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<p><strong>Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns. The following update is based on a representative portfolio. As such, stock examples may not be held in every client portfolio, and performance may differ.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Kathleen Hunter</strong>: Periods of significant relative underperformance are deeply uncomfortable. For those of you who have trusted us with your capital and feel disappointed by recent outcomes, we absolutely recognise that. While being odds with the market is an inevitable part of long-term investing, the past five years have been unusually extreme. </p>
<p>A challenging macroeconomic backdrop marked by sharp rate rises, higher energy prices and geopolitical tensions has given strong returns in parts of the index, particularly oil and gas, banking and defence sectors.</p>
<p>By contrast, the long-duration growth companies that we typically invest in have firmly been out of favour with sustained operational progress largely unrewarded by the market. Periods like this do test conviction, but they also create huge opportunities. While share prices have been weak, the earnings power of the companies we invest in has remained robust. As a result, valuations across many companies in the UK Alpha Strategy are now trading at historically low levels.</p>
<p>This growing disconnect increasingly resembles a coiled spring where short-term pressure is building, not eroding the potential for future returns. The most recent quarter illustrates this clearly. </p>
<p>While the FTSE All-Share Index finished ahead, there was a range of highly polarised share price moves beneath the surface. Oil and gas shares rose sharply, driven by the conflict in the Middle East, while a pronounced AI-related sell off weighed heavily on software and technology businesses.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop, the UK Alpha Strategy underperformed. Our lack of exposure to oil majors Shell and BP detracted from the performance. At the same time, shares in several holdings including Auto Trader, Kainos, Experian and Softcat struggled as concerns around artificial intelligence weighed on sentiment. We have reviewed these businesses carefully through a combination of structured site visits, bottom up analysis and rigorous internal debate.</p>
<p>And in our view, the market is overestimating disruption and underestimating durability. Take Auto Trader. There's a concern that AI could disintermediate its role in the car buying journey, but Auto Trader is at the centre of the UK automotive ecosystem, with the largest audience of buyers and the broadest network of dealers. The value it provides to both sides of this network is underpinned by a rich dataset spanning pricing, inventory and consumer behaviour.</p>
<p>An asset that we believe is strengthened, not weakened, by AI. In terms of Kainos, concerns have been focused on AI reducing demand for their IT implementation services. However, our discussions with management suggest that customer adoption will be gradual, constrained by data quality and organisational readiness. While AI may lower barriers to writing code, it's likely to increase demand for higher value services such as integration and governance, where Kainos is well positioned to support its customers. </p>
<p>Across the strategy we see a consistent pattern. Short-term uncertainty is driving more cautious assumptions and lower valuations, despite resilient fundamentals and strong long term prospects. But there's also been some areas of strength. AJ Bell performed well during the quarter, after another strong trading update, growing both customer numbers and assets by around 20 percent over the past year. Oxford Instruments also contributed positively,</p>
<p>benefiting from rising demand from semiconductor equipment and a significantly stronger order book. We've also been actively trading. We exited Trainline and Ocado and redeployed the capital into higher conviction opportunities, adding to Greggs and Softcat. Both are high-quality businesses with strong competitive positions, and recent share price weakness has given us the opportunity to increase exposures at attractive valuations.</p>
<p>To summarise, while recent performance has been challenging, we believe the current environment is reinforcing, not undermining our approach. Markets today are increasingly driven by short-term narratives and narrow leadership. This is creating mispricing in businesses with strong long-term prospects. We're seeing this across the strategy and we're leaning into it, deploying capital into high-quality companies at compelling valuations.</p>
<p>As I said at the start, when conviction is tested, opportunities are created. While this has been a difficult period, we would struggle to identify a time when the opportunity to generate long-term returns from UK growth companies has ever been more compelling.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3 class="TABLEHEADER1212pt">UK Alpha</h3>
<p><strong>Annual past performance to 31 March each year (%)</strong></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 0px; height: 74.6668px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px;"> </td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;"><strong>2022</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;"><strong>2023</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;"><strong>2024</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;"><strong>2025</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;"><strong>2026</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px;">UK Alpha Composite (gross)</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">-22.9</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">-9.4</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">6.8</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">1.5</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">6.4</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px;">UK Alpha Composite (net)</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">-23.4</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">-9.9</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">6.2</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">0.9</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">5.8</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px;">FTSE All Share index</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">7.9</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">-3.3</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">10.8</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">12.9</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; text-align: right;">24.2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Annualised returns to 31 March 2026 (%)</strong></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 0px; height: 93.0001px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 37px;">
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 37px; width: 61.3387%;"> </td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 37px; width: 13.1043%; text-align: right;"><strong>1 year</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 37px; width: 12.713%; text-align: right;"><strong>5 years</strong></td>
<td style="border-width: 1px 1px 2px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(0, 0, 0); border-image: initial; padding: 10px; height: 37px; width: 12.844%; text-align: right;"><strong>10 years</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3387%;">UK Alpha Composite (gross)</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.1043%; text-align: right;">6.4</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.713%; text-align: right;">-4.2</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.844%; text-align: right;">4.1</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3387%;">UK Alpha Composite (net)</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.1043%; text-align: right;">5.8</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.713%; text-align: right;">-4.8</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.844%; text-align: right;">3.5</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.6667px;">
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 61.3387%;">FTSE All Share index</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 13.1043%; text-align: right;">24.2</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.713%; text-align: right;">10.1</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 10px; height: 18.6667px; width: 12.844%; text-align: right;">7.7</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong>Source:</strong> Revolution, FTSE. US dollars. Net returns have been calculated by reducing the gross return by the highest annual management fee for the composite. 1 year figures are not annualised.<br><br></p>
<p><strong>Past performance is not a guide to future returns.</strong></p>
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<p> </p>
<h3>Risk factors </h3>
<p>This communication was produced and approved in April 2026 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time and may not reflect current thinking.</p>
<p>The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.</p>
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<p> </p>
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