2026 Interim Results

Equity markets performed strongly in the first half of the year despite persistent macroeconomic headwinds, not least inflationary pressure stemming from restricted oil supplies from the Middle East. These fears had eased somewhat by the end of the period, but the conflict between the US and Iran persisted and caused significant volatility, as did the high valuations and crowded positioning of investors in Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) related stocks.

Although the Company delivered a positive NAV total return of 7.0% in the first half and a share price total return of 6.0%, this was behind the MSCI ACWI return of 12.7%, and relative performance was below the Board’s expectations. The shortfall reflected a market in which returns were unusually concentrated in AI-related stocks, where our deliberately diversified portfolio did not fully participate in every area of momentum.

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