuracy of the
information collection burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing the
burden to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20549-0609. The OMB has reviewed this collection of information
under the clearance requirements of 44 U.S.C. ss. 3507.
ITEM 1. REPORT TO STOCKHOLDERS.
The registrant's annual report transmitted to shareholders pursuant to Rule
30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 is as follows:
FIRST TRUST
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
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First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (FTGC)
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Annual Report
For the Year Ended
December 31, 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Shareholder Letter........................................................... 1
Fund Performance Overview.................................................... 2
Portfolio Commentary......................................................... 4
Understanding Your Fund Expenses............................................. 6
Consolidated Portfolio of Investments........................................ 7
Consolidated Statement of Assets and Liabilities............................. 9
Consolidated Statement of Operations......................................... 10
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Net Assets............................. 11
Consolidated Financial Highlights............................................ 12
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements................................... 13
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm...................... 19
Additional Information....................................................... 20
Board of Trustees and Officers............................................... 25
Privacy Policy............................................................... 27
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the goals,
beliefs, plans or current expectations of First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First
Trust" or the "Advisor") and its representatives, taking into account the
information currently available to them. Forward-looking statements include all
statements that do not relate solely to current or historical fact. For example,
forward-looking statements include the use of words such as "anticipate,"
"estimate," "intend," "expect," "believe," "plan," "may," "should," "would" or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of
First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (the "Fund") to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. When evaluating the
information included in this report, you are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the judgment of the
Advisor and its representatives only as of the date hereof. We undertake no
obligation to publicly revise or update these forward-looking statements to
reflect events and circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
PERFORMANCE AND RISK DISCLOSURE
There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The
Fund is subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values
of investments owned by the Fund will decline and that the value of the Fund
shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Accordingly, you can
lose money investing in the Fund. See "Risk Considerations" in the Additional
Information section of this report for a discussion of other risks of investing
in the Fund.
Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of
future results, and current performance may be lower or higher than the figures
shown. For the most recent month-end performance figures, please visit
www.ftportfolios.com or speak with your financial advisor. Investment returns,
net asset value and share price will fluctuate and Fund shares, when sold, may
be worth more or less than their original cost.
The Advisor may also periodically provide additional information on Fund
performance on the Fund's webpage at www.ftportfolios.com.
HOW TO READ THIS REPORT
This report contains information that may help you evaluate your investment in
the Fund. It includes details about the Fund's portfolio and presents data and
analysis that provide insight into the Fund's performance and investment
approach.
By reading the portfolio commentary from the portfolio management team of the
Fund, you may obtain an understanding of how the market environment affected the
Fund's performance. The statistical information that follows may help you
understand the Fund's performance compared to that of relevant market
benchmarks.
It is important to keep in mind that the opinions expressed by personnel of the
Advisor are just that: informed opinions. They should not be considered to be
promises or advice. The opinions, like the statistics, cover the period through
the date on the cover of this report. The material risks of investing in the
Fund are spelled out in its prospectus, statement of additional information,
this report and other Fund regulatory filings.
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SHAREHOLDER LETTER
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
ANNUAL LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND CEO
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Dear Shareholders:
First Trust is pleased to provide you with the annual report for the First Trust
Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund which contains detailed information
about your investment for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, including a
market overview and a performance analysis for the period. We encourage you to
read this report carefully and discuss it with your financial advisor.
This was a very strong year for U.S. markets. The three major indices--the S&P
500(R) Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq posted their best
performance since 2013. And there was more good news for Wall Street:
o The S&P 500(R) achieved something it had not previously finishing
2017 with 12 months of gains;
o The Dow Jones realized a milestone as well closing above 24,000 for
the first time ever on November 30; and
o The Nasdaq set a record by having 11 months of gains in 2017 (June
was the only down month, and by just 0.86%).
World markets were also strong in 2017. According to the MSCI AC World Index,
which captures all sources of equity returns in 23 developed and 24 emerging
markets, world stocks rose every month in 2017. The value of public companies on
global stock markets grew by $12.4 trillion during the year.
In 2017, stocks benefitted from increased global demand, growth in corporate
profits (especially technology stocks) and an accommodative Federal Reserve. The
housing market in the United States continues to grow due to a strong job
market, low interest rates and tight inventory. As the year came to a close,
President Trump signed the tax reform package, called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act," which was seen as a promise kept by then-candidate Trump to accomplish
sweeping reform. It is hoped this tax reform will boost economic activity to
greater highs.
At First Trust, we are optimistic about the U.S. economy. We also continue to
believe that you should invest for the long term and be prepared for market
volatility, which can happen at any time. How can you do this? By keeping
current on your portfolio and investing goals by speaking regularly with your
investment professional. It's important to keep in mind that past performance of
the U.S. and global stock markets or investment products can never guarantee
future results. As we've said before, markets go up and they also go down, but
savvy investors are prepared for either through careful attention to their
portfolios and investment goals.
Thank you for giving First Trust the opportunity to be a part of your financial
plan through your investment. We value our relationship with you and will report
on your investment again in six months.
Sincerely,
/s/ James A. Bowen
James A. Bowen
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P.
Page 1
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FUND PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW (UNAUDITED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund's (the "Fund") investment
objective is to seek to provide total return by providing investors with
commodity exposure while seeking a relatively stable risk profile. The Fund is
an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that seeks to achieve
attractive risk-adjusted return by investing in commodity futures contracts and
exchange-traded commodity linked instruments (collectively, "Commodities
Instruments") through a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fund organized under the
laws of the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Fund expects to gain exposure
to these investments exclusively by investing in the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary
is advised by First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund's advisor (the "Advisor").
The Fund's investment in the Subsidiary is intended to provide the Fund with
exposure to commodity markets within the limits of current federal income tax
laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the
ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodities Instruments.
The Subsidiary has the same investment objective as the Fund, but unlike the
Fund, it may invest without limitation in Commodities Instruments. Except as
otherwise noted, references to the Fund's investments include the Fund's
indirect investments through the Subsidiary. The Fund may invest up to 25% of
its total assets in the Subsidiary.
The Subsidiary seeks to make investments generally in Commodities Instruments
while managing volatility. Investment weightings of the underlying Commodities
Instruments held by the Subsidiary are rebalanced in an attempt to stabilize
risk levels. The dynamic weighting process is designed to result in a
disciplined, systematic investment process, which is keyed off of the Advisor's
volatility forecasting process. The Subsidiary may have both long and short
positions in Commodities Instruments. However, for a given Commodity Instrument
the Subsidiary will provide a net long exposure.
The remainder of the Fund's assets will primarily be invested in: (1) short-term
investment grade fixed income securities that include U.S. government and agency
securities, sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries, and repurchase
agreements; (2) money market instruments; (3) ETFs and other investment
companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended; and
(4) cash and other cash equivalents. The Fund uses such instruments as
investments and to collateralize the Subsidiary's Commodities Instruments
exposure on a day-to-day basis.
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PERFORMANCE
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AVERAGE ANNUAL CUMULATIVE
TOTAL RETURNS TOTAL RETURNS
1 Year Ended Inception (10/22/13) Inception (10/22/13)
12/31/17 to 12/31/17 to 12/31/17
FUND PERFORMANCE
NAV 2.89% -8.12% -29.91%
Market Price 2.49% -8.19% -30.11%
INDEX PERFORMANCE
Bloomberg Commodity Index 1.70% -8.23% -30.22%
S&P GSCI(R) Total Return Index 5.77% -14.18% -47.32%
S&P 500(R) Index 21.83% 12.91% 66.33%
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Total returns for the period since inception are calculated from the inception
date of the Fund. "Average Annual Total Returns" represent the average annual
change in value of an investment over the period indicated. "Cumulative Total
Returns" represent the total change in value of an investment over the period
indicated.
The Fund's per share net asset value ("NAV") is the value of one share of the
Fund and is computed by dividing the value of all assets of the Fund (including
accrued interest and dividends), less all liabilities (including accrued
expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of outstanding
shares. The price used to calculate market return ("Market Price") is determined
by using the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the stock
exchange on which shares of the Fund are listed for trading as of the time that
the Fund's NAV is calculated. Since shares of the Fund did not trade in the
secondary market until after its inception, for the period from inception to the
first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund, the NAV of the Fund
is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to calculate market
returns. NAV and market returns assume that all dividend distributions have been
reinvested in the Fund at NAV and Market Price, respectively.
An index is a statistical composite that tracks a specified financial market or
sector. Unlike the Fund, indices do not actually hold a portfolio of securities
and therefore do not incur the expenses incurred by the Fund. These expenses
negatively impact the performance of the Fund. Also, index returns do not
include brokerage commissions that may be payable on secondary market
transactions. If brokerage commissions were included, index returns would be
lower. The total returns presented reflect the reinvestment of dividends on
securities in the indices. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of
taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or
sale of Fund shares. The investment return and principal value of shares of the
Fund will vary with changes in market conditions. Shares of the Fund may be
worth more or less than their original cost when they are redeemed or sold in
the market. The Fund's past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
Page 2
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FUND PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW (UNAUDITED) (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC) (CONTINUED)
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PERFORMANCE OF A $10,000 INITIAL INVESTMENT
OCTOBER 22, 2013 - DECEMBER 31, 2017
First Trust Global
Tactical Commodity Bloomberg S&P GSCI(R) Total S&P 500(R)
Strategy Fund (FTGC) Commodity Index Return Index Index
10/22/13 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000
12/31/13 9,930 9,817 9,952 10,580
6/30/14 11,237 10,512 10,520 11,335
12/31/14 8,749 8,147 6,661 12,089
6/30/15 8,259 8,020 6,647 12,177
12/31/15 6,775 6,138 4,472 12,195
6/30/16 7,195 6,952 4,913 12,664
12/31/16 6,811 6,861 4,981 13,654
6/30/17 6,568 6,500 4,471 14,929
12/31/17 7,005 6,977 5,268 16,634
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Performance figures assume reinvestment of all distributions and do not reflect
the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the
redemption or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical composite that
tracks a specified financial market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices do
not actually hold a portfolio of investments and therefore do not incur the
expenses incurred by the Fund. These expenses negatively impact the performance
of the Fund. The Fund's past performance does not predict future performance.
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF DISCOUNTS AND PREMIUMS
BID/ASK MIDPOINT VS. NAV THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017
The following Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums charts are
provided to show the frequency at which the bid/ask midpoint price for the Fund
was at a discount or premium to the daily NAV. The following tables are for
comparative purposes only and represent the period October 23, 2013
(commencement of trading) through December 31, 2017. Shareholders may pay more
than NAV when they buy Fund shares and receive less than NAV when they sell
those shares because shares are bought and sold at current market price. Data
presented represents past performance and cannot be used to predict future
results.
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NUMBER OF DAYS BID/ASK MIDPOINT AT/ABOVE NAV
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FOR THE PERIOD 0.00%-0.49% 0.50%-0.99% 1.00%-1.99% >=2.00%
10/23/13 - 12/31/13 36 0 0 0
1/1/14 - 12/31/14 188 5 1 0
1/1/15 - 12/31/15 122 4 1 0
1/1/16 - 12/31/16 142 1 0 0
1/1/17 - 12/31/17 120 1 0 0
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NUMBER OF DAYS BID/ASK MIDPOINT BELOW NAV
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FOR THE PERIOD 0.00%-0.49% 0.50%-0.99% 1.00%-1.99% >=2.00%
10/23/13 - 12/31/13 9 3 0 0
1/1/14 - 12/31/14 57 1 0 0
1/1/15 - 12/31/15 124 1 0 0
1/1/16 - 12/31/16 109 0 0 0
1/1/17 - 12/31/17 130 0 0 0
Page 3
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PORTFOLIO COMMENTARY
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
ADVISOR
First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust") is the investment advisor, commodity
pool operator and commodity trading advisor to the First Trust Global Tactical
Commodity Strategy Fund (the "Fund"). In this capacity, First Trust is
responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the investments in the
Fund's portfolio and certain other services necessary for the management of the
portfolio.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT TEAM
JOHN GAMBLA - CFA, FRM, PRM, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER
ROB A. GUTTSCHOW - CFA, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER
COMMENTARY
The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF"). The Fund's
investment objective is to seek to provide total return by providing investors
with commodity exposure while seeking a relatively stable risk profile. For
performance measurement, the Fund is benchmarked against the unmanaged Bloomberg
Commodity Index (the "Benchmark"). This commentary discusses the 12-month market
and Fund performance ended December 31, 2017.
OVERALL MARKET RECAP
U.S. economic growth increased in 2017 over 2016, with the average annualized
quarterly growth rate increasing to 2.7% in 2017 from 1.9% in 2016. The
unemployment rate declined throughout the year, falling from 4.7% to 4.1% during
the fiscal period. The total number of non-farm payroll jobs added to the U.S.
economy during the fiscal period, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
was approximately 2.05 million.
The improving performance of the U.S. economy and the decline in the
unemployment rate prompted the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee ("FOMC") to
continue to raise the Fed Funds rate. As a result, short-term interest rates are
up approximately 0.75% in the past year. For the first time since 2008, an
investor can earn more than 1.00% on an annualized basis by investing in U.S. 3
Month Government T-Bills. The FOMC also announced a plan to gradually reduce the
size of its bloated balance sheet, further confirming their view that the U.S.
economy is finally recovering from the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, in
our opinion.
The U.S. equity markets posted strong positive performance for the fiscal period
while simultaneously displaying extremely low levels of volatility. As measured
by the S&P 500(R), operating earnings were up 17.6% year over year and the total
return for the S&P 500(R) was 21.83% for the fiscal period. Despite a raucous
political environment ushered in by the new administration, volatility was
extremely subdued in the equity markets with no negative return months for the
S&P 500(R) in 2017. In fact, the S&P 500(R) was up for fourteen straight months
as of December 31, 2017.
Commodity markets, as measured by the Benchmark, returned 1.70% during the
fiscal period. The standout sectors for the year were industrial and precious
metals, which rallied strongly throughout the year, finishing up 29.35% and
10.94%, respectively. Offsetting those gains was the weak performance from the
agricultural and energy sectors which declined by -11.05% and -4.31%,
respectively.
FUND PERFORMANCE
The Fund's performance for the time period from December 31, 2016 to December
31, 2017 was positive 2.89% on a net asset value ("NAV") basis and 2.49% on a
market price basis. The Fund's Benchmark returned 1.70% over the same period.
The global commodity market is made up of several separate markets including
agriculture, oil, industrial metals, and precious metals. These commodities are
the building blocks of every economy in the world. Holding a physical commodity
is not practical for most investors, but the futures market provides an
alternative way to seek exposure to commodities. Individual commodity futures
contracts and the unmanaged benchmarks that measure their performance offer
attractive opportunities for investors to potentially diversify their portfolios
and protect themselves against unforeseen rises in inflation; however,
commodities and their benchmarks can be volatile. The Fund employs an investment
style that seeks to control the Fund's risk profile to a relatively stable band,
thus providing investors broadly diversified commodity exposure with more risk
stability than traditional unmanaged commodity benchmarks.
Page 4
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PORTFOLIO COMMENTARY (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
During the performance period, the Fund held allocations in 26 different
commodities at various points in time. The Fund's average sector allocation was
24% energy, 16% industrial metals, 17% precious metals, and 43%
agricultural/livestock. As of December 31, 2017, the Fund held 27.9% in energy
related futures contracts, 16.3% in industrial metals, 13.0% in precious metals,
and 42.3% in agricultural/livestock products. The major allocation changes
occurred during the first half of the year as the Fund gradually allocated away
from agricultural futures contracts to energy related futures contracts.
Overall, the agricultural contract exposure decreased by 14% while energy
related exposure increased by 10% during the fiscal period.
The primary driver of the Fund's relative outperformance to the Benchmark during
the fiscal period was the Fund's underweight in energy related commodities
during the first half of the year. During that time period, the energy sub-index
total return was -19.99%. The Fund, relative to the Benchmark, was on average
9.47% underweight in the first quarter and 5.84% underweight in the second
quarter. As energy rebounded in the second half of the fiscal period, the Fund
was much closer to Benchmark weighting, resulting in small amounts of
incremental outperformance. During the fiscal period, the Fund was on average
underweight industrial metals, which resulted in incremental underperformance
offsetting some of the gains from the energy allocation. The Fund also lost
incrementally on its precious metals allocations while earning return on its
livestock allocation.
Please see the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments for a complete list of all
positions within the portfolio as of December 31, 2017.
MARKET AND FUND OUTLOOK
We believe the Fund is well positioned to achieve its investment objective of
seeking to provide total return by providing investors with commodity exposure
while providing a relatively stable risk profile. We believe that the Fund is
currently broadly diversified across commodity futures and commodity sectors and
that the risk control portfolio construction process is working well.
Additionally, we believe that commodities are, and will continue to be, a
valuable component of any well diversified portfolio. Because commodities are
not highly correlated with traditional asset classes, they can potentially
decrease portfolio volatility, enhance overall return, and provide meaningful
diversification to an asset allocation strategy.
Page 5
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
UNDERSTANDING YOUR FUND EXPENSES
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
As a shareholder of First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (the
"Fund"), you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs; and (2) ongoing
costs, including management fees, distribution and/or service fees, if any, and
other Fund expenses. This Example is intended to help you understand your
ongoing costs (in U.S. dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these
costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other funds.
The Example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the
period and held through the six-month period ended December 31, 2017.
ACTUAL EXPENSES
The first line in the following table provides information about actual account
values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together
with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the
period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600
account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number
in the first line under the heading entitled "Expenses Paid During the Six-Month
Period" to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES
The second line in the following table provides information about hypothetical
account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund's actual expense
ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not
the Fund's actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not
be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for
the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of
investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical
example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports
of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your
ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs such as brokerage
commissions. Therefore, the second line in the table is useful in comparing
ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of
owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included,
your costs would have been higher.
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ANNUALIZED
EXPENSE RATIO EXPENSES PAID
BEGINNING ENDING BASED ON THE DURING THE
ACCOUNT VALUE ACCOUNT VALUE SIX-MONTH SIX-MONTH
JULY 1, 2017 DECEMBER 31, 2017 PERIOD PERIOD (a)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY
STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
Actual $1,000.00 $1,066.50 0.95% $4.95
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,020.42 0.95% $4.84
(a) Expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratio as indicated in the
table, multiplied by the average account value over the period (July 1,
2017 through December 31, 2017), multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the
one-half year period).
Page 6
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Besides the following listed futures contracts of the Fund's wholly-owned
subsidiary, there were no investments held by the Fund at December 31, 2017.
Aggregate cost for federal income tax purposes was $0. As of December 31, 2017,
the aggregate gross unrealized appreciation for all futures contracts in which
there as an excess of value over tax cost was $7,858,578 and the aggregate gross
unrealized depreciation for all futures contracts in which there was an excess
of tax cost over value was $1,354,276. The net unrealized appreciation was
$6,504,302.
The following futures contracts of the Fund's wholly-owned subsidiary were open
at December 31, 2017 (see Note 2B - Futures Contracts in the Notes to
Consolidated Financial Statements):
UNREALIZED
APPRECIATION
NUMBER NOTIONAL EXPIRATION (DEPRECIATION)/
OF CONTRACTS VALUE DATE VALUE
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FUTURES CONTRACTS LONG:
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Brent Crude Futures 175 $ 11,702,250 Jan-18 $ 753,287
Cattle Feeder Futures 31 2,263,000 Jan-18 (113,321)
Cocoa Futures 487 9,214,040 Mar-18 (954,306)
Coffee "C" Futures 119 5,631,675 Mar-18 (109,782)
Copper Futures 188 15,512,350 Mar-18 966,292
Corn Futures 208 3,647,800 Mar-18 (8,809)
Cotton No. 2 Futures 237 9,317,655 Mar-18 676,194
Gasoline RBOB Futures 14 1,055,930 Jan-18 52,221
Gasoline RBOB Futures 150 11,423,790 Feb-18 695,797
Gold 100 Oz. Futures 88 11,521,840 Feb-18 311,661
Lean Hogs Futures 185 5,311,350 Feb-18 351,017
Live Cattle Futures 48 2,333,760 Feb-18 (63,365)
LME Lead Futures 29 1,803,438 Mar-18 (28,094)
LME Nickel Futures 81 6,201,360 Mar-18 793,152
LME Zinc Futures 85 7,066,687 Mar-18 367,031
Low Sulphur Gasoil "G" Futures 171 10,264,275 Jan-18 723,614
Low Sulphur Gasoil "G" Futures 34 2,045,950 Feb-18 121,450
Natural Gas Futures 88 2,598,640 Jan-18 212,520
NY Harbor ULSD Futures 68 5,837,093 Feb-18 368,501
Silver Futures 151 12,944,475 Mar-18 89,947
Soybean Futures 137 6,587,988 Mar-18 (149,093)
Soybean Meal Futures 406 12,862,080 Mar-18 (357,585)
Soybean Oil Futures 482 9,618,792 Mar-18 (124,645)
Sugar #11 (World) Futures 752 12,768,358 Feb-18 955,868
WTI Crude Futures 124 7,494,560 Feb-18 409,436
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$ 187,029,136 $ 5,938,988
============== ==============
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 7
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENTS (CONTINUED)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
-----------------------------
VALUATION INPUTS
A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund's investments as of December 31,
2017 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to
Consolidated Financial Statements):
ASSETS TABLE
LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
TOTAL LEVEL 1 SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT
VALUE AT QUOTED OBSERVABLE UNOBSERVABLE
12/31/2017 PRICES INPUTS INPUTS
------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
Futures Contracts................................... $ 7,847,988 $ 7,847,988 $ -- $ --
============ ============ ============ ============
LIABILITIES TABLE
LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
TOTAL LEVEL 1 SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT
VALUE AT QUOTED OBSERVABLE UNOBSERVABLE
12/31/2017 PRICES INPUTS INPUTS
------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
Futures Contracts................................... $ (1,909,000) $ (1,909,000) $ -- $ --
============ ============ ============ ============
All transfers in and out of the Levels during the period are assumed to occur on
the last day of the period at their current value. There were no transfers
between Levels at December 31, 2017.
Page 8 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
DECEMBER 31, 2017
ASSETS:
Cash................................................................... $ 178,016,004
Cash segregated as collateral for open futures contracts............... 4,180,817
Receivables:
Variation margin.................................................... 7,847,988
Due from broker..................................................... 20,316
--------------
Total Assets........................................................ 190,065,125
--------------
LIABILITIES:
Payables:
Variation margin.................................................... 1,909,000
Investment advisory fees............................................ 151,495
--------------
Total Liabilities................................................... 2,060,495
--------------
NET ASSETS............................................................. $ 188,004,630
==============
NET ASSETS CONSIST OF:
Paid-in capital........................................................ $ 183,705,233
Par value.............................................................. 90,533
Accumulated net investment income (loss)............................... (1,730,124)
Accumulated net realized gain (loss) on futures........................ --
Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures.................. 5,938,988
--------------
NET ASSETS............................................................. $ 188,004,630
==============
NET ASSET VALUE, per share............................................. $ 20.77
==============
Number of shares outstanding (unlimited number of shares
authorized, par value $0.01 per share).............................. 9,053,334
==============
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 9
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017
INVESTMENT INCOME:
Interest............................................................... $ 946,950
--------------
Total investment income............................................. 946,950
--------------
EXPENSES:
Investment advisory fees............................................... 1,447,873
--------------
Total expenses...................................................... 1,447,873
--------------
NET INVESTMENT INCOME (LOSS)........................................... (500,923)
--------------
NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS):
Net realized gain (loss) on futures.................................... (2,017,325)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures........ 7,999,107
--------------
NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS)................................ 5,981,782
--------------
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS RESULTING
FROM OPERATIONS..................................................... $ 5,480,859
==============
Page 10 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
YEAR YEAR
ENDED ENDED
12/31/2017 12/31/2016
-------------- --------------
OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss)................................................ $ (500,923) $ (2,050,644)
Net realized gain (loss).................................................... (2,017,325) (4,154,196)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)........................ 7,999,107 2,687,641
-------------- --------------
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations............. 5,480,859 (3,517,199)
-------------- --------------
DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Net investment income....................................................... (2,260,617) --
-------------- --------------
SHAREHOLDER TRANSACTIONS:
Proceeds from shares sold................................................... 90,418,865 334,315,835
Cost of shares redeemed..................................................... (104,931,821) (315,501,696)
-------------- --------------
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from shareholder
transactions............................................................. (14,512,956) 18,814,139
-------------- --------------
Total increase (decrease) in net assets..................................... (11,292,714) 15,296,940
NET ASSETS:
Beginning of period......................................................... 199,297,344 184,000,404
-------------- --------------
End of period............................................................... $ 188,004,630 $ 199,297,344
============== ==============
Accumulated net investment income (loss) at end of period................... $ (1,730,124) $ 3,048,741
============== ==============
CHANGES IN SHARES OUTSTANDING:
Shares outstanding, beginning of period..................................... 9,753,334 9,053,334
Shares sold................................................................. 4,450,000 16,050,000
Shares redeemed............................................................. (5,150,000) (15,350,000)
-------------- --------------
Shares outstanding, end of period........................................... 9,053,334 9,753,334
============== ==============
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 11
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
FOR A SHARE OUTSTANDING THROUGHOUT EACH PERIOD
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, PERIOD
--------------------------------------------------- ENDED
2017 2016 2015 2014 12/31/2013 (a)
------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ --------------
Net asset value, beginning of period............... $ 20.43 $ 20.32 $ 26.24 $ 29.78 $ 29.99
-------- -------- -------- -------- --------
INCOME FROM INVESTMENT OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss)....................... (0.03) (0.20) (0.34) (0.38) (0.05)
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)............ 0.62 0.31 (5.58) (3.16) (0.16)
-------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Total from investment operations................... 0.59 0.11 (5.92) (3.54) (0.21)
-------- -------- -------- -------- --------
DISTRIBUTIONS PAID TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Net investment income.............................. (0.25) -- -- -- --
-------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Net asset value, end of period..................... $ 20.77 $ 20.43 $ 20.32 $ 26.24 $ 29.78
======== ======== ======== ======== ========
TOTAL RETURN (b)................................... 2.89% 0.54% (22.56)% (11.89)% (0.70)%
RATIOS/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA:
Net assets, end of period (in 000's)............... $188,005 $199,297 $184,000 $175,910 $ 3,077
RATIOS TO AVERAGE NET ASSETS:
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets...... 0.95% 0.95% 0.95% 0.95% 0.95% (c)
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average
net assets...................................... (0.33)% (0.81)% (0.92)% (0.92)% (0.92)% (c)
Portfolio turnover rate (d)........................ 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
(a) Inception date is October 22, 2013, which is consistent with the
commencement of investment operations. First Trust Portfolios L.P. seeded
the Fund on September 9, 2013, in order to provide initial capital
required by SEC rules.
(b) Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net
asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all
distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net
asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not
reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund
distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is
calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods
of less than a year.
(c) Annualized.
(d) Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not
annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities
received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions,
derivatives and in-kind transactions.
Page 12 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
1. ORGANIZATION
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII (the "Trust") is an open-end management
investment company organized as a Massachusetts business trust on November 6,
2012, and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")
under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act").
The Trust consists of two funds that are currently offering shares. This report
covers the First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (the "Fund"), a
non-diversified series of the Trust, which trades under the ticker FTGC on The
Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") and commenced operations on October 22, 2013.
Unlike conventional mutual funds, the Fund issues and redeems shares on a
continuous basis, at net asset value ("NAV"), only in large specified blocks
consisting of 50,000 shares called a "Creation Unit." The Fund's Creation Units
are generally issued and redeemed for cash, and in certain circumstances,
in-kind for securities in which the Fund invests. Except when aggregated in
Creation Units, the shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.
The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The investment objective
of the Fund is to seek to provide total return by providing investors with
commodity exposure while seeking a relatively stable risk profile. Under normal
market conditions, the Fund, through a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fund, FT
Cayman Subsidiary II (the "Subsidiary"), organized under the laws of the Cayman
Islands, invests in a portfolio of commodity futures contracts and
exchange-traded commodity linked instruments (collectively, "Commodities
Instruments"). The Fund will not invest directly in Commodities Instruments. The
Fund seeks to gain exposure to these investments exclusively by investing in the
Subsidiary. The Fund's investment in the Subsidiary may not exceed 25% of the
Fund's total assets at the end of each fiscal quarter. There can be no assurance
that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fund may not be
appropriate for all investors.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The Fund is considered an investment company and follows accounting and
reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting
Standards Codification Topic 946, "Financial Services-Investment Companies." The
consolidated financial statements include the accounts on a consolidated basis
of the Subsidiary. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been
eliminated in consolidation. The following is a summary of significant
accounting policies consistently followed by the Fund in the preparation of the
consolidated financial statements. The preparation of the consolidated financial
statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America ("U.S. GAAP") requires management to make estimates and
assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the consolidated
financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
A. PORTFOLIO VALUATION
The Fund's NAV is determined daily as of the close of regular trading on the New
York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, on each day the
NYSE is open for trading. The Fund's NAV is calculated by dividing the value of
all assets of the Fund (including accrued interest and dividends), less all
liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by
the total number of shares outstanding.
The Fund's investments are valued daily at market value or, in the absence of
market value with respect to any portfolio securities, at fair value. Market
value prices represent last sale or official closing prices from a national or
foreign exchange (i.e., a regulated market) and are primarily obtained from
third-party pricing services. Fair value prices represent any prices not
considered market value prices and are either obtained from a third-party
pricing service or are determined by the Pricing Committee of the Fund's
investment advisor, First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust" or the "Advisor"),
in accordance with valuation procedures adopted by the Trust's Board of
Trustees, and in accordance with provisions of the 1940 Act. Investments valued
by the Advisor's Pricing Committee, if any, are footnoted as such in the
footnotes to the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments. The Fund's investments
are valued as follows:
Exchange-traded futures contracts are valued at the closing price in the
market where such contracts are principally traded. If no closing price is
available, exchange-traded futures contracts are fair valued at the mean
of their most recent bid and asked price, if available, and otherwise at
their closing bid price.
If the Fund's investments are not able to be priced by their pre-established
pricing methods, such investments may be valued by the Trust's Board of Trustees
or its delegate, the Advisor's Pricing Committee, at fair value. A variety of
factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such investments.
Valuing the Fund's holdings using fair value pricing will result in using prices
for those holdings that may differ from current market valuations. The
Subsidiary's holdings will be valued in the same manner as the Fund's holdings.
Page 13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
The Fund is subject to fair value accounting standards that define fair value,
establish the framework for measuring fair value and provide a three-level
hierarchy for fair valuation based upon the inputs to the valuation as of the
measurement date. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:
o Level 1 - Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for
identical investments. An active market is a market in which
transactions for the investment occur with sufficient frequency and
volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
o Level 2 - Level 2 inputs are observable inputs, either directly or
indirectly, and include the following:
o Quoted prices for similar investments in active markets.
o Quoted prices for identical or similar investments in markets
that are non-active. A non-active market is a market where
there are few transactions for the investment, the prices are
not current, or price quotations vary substantially either
over time or among market makers, or in which little
information is released publicly.
o Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the
investment (for example, interest rates and yield curves
observable at commonly quoted intervals, volatilities,
prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks, and default
rates).
o Inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by
observable market data by correlation or other means.
o Level 3 - Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs. Unobservable
inputs may reflect the reporting entity's own assumptions about the
assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the
investment.
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments are not necessarily an
indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments. A summary
of the inputs used to value the Fund's investments as of December 31, 2017, is
included with the Fund's Consolidated Portfolio of Investments.
B. FUTURES CONTRACTS
The Fund, through the Subsidiary, may purchase and sell exchange-listed
commodity contracts. When the Subsidiary purchases a listed futures contract, it
agrees to purchase a specified reference asset (e.g., commodity) at a specified
future date. When the Subsidiary sells or shorts a listed futures contract, it
agrees to sell a specified reference asset (e.g., commodity) at a specified
future date. The price at which the purchase and sale will take place is fixed
when the Subsidiary enters into the contract. The exchange clearing corporation
is the ultimate counterparty for all exchange-listed contracts, so credit risk
is limited to the creditworthiness of the exchange's clearing corporation.
Margin deposits are posted as collateral with the clearing broker and, in turn,
with the exchange clearing corporation. Open futures contracts can be closed out
prior to settlement by entering into an offsetting transaction in a matching
futures contract. If the Subsidiary is not able to enter into an offsetting
transaction, the Subsidiary will continue to be required to maintain margin
deposits on the futures contract. When the contract is closed or expires, the
Subsidiary records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the
value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was
closed or expired. This gain or loss is included in "Net realized gain (loss) on
futures" on the Consolidated Statement of Operations.
Exchange-listed commodity futures contracts are generally based upon commodities
within the six principal commodity groups: energy, industrial metals,
agriculture, precious metals, foods and fibers, and livestock. The price of a
commodity futures contract will reflect the storage costs of purchasing the
physical commodity. These storage costs include the time value of money invested
in the physical commodity plus the actual costs of storing the commodity less
any benefits from ownership of the physical commodity that are not obtained by
the holder of a futures contract (this is sometimes referred to as the
"convenience yield"). To the extent that these storage costs change for an
underlying commodity while the Subsidiary is in a long position on that
commodity, the value of the futures contract may change proportionately.
Upon entering into a futures contract, the Subsidiary must deposit funds, called
margin, with its custodian in the name of the clearing broker equal to a
specified percentage of the current value of the contract. Open futures
contracts are marked-to-market daily with the change in value recognized as a
component of "Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures"
on the Consolidated Statement of Operations. This daily fluctuation in value of
the contracts is also known as variation margin and is included as "Variation
margin" payable or receivable on the Consolidated Statement of Assets and
Liabilities.
When the Subsidiary purchases or sells a futures contract, the Subsidiary is
required to collateralize its position in order to limit the risk associated
with the use of leverage and other related risks. To collateralize its position,
the Subsidiary segregates assets consisting of cash or liquid securities that,
when added to any amounts deposited with a futures commission merchant as
margin, are equal to the unrealized depreciation of the futures contract or
otherwise collateralize its position in a manner consistent with the 1940 Act or
the 1940 Act Rules and SEC interpretations thereunder. As the Subsidiary
continues to engage in the described securities trading practices and properly
segregates assets, the segregated assets will function as a practical limit on
the amount of leverage which the Subsidiary may undertake and on the potential
increase in the speculative character of the Subsidiary's outstanding portfolio
investments. Additionally, such segregated assets generally ensure the
availability of adequate funds to meet the obligations of the Subsidiary arising
from such investment activities.
Page 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
C. CASH
The Fund holds assets equal to or greater than the full notional exposure of the
futures contracts. These assets may consist of cash and other short-term
securities to comply with SEC guidance with respect to coverage of futures
contracts by registered investment companies. At December 31, 2017, the Fund had
restricted cash held of $4,180,817, which is included in "Cash segregated as
collateral for open futures contracts" on the Consolidated Statement of Assets
and Liabilities.
D. INVESTMENT TRANSACTIONS AND INVESTMENT INCOME
Investment transactions are recorded as of the trade date. Realized gains and
losses from investment transactions are recorded on the identified cost basis.
Interest income, if any, is recorded on the accrual basis.
E. DIVIDENDS AND DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid quarterly by
the Fund. The Fund distributes its net realized capital gains, if any, to
shareholders at least annually.
Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole shares
only if the broker through whom the shares were purchased makes such option
available. Such shares will generally be reinvested by the broker based upon the
market price of those shares and investors may be subject to customary brokerage
commissions charged by the broker.
Distributions from net investment income and realized capital gains are
determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S.
GAAP. Certain capital accounts in the consolidated financial statements are
periodically adjusted for permanent differences in order to reflect their tax
character. These permanent differences are primarily due to the varying
treatment of income and gain/loss on portfolio securities held by the Fund and
have no impact on net assets or NAV per share. Temporary differences, which
arise from recognizing certain items of income, expense and gain/loss in
different periods for consolidated financial statement and tax purposes, will
reverse at some time in the future.
The tax character of distributions paid during the fiscal years ended December
31, 2017 and 2016 was as follows:
Distributions paid from: 2017 2016
Ordinary income $ 2,260,617 $ --
As of December 31, 2017, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis
for the Fund were as follows:
Undistributed Accumulated Net Unrealized
Ordinary Capital and Appreciation
Income Other Gains (Depreciation)
--------------- --------------- ---------------
$ 94,423 $ (565,314) $ 6,504,302
F. INCOME TAXES
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by
complying with the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), which includes distributing substantially all
of its net investment income and net realized gains to shareholders.
Accordingly, no provision has been made for federal and state income taxes.
However, due to the timing and amount of distributions, the Fund may be subject
to an excise tax of 4% of the amount by which approximately 98% of the Fund's
taxable income exceeds the distributions from such taxable income for the
calendar year.
The Subsidiary is classified as a controlled foreign corporation under
Subchapter N of the Code. Therefore, the Fund is required to increase its
taxable income by its share of the Subsidiary's income, whether or not such
earnings are distributed by the Subsidiary to the Fund. Net investment losses of
the Subsidiary cannot be deducted by the Fund in the current period nor carried
forward to offset taxable income in future periods.
The Fund intends to utilize provisions of the federal income tax laws, which
allow it to carry a realized capital loss forward indefinitely following the
year of the loss and offset such loss against any future realized capital gains.
The Fund is subject to certain limitations under U.S. tax rules on the use of
capital loss carryforwards and net unrealized built-in losses. These limitations
apply when there has been a 50% change in ownership. At December 31, 2017, the
Fund had no capital loss carryforwards outstanding for federal income tax
purposes.
The Fund is subject to accounting standards that establish a minimum threshold
for recognizing, and a system for measuring, the benefits of a tax position
taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. Taxable years ended 2014, 2015,
2016, and 2017 remain open to federal and state audit. As of December 31, 2017,
management has evaluated the application of these standards to the Fund and has
determined that no provision for income tax is required in the Fund's
consolidated financial statements for uncertain tax positions.
Page 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
In order to present paid-in capital, accumulated net investment income (loss)
and accumulated net realized gain (loss) on futures on the Consolidated
Statement of Assets and Liabilities that more closely represent their tax
character, certain adjustments have been made to paid-in capital, accumulated
net investment income (loss) and accumulated net realized gain (loss) on
futures. These adjustments are primarily due to the difference between book and
tax treatment of net investment income from the Subsidiary. The results of
operations and net assets were not affected by these adjustments. For the year
ended December 31, 2017, the adjustments for the Fund were as follows:
Accumulated
Accumulated Net Realized
Net Investment Gain (Loss) Paid-in
Income (Loss) on Futures Capital
--------------- --------------- ---------------
$ (2,017,325) $ 2,017,325 $ --
G. EXPENSES
Expenses, other than the investment advisory fee and other excluded expenses,
are paid by First Trust (see Note 3).
H. NEW AND AMENDED FINANCIAL REPORTING RULES AND FORMS
On October 13, 2016, the SEC adopted new rules and forms, and amended existing
rules and forms. The new and amended rules and forms are intended to modernize
the reporting of information provided by funds and to improve the quality and
type of information that funds provide to the SEC and investors. In part, the
new and amended rules and forms amend Regulation S-X and require standardized,
enhanced disclosures about derivatives in a fund's financial statements, as well
as other amendments. The compliance date for the amendments of Regulation S-X
was August 1, 2017, which resulted in additional disclosure for derivative
instruments within the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments. The new form types
and other rule amendments will be effective for the First Trust funds, including
the Fund, for reporting periods beginning on and after June 1, 2018. Management
is evaluating the new form types and other rule amendments that are effective on
and after June 1, 2018 to determine the impact to the Fund.
3. INVESTMENT ADVISORY FEE, AFFILIATED TRANSACTIONS AND OTHER FEE ARRANGEMENTS
First Trust, the investment advisor to the Fund, is a limited partnership with
one limited partner, Grace Partners of DuPage L.P., and one general partner, The
Charger Corporation. The Charger Corporation is an Illinois corporation
controlled by James A. Bowen, Chief Executive Officer of First Trust. First
Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the investments
in the Fund's and the Subsidiary's portfolio, managing the Fund's business
affairs and providing certain administrative services necessary for the
management of the Fund.
Pursuant to the Investment Management Agreement between the Trust and the
Advisor, First Trust manages the investment of the Fund's assets and is
responsible for the Fund's and the Subsidiary's expenses, including the cost of
transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services,
but excluding fee payments under the Investment Management Agreement, interest,
taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses connected with the execution of
portfolio transactions, distribution and service fees pursuant to a 12b-1 plan,
if any, and extraordinary expenses. The Fund has agreed to pay First Trust an
annual unitary management fee equal to 0.95% of its average daily net assets.
First Trust also provides fund reporting services to the Fund for a flat annual
fee in the amount of $9,250, which is covered under the annual unitary
management fee. The Subsidiary does not pay First Trust a separate management
fee.
The Trust has multiple service agreements with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
("BBH"). Under the service agreements, BBH performs custodial, fund accounting,
certain administrative services, and transfer agency services for the Fund. As
custodian, BBH is responsible for custody of the Fund's assets. As fund
accountant and administrator, BBH is responsible for maintaining the books and
records of the Fund's investments and cash. As transfer agent, BBH is
responsible for maintaining shareholder records for the Fund.
Each Trustee who is not an officer or employee of First Trust, any sub-advisor
or any of their affiliates ("Independent Trustees") is paid a fixed annual
retainer that is allocated equally among each fund in the First Trust Fund
Complex. Each Independent Trustee is also paid an annual per fund fee that
varies based on whether the fund is a closed-end or other actively managed fund,
or is an index fund.
Additionally, the Lead Independent Trustee and the Chairmen of the Audit
Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and Valuation Committee are paid
annual fees to serve in such capacities, with such compensation allocated pro
rata among each fund in the First Trust Fund Complex based on net assets.
Independent Trustees are reimbursed for travel and out-of-pocket expenses in
connection with all meetings. The Lead Independent Trustee and Committee
Chairmen rotate every three years. The officers and "Interested" Trustee receive
no compensation from the Trust for acting in such capacities.
Page 16
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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
4. PURCHASES AND SALES OF INVESTMENTS
For the year ended December 31, 2017, the cost of purchases and proceeds from
sales of investment securities, excluding short-term investments, derivatives
and in-kind transactions, were $0 and $0, respectively.
For the year ended December 31, 2017, the Fund did not have any in-kind
purchases or sales.
5. DERIVATIVE TRANSACTIONS
The following table presents the types of derivatives held by the Subsidiary at
December 31, 2017, the primary underlying risk exposure and the location of
these instruments as presented on the Consolidated Statement of Assets and
Liabilities.
ASSET DERIVATIVES LIABILITY DERIVATIVES
-------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
CONSOLIDATED CONSOLIDATED
DERIVATIVE STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND
INSTRUMENT RISK EXPOSURE LIABILITIES LOCATION VALUE LIABILITIES LOCATION VALUE
-------------- ---------------- ------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ -----------
Futures Commodity Risk Variation Margin Receivable $ 7,847,988 Variation Margin Payable $ 1,909,000
The following table presents the amount of net realized gain (loss) and change
in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) recognized for the year ended
December 31, 2017, on derivative instruments, as well as the primary underlying
risk exposure associated with each instrument.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS LOCATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMODITY RISK EXPOSURE
Net realized gain (loss) on futures $(2,017,325)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures 7,999,107
During the year ended December 31, 2017, the notional values of futures
contracts opened and closed were $1,252,045,258 and $1,268,378,082,
respectively.
The Fund does not have the right to offset financial assets and financial
liabilities related to futures contracts on the Consolidated Statement of Assets
and Liabilities.
6. CREATIONS, REDEMPTIONS AND TRANSACTION FEES
Shares are created and redeemed by the Fund only in Creation Unit size
aggregations of 50,000 shares in transactions with broker-dealers or large
institutional investors that have entered into a participation agreement (an
"Authorized Participant"). In order to purchase Creation Units of the Fund, an
Authorized Participant must deposit (i) a designated portfolio of securities
determined by First Trust (the "Deposit Securities") and generally make or
receive a cash payment referred to as the "Cash Component," which is an amount
equal to the difference between the NAV of the Fund Shares (per Creation Unit
Aggregation) and the market value of the Deposit Securities, and/or (ii) cash in
lieu of all or a portion of the Deposit Securities. If the Cash Component is a
positive number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation exceeds the Deposit
Amount), the Authorized Participant will deliver the Cash Component. If the Cash
Component is a negative number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation is
less than the Deposit Amount), the Authorized Participant will receive the Cash
Component. Authorized Participants purchasing Creation Units must pay to BBH, as
transfer agent, a creation transaction fee (the "Creation Transaction Fee")
regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased in the transaction. The
Creation Transaction Fee is based on the composition of the securities included
in the Fund's portfolio and the countries in which the transactions are settled.
The Creation Transaction Fee is currently $500. The price for each Creation Unit
will equal the daily NAV per share times the number of shares in a Creation Unit
plus the fees described above and, if applicable, any operational processing and
brokerage costs, transfer fees or stamp taxes. When the Fund permits an
Authorized Participant to substitute cash or a different security in lieu of
depositing one or more of the requisite Deposit Securities, the Authorized
Participant may also be assessed an amount to cover the cost of purchasing the
Deposit Securities and/or disposing of the substituted securities, including
operational processing and brokerage costs, transfer fees, stamp taxes, and part
or all of the spread between the expected bid and offer side of the market
related to such Deposit Securities and/or substitute securities.
Authorized Participants redeeming Creation Units must pay to BBH, as transfer
agent, a redemption transaction fee (the "Redemption Transaction Fee"),
regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed in the transaction. The
Redemption Transaction Fee may vary and is based on the composition of the
securities included in the Fund's portfolio and the countries in which the
transactions are settled. The Redemption Transaction Fee is currently $500. The
Fund reserves the right to effect redemptions in cash. An Authorized Participant
may request cash redemption in lieu of securities; however, the Fund may, in its
discretion, reject any such request.
Page 17
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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
7. DISTRIBUTION PLAN
The Board of Trustees adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule
12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Rule 12b-1 plan, the Fund is
authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each
year to reimburse First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), the distributor of the
Fund, for amounts expended to finance activities primarily intended to result in
the sale of Creation Units or the provision of investor services. FTP may also
use this amount to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are
Authorized Participants for providing distribution assistance, including
broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services.
No 12b-1 fees are currently paid by the Fund, and pursuant to a contractual
arrangement, no 12b-1 fees will be paid any time before April 30, 2019.
8. INDEMNIFICATION
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has a variety of indemnification obligations
under contracts with its service providers. The Trust's maximum exposure under
these arrangements is unknown. However, the Trust has not had prior claims or
losses pursuant to these contracts and expects the risk of loss to be remote.
9. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
Management has evaluated the impact of all subsequent events to the Fund through
the date the consolidated financial statements were issued, and has determined
that there were no subsequent events requiring recognition or disclosure in the
consolidated financial statements that have not already been disclosed.
Page 18
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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO THE SHAREHOLDERS AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL
COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND AND SUBSIDIARY:
OPINION ON THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL
HIGHLIGHTS
We have audited the accompanying consolidated statement of assets and
liabilities of First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund and
Subsidiary (the "Fund"), a series of the First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII,
including the consolidated portfolio of investments, as of December 31, 2017,
the related consolidated statement of operations for the year then ended, the
consolidated statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in
the period then ended, the consolidated financial highlights for each of the
periods presented, and the related notes. In our opinion, the consolidated
financial statements and consolidated financial highlights present fairly, in
all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of December 31,
2017, and the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in
its net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the
financial highlights for each of the periods presented, in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
BASIS FOR OPINION
These consolidated financial statements and consolidated financial highlights
are the responsibility of the Fund's management. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on the Fund's financial statements and financial highlights
based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to
be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal
securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are
free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Fund is not
required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of their internal
control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to
obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for
the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's internal
control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material
misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due
to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such
procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts
and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits
also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant
estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of
the financial statements and financial highlights. Our procedures included
confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2017, by correspondence with
the custodian and brokers. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chicago, Illinois
February 23, 2018
We have served as the auditor of one or more First Trust investment companies
since 2001.
Page 19
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
A description of the policies and procedures that the Trust uses to determine
how to vote proxies and information on how the Fund voted proxies relating to
portfolio investments during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is
available (1) without charge, upon request, by calling (800) 988-5891; (2) on
the Fund's website located at www.ftportfolios.com; and (3) on the Securities
and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") website located at www.sec.gov.
PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS
The Trust files its complete schedule of the Fund's portfolio holdings with the
SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The
Trust's Form N-Qs are available (1) by calling (800) 988-5891; (2) on the Fund's
website located at www.ftportfolios.com; (3) on the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov; and (4) for review and copying at the SEC's Public Reference Room
("PRR") in Washington, DC. Information regarding the operation of the PRR may be
obtained by calling (800) SEC-0330.
TAX INFORMATION
Of the ordinary income (including short-term capital gain) distributions made by
the Fund during the year ended December 31, 2017, none qualify for the corporate
dividends received deduction available to corporate shareholders or as qualified
dividend income.
RISK CONSIDERATIONS
Risks are inherent in all investing. You should consider the Fund's investment
objective, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. You can
download the Fund's prospectus at www.ftportfolios.com or contact First Trust
Portfolios L.P. at (800) 621-1675 to request a prospectus, which contains this
and other information about the Fund. For additional information about the risks
associated with investing in the Fund, please see the Fund's statement of
additional information, as well as other regulatory filings. Read these
documents carefully before you invest. First Trust Portfolios L.P. is the
distributor of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII.
The following summarizes some of the risks that should be considered for the
Fund.
CASH TRANSACTION RISK. The Fund will, under most circumstances, effect a portion
of creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a
result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment
in an exchange-traded fund that effects its creations and redemption for in-kind
securities. Because the Fund may effect a portion of redemptions for cash, it
may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed
to distribute redemption proceeds. A sale of shares may result in capital gains
or losses and may also result in higher brokerage costs.
CLEARING BROKER RISK. The failure or bankruptcy of the Fund's and the
Subsidiary's clearing broker could result in a substantial loss of Fund assets.
Under current Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") regulations, a
clearing broker maintains customers' assets in a bulk segregated account. If a
clearing broker fails to do so, or is unable to satisfy a substantial deficit in
a customer account, its other customers may be subject to risk of loss of their
funds in the event of that clearing broker's bankruptcy. In that event, the
clearing broker's customers, such as the Fund and the Subsidiary, are entitled
to recover, even in respect of property specifically traceable to them, only a
proportional share of all property available for distribution to all of that
clearing broker's customers.
COMMODITY RISK. The value of Commodities Instruments typically is based upon the
price movements of a physical commodity or an economic variable linked to such
price movements. The prices of Commodities Instruments may fluctuate quickly and
dramatically and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes. An
active trading market may not exist for certain commodities. Each of these
factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.
COUNTERPARTY RISK. The Fund bears the risk that the counterparty to a commodity,
derivative or other contract with a third party may default on its obligations
or otherwise fail to honor its obligations. If a counterparty defaults on its
payment obligations the Fund will lose money and the value of an investment in
Fund shares may decrease. In addition, the Fund may engage in such investment
transactions with a limited number of counterparties.
Page 20
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
CREDIT RISK. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable
or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and
the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns
about the issuer's ability to make such payments.
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE RISK. The Fund may hold investments that are denominated
in non-U.S. currencies, or in securities that provide exposure to such
currencies, currency exchange rates or interest rates denominated in such
currencies. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of
non-U.S. currencies will affect the value of the Fund's investment and the value
of Fund shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change
quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund
may change quickly and without warning and you may lose money.
DERIVATIVES INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund, through the Subsidiary, invests in
products generally referred to as "derivatives." Derivatives are financial
instruments whose value depends upon, or is derived from, an underlying
reference asset, such as a commodity, an index, or an interest or a currency
exchange rate. Derivatives are subject to a number of risks described elsewhere
in this prospectus, such as credit risk, interest rate risk and market risk. In
addition, they involve the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may
not correlate perfectly or substantially with the underlying asset, rate or
index. Fund losses are likely to occur if the values do not correlate as
expected. Derivatives can be volatile and may be less liquid than other
securities. A lack of liquidity could result in the Fund being unable to close
out a derivatives transaction in a cost-efficient manner. Moreover, unlike a
publicly traded security for which the value is readily ascertainable,
derivatives may at times be difficult to value.
The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the
price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate, which may be magnified by
certain features of the derivatives. Derivative instruments also involve the
risk that the other party to the derivative transaction will not meet its
obligations. These risks are heightened when derivatives are used to enhance the
Fund's return or as a substitute for a position or security, rather than solely
to hedge (or offset) the risk of a position or security held by the Fund.
The Fund's use of certain derivatives may create investment leverage. This means
that the derivative position may provide the Fund with investment exposure
greater than the value of the Fund's investment in the derivative. As a result,
these derivatives may magnify losses to the Fund, and even a small market
movement may result in significant losses to the Fund. The risk of loss from
certain short derivative positions is theoretically unlimited. The Fund may at
times be required to liquidate portfolio positions, including when it is not
advantageous to do so, in order to comply with the guidance from the Securities
and Exchange Commission regarding asset segregation requirements to cover
certain derivative positions. The success of the Fund's derivatives strategies
will depend on the Advisor's ability to manage these sophisticated instruments.
The U.S. government has recently enacted legislation which includes new
regulation of derivatives markets. Because the legislation leaves much to rule
making, and many rules are not yet final, the ultimate impact remains unclear.
Regulatory changes could restrict the ability of the Fund and Subsidiary to
engage in derivative transactions or increase the cost of these transactions,
which may make it difficult or impossible for the Fund to pursue its investment
strategy.
ETF RISK. An ETF trades like common stock and represents a portfolio of
securities. The risks of owning an ETF generally reflect the risks of owning the
underlying securities, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in it
being more volatile and ETFs have management fees that increase their costs.
FOREIGN COMMODITY MARKETS RISK. The Fund, through the Subsidiary, engages in
trading on commodity markets outside the United States on behalf of the Fund.
Trading on such markets is not regulated by any United States government agency
and may involve certain risks not applicable to trading on United States
exchanges. The Fund may not have the same access to certain trades as do various
other participants in foreign markets. Furthermore, as the Fund determines its
net assets in United States dollars, with respect to trading in foreign markets
the Fund is subject to the risk of fluctuations in the exchange rate between the
local currency and dollars as well as the possibility of exchange controls.
Certain futures contracts traded on foreign exchanges are treated differently
for federal income tax purposes than are domestic contracts.
FREQUENT TRADING RISK. The Fund regularly purchases and subsequently sells,
i.e., "rolls," individual commodity futures contracts throughout the year so as
to maintain a fully invested position. As the commodity contracts near their
expiration dates, the Fund rolls them into new contracts. This frequent trading
of contracts may increase the amount of commissions or mark-ups to
broker-dealers that the Fund pays when it buys and sells contracts, which may
detract from the Fund's performance.
Page 21
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
FUTURES RISK. The Fund invests in futures through the Subsidiary. All futures
and futures-related products are highly volatile. Price movements are influenced
by, among other things, changing supply and demand relationships; climate;
government agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs
and policies; national and international political and economic events; crop
diseases; the purchasing and marketing programs of different nations; and
changes in interest rates. In addition, governments from time to time intervene,
directly and by regulation, in certain markets, particularly those in
currencies.
GAP RISK. The Fund is subject to the risk that a commodity price will change
from one level to another with no trading in between. Usually such movements
occur when there are adverse news announcements, which can cause a commodity
price to drop substantially from the previous day's closing price.
INCOME RISK. Income from the Fund's fixed income investments could decline
during periods of falling interest rates.
INTEREST RATE RISK. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the
securities in the Fund will decline because of rising market interest rates. The
Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would
normally be the case due to the recent period of historically low rates and the
effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market
reaction to those initiatives. Interest rate risk is generally lower for
shorter-term investments and higher for longer-term investments.
INVESTMENT COMPANIES RISK. The Fund may invest in securities of other investment
companies, including ETFs. As a shareholder in other investment companies, the
Fund will bear its ratable share of that investment company's expenses, and
would remain subject to payment of the Fund's advisory and administrative fees
with respect to assets so invested. In addition, the Fund will incur brokerage
costs when purchasing and selling shares of ETFs or other exchange-traded
investment companies.
LIQUIDITY RISK. The Fund invests in Commodities Instruments, which may be less
liquid than other types of investments. The illiquidity of Commodities
Instruments could have a negative effect on the Fund's ability to achieve its
investment objective and may result in losses to Fund shareholders.
MANAGEMENT RISK. The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an
actively managed portfolio. The Advisor will apply investment techniques and
risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no
guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment objective.
MARKET RISK. The trading prices of commodities futures, fixed income securities
and other instruments fluctuate in response to a variety of factors. The Fund's
net asset value and market price may fluctuate significantly in response to
these factors. As a result, an investor could lose money over short or long
periods of time.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified" under the
1940 Act. As a result, the Fund is only limited as to the percentage of its
assets that may be invested in the securities of any one issuer by the
diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended (the "Code"). The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its
assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more
susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one
or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested
in certain issuers.
NON-U.S. INVESTMENT RISK. The Fund may invest in commodity futures contracts
traded on non-U.S. exchanges or enter into over-the-counter derivative contracts
with non-U.S. counterparties. Transactions on non-U.S. exchanges or with
non-U.S. counterparties present risks because they may not be subject to the
same degree of regulation as their U.S. counterparts.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. The Fund's strategy may frequently involve buying and
selling portfolio securities by the Subsidiary to rebalance the Fund's exposure
to various market sectors. The Subsidiary's higher portfolio turnover may result
in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and generating greater tax
liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund's
performance to be less than you expect.
REGULATORY RISK. The Fund's investment decisions may need to be modified, and
commodity contract positions held by the Fund may have to be liquidated at
disadvantageous times or prices, to avoid exceeding any applicable position
limits established by the CFTC, potentially subjecting the Fund to substantial
losses. The regulation of commodity transactions in the United States is a
rapidly changing area of law and is subject to ongoing modification by
government, self-regulatory and judicial action. The effect of any future
regulatory change with respect to any aspect of the Fund is impossible to
predict, but could be substantial and adverse to the Fund.
Page 22
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
REPURCHASE AGREEMENT RISK. The Fund's investment in repurchase agreements may be
subject to market and credit risk with respect to the collateral securing the
repurchase agreements. Investments in repurchase agreements also may be subject
to the risk that the market value of the underlying obligations may decline
prior to the expiration of the repurchase agreement term.
SHORT SALES RISK. The Fund may engage in "short sale" transactions. The Fund
will lose value if the security or instrument that is the subject of a short
sale increases in value. The Fund also may enter into a short derivative
position through a futures contract. If the price of the security or derivative
that is the subject of a short sale increases, then the Fund will incur a loss
equal to the increase in price from the time that the short sale was entered
into plus any premiums and interest paid to a third party in connection with the
short sale. Therefore, short sales involve the risk that losses may be
exaggerated, potentially losing more money than the actual cost of the
investment. Also, there is the risk that the third party to the short sale may
fail to honor its contract terms, causing a loss to the Fund.
SUBSIDIARY INVESTMENT RISK. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the
Cayman Islands, under which the Fund and the Subsidiary are organized,
respectively, could result in the inability of the Fund to operate as intended
and could negatively affect the Fund and its shareholders. The Subsidiary is not
registered under the 1940 Act and is not subject to all the investor protections
of the 1940 Act. Thus, the Fund, as an investor in the Subsidiary, will not have
all the protections offered to investors in registered investment companies.
TAX RISK. The Fund intends to treat any income it may derive from Commodities
Instruments (other than derivatives described in Revenue Rulings 2006 1 and 2006
31) received by the Subsidiary as "qualifying income" under the provisions of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to "regulated
investment companies" ("RICs"), based on a tax opinion received from special
counsel which was based, in part, on numerous private letter rulings ("PLRs")
provided to third parties not associated with the Fund or its affiliates (which
only those parties may rely on as precedent). Shareholders and potential
investors should be aware, however, that, in July 2011, the Internal Revenue
Service ("IRS") suspended the issuance of such PLRs pending its re-examination
of the policies underlying them, which is still ongoing. If, at the end of that
re-examination, the IRS changes its position with respect to the conclusions
reached in those PLRs, then the Fund may be required to restructure its
investments to satisfy the qualifying income requirement or might cease to
qualify as a RIC.
If the Fund did not qualify as a RIC for any taxable year and certain relief
provisions were not available, the Fund's taxable income would be subject to tax
at the Fund level and to a further tax at the shareholder level when such income
is distributed. In such event, in order to re-qualify for taxation as a RIC, the
Fund might be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and
interest and make certain distributions. This would cause investors to incur
higher tax liabilities than they otherwise would have incurred and would have a
negative impact on Fund returns. In such event, the Fund's Board of Trustees may
determine to reorganize or close the Fund or materially change the Fund's
investment objective and strategies.
In the event that the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC, the Fund will promptly
notify shareholders of the implications of the failure.
The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in equity repurchase agreements.
Recent changes in the law have the potential of changing the character and
source of such instruments potentially subjecting them to unexpected U.S.
taxation. Depending upon the terms of the contracts, the Fund may be required to
indemnify the counterparty for such increased tax.
U.S. GOVERNMENT AND AGENCY SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in U.S.
government obligations. U.S. government obligations include U.S. Treasury
obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies of the U.S.
government or by various instrumentalities which have been established or
sponsored by the U.S. government. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the
"full faith and credit" of the U.S. government. Securities issued or guaranteed
by federal agencies and U.S. government sponsored instrumentalities may or may
not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
VOLATILITY RISK. Frequent or significant short-term price movements could
adversely impact the performance of the Fund. In addition, the net asset value
of the Fund over short-term periods may be more volatile than other investment
options because of the Fund's significant use of financial instruments that have
a leveraging effect. For example, because of the low margin deposits required,
futures trading involves an extremely high degree of leverage and as a result, a
relatively small price movement in a Commodities Instrument may result in
immediate and substantial losses to the Fund.
WHIPSAW MARKETS RISK. The Fund may be subject to the forces of "whipsaw" markets
(as opposed to choppy or stable markets), in which significant price movements
develop but then repeatedly reverse. Such market conditions could cause
substantial losses to the Fund.
Page 23
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
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FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
REMUNERATION
First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust") is authorised and regulated by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is entitled to market shares of the
First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund it manages (the "Fund") in
certain member states in the European Economic Area in accordance with the
cooperation arrangements in Article 42 of the Alternative Investment Fund
Managers Directive (the "Directive"). First Trust is required under the
Directive to make disclosures in respect of remuneration. The following
disclosures are made in line with First Trust's interpretation of currently
available regulatory guidance on remuneration disclosures.
During the year ended December 31, 2017, the amount of remuneration paid (or to
be paid) by First Trust Advisors L.P. in respect of the Fund is $1,545,093. This
figure is comprised of $383,415 paid (or to be paid) in fixed compensation and
$1,161,678 paid (or to be paid) in variable compensation. There were a total of
16 beneficiaries of the remuneration described above. Those amounts include
$56,223 paid (or to be paid) to senior management of First Trust Advisors L.P.
and $1,488,870 paid (or to be paid) to other employees whose professional
activities have a material impact on the risk profiles of First Trust Advisors
L.P. or the Fund (collectively, "Code Staff").
Code Staff included in the aggregated figures disclosed above are rewarded in
line with First Trust's remuneration policy (the "Remuneration Policy") which is
determined and implemented by First Trust's senior management. The Remuneration
Policy reflects First Trust's ethos of good governance and encapsulates the
following principal objectives:
i. to provide a clear link between remuneration and performance of
First Trust and to avoid rewarding for failure;
ii. to promote sound and effective risk management consistent with the
risk profiles of the Funds managed by First Trust; and
iii. to remunerate staff in line with the business strategy, objectives,
values and interests of First Trust and the Funds managed by First
Trust in a manner that avoids conflicts of interest.
First Trust assesses various risk factors which it is exposed to when
considering and implementing remuneration for Code Staff and considers whether
any potential award to such person(s) would give rise to a conflict of interest.
First Trust does not reward failure, or consider the taking of risk or failure
to take risk in its remuneration of Code Staff.
First Trust assesses performance for the purposes of determining payments in
respect of performance-related remuneration of Code Staff by reference to a
broad range of measures including (i) individual performance (using financial
and non-financial criteria), and (ii) the overall performance of First Trust.
Remuneration is not based upon the performance of the Fund.
The elements of remuneration are balanced between fixed and variable and the
senior management sets fixed salaries at a level sufficient to ensure that
variable remuneration incentivises and rewards strong individual performance but
does not encourage excessive risk taking.
No individual is involved in setting his or her own remuneration.
Page 24
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
The following tables identify the Trustees and Officers of the Trust. Unless
otherwise indicated, the address of all persons is 120 E. Liberty Drive, Suite
400, Wheaton, IL 60187.
The Trust's statement of additional information includes additional information
about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling
(800) 988-5891.
NUMBER OF OTHER
PORTFOLIOS IN TRUSTEESHIPS OR
TERM OF OFFICE THE FIRST TRUST DIRECTORSHIPS
AND YEAR FIRST FUND COMPLEX HELD BY TRUSTEE
NAME, YEAR OF BIRTH AND ELECTED OR PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONS OVERSEEN BY DURING PAST
POSITION WITH THE TRUST APPOINTED DURING PAST 5 YEARS TRUSTEE 5 YEARS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard E. Erickson, Trustee o Indefinite Term Physician, Officer, Wheaton Orthopedics; 151 None
(1951) Limited Partner, Gundersen Real Estate
o Since Inception Limited Partnership (June 1992 to December
2016); Member, Sportsmed LLC (April 2007
to November 2015)
Thomas R. Kadlec, Trustee o Indefinite Term President, ADM Investor Services, Inc. 151 Director of ADM
(1957) (Futures Commission Merchant) Investor Services,
o Since Inception Inc., ADM
Investor Services
International,
Futures Industry
Association, and
National Futures
Association
Robert F. Keith, Trustee o Indefinite Term President, Hibs Enterprises (Financial and 151 Director of Trust
(1956) Management Consulting) Company of
o Since Inception Illinois
Niel B. Nielson, Trustee o Indefinite Term Managing Director and Chief Operating 151 Director of
(1954) Officer (January 2015 to Present), Pelita Covenant
o Since Inception Harapan Educational Foundation Transport, Inc.
(Educational Products and Services); (May 2003 to
President and Chief Executive Officer (June May 2014)
2012 to September 2014), Servant Interactive
LLC (Educational Products and Services);
President and Chief Executive Officer (June
2012 to September 2014), Dew Learning
LLC (Educational Products and Services)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERESTED TRUSTEE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James A. Bowen(1), Trustee o Indefinite Term Chief Executive Officer, First Trust Advisors 151 None
and Chairman of the Board L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.; Chairman
(1955) o Since Inception of the Board of Directors, BondWave LLC
(Software Development Company) and
Stonebridge Advisors LLC (Investment
Advisor)
-----------------------------
(1) Mr. Bowen is deemed an "interested person" of the Trust due to his
position as Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P.,
investment advisor of the Trust.
Page 25
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
POSITION AND TERM OF OFFICE
OFFICES AND LENGTH OF PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONS
NAME AND YEAR OF BIRTH WITH TRUST SERVICE DURING PAST 5 YEARS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICERS(2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James M. Dykas President and Chief o Indefinite Term Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer
(1966) Executive Officer (January 2016 to Present), Controller (January 2011
o Since January 2016 to January 2016), Senior Vice President (April 2007
to January 2016), First Trust Advisors L.P. and First
Trust Portfolios L.P.; Chief Financial Officer
(January 2016 to Present), BondWave LLC
(Software Development Company) and Stonebridge
Advisors LLC (Investment Advisor)
Donald P. Swade Treasurer, Chief o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President (July 2016 to Present), Vice
(1972) Financial Officer and President (April 2012 to July 2016), First Trust
Chief Accounting Officer o Since January 2016 Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
W. Scott Jardine Secretary and Chief o Indefinite Term General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First
(1960) Legal Officer Trust Portfolios L.P.; Secretary and General
o Since Inception Counsel, BondWave LLC; and Secretary, Stonebridge
Advisors LLC
Daniel J. Lindquist Vice President o Indefinite Term Managing Director, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1970) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
Kristi A. Maher Chief Compliance o Indefinite Term Deputy General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P.
(1966) Officer and Assistant and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
Secretary o Since Inception
Roger F. Testin Vice President o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1966) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
Stan Ueland Vice President o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1970) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
-----------------------------
(2) The term "officer" means the president, vice president, secretary,
treasurer, controller or any other officer who performs a policy making
function.
Page 26
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PRIVACY POLICY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST GLOBAL TACTICAL COMMODITY STRATEGY FUND (FTGC)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
First Trust values our relationship with you and considers your privacy an
important priority in maintaining that relationship. We are committed to
protecting the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
o Information we receive from you and your broker-dealer, investment
advisor or financial representative through interviews,
applications, agreements or other forms;
o Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates or
others;
o Information we receive from your inquiries by mail, e-mail or
telephone; and
o Information we collect on our website through the use of "cookies".
For example, we may identify the pages on our website that your
browser requests or visits.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
The type of data we collect may include your name, address, social security
number, age, financial status, assets, income, tax information, retirement and
estate plan information, transaction history, account balance, payment history,
investment objectives, marital status, family relationships and other personal
information.
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or
former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. In addition to using
this information to verify your identity (as required under law), the permitted
uses may also include the disclosure of such information to unaffiliated
companies for the following reasons:
o In order to provide you with products and services and to effect
transactions that you request or authorize, we may disclose your
personal information as described above to unaffiliated financial
service providers and other companies that perform administrative or
other services on our behalf, such as transfer agents, custodians
and trustees, or that assist us in the distribution of investor
materials such as trustees, banks, financial representatives, proxy
services, solicitors and printers.
o We may release information we have about you if you direct us to do
so, if we are compelled by law to do so, or in other legally limited
circumstances (for example to protect your account from fraud).
In addition, in order to alert you to our other financial products and services,
we may share your personal information with affiliates of the Fund.
USE OF WEB ANALYTICS
We currently use third party analytics tools, Google Analytics and AddThis, to
gather information for purposes of improving First Trust's website and marketing
our products and services to you. These tools employ cookies, which are small
pieces of text stored in a file by your web browser and sent to websites that
you visit, to collect information, track website usage and viewing trends such
as the number of hits, pages visited, videos and PDFs viewed and the length of
user sessions in order to evaluate website performance and enhance navigation of
the website. We may also collect other anonymous information, which is generally
limited to technical and web navigation information such as the IP address of
your device, internet browser type and operating system for purposes of
analyzing the data to make First Trust's website better and more useful to our
users. The information collected does not include any personal identifiable
information such as your name, address, phone number or email address unless you
provide that information through the website for us to contact you in order to
answer your questions or respond to your requests. To find out how to opt-out of
these services click on: Google Analytics and AddThis.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
With regard to our internal security procedures, First Trust restricts access to
your nonpublic personal information to those First Trust employees who need to
know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain
physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your nonpublic
personal information.
POLICY UPDATES AND INQUIRIES
As required by federal law, we will notify you of our privacy policy annually.
We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time, however, if we do change
it, we will tell you promptly. For questions about our policy, or for additional
copies of this notice, please go to www.ftportfolios.com, or contact us at
1-800-621-1675 (First Trust Portfolios) or 1-800-222-6822 (First Trust
Advisors).
May 2017
Page 27
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FIRST TRUST
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
First Trust Advisors L.P.
120 E. Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, IL 60187
ADMINISTRATOR, CUSTODIAN
FUND ACCOUNTANT &
TRANSFER AGENT
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
50 Post Office Square
Boston, MA 02110
INDEPENDENT REGISTERED
PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Deloitte & Touche LLP
111 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
LEGAL COUNSEL
Chapman and Cutler LLP
111 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603
[BLANK BACK COVER]
FIRST TRUST
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (FAAR)
----------------------------
Annual Report
For the Year Ended
December 31, 2017
----------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Shareholder Letter........................................................... 1
Fund Performance Overview.................................................... 2
Portfolio Commentary......................................................... 4
Understanding Your Fund Expenses............................................. 6
Consolidated Portfolio of Investments........................................ 7
Consolidated Statement of Assets and Liabilities............................. 9
Consolidated Statement of Operations......................................... 10
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Net Assets............................. 11
Consolidated Financial Highlights............................................ 12
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements................................... 13
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm...................... 19
Additional Information....................................................... 20
Board of Trustees and Officers............................................... 23
Privacy Policy............................................................... 25
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the goals,
beliefs, plans or current expectations of First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First
Trust" or the "Advisor") and its representatives, taking into account the
information currently available to them. Forward-looking statements include all
statements that do not relate solely to current or historical fact. For example,
forward-looking statements include the use of words such as "anticipate,"
"estimate," "intend," "expect," "believe," "plan," "may," "should," "would" or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of
First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (the "Fund") to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. When evaluating the
information included in this report, you are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the judgment of the
Advisor and its representatives only as of the date hereof. We undertake no
obligation to publicly revise or update these forward-looking statements to
reflect events and circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
PERFORMANCE AND RISK DISCLOSURE
There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The
Fund is subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values
of investments owned by the Fund will decline and that the value of the Fund
shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Accordingly, you can
lose money investing in the Fund. See "Risk Considerations" in the Additional
Information section of this report for a discussion of other risks of investing
in the Fund.
Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of
future results, and current performance may be lower or higher than the figures
shown. For the most recent month-end performance figures, please visit
www.ftportfolios.com or speak with your financial advisor. Investment returns,
net asset value and share price will fluctuate and Fund shares, when sold, may
be worth more or less than their original cost.
The Advisor may also periodically provide additional information on Fund
performance on the Fund's webpage at www.ftportfolios.com.
HOW TO READ THIS REPORT
This report contains information that may help you evaluate your investment in
the Fund. It includes details about the Fund's portfolio and presents data and
analysis that provide insight into the Fund's performance and investment
approach.
By reading the portfolio commentary from the portfolio management team of the
Fund, you may obtain an understanding of how the market environment affected the
Fund's performance. The statistical information that follows may help you
understand the Fund's performance compared to that of relevant market
benchmarks.
It is important to keep in mind that the opinions expressed by personnel of the
Advisor are just that: informed opinions. They should not be considered to be
promises or advice. The opinions, like the statistics, cover the period through
the date on the cover of this report. The material risks of investing in the
Fund are spelled out in its prospectus, statement of additional information,
this report and other Fund regulatory filings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHAREHOLDER LETTER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
ANNUAL LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND CEO
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Dear Shareholders:
First Trust is pleased to provide you with the annual report for the First Trust
Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF which contains detailed information
about your investment for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, including a
market overview and a performance analysis for the period. We encourage you to
read this report carefully and discuss it with your financial advisor.
This was a very strong year for U.S. markets. The three major indices--the S&P
500(R) Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq posted their best
performance since 2013. And there was more good news for Wall Street:
o The S&P 500(R) achieved something it had not previously finishing
2017 with 12 months of gains;
o The Dow Jones realized a milestone as well closing above 24,000 for
the first time ever on November 30; and
o The Nasdaq set a record by having 11 months of gains in 2017 (June
was the only down month, and by just 0.86%).
World markets were also strong in 2017. According to the MSCI AC World Index,
which captures all sources of equity returns in 23 developed and 24 emerging
markets, world stocks rose every month in 2017. The value of public companies on
global stock markets grew by $12.4 trillion during the year.
In 2017, stocks benefitted from increased global demand, growth in corporate
profits (especially technology stocks) and an accommodative Federal Reserve. The
housing market in the United States continues to grow due to a strong job
market, low interest rates and tight inventory. As the year came to a close,
President Trump signed the tax reform package, called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act," which was seen as a promise kept by then-candidate Trump to accomplish
sweeping reform. It is hoped this tax reform will boost economic activity to
greater highs.
At First Trust, we are optimistic about the U.S. economy. We also continue to
believe that you should invest for the long term and be prepared for market
volatility, which can happen at any time. How can you do this? By keeping
current on your portfolio and investing goals by speaking regularly with your
investment professional. It's important to keep in mind that past performance of
the U.S. and global stock markets or investment products can never guarantee
future results. As we've said before, markets go up and they also go down, but
savvy investors are prepared for either through careful attention to their
portfolios and investment goals.
Thank you for giving First Trust the opportunity to be a part of your financial
plan through your investment. We value our relationship with you and will report
on your investment again in six months.
Sincerely,
/s/James A. Bowen
James A. Bowen
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P.
Page 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUND PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW (UNAUDITED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
The First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (the "Fund") seeks to
provide investors with long-term total return. The shares of the Fund are listed
and trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol "FAAR." The
Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund that seeks to achieve long-term
total return through long and short investments in exchange-traded commodity
futures contracts ("Commodity Futures") through a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Fund organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Fund
does not invest directly in Commodity Futures. The Fund gains exposure to these
investments exclusively by investing in the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary is
advised by First Trust Advisors L.P., the Fund's investment advisor.
The Fund's investment in the Subsidiary is intended to provide the Fund with
exposure to commodity markets within the limits of current federal income tax
laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the
ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity Futures. The
Subsidiary has the same investment objective as the Fund, but unlike the Fund,
it may invest without limitation in Commodity Futures. The Fund will invest up
to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary.
The Subsidiary's holdings primarily consist of Commodity Futures, which are
contractual agreements to buy or sell a particular commodity or financial
instrument at a pre-determined price at a settlement date in the future. The
Fund, through the Subsidiary, engages in trading on commodity markets both
inside and outside of the United States on behalf of the Fund. The Fund, through
the Subsidiary, may invest in a range of Commodity Futures and markets as
determined by the Fund's investment advisor from time to time. The remainder of
the Fund's assets are primarily invested in: (1) U.S. government and agency
securities with maturities of five years or less; (2) short-term repurchase
agreements; (3) money market instruments; and (4) cash. The Fund uses such
instruments as investments and to collateralize the Subsidiary's Commodity
Futures exposure on a day-to-day basis.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERFORMANCE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AVERAGE ANNUAL CUMULATIVE
TOTAL RETURNS TOTAL RETURNS
Inception Inception
1 Year Ended (5/18/16) (5/18/16)
12/31/17 to 12/31/17 to 12/31/17
FUND PERFORMANCE
NAV 6.08% 0.37% 0.60%
Market Price 5.82% 0.33% 0.53%
INDEX PERFORMANCE
3 Month U.S. Treasury Bills + 3% 3.92% 3.72% 6.11%
Bloomberg Commodity Index 1.70% 2.72% 4.45%
S&P 500(R) Index 21.83% 20.31% 34.97%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total returns for the period since inception are calculated from the inception
date of the Fund. "Average annual total returns" represent the average annual
change in value of an investment over the period indicated. "Cumulative total
returns" represent the total change in value of an investment over the period
indicated.
The Fund's per share net asset value ("NAV") is the value of one share of the
Fund and is computed by dividing the value of all assets of the Fund (including
accrued interest and dividends), less all liabilities (including accrued
expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by the total number of outstanding
shares. The price used to calculate market return ("Market Price") is determined
by using the midpoint between the highest bid and the lowest offer on the stock
exchange on which shares of the Fund are listed for trading as of the time that
the Fund's NAV is calculated. Since shares of the Fund did not trade in the
secondary market until after its inception, for the period from inception to the
first day of secondary market trading in shares of the Fund, the NAV of the Fund
is used as a proxy for the secondary market trading price to calculate market
returns. NAV and market returns assume that all dividend distributions have been
reinvested in the Fund at NAV and Market Price, respectively.
An index is a statistical composite that tracks a specified financial market or
sector. Unlike the Fund, indices do not actually hold a portfolio of securities
and therefore do not incur the expenses incurred by the Fund. These expenses
negatively impact the performance of the Fund. Also, index returns do not
include brokerage commissions that may be payable on secondary market
transactions. If brokerage commissions were included, index returns would be
lower. The total returns presented reflect the reinvestment of dividends on
securities in the indices. The returns presented do not reflect the deduction of
taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption or
sale of Fund shares. The investment return and principal value of shares of the
Fund will vary with changes in market conditions. Shares of the Fund may be
worth more or less than their original cost when they are redeemed or sold in
the market. The Fund's past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
Page 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUND PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW (UNAUDITED) (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR) (CONTINUED)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERFORMANCE OF A $10,000 INITIAL INVESTMENT
MAY 18, 2016 - DECEMBER 31, 2017
First Trust Alternative
Absolute Return 3 Month U.S. Bloomberg S&P 500(R)
Strategy ETF (FAAR) Treasury Bills + 3% Commodity Index Index
5/18/16 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000
6/30/16 9,930 10,041 10,407 10,274
12/31/16 9,483 10,212 10,271 11,077
6/30/17 9,500 10,398 9,731 12,112
12/31/17 10,060 10,612 10,446 13,495
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance figures assume reinvestment of all distributions and do not reflect
the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the
redemption or sale of Fund shares. An index is a statistical composite that
tracks a specified financial market or sector. Unlike the Fund, the indices do
not actually hold a portfolio of investments and therefore do not incur the
expenses incurred by the Fund. These expenses negatively impact the performance
of the Fund. The Fund's past performance does not predict future performance.
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF DISCOUNTS AND PREMIUMS
BID/ASK MIDPOINT VS. NAV THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017
The following Frequency Distribution of Discounts and Premiums charts are
provided to show the frequency at which the bid/ask midpoint price for the Fund
was at a discount or premium to the daily NAV. The following tables are for
comparative purposes only and represent the period May 19, 2016 (commencement of
trading) through December 31, 2017. Shareholders may pay more than NAV when they
buy Fund shares and receive less than NAV when they sell those shares because
shares are bought and sold at current market price. Data presented represents
past performance and cannot be used to predict future results.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NUMBER OF DAYS BID/ASK MIDPOINT AT/ABOVE NAV
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THE PERIOD 0.00%-0.49% 0.50%-0.99% 1.00%-1.99% >=2.00%
5/19/16 - 12/31/16 72 40 0 0
1/1/17 - 12/31/17 43 70 68 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NUMBER OF DAYS BID/ASK MIDPOINT BELOW NAV
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THE PERIOD 0.00%-0.49% 0.50%-0.99% 1.00%-1.99% >=2.00%
5/19/16 - 12/31/16 27 16 2 0
1/1/17 - 12/31/17 44 17 2 0
Page 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PORTFOLIO COMMENTARY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust"), located in Wheaton, Illinois, is the
investment advisor, commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor to the
First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (the "Fund" or "FAAR"). In
this capacity, First Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing
monitoring of the investments in the Fund's portfolio and certain other services
necessary for the management of the portfolio. First Trust serves as advisor for
four mutual fund portfolios, ten exchange-traded funds consisting of 128 series,
16 closed-end funds, a variable insurance trust consisting of three series and
is also the portfolio supervisor of certain unit investment trusts sponsored by
First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), also located in Wheaton, Illinois.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT TEAM
JOHN GAMBLA - CFA, FRM, PRM, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER
ROB A. GUTTSCHOW - CFA, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER
COMMENTARY
The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF"). The Fund's
investment objective is to seek to provide investors with long-term total
return. For performance measurement, the Fund is benchmarked to the unmanaged
Bloomberg Commodity Index (the "Benchmark"), the Three Month U.S. Treasury Bill
return + 3.0% annually, and the S&P 500(R) Index. This commentary discusses the
12-month market and Fund performance ended December 31, 2017.
OVERALL MARKET RECAP
U.S. economic growth increased in 2017 over 2016, with the average annualized
quarterly growth rate increasing to 2.7% in 2017 from 1.9% in 2016. The
unemployment rate declined throughout the year, falling from 4.7% to 4.1%. The
total number of non-farm payroll jobs added to the U.S. economy during the
fiscal period, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was approximately
2.05 million.
The improving performance of the U.S. economy and the decline in the
unemployment rate prompted the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) to
continue to raise the Fed Funds rate. As a result, short-term interest rates are
up approximately 0.75% in the past year. For the first time since 2008, an
investor can earn more than 1.00% on an annualized basis by investing in U.S. 3
Month Government T-Bills. The FOMC also announced a plan to gradually reduce the
size of its bloated balance sheet, further confirming their view that the U.S.
economy is finally recovering from the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009.
The U.S. equity markets posted strong positive performance for the fiscal period
while simultaneously displaying extremely low levels of volatility. As measured
by the S&P 500(R) Index, operating earnings were up 17.6% year over year and the
total return for the S&P 500(R) Index was 21.83% for the fiscal period. Despite
a raucous political environment ushered in by the new administration, volatility
was extremely subdued in the equity markets with no negative return months for
the S&P 500(R) Index. In fact, the S&P 500(R) Index is now up for fourteen
straight months.
Commodity markets, as measured by the Benchmark, returned 1.70% during the
fiscal period. The standout sectors for the year were industrial and precious
metals, which rallied strongly throughout the year, finishing up 29.35% and
10.94%, respectively. Offsetting those gains was the weak performance from the
agricultural and energy sectors which declined by -11.05% and -4.31%,
respectively.
FUND PERFORMANCE
The Fund's performance for the 12 months ended December 31, 2017 was 6.08% on a
net asset value ("NAV") basis and 5.82% on a market price basis. The Fund's
benchmarks, (Bloomberg Commodity Index, 3 Month U.S. Treasury Bills + 3.0%, and
S&P 500(R) Index) returned 1.70%, 3.92%, and 21.83%, respectively.
The global commodity market is made up of several separate markets including
agriculture, livestock, energy, industrial metals, and precious metals. These
commodities are the building blocks of every economy in the world. Holding a
physical commodity is not practical for most investors, but the futures market
provides an alternative way to seek exposure to commodities. The Fund employs an
investment style that seeks to profit from rising and falling commodity prices
by purchasing futures contracts in commodities that are anticipated to rise in
Page 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PORTFOLIO COMMENTARY (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
ANNUAL REPORT
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
price and shorting or selling futures contracts in commodities that are
anticipated to fall in price. Commodities and their respective futures contracts
can be very volatile in price and there is no guarantee that the Fund managers
will correctly anticipate which commodity futures contracts will rise or fall in
price.
During the performance period, the Fund held allocations in 27 different
commodities contracts. The Fund's average long and short exposure during the
period was 47.8% and -31.5%, respectively. The average gross exposure (long
positions + absolute value of short positions) was 79.3% and the average net
exposure was positive 16.3%. The average gross sector allocations were 15.2%
energy, 6.6% industrial metals, 7.7% precious metals, 36.3% agricultural, and
13.5% livestock. As of December 31, 2017, the Fund's gross exposure was 89.5%,
comprised of 48.5% long positions and 41.0% short positions. The Fund's largest
exposure was a 7.3% long position in Brent oil with the second largest exposure
a 7.17% short exposure to CBOT corn.
The Fund's best performing allocations during the fiscal period were long
positions in feeder cattle and gas-oil. The Fund's profits from feeder cattle
occurred primarily in the first and second quarter of the fiscal period as
feeder cattle prices rose strongly during the March through early June time
period. The Fund was positioned for the rally with an average long allocation of
6.9% in the first half of the year. The second half of the year saw feeder
cattle rally in September and October only to sell off in November and December.
The Fund's feeder cattle positions during the second half of the year were on
average a positive 3.8%. The Fund's profits from gas-oil futures occurred
primarily in the second half of the fiscal period. In July, the Fund entered
into a long position in gas-oil futures and proceeded to stay long the rest of
the year. On average, the gas-oil allocation in the second half of the year was
positive 6.99%. The position benefitted the Fund as gas-oil proceeded to rally
40.9%, as measured by the Bloomberg gas-oil index, in the second half of the
year.
The Fund's worst performing allocations during the fiscal period were its
allocations to cocoa and lean hogs. While driven by different factors, both
cocoa and lean hog prices experienced multiple episodes of large price swings.
Rapid ascents were quickly followed by swift declines making profit windows
small and profitable positioning difficult.
Other positions that added to the returns during the fiscal period were the
industrial metals contracts (copper, aluminum, nickel, and zinc), cotton, and
sugar. Detracting from performance were positions natural gas, silver, and
soybeans.
Please see the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments for a complete list of all
positions within the portfolio as of December 31, 2017.
MARKET AND FUND OUTLOOK
We believe the Fund is well positioned to achieve its investment objective of
seeking to provide investors with long-term total return. We believe that the
Fund is currently broadly diversified across commodity futures and commodity
sectors with a variety of long and short positions in anticipation of rising and
falling prices. Additionally, we believe that the investment strategy employed
by the Fund results in long/short commodity exposures that are not highly
correlated to long positions in stock, bonds, or commodities; therefore, we
believe the Fund could potentially decrease portfolio volatility, enhance
overall return, and provide meaningful diversification to an asset allocation
strategy.
Page 5
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
UNDERSTANDING YOUR FUND EXPENSES
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
As a shareholder of First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (the
"Fund"), you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs; and (2) ongoing
costs, including management fees, distribution and/or service fees, if any, and
other Fund expenses. This Example is intended to help you understand your
ongoing costs (in U.S. dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these
costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other funds.
The Example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the
period and held through the six-month period ended December 31, 2017.
ACTUAL EXPENSES
The first line in the following table provides information about actual account
values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together
with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the
period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600
account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number
in the first line under the heading entitled "Expenses Paid During the Six-Month
Period" to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES
The second line in the following table provides information about hypothetical
account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund's actual expense
ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not
the Fund's actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not
be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for
the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of
investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical
example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports
of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your
ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs such as brokerage
commissions. Therefore, the second line in the table is useful in comparing
ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of
owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included,
your costs would have been higher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANNUALIZED
EXPENSE RATIO EXPENSES PAID
BEGINNING ENDING BASED ON THE DURING THE
ACCOUNT VALUE ACCOUNT VALUE SIX-MONTH SIX-MONTH
JULY 1, 2017 DECEMBER 31, 2017 PERIOD PERIOD (a)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN
STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
Actual $1,000.00 $1,058.60 0.95% $4.93
Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) $1,000.00 $1,020.42 0.95% $4.84
(a) Expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratio as indicated in the
table, multiplied by the average account value over the period (July 1,
2017 through December 31, 2017), multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the
one-half year period).
Page 6
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2017
Besides the following listed futures contracts of the Fund's wholly-owned
subsidiary, there were no investments held by the Fund at December 31, 2017.
Aggregate cost for federal income tax purposes was $0. As of December 31, 2017,
the aggregate gross unrealized appreciation for all futures contracts in which
there was an excess of value over tax cost was $196,289 and the aggregate gross
unrealized depreciation for all futures contracts in which there was an excess
of tax cost over value was $69,201. The net unrealized appreciation was
$127,088.
The following futures contracts of the Fund's wholly-owned subsidiary were open
at December 31, 2017 (see Note 2B - Futures Contracts in the Notes to
Consolidated Financial Statements):
UNREALIZED
NUMBER NOTIONAL EXPIRATION APPRECIATION/
OF CONTRACTS VALUE DATE (DEPRECIATION)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUTURES CONTRACTS LONG:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brent Crude Futures 8 $ 534,960 Jan-18 $ 34,436
Cocoa Futures 8 151,360 Mar-18 (16,380)
Copper Futures 3 247,538 Mar-18 15,420
Cotton No. 2 Futures 2 78,630 Mar-18 1,565
Gasoline RBOB Futures 5 380,793 Feb-18 23,193
Gold 100 Oz Futures 1 130,930 Feb-18 1,250
LME Lead Futures 1 62,187 Mar-18 456
LME Nickel Futures 1 76,560 Mar-18 9,792
LME Zinc Futures 2 166,275 Mar-18 8,500
Low Sulphur Gasoil "G" Futures 8 480,200 Jan-18 33,853
Natural Gas Futures 7 206,710 Jan-18 17,430
NY Harbor ULSD Futures 1 85,839 Feb-18 5,419
Platinum Futures 2 93,830 Apr-18 5,320
Silver Futures 1 85,725 Mar-18 88
Soybean Futures 5 240,438 Mar-18 (5,329)
Soybean Meal Futures 8 253,440 Mar-18 (6,656)
Soybean Oil Futures 5 99,780 Mar-18 (1,293)
Sugar #11 (World) Futures 5 84,896 Feb-18 1,086
WTI Crude Futures 5 302,200 Feb-18 16,510
-------------- --------------
$ 3,762,291 $ 144,660
-------------- --------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUTURES CONTRACTS SHORT:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cattle Feeder Futures 3 $ (214,013) Mar-18 $ (675)
Coffee "C" Futures 9 (425,925) Mar-18 (3,187)
Corn Futures 30 (526,125) Mar-18 2,672
KC HRW Wheat Futures 21 (448,612) Mar-18 8,299
Lean Hogs Futures 11 (315,810) Feb-18 (3,879)
Live Cattle Futures 6 (291,720) Feb-18 (3,680)
LME Primary Aluminum Futures 2 (113,575) Mar-18 (6,188)
Natural Gas Futures 13 (364,520) Jun-18 (13,401)
Wheat (CBT) Futures 24 (512,400) Mar-18 11,000
-------------- --------------
$ (3,212,700) $ (9,039)
-------------- --------------
TOTAL $ 549,591 $ 135,621
============== ==============
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 7
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED PORTFOLIO OF INVESTMENTS (CONTINUED)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
-----------------------------
VALUATION INPUTS
A summary of the inputs used to value the Fund's investments as of December 31,
2017 is as follows (see Note 2A - Portfolio Valuation in the Notes to
Consolidated Financial Statements):
ASSETS TABLE
LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
TOTAL LEVEL 1 SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT
VALUE AT QUOTED OBSERVABLE UNOBSERVABLE
12/31/2017 PRICES INPUTS INPUTS
------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
Futures Contracts................................... $ 196,289 $ 196,289 $ -- $ --
============ ============ ============ ============
LIABILITIES TABLE
LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
TOTAL LEVEL 1 SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANT
VALUE AT QUOTED OBSERVABLE UNOBSERVABLE
12/31/2017 PRICES INPUTS INPUTS
------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
Futures Contracts................................... $ (60,668) $ (60,668) $ -- $ --
============ ============ ============ ============
All transfers in and out of the Levels during the period are assumed to occur on
the last day of the period at their current value. There were no transfers
between Levels at December 31, 2017.
Page 8 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
DECEMBER 31, 2017
ASSETS:
Cash................................................................... $ 7,052,496
Cash segregated as collateral for open futures contracts............... 147,034
Receivables:
Variation margin.................................................... 196,289
Due from broker..................................................... 8,480
--------------
Total Assets........................................................ 7,404,299
==============
LIABILITIES:
Payables:
Variation margin.................................................... 60,668
Investment advisory fees............................................ 5,948
--------------
Total Liabilities................................................... 66,616
--------------
NET ASSETS............................................................. $ 7,337,683
==============
NET ASSETS CONSIST OF:
Paid-in capital........................................................ $ 7,202,641
Par value.............................................................. 2,500
Accumulated net investment income (loss)............................... (3,079)
Accumulated net realized gain (loss) on futures........................ --
Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures.................. 135,621
--------------
NET ASSETS............................................................. $ 7,337,683
==============
NET ASSET VALUE, per share............................................. $ 29.35
==============
Number of shares outstanding (unlimited number of shares
authorized, par value $0.01 per share).............................. 250,002
==============
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 9
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017
INVESTMENT INCOME:
Interest............................................................... $ 34,438
--------------
Total investment income............................................. 34,438
--------------
EXPENSES:
Investment advisory fees............................................... 53,100
--------------
Total expenses...................................................... 53,100
--------------
NET INVESTMENT INCOME (LOSS)........................................... (18,662)
--------------
NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS):
Net realized gain (loss) on futures.................................... 255,344
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures........ 158,345
--------------
NET REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS)................................ 413,689
--------------
NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS RESULTING
FROM OPERATIONS..................................................... $ 395,027
==============
Page 10 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
YEAR PERIOD
ENDED ENDED
12/31/2017 12/31/2016 (a)
-------------- --------------
OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss)......................................................... $ (18,662) $ (14,853)
Net realized gain (loss)............................................................. 255,344 (117,437)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)................................. 158,345 (22,724)
-------------- --------------
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations...................... 395,027 (155,014)
-------------- --------------
DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Net investment income................................................................ (207,452) --
-------------- --------------
SHAREHOLDER TRANSACTIONS:
Proceeds from shares sold............................................................ 7,266,827 3,000,060
Cost of shares redeemed.............................................................. (2,961,765) --
-------------- --------------
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from shareholder transactions........ 4,305,062 3,000,060
-------------- --------------
Total increase (decrease) in net assets.............................................. 4,492,637 2,845,046
NET ASSETS:
Beginning of period.................................................................. 2,845,046 --
-------------- --------------
End of period........................................................................ $ 7,337,683 $ 2,845,046
============== ==============
Accumulated net investment income (loss) at end of period............................ $ (3,079) $ (32,309)
============== ==============
CHANGES IN SHARES OUTSTANDING:
Shares outstanding, beginning of period.............................................. 100,002 --
Shares sold.......................................................................... 250,000 100,002
Shares redeemed...................................................................... (100,000) --
-------------- --------------
Shares outstanding, end of period.................................................... 250,002 100,002
============== ==============
(a) Inception date is consistent with the commencement of investment
operations and is the date the initial creation unit was established.
First Trust Portfolios L.P. seeded the Fund on May 9, 2016, in order to
provide initial capital required by SEC rules.
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Page 11
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
FOR A SHARE OUTSTANDING THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD
FOR THE PERIOD
YEAR 5/18/2016 (a)
ENDED THROUGH
12/31/2017 12/31/2016
-------------- --------------
Net asset value, beginning of period............................ $ 28.45 $ 30.00
---------- ----------
INCOME FROM INVESTMENT OPERATIONS:
Net investment income (loss).................................... (0.10) (b) (0.15)
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)......................... 1.83 (1.40)
---------- ----------
Total from investment operations................................ 1.73 (1.55)
---------- ----------
DISTRIBUTIONS PAID TO SHAREHOLDERS FROM:
Net investment income........................................... (0.83) --
---------- ----------
Net asset value, end of period.................................. $ 29.35 $ 28.45
========== ==========
TOTAL RETURN (c)................................................ 6.08% (5.17)%
RATIOS/SUPPLEMENTAL DATA:
Net assets, end of period (in 000's)............................ $ 7,338 $ 2,845
RATIOS TO AVERAGE NET ASSETS:
Ratio of total expenses to average net assets................... 0.95% 0.95% (d)
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets..... (0.33)% (0.82)% (d)
Portfolio turnover rate (e)..................................... 0% 0%
(a) Inception date is consistent with the commencement of investment
operations and is the date the initial creation unit was established.
First Trust Portfolios L.P. seeded the Fund on May 9, 2016 in order to
provide initial capital required by SEC rules.
(b) Based on average shares outstanding.
(c) Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net
asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all
distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net
asset value on the last day of the period. The returns presented do not
reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund
distributions or the redemption or sale of Fund shares. Total return is
calculated for the time period presented and is not annualized for periods
of less than a year.
(d) Annualized.
(e) Portfolio turnover is calculated for the time period presented and is not
annualized for periods of less than a year and does not include securities
received or delivered from processing creations or redemptions,
derivatives and in-kind transactions.
Page 12 See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
1. ORGANIZATION
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII (the "Trust") is an open-end management
investment company organized as a Massachusetts business trust on November 6,
2012, and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")
under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act").
The Trust consists of two funds that are currently offering shares. This report
covers the First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF (the "Fund"), a
non-diversified series of the Trust, which trades under the ticker FAAR on The
Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") and commenced operations on May 18, 2016.
Unlike conventional mutual funds, the Fund issues and redeems shares on a
continuous basis, at net asset value ("NAV"), only in large specified blocks
consisting of 50,000 shares called a "Creation Unit." The Fund's Creation Units
are generally issued and redeemed for cash or, in certain circumstances, in-kind
for securities in which the Fund invests. Except when aggregated in Creation
Units, the shares are not redeemable securities of the Fund.
The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The investment objective
of the Fund is to seek to provide investors with long-term total return. Under
normal market conditions, the Fund, through a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Fund, FT Cayman Subsidiary III (the "Subsidiary"), organized under the laws of
the Cayman Islands, invests in a portfolio of commodity futures contracts
("Commodities Futures"). The Fund does not invest directly in Commodities
Futures. The Fund gains exposure to these investments exclusively by investing
in the Subsidiary. The Fund's investment in the Subsidiary may not exceed 25% of
the Fund's total assets at the end of each fiscal quarter. There can be no
assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fund may not
be appropriate for all investors.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The Fund is considered an investment company and follows accounting and
reporting guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting
Standards Codification Topic 946, "Financial Services-Investment Companies." The
consolidated financial statements include the accounts on a consolidated basis
of the Subsidiary. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been
eliminated in consolidation. The following is a summary of significant
accounting policies consistently followed by the Fund in the preparation of the
consolidated financial statements. The preparation of the consolidated financial
statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America ("U.S. GAAP") requires management to make estimates and
assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the consolidated
financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
A. PORTFOLIO VALUATION
The Fund's NAV is determined daily as of the close of regular trading on the New
York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), normally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, on each day the
NYSE is open for trading. The Fund's NAV is calculated by dividing the value of
all assets of the Fund (including accrued interest and dividends), less all
liabilities (including accrued expenses and dividends declared but unpaid), by
the total number of shares outstanding.
The Fund's investments are valued daily at market value or, in the absence of
market value with respect to any portfolio securities, at fair value. Market
value prices represent last sale or official closing prices from a national or
foreign exchange (i.e., a regulated market) and are primarily obtained from
third-party pricing services. Fair value prices represent any prices not
considered market value prices and are either obtained from a third-party
pricing service or are determined by the Pricing Committee of the Fund's
investment advisor, First Trust Advisors L.P. ("First Trust" or the "Advisor"),
in accordance with valuation procedures adopted by the Trust's Board of
Trustees, and in accordance with provisions of the 1940 Act. Investments valued
by the Advisor's Pricing Committee, if any, are footnoted as such in the
footnotes to the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments. The Fund's investments
are valued as follows:
Exchange-traded futures contracts are valued at the closing price in the
market where such contracts are principally traded. If no closing price is
available, exchange-traded futures contracts are fair valued at the mean
of their most recent bid and asked price, if available, and otherwise at
their closing bid price.
If the Fund's investments are not able to be priced by their pre-established
pricing methods, such investments may be valued by the Trust's Board of Trustees
or its delegate, the Advisor's Pricing Committee, at fair value. A variety of
factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such investments.
Valuing the Fund's holdings using fair value pricing will result in using prices
for those holdings that may differ from current market valuations. The
Subsidiary's holdings will be valued in the same manner as the Fund's holdings.
Page 13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
The Fund is subject to fair value accounting standards that define fair value,
establish the framework for measuring fair value and provide a three-level
hierarchy for fair valuation based upon the inputs to the valuation as of the
measurement date. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are as follows:
o Level 1 - Level 1 inputs are quoted prices in active markets for
identical investments. An active market is a market in which
transactions for the investment occur with sufficient frequency and
volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
o Level 2 - Level 2 inputs are observable inputs, either directly or
indirectly, and include the following:
o Quoted prices for similar investments in active markets.
o Quoted prices for identical or similar investments in markets
that are non-active. A non-active market is a market where
there are few transactions for the investment, the prices are
not current, or price quotations vary substantially either
over time or among market makers, or in which little
information is released publicly.
o Inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the
investment (for example, interest rates and yield curves
observable at commonly quoted intervals, volatilities,
prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks, and default
rates).
o Inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by
observable market data by correlation or other means.
o Level 3 - Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs. Unobservable
inputs may reflect the reporting entity's own assumptions about the
assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the
investment.
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments are not necessarily an
indication of the risk associated with investing in those investments. A summary
of the inputs used to value the Fund's investments as of December 31, 2017, is
included with the Fund's Consolidated Portfolio of Investments.
B. FUTURES CONTRACTS
The Fund, through the Subsidiary, may purchase and sell exchange-listed
commodity contracts. When the Subsidiary purchases a listed futures contract, it
agrees to purchase a specified reference asset (e.g., commodity) at a specified
future date. When the Subsidiary sells or shorts a listed futures contract, it
agrees to sell a specified reference asset (e.g., commodity) at a specified
future date. The price at which the purchase and sale will take place is fixed
when the Subsidiary enters into the contract. The exchange clearing corporation
is the ultimate counterparty for all exchange-listed contracts, so credit risk
is limited to the creditworthiness of the exchange's clearing corporation.
Margin deposits are posted as collateral with the clearing broker and, in turn,
with the exchange clearing corporation. Open futures contracts can be closed out
prior to settlement by entering into an offsetting transaction in a matching
futures contract. If the Subsidiary is not able to enter into an offsetting
transaction, the Subsidiary will continue to be required to maintain margin
deposits on the futures contract. When the contract is closed or expires, the
Subsidiary records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the
value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was
closed or expired. This gain or loss is included in "Net realized gain (loss) on
futures" on the Consolidated Statement of Operations.
Exchange-listed commodity futures contracts are generally based upon commodities
within the six principal commodity groups: energy, industrial metals,
agriculture, precious metals, foods and fibers, and livestock. The price of a
commodity futures contract will reflect the storage costs of purchasing the
physical commodity. These storage costs include the time value of money invested
in the physical commodity plus the actual costs of storing the commodity less
any benefits from ownership of the physical commodity that are not obtained by
the holder of a futures contract (this is sometimes referred to as the
"convenience yield"). To the extent that these storage costs change for an
underlying commodity while the Subsidiary is in a long position on that
commodity, the value of the futures contract may change proportionately.
Upon entering into a futures contract, the Subsidiary must deposit funds, called
margin, with its custodian in the name of the clearing broker equal to a
specified percentage of the current value of the contract. Open futures
contracts are marked-to-market daily with the change in value recognized as a
component of "Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures"
on the Consolidated Statement of Operations. This daily fluctuation in value of
the contracts is also known as variation margin and is included as "Variation
margin" payable or receivable on the Consolidated Statement of Assets and
Liabilities.
When the Subsidiary purchases or sells a futures contract, the Subsidiary is
required to collateralize its position in order to limit the risk associated
with the use of leverage and other related risks. To collateralize its position,
the Subsidiary segregates assets consisting of cash or liquid securities that,
when added to any amounts deposited with a futures commission merchant as
margin, are equal to the unrealized depreciation of the futures contract or
otherwise collateralize its position in a manner consistent with the 1940 Act or
the 1940 Act Rules and SEC interpretations thereunder. As the Subsidiary
continues to engage in the described securities trading practices and properly
segregates assets, the segregated assets will function as a practical limit on
the amount of leverage which the Subsidiary may undertake and on the potential
increase in the speculative character of the Subsidiary's outstanding portfolio
investments. Additionally, such segregated assets generally ensure the
availability of adequate funds to meet the obligations of the Subsidiary arising
from such investment activities.
Page 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
C. CASH
The Fund holds assets equal to or greater than the full notional exposure of the
futures contracts. These assets may consist of cash and other short-term
securities to comply with SEC guidance with respect to coverage of futures
contracts by registered investment companies. At December 31, 2017, the Fund had
restricted cash held of $147,034, which is included in "Cash segregated as
collateral for open futures contracts" on the Consolidated Statement of Assets
and Liabilities.
D. INVESTMENT TRANSACTIONS AND INVESTMENT INCOME
Investment transactions are recorded as of the trade date. Realized gains and
losses from investment transactions are recorded on the identified cost basis.
Interest income, if any, is recorded on the accrual basis.
E. DIVIDENDS AND DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
Dividends from net investment income, if any, are declared and paid quarterly by
the Fund. The Fund distributes its net realized capital gains, if any, to
shareholders at least annually.
Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole shares
only if the broker through whom the shares were purchased makes such option
available. Such shares will generally be reinvested by the broker based upon the
market price of those shares and investors may be subject to customary brokerage
commissions charged by the broker.
Distributions from net investment income and realized capital gains are
determined in accordance with income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S.
GAAP. Certain capital accounts in the consolidated financial statements are
periodically adjusted for permanent differences in order to reflect their tax
character. These permanent differences are primarily due to the varying
treatment of income and gain/loss on portfolio securities held by the Fund and
have no impact on net assets or NAV per share. Temporary differences, which
arise from recognizing certain items of income, expense and gain/loss in
different periods for consolidated financial statement and tax purposes, will
reverse at some time in the future.
The tax character of distributions paid during the fiscal years ended December
31, 2017 and 2016 was as follows:
Distributions paid from: 2017 2016
Ordinary income $ 207,452 $ --
As of December 31, 2017, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis
for the Fund were as follows:
Net
Undistributed Accumulated Unrealized
Ordinary Capital and Appreciation
Income Other Gains (Depreciation)
--------------- --------------- ---------------
$ 3,533 $ 8,533 $ 127,088
F. INCOME TAXES
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by
complying with the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), which includes distributing substantially all
of its net investment income and net realized gains to shareholders.
Accordingly, no provision has been made for federal and state income taxes.
However, due to the timing and amount of distributions, the Fund may be subject
to an excise tax of 4% of the amount by which approximately 98% of the Fund's
taxable income exceeds the distributions from such taxable income for the
calendar year.
The Subsidiary is classified as a controlled foreign corporation under
Subchapter N of the Code. Therefore, the Fund is required to increase its
taxable income by its share of the Subsidiary's income, whether or not such
earnings are distributed by the Subsidiary to the Fund. Net investment losses of
the Subsidiary cannot be deducted by the Fund in the current period nor carried
forward to offset taxable income in future periods.
The Fund intends to utilize provisions of the federal income tax laws, which
allow it to carry a realized capital loss forward indefinitely following the
year of the loss and offset such loss against any future realized capital gains.
The Fund is subject to certain limitations under U.S. tax rules on the use of
capital loss carryforwards and net unrealized built-in losses. These limitations
apply when there has been a 50% change in ownership. At December 31, 2017, the
Fund had no capital loss carryforwards outstanding for federal income tax
purposes.
The Fund is subject to accounting standards that establish a minimum threshold
for recognizing, and a system for measuring, the benefits of a tax position
taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. Taxable years ended 2016 and 2017
remain open to federal and state audit. As of December 31, 2017, management has
evaluated the application of these standards to the Fund and has determined that
no provision for income tax is required in the Fund's consolidated financial
statements for uncertain tax positions.
Page 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
In order to present paid-in capital, accumulated net investment income (loss)
and accumulated net realized gain (loss) on futures on the Consolidated
Statement of Assets and Liabilities that more closely represent their tax
character, certain adjustments have been made to paid-in capital, accumulated
net investment income (loss) and accumulated net realized gain (loss) on
futures. These adjustments are primarily due to the difference between book and
tax treatment of net investment income from the Subsidiary. The results of
operations and net assets were not affected by these adjustments. For the year
ended December 31, 2017, the adjustments for the Fund were as follows:
Accumulated Accumulated
Net Investment Net Realized Paid-in
Income (Loss) Gain (Loss) Capital
--------------- --------------- ---------------
$ 255,344 $ (255,344) $ --
G. EXPENSES
Expenses, other than the investment advisory fee and other excluded expenses,
are paid by First Trust (see Note 3).
H. NEW AND AMENDED FINANCIAL REPORTING RULES AND FORMS
On October 13, 2016, the SEC adopted new rules and forms, and amended existing
rules and forms. The new and amended rules and forms are intended to modernize
the reporting of information provided by funds and to improve the quality and
type of information that funds provide to the SEC and investors. In part, the
new and amended rules and forms amend Regulation S-X and require standardized,
enhanced disclosures about derivatives in a fund's financial statements, as well
as other amendments. The compliance date for the amendments of Regulation S-X
was August 1, 2017, and resulted in additional disclosure for derivative
instruments within the Consolidated Portfolio of Investments. The new form types
and other rule amendments will be effective for the First Trust funds, including
the Fund, for reporting periods beginning on and after June 1, 2018. Management
is evaluating the new form types and other rule amendments that are effective on
and after June 1, 2018 to determine the impact to the Fund.
3. INVESTMENT ADVISORY FEE, AFFILIATED TRANSACTIONS AND OTHER FEE ARRANGEMENTS
First Trust, the investment advisor to the Fund, is a limited partnership with
one limited partner, Grace Partners of DuPage L.P., and one general partner, The
Charger Corporation. The Charger Corporation is an Illinois corporation
controlled by James A. Bowen, Chief Executive Officer of First Trust. First
Trust is responsible for the selection and ongoing monitoring of the investments
in the Fund's and the Subsidiary's portfolios, managing the Fund's business
affairs and providing certain administrative services necessary for the
management of the Fund. Pursuant to the Investment Management Agreement between
the Trust and the Advisor, First Trust manages the investment of the Fund's
assets and is responsible for the Fund's expenses, including the cost of
transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services,
but excluding fee payments under the Investment Management Agreement, interest,
taxes, brokerage commissions and other expenses connected with the execution of
portfolio transactions, distribution and service fees pursuant to a 12b-1 plan,
if any, and extraordinary expenses. The Fund has agreed to pay First Trust an
annual unitary management fee equal to 0.95% of its average daily net assets.
First Trust also provides fund reporting services to the Fund for a flat annual
fee in the amount of $9,250, which is covered under the annual unitary
management fee. The Subsidiary does not pay First Trust a separate management
fee.
The Trust has multiple service agreements with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
("BBH"). Under the service agreements, BBH performs custodial, fund accounting,
certain administrative services, and transfer agency services for the Fund. As
custodian, BBH is responsible for custody of the Fund's assets. As fund
accountant and administrator, BBH is responsible for maintaining the books and
records of the Fund's investments and cash. As transfer agent, BBH is
responsible for maintaining shareholder records for the Fund.
Each Trustee who is not an officer or employee of First Trust, any sub-advisor
or any of their affiliates ("Independent Trustees") is paid a fixed annual
retainer that is allocated equally among each fund in the First Trust Fund
Complex. Each Independent Trustee is also paid an annual per fund fee that
varies based on whether the fund is a closed-end or other actively managed fund,
or is an index fund.
Additionally, the Lead Independent Trustee and the Chairmen of the Audit
Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and Valuation Committee are paid
annual fees to serve in such capacities, with such compensation allocated pro
rata among each fund in the First Trust Fund Complex based on net assets.
Independent Trustees are reimbursed for travel and out-of-pocket expenses in
connection with all meetings. The Lead Independent Trustee and Committee
Chairmen rotate every three years. The officers and "Interested" Trustee receive
no compensation from the Trust for acting in such capacities.
Page 16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
4. PURCHASES AND SALES OF INVESTMENTS
For the year ended December 31, 2017, the cost of purchases and proceeds from
sales of investment securities, excluding short-term investments, derivatives
and in-kind transactions, were $0 and $0, respectively.
For the year ended December 31, 2017, the Fund did not have any in-kind
purchases or sales.
5. DERIVATIVE TRANSACTIONS
The following table presents the types of derivatives held by the Subsidiary at
December 31, 2017, the primary underlying risk exposure and the location of
these instruments as presented on the Consolidated Statement of Assets and
Liabilities.
ASSET DERIVATIVES LIABILITY DERIVATIVES
-------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------
CONSOLIDATED CONSOLIDATED
DERIVATIVES STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND
INSTRUMENT RISK EXPOSURE LIABILITIES LOCATION VALUE LIABILITIES LOCATION VALUE
-------------- ---------------- ------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------ -----------
Futures Commodity Risk Variation Margin Receivable $ 196,289 Variation Margin Payable $ 60,668
The following table presents the amount of net realized gain (loss) and change
in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) recognized for the year ended
December 31, 2017, on derivative instruments, as well as the primary underlying
risk exposure associated with each instrument.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS LOCATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMODITY RISK EXPOSURE
Net realized gain (loss) on futures $ 255,344
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on futures 158,345
During the year ended December 31, 2017, the notional values of futures
contracts opened and closed were $58,393,222 and $53,834,949, respectively.
The Fund does not have the right to offset financial assets and financial
liabilities related to futures contracts on the Consolidated Statement of Assets
and Liabilities.
6. CREATIONS, REDEMPTIONS AND TRANSACTION FEES
Shares are created and redeemed by the Fund only in Creation Unit size
aggregations of 50,000 shares in transactions with broker-dealers or large
institutional investors that have entered into a participation agreement (an
"Authorized Participant"). In order to purchase Creation Units of the Fund, an
Authorized Participant must deposit (i) a designated portfolio of securities
determined by First Trust (the "Deposit Securities") and generally make or
receive a cash payment referred to as the "Cash Component," which is an amount
equal to the difference between the NAV of the Fund Shares (per Creation Unit
Aggregation) and the market value of the Deposit Securities, and/or (ii) cash in
lieu of all or a portion of the Deposit Securities. If the Cash Component is a
positive number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation exceeds the Deposit
Amount), the Authorized Participant will deliver the Cash Component. If the Cash
Component is a negative number (i.e., the NAV per Creation Unit Aggregation is
less than the Deposit Amount), the Authorized Participant will receive the Cash
Component. Authorized Participants purchasing Creation Units must pay to BBH, as
transfer agent, a creation transaction fee (the "Creation Transaction Fee")
regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased in the transaction. The
Creation Transaction Fee is based on the composition of the securities included
in the Fund's portfolio and the countries in which the transactions are settled.
The Creation Transaction Fee is currently $500. The price for each Creation Unit
will equal the daily NAV per share times the number of shares in a Creation Unit
plus the fees described above and, if applicable, any operational processing and
brokerage costs, transfer fees or stamp taxes. When the Fund permits an
Authorized Participant to substitute cash or a different security in lieu of
depositing one or more of the requisite Deposit Securities, the Authorized
Participant may also be assessed an amount to cover the cost of purchasing the
Deposit Securities and/or disposing of the substituted securities, including
operational processing and brokerage costs, transfer fees, stamp taxes, and part
or all of the spread between the expected bid and offer side of the market
related to such Deposit Securities and/or substitute securities.
Authorized Participants redeeming Creation Units must pay to BBH, as transfer
agent, a redemption transaction fee (the "Redemption Transaction Fee"),
regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed in the transaction. The
Redemption Transaction Fee may vary and is based on the composition of the
securities included in the Fund's portfolio and the countries in which the
transactions are settled. The Redemption Transaction Fee is currently $500. The
Fund reserves the right to effect redemptions in cash. An Authorized Participant
may request cash redemption in lieu of securities; however, the Fund may, in its
discretion, reject any such request.
Page 17
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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017
7. DISTRIBUTION PLAN
The Board of Trustees adopted a Distribution and Service Plan pursuant to Rule
12b-1 under the 1940 Act. In accordance with the Rule 12b-1 plan, the Fund is
authorized to pay an amount up to 0.25% of its average daily net assets each
year to reimburse First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), the distributor of the
Fund, for amounts expended to finance activities primarily intended to result in
the sale of Creation Units or the provision of investor services. FTP may also
use this amount to compensate securities dealers or other persons that are
Authorized Participants for providing distribution assistance, including
broker-dealer and shareholder support and educational and promotional services.
No 12b-1 fees are currently paid by the Fund, and pursuant to a contractual
arrangement, no 12b-1 fees will be paid any time before April 30, 2019.
8. INDEMNIFICATION
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has a variety of indemnification obligations
under contracts with its service providers. The Trust's maximum exposure under
these arrangements is unknown. However, the Trust has not had prior claims or
losses pursuant to these contracts and expects the risk of loss to be remote.
9. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
Management has evaluated the impact of all subsequent events to the Fund through
the date the consolidated financial statements were issued, and has determined
that there were no subsequent events requiring recognition or disclosure in the
consolidated financial statements that have not already been disclosed.
Page 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO THE SHAREHOLDERS AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE
ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF AND SUBSIDIARY:
OPINION ON THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL
HIGHLIGHTS
We have audited the accompanying consolidated statement of assets and
liabilities of First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF and
Subsidiary (the "Fund"), a series of the First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII,
including the consolidated portfolio of investments, as of December 31, 2017,
the related consolidated statement of operations for the year then ended and the
consolidated statements of changes in net assets and the consolidated financial
highlights for each of the periods presented, and the related notes. In our
opinion, the consolidated financial statements and consolidated financial
highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
the Fund as of December 31, 2017, and the results of its operations for the year
then ended and the changes in its net assets and the financial highlights for
each of the periods presented, in conformity with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States of America.
BASIS FOR OPINION
These consolidated financial statements and consolidated financial highlights
are the responsibility of the Fund's management. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on the Fund's financial statements and financial highlights
based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to
be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal
securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are
free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Fund is not
required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of their internal
control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to
obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for
the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's internal
control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material
misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due
to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such
procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts
and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits
also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant
estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of
the financial statements and financial highlights. Our procedures included
confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2017, by correspondence with
the custodian and brokers. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
Chicago, Illinois
February 23, 2018
We have served as the auditor of one or more First Trust investment companies
since 2001.
Page 19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
A description of the policies and procedures that the Trust uses to determine
how to vote proxies and information on how the Fund voted proxies relating to
portfolio investments during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is
available (1) without charge, upon request, by calling (800) 988-5891; (2) on
the Fund's website located at www.ftportfolios.com; and (3) on the Securities
and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") website located at www.sec.gov.
PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS
The Trust files its complete schedule of the Fund's portfolio holdings with the
SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The
Trust's Form N-Qs are available (1) by calling (800) 988-5891; (2) on the Fund's
website located at www.ftportfolios.com; (3) on the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov; and (4) for review and copying at the SEC's Public Reference Room
("PRR") in Washington, DC. Information regarding the operation of the PRR may be
obtained by calling (800) SEC-0330.
TAX INFORMATION
Of the ordinary income (including short-term capital gain) distributions made by
the Fund during the year ended December 31, 2017, none qualify for the corporate
dividends received deduction available to corporate shareholders or as qualified
dividend income.
RISK CONSIDERATIONS
Risks are inherent in all investing. You should consider the Fund's investment
objective, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. You can
download the Fund's prospectus at www.ftportfolios.com or contact First Trust
Portfolios L.P. at (800) 621-1675 to request a prospectus, which contains this
and other information about the Fund. For additional information about the risks
associated with investing in the Fund, please see the Fund's statement of
additional information, as well as other regulatory filings. Read these
documents carefully before you invest. First Trust Portfolios L.P. is the
distributor of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII.
The following summarizes some of the risks that should be considered for the
Fund.
CASH TRANSACTION RISK. The Fund will, under most circumstances, effect a
significant portion of creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind
securities. As a result, an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient
than an investment in an exchange-traded fund that effects its creations and
redemption for in-kind securities. Because the Fund may effect a portion of
redemptions for cash, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order
to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. A sale of shares
may result in capital gains or losses and may also result in higher brokerage
costs.
CLEARING BROKER RISK. The failure or bankruptcy of the Fund's and the
Subsidiary's clearing broker could result in a substantial loss of Fund assets.
Under current Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") regulations, a
clearing broker maintains customers' assets in a bulk segregated account. If a
clearing broker fails to do so, or is unable to satisfy a substantial deficit in
a customer account, its other customers may be subject to risk of loss of their
funds in the event of that clearing broker's bankruptcy. In that event, the
clearing broker's customers, such as the Fund and the Subsidiary, are entitled
to recover, even in respect of property specifically traceable to them, only a
proportional share of all property available for distribution to all of that
clearing broker's customers.
COMMODITY RISK. The value of Commodity Futures typically is based upon the price
movements of a physical commodity or an economic variable linked to such price
movements. The prices of Commodity Futures may fluctuate quickly and
dramatically and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes. An
active trading market may not exist for certain commodities. Each of these
factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.
COUNTERPARTY RISK. The Fund bears the risk that the counterparty to a commodity,
derivative may default on its obligations or otherwise fail to honor its
obligations. If a counterparty defaults on its payment obligations, the Fund
will lose money and the value of an investment in Fund shares may decrease. In
addition, the Fund may engage in such investment transactions with a limited
number of counterparties.
CREDIT RISK. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable
or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and
the related risk that the value of a security may decline because of concerns
about the issuer's ability to make such payments.
CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE RISK. The Fund may hold investments that are denominated
in non-U.S. currencies, or in securities that provide exposure to such
currencies, currency exchange rates or interest rates denominated in such
currencies. Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of
non-U.S. currencies will affect the value of the Fund's investment and the value
of Fund shares. Currency exchange rates can be very volatile and can change
quickly and unpredictably. As a result, the value of an investment in the Fund
may change quickly and without warning and you may lose money.
Page 20
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
FOREIGN COMMODITY MARKETS RISK. Trading on commodity markets outside the United
States is not regulated by any United States government agency and may involve
certain risks not applicable to trading on United States exchanges. The Fund may
not have the same access to certain trades as do various other participants in
foreign markets. Furthermore, as the Fund determines its net assets in United
States dollars, with respect to trading in foreign markets the Fund is subject
to the risk of fluctuations in the exchange rate between the local currency and
dollars as well as the possibility of exchange controls. Certain futures
contracts traded on foreign exchanges are treated differently for federal income
tax purposes than are domestic contracts.
FREQUENT TRADING RISK. The frequent trading of futures contracts may increase
the amount of commissions or mark-ups to broker-dealers that the Fund pays when
it buys and sells contracts, which may detract from the Fund's performance.
FUTURES RISK. The Fund invests in futures through the Subsidiary. All futures
and futures-related products are highly volatile. Price movements are influenced
by, among other things, changing supply and demand relationships; climate;
government agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs
and policies; national and international political and economic events; crop
diseases; the purchasing and marketing programs of different nations; and
changes in interest rates. In addition, governments from time to time intervene,
directly and by regulation, in certain markets, particularly those in
currencies.
GAP RISK. The Fund is subject to the risk that a commodity price will change
from one level to another with no trading in between. Usually such movements
occur when there are adverse news announcements, which can cause a commodity
price to drop substantially from the previous day's closing price.
INCOME RISK. Income from the Fund's fixed income investments could decline
during periods of falling interest rates.
INTEREST RATE RISK. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the debt
securities in the Fund's portfolio will decline because of rising market
interest rates. Interest rate risk is generally lower for shorter term debt
securities and higher for longer term debt securities. Duration is a measure of
the expected price volatility of a debt security as a result of changes in
market rates of interest, based on, among other factors, the weighted average
timing of the debt security's expected principal and interest payments. In
general, duration represents the expected percentage change in the value of a
security for an immediate 1% change in interest rates. Therefore, prices of debt
securities with shorter durations tend to be less sensitive to interest rate
changes than debt securities with longer durations. As the value of a debt
security changes over time, so will its duration.
LIQUIDITY RISK. The Fund invests in futures contracts, which may be less liquid
than other types of investments. The illiquidity of futures contracts could have
a negative effect on the Fund's ability to achieve its investment objective and
may result in losses to Fund shareholders.
MANAGEMENT RISK. The Fund is subject to management risk because it is an
actively managed portfolio. In managing the Fund's investment portfolio, the
Advisor will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the
desired result. There can be no guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment
objective.
MARKET RISK. Market risk is the risk that a particular security owned by the
Fund or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value. Securities are subject
to market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic, political, regulatory
or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in
securities prices. Overall securities values could decline generally or could
underperform other investments.
NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified" under the
1940 Act, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As a result, the Fund is only limited as
to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of any
one issuer by the diversification requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986, as amended. The Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of
its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, the Fund may be more
susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one
or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly invested
in certain issuers.
NON-U.S. INVESTMENT RISK. Transactions on non-U.S. exchanges present risks
because they may not be subject to the same degree of regulation as their U.S.
counterparts.
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER RISK. The Subsidiary's higher portfolio turnover may result
in the Fund paying higher levels of transaction costs and generating greater tax
liabilities for shareholders. Portfolio turnover risk may cause the Fund's
performance to be less than you expect.
REGULATORY RISK. The Fund's investment decisions may need to be modified, and
commodity contract positions held by the Fund may have to be liquidated at
disadvantageous times or prices, to avoid exceeding any applicable position
limits established by the CFTC, potentially subjecting the Fund to substantial
losses. The regulation of commodity transactions in the United States is a
rapidly changing area of law and is subject to ongoing modification by
government, self-regulatory and judicial action. The effect of any future
regulatory change with respect to any aspect of the Fund is impossible to
predict, but could be substantial and adverse to the Fund.
Page 21
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
REPURCHASE AGREEMENT RISK. The Fund's investment in repurchase agreements may be
subject to market and credit risk with respect to the collateral securing the
repurchase agreements. Investments in repurchase agreements also may be subject
to the risk that the market value of the underlying obligations may decline
prior to the expiration of the repurchase agreement term.
SHORT SALES RISK. The Fund may sell Commodity Futures short. A short futures
position allows the seller to profit from a decline in the price of the
underlying commodity to the extent such decline exceeds the transaction costs of
the short position. Conversely, if the price of the underlying futures contract
rises because of an increase in the price of the underlying commodity, the Fund
will realize a loss on the transaction. The Fund bears the risk of unlimited
loss on contracts it sells short, as the price at which the Fund would need to
cover a short position could theoretically increase without limit.
SMALL FUND RISK. The Fund currently has fewer assets than larger funds, and like
other relatively 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.
SUBSIDIARY INVESTMENT RISK. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the
Cayman Islands, under which the Fund and the Subsidiary are organized,
respectively, could result in the inability of the Fund to operate as intended
and could negatively affect the Fund and its shareholders. The Subsidiary is not
registered under the 1940 Act and is not subject to all the investor protections
of the 1940 Act. Thus, the Fund, as an investor in the Subsidiary, will not have
all the protections offered to investors in registered investment companies.
TAX RISK. The Fund intends to treat any income it may derive from Commodity
Futures (other than derivatives described in Revenue Rulings 2006-1 and 2006-31)
received by the Subsidiary as "qualifying income" under the provisions of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to "regulated investment
companies" ("RICs"), based on a tax opinion received from special counsel which
was based, in part, on numerous private letter rulings ("PLRs") provided to
third parties not associated with the Fund or its affiliates (which only those
parties may rely on as precedent). Shareholders and potential investors should
be aware, however, that in September 2016 the Internal Revenue Service released
proposed Regulations that, if finalized in the form proposed, would limit the
qualifying income from the Subsidiary to the income distributed in the same year
in which the income is required to be included in the income of the Fund under
the controlled foreign corporation rules. The Fund intends to distribute the
income in the same year as the income is required to be included, but a failure
to do so could cause the Fund to have non-qualifying income and potentially lose
RIC status.
If the Fund did not qualify as a RIC for any taxable year and certain relief
provisions were not available, the Fund's taxable income would be subject to tax
at the Fund level and to a further tax at the shareholder level when such income
is distributed. In such event, in order to re-qualify for taxation as a RIC, the
Fund might be required to recognize unrealized gains, pay substantial taxes and
interest and make certain distributions. This would cause investors to incur
higher tax liabilities than they otherwise would have incurred and would have a
negative impact on Fund returns. In such event, the Fund's Board of Trustees may
determine to reorganize or close the Fund or materially change the Fund's
investment objective and strategies. In the event that the Fund fails to qualify
as a RIC, the Fund will promptly notify shareholders of the implications of that
failure.
The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in equity repurchase agreements.
Recent changes in the law have the potential of changing the character and
source of such instruments potentially subjecting them to unexpected U.S.
taxation. Depending upon the terms of the contracts, the Fund may be required to
indemnify the counterparty for such increased tax.
U.S. GOVERNMENT AND AGENCY SECURITIES RISK. The Fund may invest in U.S.
government obligations. U.S. government obligations include U.S. Treasury
obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies of the U.S.
government or by various instrumentalities, which have been established or
sponsored by the U.S. government. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the
"full faith and credit" of the U.S. government. Securities issued or guaranteed
by federal agencies and U.S. government sponsored instrumentalities may or may
not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
VOLATILITY RISK. Frequent or significant short-term price movements could
adversely impact the performance of the Fund. In addition, the net asset value
of the Fund over short-term periods may be more volatile than other investment
options because of the Fund's significant use of financial instruments that have
a leveraging effect. For example, because of the low margin deposits required,
futures trading involves an extremely high degree of leverage and as a result, a
relatively small price movement in a Commodities Futures may result in immediate
and substantial losses to the Fund.
WHIPSAW MARKETS RISK. The Fund may be subject to the forces of "whipsaw" markets
(as opposed to choppy or stable markets), in which significant price movements
develop but then repeatedly reverse. Such market conditions could cause
substantial losses to the Fund.
Page 22
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
The following tables identify the Trustees and Officers of the Trust. Unless
otherwise indicated, the address of all persons is 120 E. Liberty Drive, Suite
400, Wheaton, IL 60187.
The Trust's respective statement of additional information includes additional
information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request,
by calling (800) 988-5891.
NUMBER OF OTHER
PORTFOLIOS IN TRUSTEESHIPS OR
TERM OF OFFICE THE FIRST TRUST DIRECTORSHIPS
AND YEAR FIRST FUND COMPLEX HELD BY TRUSTEE
NAME, YEAR OF BIRTH AND ELECTED OR PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONS OVERSEEN BY DURING PAST
POSITION WITH THE TRUST APPOINTED DURING PAST 5 YEARS TRUSTEE 5 YEARS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEPENDENT TRUSTEES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard E. Erickson, Trustee o Indefinite Term Physician; Officer, Wheaton Orthopedics; 151 None
(1951) Limited Partner, Gundersen Real Estate
o Since Inception Limited Partnership (June 1992 to
December 2016); Member, Sportsmed
LLC (April 2007 to November 2015)
Thomas R. Kadlec, Trustee o Indefinite Term President, ADM Investor Services, Inc. 151 Director of ADM
(1957) (Futures Commission Merchant) Investor Services,
o Since Inception Inc., ADM
Investor Services
International,
Futures Industry
Association, and
National Futures
Association
Robert F. Keith, Trustee o Indefinite Term President, Hibs Enterprises (Financial and 151 Director of Trust
(1956) Management Consulting) Company of
o Since Inception Illinois
Niel B. Nielson, Trustee o Indefinite Term Managing Director and Chief Operating 151 Director of
(1954) Officer (January 2015 to Present), Pelita Covenant
o Since Inception Harapan Educational Foundation Transport, Inc.
(Educational Products and Services); (May 2003 to
President and Chief Executive Officer May 2014)
(June 2012 to September 2014), Servant
Interactive LLC (Educational Products and
Services); President and Chief Executive
Officer (June 2012 to September 2014),
Dew Learning LLC (Educational Products
and Services)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERESTED TRUSTEE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James A. Bowen(1), Trustee and o Indefinite Term Chief Executive Officer, First Trust 151 None
Chairman of the Board Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios
(1955) o Since Inception L.P.; Chairman of the Board of Directors,
BondWave LLC (Software Development
Company) and Stonebridge Advisors LLC
(Investment Advisor)
-----------------------------
(1) Mr. Bowen is deemed an "interested person" of the Trust due to his
position as Chief Executive Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P.,
investment advisor of the Trust.
Page 23
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS (CONTINUED)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
POSITION AND TERM OF OFFICE
OFFICES AND LENGTH OF PRINCIPAL OCCUPATIONS
NAME AND YEAR OF BIRTH WITH TRUST SERVICE DURING PAST 5 YEARS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICERS(2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James M. Dykas President and Chief o Indefinite Term Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer
(1966) Executive Officer (January 2016 to Present), Controller (January 2011
o Since January 2016 to January 2016), Senior Vice President (April 2007
to January 2016), First Trust Advisors L.P. and First
Trust Portfolios L.P.; Chief Financial Officer
(January 2016 to Present), BondWave LLC
(Software Development Company) and Stonebridge
Advisors LLC (Investment Advisor)
Donald P. Swade Treasurer, Chief Financial o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President (July 2016 to Present), Vice
(1972) Officer and Chief President (April 2012 to July 2016), First Trust
Accounting Officer o Since January 2016 Advisors L.P. and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
W. Scott Jardine Secretary and Chief o Indefinite Term General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P. and First
(1960) Legal Officer Trust Portfolios L.P.; Secretary and General
o Since Inception Counsel, BondWave LLC; Secretary, Stonebridge
Advisors LLC
Daniel J. Lindquist Vice President o Indefinite Term Managing Director, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1970) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
Kristi A. Maher Chief Compliance o Indefinite Term Deputy General Counsel, First Trust Advisors L.P.
(1966) Officer and and First Trust Portfolios L.P.
Assistant Secretary o Since Inception
Roger F. Testin Vice President o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1966) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
Stan Ueland Vice President o Indefinite Term Senior Vice President, First Trust Advisors L.P. and
(1970) First Trust Portfolios L.P.
o Since Inception
-----------------------------
(2) Officers of the Trust have an indefinite term. The term "officer" means
the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, controller or any
other officer who performs a policy making function.
Page 24
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PRIVACY POLICY
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FIRST TRUST ALTERNATIVE ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGY ETF (FAAR)
DECEMBER 31, 2017 (UNAUDITED)
PRIVACY POLICY
First Trust values our relationship with you and considers your privacy an
important priority in maintaining that relationship. We are committed to
protecting the security and confidentiality of your personal information.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
We collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
o Information we receive from you and your broker-dealer, investment
advisor or financial representative through interviews,
applications, agreements or other forms;
o Information about your transactions with us, our affiliates or
others;
o Information we receive from your inquiries by mail, e-mail or
telephone; and
o Information we collect on our website through the use of "cookies".
For example, we may identify the pages on our website that your
browser requests or visits.
INFORMATION COLLECTED
The type of data we collect may include your name, address, social security
number, age, financial status, assets, income, tax information, retirement and
estate plan information, transaction history, account balance, payment history,
investment objectives, marital status, family relationships and other personal
information.
DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or
former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. In addition to using
this information to verify your identity (as required under law), the permitted
uses may also include the disclosure of such information to unaffiliated
companies for the following reasons:
o In order to provide you with products and services and to effect
transactions that you request or authorize, we may disclose your
personal information as described above to unaffiliated financial
service providers and other companies that perform administrative or
other services on our behalf, such as transfer agents, custodians
and trustees, or that assist us in the distribution of investor
materials such as trustees, banks, financial representatives, proxy
services, solicitors and printers.
o We may release information we have about you if you direct us to do
so, if we are compelled by law to do so, or in other legally limited
circumstances (for example to protect your account from fraud).
In addition, in order to alert you to our other financial products and services,
we may share your personal information within First Trust.
USE OF WEBSITE ANALYTICS
We currently use third party analytics tools, Google Analytics and AddThis to
gather information for purposes of improving First Trust's website and marketing
our products and services to you. These tools employ cookies, which are small
pieces of text stored in a file by your web browser and sent to websites that
you visit, to collect information, track website usage and viewing trends such
as the number of hits, pages visited, videos and PDFs viewed and the length of
user sessions in order to evaluate website performance and enhance navigation of
the website. We may also collect other anonymous information, which is generally
limited to technical and web navigation information such as the IP address of
your device, internet browser type and operating system for purposes of
analyzing the data to make First Trust's website better and more useful to our
users. The information collected does not include any personal identifiable
information such as your name, address, phone number or email address unless you
provide that information through the website for us to contact you in order to
answer your questions or respond to your requests. To find out how to opt-out of
these services click on: Google Analytics and AddThis.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND SECURITY
With regard to our internal security procedures, First Trust restricts access to
your nonpublic personal information to those First Trust employees who need to
know that information to provide products or services to you. We maintain
physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your nonpublic
personal information.
POLICY UPDATES AND INQUIRIES
As required by federal law, we will notify you of our privacy policy annually.
We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time, however, if we do change
it, we will tell you promptly. For questions about our policy, or for additional
copies of this notice, please go to www.ftportfolios.com, or contact us at
1-800-621-1675 (First Trust Portfolios) or 1-800-222-6822 (First Trust
Advisors).
May 2017
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FIRST TRUST
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
First Trust Advisors L.P.
120 E. Liberty Drive, Suite 400
Wheaton, IL 60187
ADMINISTRATOR, CUSTODIAN
FUND ACCOUNTANT &
TRANSFER AGENT
Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
50 Post Office Square
Boston, MA 02110
INDEPENDENT REGISTERED
PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Deloitte & Touche LLP
111 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
LEGAL COUNSEL
Chapman and Cutler LLP
111 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603
[BLANK BACK COVER]
ITEM 2. CODE OF ETHICS.
(a) The registrant, as of the end of the period covered by this report, has
adopted a code of ethics that applies to the registrant's principal
executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting
officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, regardless
of whether these individuals are employed by the registrant or a third
party.
(c) There have been no amendments, during the period covered by this report,
to a provision of the code of ethics that applies to the registrant's
principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal
accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions,
regardless of whether these individuals are employed by the registrant or
a third party, and that relates to any element of the code of ethics
description.
(d) The registrant, during the period covered by this report, has not granted
any waivers, including an implicit waiver, from a provision of the code of
ethics that applies to the registrant's principal executive officer,
principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller,
or persons performing similar functions, regardless of whether these
individuals are employed by the registrant or a third party, that relates
to one or more of the items set forth in paragraph (b) of this item's
instructions.
(e) Not applicable.
ITEM 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.
As of the end of the period covered by the report, the registrant's board of
trustees has determined that Thomas R. Kadlec and Robert F. Keith are qualified
to serve as audit committee financial experts serving on its audit committee and
that each of them is "independent," as defined by Item 3 of Form N-CSR.
ITEM 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.
(a) Audit Fees (Registrant) -- The aggregate fees billed for each of the
last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by the principal
accountant for the audit of the registrant's annual financial statements or
services that are normally provided by the accountant in connection with
statutory and regulatory filings or engagements were $56,000 for the fiscal year
ended December 31, 2016 and $28,000 for fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
(b) Audit-Related Fees (Registrant) -- The aggregate fees billed in each
of the last two fiscal years for assurance and related services by the principal
accountant that are reasonably related to the performance of the audit of the
registrant's financial statements and are not reported under paragraph (a) of
this Item were $183.82 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, and $0 for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
Audit-Related Fees (Investment Adviser and Distributor) -- The aggregate
fees billed in each of the last two fiscal years for assurance and related
services by the principal accountant that are reasonably related to the
performance of the audit of the registrant's financial statements and are not
reported under paragraph (a) of this Item were $7,000 for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2016, and $0 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
(c) Tax Fees (Registrant) -- The aggregate fees billed in each of the last
two fiscal years for professional services rendered by the principal accountant
for tax compliance, tax advice, and tax planning to the registrant were $6,000
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 and $6,000 for fiscal year ended
December 31, 2017.
Tax Fees (Investment Adviser and Distributor) -- The aggregate fees billed
in each of the last two fiscal years for professional services rendered by the
principal accountant for tax compliance, tax advice, and tax planning to the
registrant's adviser and distributor were $0 for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2016, and $0 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
(d) All Other Fees (Registrant) -- The aggregate fees billed in each of
the last two fiscal years for products and services provided by the principal
accountant to the registrant, other than the services reported in paragraphs (a)
through (c) of this Item were $0 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016,
and $0 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
All Other Fees (Investment Adviser and Distributor) -- The aggregate fees
billed in each of the last two fiscal years for products and services provided
by the principal accountant to the registrant's investment adviser and
distributor, other than the services reported in paragraphs (a) through (c) of
this Item were $0 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, and $0 for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
(e)(1) Disclose the audit committee's pre-approval policies and procedures
described in paragraph (c)(7) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.
Pursuant to its charter and its Audit and Non-Audit Services Pre-Approval
Policy, the Audit Committee (the "Committee") is responsible for the
pre-approval of all audit services and permitted non-audit services (including
the fees and terms thereof) to be performed for the registrant by its
independent auditors. The Chairman of the Committee is authorized to give such
pre-approvals on behalf of the Committee up to $25,000 and report any such
pre-approval to the full Committee.
The Committee is also responsible for the pre-approval of the independent
auditor's engagements for non-audit services with the registrant's adviser (not
including a sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is
sub-contracted or overseen by another investment adviser) and any entity
controlling, controlled by or under common control with the investment adviser
that provides ongoing services to the registrant, if the engagement relates
directly to the operations and financial reporting of the registrant, subject to
the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in Rule 2-01 of
Regulation S-X. If the independent auditor has provided non-audit services to
the registrant's adviser (other than any sub-adviser whose role is primarily
portfolio management and is sub-contracted with or overseen by another
investment adviser) and any entity controlling, controlled by or under common
control with the investment adviser that provides ongoing services to the
registrant that were not pre-approved pursuant to its policies, the Committee
will consider whether the provision of such non-audit services is compatible
with the auditor's independence.
(e)(2) The percentage of services described in each of paragraphs (b) through
(d) for the registrant and the registrant's investment adviser of this
Item that were approved by the audit committee pursuant to the
pre-approval exceptions included in paragraph (c)(7)(i)(c) or paragraph
(c)(7)(ii) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X are as follows:
(b) 0%
(c) 0%
(d) 0%
(f) The percentage of hours expended on the principal accountant's
engagement to audit the registrant's financial statements for the most recent
fiscal year that were attributed to work performed by persons other than the
principal accountant's full-time, permanent employees was less than fifty
percent.
(g) The aggregate non-audit fees billed by the registrant's accountant for
services rendered to the registrant, and rendered to the registrant's investment
adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio
management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser),
and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the
adviser that provides ongoing services to the registrant for fiscal year ended
December 31, 2016 were $6,000 for the registrant, $13,000 for the registrant's
investment adviser and $32,500 for the registrant's distributor and for the
registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 were $6,000 for the registrant,
$44,000 for the registrant's investment adviser and $63,400 for the registrant's
distributor.
(h) The registrant's audit committee of its Board of Trustees has
determined that the provision of non-audit services that were rendered to the
registrant's investment adviser (not including any sub-adviser whose role is
primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another
investment adviser), and any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common
control with the investment adviser that provides ongoing services to the
registrant that were not pre-approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(ii) of Rule
2-01 of Regulation S-X is compatible with maintaining the principal accountant's
independence.
ITEMS 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.
The registrant has a separately designated standing audit committee established
in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
consisting of all the independent directors of the registrant. The audit
committee of the registrant is comprised of: Richard E. Erickson, Thomas R.
Kadlec, Robert F. Keith and Niel B. Nielson.
ITEM 6. INVESTMENTS.
(a) Schedule of Investments in securities of unaffiliated issuers as of the
close of the reporting period is included as part of the report to
shareholders filed under Item 1 of this form.
(b) Not applicable.
ITEM 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
Not applicable.
ITEM 8. PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
Not applicable.
ITEM 9. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT
COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.
Not applicable.
ITEM 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.
There have been no material changes to the procedures by which the shareholders
may recommend nominees to the registrant's board of directors, where those
changes were implemented after the registrant last provided disclosure in
response to the requirements of Item 407(c)(2)(iv) of Regulation S-K (17 CFR
229.407) (as required by Item 22(b)(15) of Schedule 14A (17 CFR 240.14a-101)),
or this Item.
ITEM 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
(a) The registrant's principal executive and principal financial officers, or
persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant's
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the
Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") (17 CFR
270.30a-3 (c))) are effective, as of a date within 90 days of the filing
date of the report that includes the disclosure required by this
paragraph, based on their evaluation of these controls and procedures
required by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-3(b)) and
Rules 13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (17 CFR 240.13a-15(b) or 240.15d-15 (b)).
(b) There were no changes in the registrant's internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR
270.30a-3(d)) that occurred during the registrant's last fiscal quarter of
the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are
reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control
over financial reporting.
ITEM 12. EXHIBITS.
(a)(1) Code of ethics, or any amendment thereto, that is the subject of
disclosure required by Item 2 is attached hereto.
(a)(2) Certifications pursuant to Rule 30a-2(a) under the 1940 Act and
Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are attached hereto.
(a) (3) Not Applicable
(b) Certifications pursuant to Rule 30a-2(b) under the 1940 Act and Section
906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are attached hereto.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be
signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
(registrant) First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII
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By (Signature and Title)* /s/ James M. Dykas
----------------------------------------
James M. Dykas, President and
Chief Executive Officer
(principal executive officer)
Date: January 22, 2018
------------------
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the
following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the
dates indicated.
By (Signature and Title)* /s/ James M. Dykas
----------------------------------------
James M. Dykas, President and
Chief Executive Officer
(principal executive officer)
Date: January 22, 2018
------------------
By (Signature and Title)* /s/ Donald P. Swade
----------------------------------------
Donald P. Swade, Treasurer,
Chief Financial Officer and
Chief Accounting Officer
(principal financial officer)
Date: January 22, 2018
------------------
* Print the name and title of each signing officer under his or her signature.