The merger arbitrage landscape has shifted meaningfully with spreads becoming less efficient due to capital leaving the space during tough regulatory years. The pendulum for regulators has swung toward being more favorable for M&A activity, creating opportunities for those positioned to take advantage. Tariffs and the current U.S. administration's goals are creating a monumental shift in the global economy. Onshoring and supply chain re-optimization will create new winners and losers as companies adapt to changing trade dynamics. AI is viewed as the biggest catalyst to be let loose into economies, creating a sea of change. This technological shift is expected to drive significant transformation across industries and create new investment opportunities.

AI remains transformative but markets are shifting from hype to show me the money phase. The industry has spent over $400 billion on capex while producing roughly $50 billion in revenues. Physical constraints including power generation, grid capacity, and data centers are challenging assumptions of frictionless scaling. Private markets are finally offering opportunity as supply and demand balance has shifted. Traditional institutions are over-allocated, distributions have dried up, and scarcity of capital gives patient liquidity providers leverage on price and terms. The firm is launching a private markets fund in Q1 2026. Real estate presents opportunities where price and replacement cost have meaningfully diverged. Commercial real estate market is down approximately 20% since 2022 while construction costs have risen 20-30%. Refinancing cliffs are forcing motivated behavior creating acquisition opportunities at deep discounts.

The manager emphasizes shifting toward durable, time-friendly compounders where time is our friend and the range of outcomes runs from decent to superb with very low chance of permanent loss. He focuses on companies that can rinse, repeat, and grind through, moving away from binary outcomes toward inevitable businesses. The portfolio review demonstrates a value-oriented approach, learning from masters like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. The manager reverse-engineered thinking from successful value investors and applied similar principles to find undervalued companies with strong fundamentals across various markets.

The US Fed cut rates by 25 basis points in both October and December, bringing the target range to 3.50-3.75%. The SARB cut rates by 25 basis points in November to 6.75%, with cumulative cuts of 125 basis points since September 2024. The SARB predicts a 75-basis-point decline over the next 15 months, with the repo rate expected to reach 6.0% by March 2027. SA's consumer price inflation for November 2025 came in at 3.5% and is expected to remain subdued, reaching 3.0% by February 2026. The SARB's new inflation target of 3% with a 1 percentage point tolerance band contributed to lower inflation expectations and positive sentiment. South Africa's economic growth outlook for 2025 is modest but improving, with forecasts at around 1.1% to 1.4% growth. SA's removal from the FATF greylist and the stronger rand (+4.3% against the US dollar) contributed to positive sentiment. The South African bond market produced stellar returns, gaining 9% in the quarter and 24.2% for the year.

Industrial automation has become a strategic necessity rather than a cost optimization tool in a multipolar world. FANUC exemplifies this trend as a global leader in factory robots and CNC systems that support re-shoring and friend-shoring while maintaining productivity. The company's technology underpins manufacturing across automotive, electronics, semiconductors, and precision machinery with systems that remain in place for decades. Materials have re-emerged as strategically important rather than purely cyclical as supply chains are re-engineered and infrastructure investment accelerates. Holdings like Pan American Silver and Southern Copper provide exposure to precious metals and copper demand driven by electrification, grid expansion, electric vehicles, and data-centre infrastructure. Supply growth remains constrained by long development timelines while demand continues rising. AI-related stocks remained a key market driver with companies most directly tied to AI infrastructure and monetization delivering the strongest results. The Magnificent Seven continued to dominate markets, accounting for roughly half of the S&P 500's total return. Capital investment remained elevated with spending concentrated in data centres, semiconductors, energy infrastructure, and automation. Governments and corporations are prioritizing re-shoring and friend-shoring, placing greater emphasis on supply-chain resilience across technology, manufacturing, energy infrastructure, and critical minerals. Rather than reversing globalization, supply chains are being re-engineered around strategic alignment and political reliability. This shift is influencing how and where capital is deployed globally. The transition toward renewable energy and electrification continues to drive investment in grid expansion, energy storage, and power infrastructure. Holdings like GE Vernova benefit from rising power and infrastructure demands tied to AI and electrification. Energy has become a strategic asset to fuel the growth of AI and support industrial competitiveness through low, stable energy costs.

Portfolio positioned in undervalued securities trading at significant discounts to intrinsic value. Manager emphasizes rotation from winners to laggards where fundamentals are improving but share prices declined. Focus on companies with strong cash generation trading below fair value multiples. Significant exposure to healthcare through sterilization services (SHC) and healthcare software (MDRX). Healthcare IT viewed as defensive with regulatory complexity creating barriers to disruption. Sterilization services seen as recession-proof with predictable growth. Exposure through liquidating real estate holdings (STHO) and entertainment real estate (SEG). Focus on asset monetization and development projects with major tenants like Meow Wolf driving traffic and rental income growth.

Holdings like Ricegrowers Ltd and Fonterra Shareholders Fund powered higher as rice and milk prices remained healthy and demand grew. Fonterra struck an agreement to sell its consumer-facing businesses to dairy powerhouse Lactalis. As the world's middle class grows, consumers will demand both more and better-quality foods and ingredients. Swiss Alpine Railways investors took notice of strong earnings from Jungfraubahn AG and BVZ Holding AG, each of which owns a collection of impossible to duplicate transportation and tourism infrastructure in the Alps. American shipbuilders benefit from higher spending on vessels and naval systems for national security reasons. There is a growing realization that artificial intelligence can reproduce the functions of a meaningful portion of the software offered by today's dominant software companies at a small fraction of the cost. Software franchises may eventually turn out to be just another commodity. AI capabilities will only improve. Tactile Fund owns shares in multiple European companies with extensive real estate holdings in exclusive locations. These are owned for their trophy assets that will grow in value with time, though this could mean waiting for their share prices to move.

Capital markets are wide open with elevated levels of debt issuance, equity offerings, and M&A volumes. Falling interest rates, rising equity prices, and improving corporate confidence are driving an optimistic outlook for deals, which should benefit advisory firms, rating agencies, and alternative asset managers. The fund continues its growth approach to investing in financial and financial-related companies, including payment businesses, financial exchanges, and data providers that enable financial transactions. The common denominator across all holdings is the use of technology and data to better serve customers and grow at above-average rates. The broader software industry came under pressure due to fears of AI disintermediation. However, vertical market software vendors serving highly regulated industries are most insulated from AI risk given their deep workflow integrations and high switching costs. Morgan Stanley expects continued margin expansion from operating leverage and efficiencies from the broader usage of AI. Bitcoin fell 23.5% in the quarter, significantly underperforming nearly every major asset class. Robinhood experienced softening in customer engagement, especially in cryptocurrency trading alongside a pullback in crypto prices. The Senate is drafting legislation to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency that could potentially boost digital asset adoption. Falling interest rates and federal support for housing should drive a continued rebound in mortgage origination volumes, which should benefit mortgage originators and credit bureaus. FICO launched its new Direct Licensing Program for mortgage lending, which provides greater flexibility to monetize its intellectual property.

AI infrastructure spending commitments faced scrutiny in late Q4 as investors questioned feasibility and ROI demonstration capabilities. The tech sector peaked on AI infrastructure announcements before reversing as sentiment shifted regarding over-extrapolated promotional claims. Event-driven M&A activity was a key performance driver, with Confluent's acquisition by IBM validating the manager's thesis published in August. The strategy focuses on identifying attractive acquisition candidates in the technology sector.

Emerging Markets demonstrated resilience in 2025 despite higher-than-expected U.S. trade tariffs, supported by strong fundamentals. EM growth is expected to outpace Developed Markets by about 2.5 times in 2026. The asset class benefits from attractive growth prospects and global shifts in trade patterns. U.S. trade tariffs reached ~17% in 2025, the highest since the 1930s, creating sustained pressure on global trade. While fears of a global trade war did not fully materialize, tariff volatility persists and may drive short-term volatility across emerging markets. The U.S. dollar appears to have peaked and is expected to continue declining in 2026, particularly against major EM currencies. The dollar remains at historically high levels when adjusted for inflation, but supporting factors have weakened including reduced carry benefits and widening current account deficit. Geopolitical developments including the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Maduro underscore the Trump Administration's commitment to reviving the Monroe Doctrine. These actions create differentiated opportunities for investors as geopolitical risk premia shift across regions.

AI capital expenditures communicated by company management teams again surprised to the upside over the latest earnings cycle. Analyst expectations for 2026 capex aggregated across the five largest cloud computing platforms now exceed half a trillion dollars, and these estimates have been revised 80% higher in total over the last year. Use cases for AI technology across digital media, e-commerce, infrastructure software and knowledge work are now well-established, and adoption is increasingly spreading into new, labor-intensive sectors. Global equity markets rose in the quarter, with the MSCI AC World Index up 3.4%, driven by solid corporate earnings, expectations for lower interest rates, and moderating inflation. Communication Services was among the best performing sectors (+3.4%, primarily led by strong performance in Alphabet shares). The fund focuses on global content and connectivity companies. The fund invests in companies providing connectivity infrastructure and services. Holdings include T-Mobile US, Deutsche Telekom, Rogers Communications, and other telecommunications infrastructure providers. The sector benefited from improving wireless competitive environment and continued investment in network infrastructure.

AI euphoria faded in Q4 but companies in the AI ecosystem continued to deliver impressive results against high expectations. Concerns mounted around ever-increasing capex outlays and financing of sizable capex commitments. The commoditized see-saw battle among five major LLMs for next generation model leadership continues. The Fund focuses on dividend-paying stocks and benefited from M&A activity and a large position in gold miner Newmont. Despite a modestly defensive posture throughout 2025, the Fund benefited from appreciating stocks that were sized as larger positions. Gold had its best year with the price of gold benefiting the Fund's position in gold miner Newmont, which was one of the top contributors. Gold served as an inflation hedge and store of value amid macroeconomic uncertainty.

Gold had its best year since 1979, rising 66% as a result of geopolitical uncertainty and central bank buying. Gold miners such as Newmont Corp. are levered to the price of gold, making it the biggest contributor to returns for both the fourth quarter and the full year. The Fund focuses on dividend-producing equity securities, though this may limit potential for appreciation during broad market advances. The prices of dividend-producing equity securities can be highly volatile. The American economy continues to embrace AI technology, and the prospect of large increases in productivity is spurring optimism. AI-related infrastructure and power demand are driving growth in various sectors. Natural gas demand in the Northeast is accelerating, driven in part by rising electricity consumption from data centers and AI-related load growth. Companies like National Fuel Gas benefit from strategic positioning near population centers.

Multiple biotech and pharmaceutical M&A deals closed during the quarter, including Akero Therapeutics acquired by Novo Nordisk for $54.00 per share plus CVR, Metsera acquired by Pfizer after outbidding Novo Nordisk, and Tourmaine Bio acquired by Novartis for $48.00 per share. M&A volume activity reached $4.6 trillion in 2025, representing a 49% increase from the previous year and the highest since 2021. Technology, industrials, and financials were the top sectors for M&A activity, accounting for over $2 trillion in deal activity.

Gold equity holdings were the top contributors to performance, with multiple gold miners including Westgold Resources, Endeavour Mining, Eldorado Gold, and Perseus Mining driving returns. Gold is undergoing a longer-term revaluation as a monetary alternative amid elevated sovereign debt levels and shifting geopolitical alliances. Defense spending increases are supporting companies like Chemring Group and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Japan plans to double defense spending by 2035, while European defense expenditures are rising due to security concerns. The fund added Japanese defense-related companies including Chugoku Marine Paints and Namura Shipbuilding. International equities benefited from investors diversifying from mega-cap U.S. technology companies. Dollar weakness supported returns, with the DXY Index declining about 9% during 2025. Valuations between U.S. and international markets had become stretched in favor of non-U.S. equities.

Riot is positioned to capitalize on the massive AI/HPC data center opportunity as AI companies scale capacity exponentially. The company's sites are well-suited for AI training, inference, edge computing, and various data center applications, with power being the biggest constraint for AI buildout. Riot's transformation from bitcoin mining to AI/HPC data centers represents tremendous value creation potential. The company has 1.7GW of fully available power at prime locations that could generate over $1.6 billion of annual EBITDA if monetized at recent precedent transaction rates. Cryptocurrency mining companies have become attractive sources of near-term power capacity for AI/HPC companies. From August to year-end 2025, four crypto mining companies announced AI/HPC deals for approximately 1.4GW of gross capacity at attractive leasing rates.

The fund participated in merger arbitrage opportunities across multiple sectors, with notable activity in pharmaceutical deals including Mayne Pharma Group Limited where the bidder attempted to walk from the deal. The fund was publicly outspoken about Cosette Pharmaceuticals acting in bad faith when trying to exit their acquisition of Mayne Pharma. May saw three deals in the copper space within a week, with the fund thinking at least one was ripe for a contest. New World Resources Limited saw significant action with multiple bidders, starting as a friendly scheme and ultimately seeing nine bids total with Kinterra Capital emerging as the victor.

Commodity prices surged in January, led by energy, while positive momentum in precious metals was supported by dollar weakness and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. The portfolio benefited from commodities-related holdings within quoted equities. Gold contributed positively to performance through uncorrelated strategies, supported by dollar weakness and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.

Small-cap equities ended 2025 on a positive but volatile note with the Russell 2000 returning 12.8% for the year. The outlook for small-cap equities entering 2026 is increasingly constructive, particularly within value-oriented segments, with consensus expectations pointing to meaningful acceleration in small-cap earnings growth in the low-to-mid teens. Value-oriented stocks remain attractively positioned with growth stocks continuing to trade at a meaningful premium to value across most valuation measures. Historically, periods of accelerating profits have favored value leadership, particularly within smaller-cap universes. The strategy's P/E is 12.2x forward earnings versus 15.0x for the Russell 2000 Value. The Federal Reserve's shift toward monetary easing represents an important inflection point for smaller companies, which tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates and credit conditions. Following a 25 basis point cut in September, the Federal Reserve cut rates twice in Q4 to the current range of 3.50% to 3.75%. Lower borrowing costs should support refinancing activity, capital investment, and margin recovery. Earnings are central to the manager's optimism with consensus expectations pointing to meaningful acceleration in small-cap earnings in 2026, with growth projected in the low-to-mid teens and exceeding that of large-cap companies. This anticipated rebound reflects easier year-over-year comparisons, improving operating leverage, and broadening demand across cyclical and value-oriented sectors.

The Russell 2000 Index delivered 12.8% returns for 2025 despite significant volatility, with a 23% drop by April followed by a 40% recovery. The small cap environment was characterized by narrow performance driven by low-quality, speculative stocks, with the top 25 contributors delivering over 50% of benchmark returns. The investment environment overwhelmingly favored lower quality stocks, with non-earners gaining 19.6%, negative equity stocks up 37.2%, and highest beta names advancing 26.1%. The fund's deliberate focus on higher-quality stocks with earnings support was a general headwind throughout the year. Artificial intelligence investment was a key area of market focus during 2025, though the fund questioned when investors would see returns from billions of dollars spent on AI infrastructure. The fund avoided speculative AI plays in favor of companies with more established fundamentals. Uncertain trade policy and the friction it added to the system was the biggest distraction during 2025. Companies now mostly have a sense of the rules of global trade and are adjusting, which could provide more stability going forward.

The manager discusses the AI boom extensively, noting that hyperscalers continue to escalate capital spending on AI data centers while several Industrial and Utilities companies benefit from the buildout. However, they express concern that markets have already discounted much future AI-driven growth, with $9-$12 trillion of post-2022 market cap gains unexplained by fundamentals. The aggressive AI spending has materially slowed free cash flow and earnings growth for hyperscalers. The strategy focuses heavily on dividend-paying stocks, with a large dividend contribution of 4.1% and total yield of 7.2% for the year. The manager notes that defensive and dividend-oriented sectors are now at multi-decade lows in index weight and investor interest, trading at unusually attractive relative valuations. They believe equity income is becoming increasingly competitive as money market yields decline from their peaks. The manager emphasizes that Value stocks are positioned for outperformance, noting the Growth-to-Value valuation spread is near historical extremes at nearly 100% premium versus the long-term average of 57%. They highlight extreme underweight positioning, elevated valuations in growth, and historically favorable mean-reversion dynamics as creating a compelling setup for value stocks to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns. The Federal Reserve cut rates twice in Q4 to the current range of 3.50% to 3.75%, following a September cut. The manager views the Fed's easing cycle positively for high-dividend stocks, as declining short-term rates should make equity dividend yields increasingly attractive compared to money market funds. They note nearly $8 trillion is currently invested in money market funds with yields falling from peaks above 5% to 3.7%. The manager expresses concern about elevated risk appetite and speculative excess, noting that leveraged ETFs now represent roughly 1% of total ETF assets but account for over 12% of trading volume. They highlight that retail investors now account for roughly 25% of total trading volume, more than twice the long-term average, which has historically served as a signpost of market excess and potential tops.

Gold rocketed up 64.6% in 2025 as global sentiment soured on the dollar amid government fiscal profligacy and untenable debt levels. Investors shifted towards precious metals as a safe haven for wealth preservation, with global ETF demand soaring and China buying gold hand-over-fist. Gold overtook US Treasuries as the primary reserve asset in central banks worldwide. Precious metals mining stocks soared with the MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners Index increasing 176.5% and NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index climbing 158.28%. The Fund's 23.4% allocation to 22 precious metals mining positions delivered 35.01 percentage points of Fund returns. Despite recent gains, the sector remains substantially undervalued vis-à-vis the market. WTI crude prices dropped 19.9% in 2025, delivering oil's worst year since 2020. OPEC incrementally increased production quotas by 2.9 million barrels/day amid trade tensions while Chinese demand growth moderated. The oil-to-gold ratio is now at historic lows outside the 2020 pandemic, suggesting oil assets may be undervalued debasement safe-havens. Hyperscalers are investing nearly $1.5 trillion in capex over the next 24 months for data-center construction. Data centers will grow to represent 12% of all US energy use by 2028, up from 4.4% in 2023. This creates investment opportunities in electricity and natural gas producers as reliable power generation becomes a key bottleneck. Natural gas pricing was flat with spot Henry Hub prices edging up just 1.46% from a year ago. However, natural gas appears to have fully recovered from its glut as substantial North American LNG export capacity came online and data-center electricity requirements increased demand for natural gas generation. The dollar index delivered a nearly 10% decline over the year as investor sentiment towards the dollar weakened considerably. Factors included federal debt topping $38 trillion, a more dovish Federal Reserve, increasing American tariffs, and dollar weaponization through financial system sanctions.

The fund extensively analyzes whether there is a bubble in artificial intelligence, comparing current AI hype to previous market bubbles like the late 1990s internet boom. They discuss the fundamental questions around AI investments including GPU depreciation, datacenter power demands, and whether promised returns will materialize.

Manager emphasizes value-minded investing approach with preference for undervalued stocks with margin of safety. Discusses gravitating towards defensive names due to elevated market valuations and increasing efforts to find undervalued stocks with growth components. Significant focus on Japanese investments, particularly Tobila Systems which represents detailed analysis of Japanese market dynamics including customer harassment laws and regulatory changes driving business demand. Investment in Tobila Systems centers on fraud and spam call prevention technology with proprietary database providing competitive advantages in security solutions for both consumers and businesses.

Focus on companies with disciplined management teams that demonstrate cost consciousness, plain speaking, and long-term alignment through significant insider ownership. Emphasis on businesses that prioritize substance over marketing spend and maintain focused operations.

The AI investment boom continues to be an important source of strength for the U.S. economy. Big Tech companies announced plans to spend more than $660 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, mostly for AI chips and data centers, up almost 80% from 2025. The AI investment boom stimulates economic growth through both direct impact of AI-related investments and the wealth effect of soaring values for public and private AI-related equities. Interactive Brokers delivered stellar operating results with total customer accounts and customer equity growing 32% and 37% respectively. Commission revenue grew 26% and net interest income grew 13.2% despite multiple Fed rate cuts. Higher market volatility typically drives increased trading activity among IB's customers, with the VIX averaging 18.97 for 2025.

ASML operates as an effective monopoly in EUV lithography tools, supplying every major foundry producing leading-edge semiconductors. TSMC dominates pure play semiconductor foundry manufacturing with over 90% of advanced logic chips and is at the epicenter of AI infrastructure buildout. Both companies benefit from growing demand for complex silicon wafers driven by AI adoption. Bayer operates the world's largest crop science business with leading market share in the U.S. and South America. The company is working through legal issues related to glyphosate while agriculture is in a downcycle. Crop science R&D is likely to benefit from advances in AI, with Bayer having the broadest and deepest seed and trait data sets. London Stock Exchange Group operates critical financial market infrastructure and data businesses. The company has a near-monopoly in interest rate derivatives through London Clearing House and leads electronic fixed-income trading through Tradeweb. While AI disruption concerns exist for the data business, the company's data assets should benefit from broader distribution. SAP is the world's largest enterprise software application company with ERP systems serving as the backbone for much of the Fortune 500. The company is converting its massive installed base from on-premise to higher-value cloud subscriptions. Extraordinary switching costs result in retention rates well above 90%. Shell is one of the world's largest integrated energy companies with the largest LNG business globally. New leadership has prioritized shareholder returns and hydrocarbon cash flows. The company has bought back nearly 25% of its shares over the past four years while maintaining a 4% dividend yield.

The manager expects greater dispersion between AI winners and losers, having demonstrated ability to analyze and identify these groups over the past three years. AMD rallied after announcing significant AI-related partnerships, positioning the fund to benefit from continued AI trade evolution. Healthcare is a sector the manager is optimistic about and has been building exposure to following an extended period of underperformance. Eli Lilly's obesity and diabetes franchise continues to exceed expectations, particularly with Mounjaro sales ahead of estimates. The fund increased semiconductor exposure during the quarter, with Micron completely selling out of memory chips and forecasting higher profit margins. Applied Materials was added as a new position in semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment.

Fund focuses on real estate investment trusts across multiple sectors including senior housing, apartments, office, industrial, and life sciences. Performance was impacted by passive flows favoring larger companies and sector rotation dynamics. The fund maintains overweight positions in apartments and office while being underweight in senior housing. AI demand driving unprecedented data center space requirements with holdings in Digital Realty and Equinix benefiting from recent leasing deals. Risks include power availability constraints, transmission limitations, and potential technology disruption that could reduce data center demand over time.

The fund views the overall market as fairly elevated but not in bubble territory regarding AI, though some parts of the AI craze appear bubble-like. Alphabet's AI chatbot Gemini exceeded expectations and was on par with leading AI models, contributing significantly to performance. The managers are comfortable missing out on highly speculative AI investments while focusing on long-term value. Banks had a strong year due to increased lending, reduced regulation, and moderately high interest rates. American Express cardholders continue spending with high payment rates, while the Platinum Card remains desirable despite competition. Credit and banking environment remained strong throughout the period. Off-price retailers TJX and Ross returned to form after struggling during post-Covid inflation, with strong stock performance. AutoZone faced challenges navigating tariff impacts on earnings, though the consolidated auto parts retail market historically passes through price increases. Consumer spending patterns showed resilience in certain segments. Housing investments had a weak year as high interest rates and hopes for lower rates left potential buyers on the sidelines. Home builders initially held up well when rates first rose in 2022, but continued high rates eventually impacted demand. The managers expect pent-up housing demand to eventually drive performance once the market unfreezes.

AI has been a key theme driving popular equity indexes higher and creating unusual market dynamics with elevated concentration risk. The rapid integration of artificial intelligence may drive significant long-term productivity gains and provide a counterweight to softening employment conditions and inflationary pressures. Value stocks outperformed growth counterparts in Q4, with the Russell 3000 Value Index gaining 3.8% versus 1.1% for growth. The team sees intriguing investment opportunities in value-oriented stocks that are being largely ignored, creating an attractive backdrop for stock pickers. Strong demand for data centers has accelerated sales for companies like Eaton Corporation. The buildout of AI-associated data centers is driving increased demand and margin improvements for companies benefiting from this infrastructure spend. The need for upgraded electric grids has accelerated demand for Eaton's products. The process of electrification and grid investment should provide improvements in ROIC along with additional benefits from AI infrastructure spend.

The AI capital cycle has created extreme market concentration and speculative momentum, with AI-related stocks accounting for 75% of S&P 500 returns since ChatGPT launched. The manager views this as a bubble similar to historical infrastructure buildouts like railroads and electricity, where early investors suffered catastrophic losses while benefits ultimately accrued to users rather than producers. Current AI capex spending approaches 2.1% of GDP, nearing levels that coincided with previous market peaks. Value stocks are trading at some of the widest discounts on record, with the portfolio positioned in businesses trading at substantial discounts to normalized earnings power. The manager believes this disconnect reflects pessimism and exhaustion rather than permanent impairment, creating an extremely promising starting point for long-term outperformance as fundamentals reassert themselves. Momentum has been the single defining force across equity markets, with performance increasingly driven by narratives rather than fundamentals. The current cycle has been one for the record books, with the two years leading up to 2025 being the second strongest on record for momentum after the dot-com era. The manager expects mean reversion to eventually favor value strategies. Global defensive sectors have fallen to their lowest weighting since 2000, trading at discounts to both the market and their own histories amid deteriorating sentiment and unusually high short interest. These sectors offer significant upside potential and provide defense, as companies selling basic necessities tend to shine when the rest of the market is in trouble.

Capital market relevance continues to be a priority for regional governments, which should translate into a broadly supportive market environment characterized by investor-friendly policies and improved market investability. The recalibration of ambitious giga-projects in Saudi Arabia signals a more pragmatic approach to capital spending and resource allocation, enhancing policy credibility and ensuring sustainable public finances.

The fund holds significant positions in e-commerce companies including Wayfair, Carvana, ThredUp, and DoorDash. These businesses are showing strong fundamental performance with revenue growth acceleration and improving profitability metrics. The manager views current valuations as materially underappreciating future earnings potential. The fund focuses on identifying businesses where deep research can uncover gaps between market expectations and long-term reality. The strategy targets companies with potential for mid-teens or better compound returns over decades, emphasizing businesses with accelerating sales and earnings growth. The manager emphasizes finding businesses trading at significant discounts to intrinsic value, where market expectations are materially below long-term reality. Current valuations are viewed as underappreciating the earnings and cash flow core holdings will generate over the next five years.

Health care holdings including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies added meaningfully to returns. Holdings such as Roche, Novartis, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals benefited from new drug approvals, steady and growing earnings, and business models that continue to generate cash through a wide range of economic conditions. Defense-related holdings such as BAE Systems and Rheinmetall had been standout performers for much of the year but fell back in Q4. While these businesses currently benefit from secular growth in defense spending around the world, share prices have moved ahead of underlying fundamentals. The firm continues to focus on financially sound enterprises in parts of the world where company stock prices are more than collateralized by underlying intrinsic value. They believe a diversified portfolio of well-capitalized, competitively advantaged companies purchased at attractive valuations offers the best defense against market uncertainty.

Health care holdings including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies added meaningfully to returns. Holdings such as Roche, Novartis, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals benefited from new drug approvals, steady and growing earnings, and business models that continue to generate cash through a wide range of economic conditions. Defense-related holdings such as BAE Systems and Rheinmetall had been standout performers for much of the year but fell back in Q4. While these businesses benefit from secular growth in defense spending around the world, share prices have moved ahead of underlying fundamentals. The firm continues to focus on financially sound enterprises in parts of the world where company stock prices are more than collateralized by underlying intrinsic value. They believe a diversified portfolio of well-capitalized, competitively advantaged companies purchased at attractive valuations offers the best defense against market uncertainty.

AI is having a transformative impact across portfolio companies, particularly in search, cloud computing, and digital advertising. Google's AI Overviews reach over 2 billion users globally, while AWS benefits from AI-driven compute demand requiring datacenter capacity doubling through 2027. Meta leverages AI for content recommendation and ad targeting improvements. AWS operates as the leading cloud hyperscaler in a highly concentrated market, growing 20% annually at $140 billion run-rate despite capacity constraints. The planned doubling of datacenter capacity through 2027 is expected to be rapidly absorbed by scaling AI inference workloads. Amazon operates the largest global e-commerce platform enabled by a unique logistics network fulfilling over $700 billion in gross merchandise value annually. The retail business has significant margin expansion opportunity through increasing advertising revenue mix, network density, and automation initiatives. Digital advertising represents a secularly fast-growing space with Meta as the dominant leader serving over 3.5 billion daily active users. AI-driven content recommendation systems and granular consumer behavior visibility enable highly precise ad targeting, making these platforms essential for businesses. Universal Music Group operates as a high-quality, capital-light business benefiting from greater music consumption. Streaming 2.0 deals incorporating wholesale price increases should drive higher subscription revenue growth, while AI partnerships with new platforms create additional monetization opportunities. Uber demonstrates strong momentum with 19% bookings growth and accelerating user engagement reaching new all-time highs. The company is positioned for continued teens-plus bookings growth and 30%+ earnings growth while expanding autonomous vehicle operations across 10+ cities by end of 2026.

The fund is positioned for the AI transformation, viewing it as one of the biggest disruptive changes in human history. Portfolio companies are benefiting from AI infrastructure buildout, with NVIDIA at the epicenter, and companies adapting AI into core business operations for productivity gains. Strong positioning in semiconductor companies benefiting from AI demand, including NVIDIA, Broadcom, TSMC, and new addition Monolithic Power Systems. Focus on companies enabling AI infrastructure through custom accelerators, power management, and manufacturing capabilities. Investment in leading e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Shopify, MercadoLibre, and Coupang. These companies are using AI to improve recommendation engines, advertising algorithms, and customer support while expanding into new markets and services. Exposure to cloud infrastructure providers benefiting from AI demand, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Cloudflare. These companies offer full-stack AI solutions with both first-party and third-party hardware and models.

Lower-income Americans continue to feel the squeeze, and local stores like Dollar Tree present unbeatable value and convenience. Their investments in merchandising and distribution are key competitive advantages in a world of tariffs and potential inflation. The company's prospects are bright, especially if we do ever see a rise in unemployment, which tends to benefit discount stores. Healthcare stocks have broadly underperformed the market since the election of President Trump, due to a plethora of regulatory, pricing and tariff risks. However, the distribution model has proven its strong resilience, with companies having meaningfully reduced their dependence on drug pricing. They are in effect a toll road on the US healthcare system and the opposite of economic rent-seeking businesses. Covid, somewhat ironically given the cancellation of so many flights, impacted the industry positively, as around 10% of aircraft were withdrawn from the market due to bankruptcies. Moreover, post-Covid supply chain shocks at Boeing and Airbus mean that the fleet is not going to be replaced any time soon. Ryanair's cost advantage almost doubled from levels in 2019. Google would be best positioned in an AI world, given its vertically integrated model and its pedigree in AI. The AI revenue model is clearly highly uncertain and far from guaranteed, but the likely attributes of winners in this space are data, processing power and distribution. Google dominates all three. Investing in physical assets in a world with an infrastructure deficit, and the potential resurgence of inflation, is very appealing. The requirement for renewed infrastructure investment in Europe is in the early stages, and competition will remain low giving both Vinci and Eiffage a meaningful competitive advantage. Combining low valuations and high cash conversion, our companies will generate around a 7% of their market cap in free cash flow. We expect them to pay an average dividend of 2.6% and are committed to share buybacks of around the same level. This is a 5% annual tailwind to the portfolio's fundamental growth outlook over the coming years.

Health care holdings including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies added meaningfully to returns. Holdings such as Roche, Novartis, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals benefited from new drug approvals, steady and growing earnings, and business models that continue to generate cash through a wide range of economic conditions. The Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value Fund shared many attribution themes with a slightly different emphasis. Financials and industrials contributed meaningfully, consistent with the Fund's dividend-focused orientation. The fund maintains an average-weighted dividend yield on fund stocks of 3.94%. Defense-related holdings such as BAE Systems and Rheinmetall, which had been standout performers for much of the year, fell back a bit in the 4th Quarter. While these businesses currently benefit from secular growth in defense spending around the world, share prices have moved ahead of underlying fundamentals. The gap in valuation between US and non-US equities still remains quite significant and should serve us well going forward given the non-US-centric postures of our fund portfolios. We believe fervently that a diversified portfolio of well-capitalized, competitively advantaged companies purchased at attractive valuations offers the best defense against market uncertainty.

Health care holdings including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies added meaningfully to returns. Holdings such as Roche, Novartis, and Ionis Pharmaceuticals benefited from new drug approvals, steady and growing earnings, and business models that continue to generate cash through a wide range of economic conditions. The fund continues to focus on financially sound enterprises purchased at attractive valuations where company stock prices are more than collateralized by underlying intrinsic value. The gap in valuation between US and non-US equities remains quite significant and should serve the fund well going forward. Defense-related holdings such as BAE Systems and Rheinmetall had been standout performers for much of the year but fell back in the 4th Quarter. While these businesses currently benefit from secular growth in defense spending around the world, share prices have moved ahead of underlying fundamentals.

The fund moved to an overweight duration position during the quarter, concentrated in the front and belly of the yield curve. Duration positioning detracted from performance as this portion of the curve sold off in October due to investor perceptions of a hawkish Federal Reserve. The fund built a U.S. rate-steepening bias throughout the quarter. Agency mortgage-backed securities contributed to performance as spreads continued to tighten amid strong technical support. The overweight allocation to agency MBS was increased during the quarter. The fund favored high-quality securitized assets.

Manager notes exuberance driven by artificial intelligence and narrow leadership raises questions about durability. They see value investing as offering a risk-aware way to participate in secular themes, including AI. Large-scale AI-related capital spending could strain power, materials, and construction capacity. The fund explicitly follows a value investing approach, investing in mid-cap companies that pay attractive, sustainable and growing dividends. Manager emphasizes value investing offers a risk-aware way to participate in secular themes and argues for selectivity and disciplined risk control.

Massive capex cycle linked to AI representing increasing cash flow from hyperscalers. AI adoption showing signs of flatlining with unclear use cases for profitability. Reliance on Magnificent 7 for equity market performance continues with rising EPS estimates for Mag7 but negative for other S&P 500 companies. Exceptionally strong performance with gold returning 65% for 2025 and silver 148%. Trend continued into 2026 with gold rising 13.3% and silver 18.9% by end of January. Managers held bullish outlook on precious metals with concerns about crowded trades growing. Aerospace and defense performed well as beneficiaries of increasingly volatile global geopolitical backdrop. Strong performance driven by geopolitical tensions and conflicts including Venezuela situation, Greenland tensions, and Iran protests. Beneficiaries of US re-industrialisation performed well throughout 2025. Energy security and scramble for rare earth materials propelled by volatile geopolitical backdrop. 100% expensing for equipment and factories providing stimulus.

Gold rose 12% over the period, reaching a record high in December. Monetary policy and geopolitical uncertainty continued to provide a positive backdrop for gold. Portfolio holdings Newmont gained 18% and Northern Star Resources gained 13%. Copper surged 17% as supply risks came back into focus following production disruptions and material downgrades to production guidance due to geotechnical issues at several large-scale mines. Recent supply disruptions acutely highlight how tight copper markets have become given the lack of new greenfield capacity coming online and record low inventories. Challenger Limited remained a standout on the back of regulatory reforms and interest rate normalization. The position rose 8% over the quarter and achieved a 57% return for the year ending 31 December 2025. Investors are increasingly pricing in the anticipated benefits of APRA's proposed capital requirement reforms. In steelmaking coal, Stanmore Resources remains resilient despite low commodity prices that have seen peers take measures to preserve cash. Stanmore has maintained consistent mine plans and capital expenditure programs and is therefore well positioned to benefit from any improvement in commodity prices.

Multiple portfolio holdings operate in e-commerce including Sea Ltd.'s Shopee platform, MercadoLibre as Latin America's largest marketplace, and the broader digital transformation occurring in frontier markets. Competition pressures are impacting margins but long-term growth opportunities remain strong. The dollar's weakening in 2025 benefited frontier emerging market stocks that had been hardest hit by prior dollar strength. Countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Colombia experienced dramatic comebacks of 50-100%+ as currency pressures eased and equity valuations recovered from beaten-up levels. Fabrinet is benefiting from increased demand as data centers upgrade networks to handle complex AI workloads, while Baltic Classifieds faces potential disruption from AI agents that could bypass classified portals. AI represents both opportunity and threat across the portfolio.

Manager views credit spreads as historically low and insufficient to compensate for credit risk. Credit exposure reduced from 3.8% to 3.6% during quarter as spreads compress to extreme levels. Low spreads increase risk of permanent capital impairment and short-term drawdowns. Fund shifted toward high quality bonds rated A or higher, increasing from 96% exposure. Strategy focuses on Treasuries, agency mortgages, and AAA-rated bonds to mitigate credit risk in expensive market environment. Quality positioning viewed as contrarian but historically proven approach. Federal Reserve implemented two 25 basis point cuts amid debate over dual mandate priorities. Treasury yields declined across short-to-intermediate maturities while longer yields rose slightly. Fund positioned with 100 basis point duration test to preserve capital in rising rate scenarios.

Non-Agency RMBS posted positive excess returns driven by higher income despite modest spread widening. Total Non-Agency RMBS supply reached $194 billion, up 41% from 2024. The fund expects Non-QM AAA spreads to tighten toward the low-100-basis-point range and favors 2023-vintage Non-QM senior and pro-rata mezzanine tranches with higher coupons. CMBS spreads ended 2025 near the tighter end of the year's range with total issuance rising to $155 billion. Credit performance was mixed with retail properties improving but office remaining challenged at just 45% payoff rate. The fund continues to prefer the top of the capital stack as BBB and lower investment-grade tranches offer limited compensation for elevated credit risk. Real GDP growth was supported by continued investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. AI-related data centers are expected to become a larger part of the CMBS market in 2026. The fund sees continued investment in AI-related infrastructure as a driver of economic growth in 2026. The Federal Reserve cut the federal funds target range to 3.50%-3.75% in December, marking the third cut of 2025 and bringing total easing to 175 bps since cuts began in 2024. Longer-term curve steepening remains the fund's core thesis with expectations for additional rate cuts in 2026 as labor market conditions soften.

Small caps are overlooked, disdained and cheap relative to large caps. Quality small caps are trading at significant discounts to quality large caps while historically trading at premiums. The fund sees growing opportunity set as capital withdraws from actively managed small value strategies. The fund focuses on quality companies with balance sheet strength, earnings consistency, and high returns on capital. Quality small caps have become cheap compared to large caps and the quality premium in small caps is modest versus pronounced in large caps. The fund's value-focused process leads to a portfolio designed to protect clients during market drawdowns. They identify overlooked, out of favor companies trading at attractive valuations with strong franchises in boring industries.

Gold prices rose 65% in 2025, with precious metals miners performing strongly. The fund trimmed gold positions significantly from 15% to 9% of the portfolio due to strong performance, rolling gains into platinum and industrial metals where more upside is seen. Platinum group metals producers were among the largest contributors for the second consecutive quarter. South African companies Valterra and Impala had strong returns of 20.7% and 26.4% respectively, with substantial upside potential remaining relative to risk-adjusted intrinsic value estimates. After over a decade of underperformance, value stocks had a strong fourth quarter with Russell 1000 Value up 3.3% versus 1.2% for growth. The manager believes the market is beginning to recognize value, emphasizing buying good companies for less than they are worth. Conglomerates performed well with Cresud up 48.7% and LG Corp up 9.1%. The manager notes conglomerates are complex and difficult to analyze, frequently ignored by the market, providing significant opportunities for fundamental bottom-up analysis.