CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION

It's been another busy year for our Scheme and the Trustee. This year we’ve been in further conversations with our advisers around the investment strategy and reviewing our long-term objectives for the future of the Scheme. You’ll recall us mentioning the workshop held last year, in conjunction with the Company where the long-term objectives were reviewed and considered alongside the new legislative requirements placed on Trustees. The Trustee and Company plan to revisit those discussions in early 2027 ahead of the next actuarial valuation as at 5 April 2027.

We've also had conversations with our administrator, Aptia, around retirement journey planning. You can read more about this and who to contact under the 'Your retirement journey' section.

Cyber security and the protection of your personal data remains a top priority for us and the article under Pensions Scams in the ‘Pensions News’ section gives some useful tips to avoid the risks of cyber and other related pension fraud. The Trustee had some Cyber Security Training in June 2026 to ensure we remain well informed and aware of the continued risks that exist and how best we manage this.

Turning to the Scheme’s investment management, global investment markets have remained volatile and uncertain, driven primarily by geopolitical and monetary policy developments. Most recently, conflicts in the Middle East have led to increasing inflationary pressures, and fiscal concerns in the UK have contributed to rising gilt yields which means a decrease in the Scheme’s assets and its liabilities. Despite these pressures, the Scheme’s investments have been bolstered by strong market returns over recent years, and proactive decision-making by the Trustee has allowed for investment opportunities to be captured, and investment risk to be reduced, where appropriate. We want to assure you that the Trustee has and will continue to work closely with our investment advisers to ensure that the Scheme is well-positioned to effectively manage the everchanging market conditions and that the Scheme continues to perform well against its investment objectives.

Our annual valuation update on the funding of the Scheme is included here as a downloadable document. We’re happy to report that the results confirm that the Scheme’s funding position has continued to improve.