Global Equities

Dear Investor,

We provide this monthly report to you following conclusion of the month of June 2026.

June was a mirror image of May. Where the unwinding of the Gulf risk premium had pulled capital sharply up the risk curve and left defensive infrastructure behind, June saw that rotation reverse. Broad equity markets gave back ground – the S&P 500 total return index fell 0.95% and global equities were marginally negative – while the strategy returned 3.49%, its strongest month of the financial year and roughly five percentage points ahead of the broader market. The gain was not the product of a single position but of breadth: regulated utilities, midstream energy and transport infrastructure all contributed, with 41 of the portfolio’s holdings positive over the month.

Utilities did the heaviest lifting, adding 2.48% at the portfolio level on a 4.97% sector return. Iberdrola was the single largest contributor, rising 13.90% and adding 0.40%, as the market continued to reward regulated networks with visible, inflation-linked earnings and a growing load-growth story attached to grid investment. Endesa (+13.09%), NRG (+13.10%), American Electric Power (+12.12%) and DTE Energy (+11.32%) all posted double-digit gains, and Atco added 9.85%. Terna and Endesa’s strength was mirrored across the European regulated names, where declining bond yields and constructive regulatory determinations were the common thread. Energy contributed a further 0.85%, led by Cheniere (+10.36%), Targa (+9.14%), Williams (+8.64%) and Kinder Morgan (+6.80%) – a reminder that the midstream franchises are paid on volume and contracted capacity rather than on the commodity price itself, and so were able to advance even with crude sitting well below its spring highs.

Industrials added 0.94%. SATS was the standout with an 18.43% gain, benefiting from continued strength in air cargo and inflight catering volumes across its Asian network, and Japan Airport Terminal added 6.22% as inbound traffic recovery persisted. CSX (+9.02%), Matson (+10.08%), Aena (+8.88%) and Union Pacific (+7.51%) rounded out a broadly positive transport sleeve. Healthcare, the source of much of last month’s pain, turned positive, contributing 0.23% as Tenet Healthcare rebounded 9.23%.

The detractors were concentrated in technology and telecommunications. Verizon fell 8.06%, costing 0.36%, and Deutsche Telekom declined 15.96% for a 0.20% drag – the latter the portfolio’s worst individual performer. Constellation Energy was the other meaningful detractor, down 10.38% and costing 0.31%, giving back some of the substantial gains accumulated on the power-demand thematic; its earnings profile carries considerably more merchant exposure than the regulated names that led the month, and it behaved accordingly. Centrica declined 6.77%.

Portfolio activity was modest. We exited West Japan Railway, Kamigumi, NTT and HCA Healthcare, and added to Duke Energy, Tenet Healthcare and SATS. Turnover remains well within the strategy’s typical range. Cash finished the month at 3.87%, essentially unchanged, and the portfolio received $28,291 in dividends over the period.

Sector positioning at month-end was Utilities 50.6%, Energy 19.8%, Industrials 15.5%, Technology 5.3%, Healthcare 3.7% and Consumer Discretionary 1.3%. By region the book remains anchored in North America at 60.8%, with Europe 19.6%, Asia 17.2% and Oceania 2.5%.

June is a useful illustration of why the strategy is constructed the way it is. The same regulated and contracted revenue base that caused the portfolio to lag a sharp risk-on rally in May is what allowed it to advance materially in a month when broader equity markets fell. Nothing in the underlying cash flows changed between the two months; only the market’s appetite for them did. We continue to hold a diversified book of essential assets with inflation-linked pricing, and we remain comfortable that the income and capital growth profile is intact.