HMA Client Services and Covid-19

Dear Client,

It’s business as usual at Harcourt Martens & Associates. Despite the challenges

presented by Covid-19, we are still available for you during these unprecedented times.

By now, your head is probably spinning due to the massive overload of coronavirus

information- whether factual or fictitious.

Our advice to you remains:

1. Do not withdraw capital from funds now. History has taught us that the best approach is to remain invested after a market correction (or crash, as the correction of the past month can be defined) to fully capture the inevitable upturn.

2. Minimize monthly drawings until the market recovery has taken place.

3. Stay calm, we are all in this together, as we are all invested in the same markets locally and globally, thus we feel your pain.

Please concentrate on the health of yourselves and your families, we will attend to the

health of your investments.

Kind regards,

The Team at Harcourt Martens, FG Investment Partners.

Our employees are central to our services, thus we are doing everything possible to make their health and safety a priority. Staff members will be working from home, and will be available via email and the phone. External meetings are being conducted remotely via video and phone. You are more than welcome to contact an advisor directly.

The Investec Corporate cash account will be operating per usual during the lockdown period, thus should you require a withdrawal, please send your request to either Glenda or Yolande.

Markets are currently in turmoil and no one knows how and when this pandemic will

end. The fear that has gripped populations around the world has led to unprecedented

steps by governments to curb the spread of the virus, whilst scientists around the world

are desperately working around the clock to develop an effective vaccine.

Stock and Bond markets have been driven down by panic selling and this may continue in the weeks ahead.

While each client’s composition of funds will look different in terms of weighting and exposure, with specific reference to your personal investment reports receivable in the future, you will notice that the

diversification between equities, cash and bonds – with a measure of rand hedging, has helped to mitigate the carnage we have seen over the past few weeks. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have

intensified our focus on markets and spent many hours discussing what the best course of action may be with fund managers and analysts. Without going into the details, we are cognizant of the fact that once the crisis is averted, some companies may recover faster than others, while some may not recover at all.

To this end, we have re-positioned portfolios to benefit from the market recovery as and when this happens. We also realize that the world may well now enter a recession which will mean that markets may remain under pressure for some time to come. However, the level at which quality stocks are now trading offer opportunity that we may not see in our lifetimes again, and this makes us even more excited about the returns we may see over the next 5 years.

There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a very big crisis. COVID-19 has already reduced asset valuations across the board from stocks, bonds and property – not excluding the value of residential

properties not measurable on a day to day basis.

Economies worldwide will suffer and SA (and other emerging markets) can expect a negative GDP for the next year or two. However, stimulus measures by governments and central banks which have already commenced, will intensify to support consumers and businesses. Once COVID-19 is brought under control, we expect markets to react and rerate.

Investors who have experienced losses over the past year cannot afford to miss out on the next recovery as and when it happens. We trust that collective and decisive action will succeed and that we will get through this.