CHAIRMAN S STATEMENT I hope that you are all keeping safe and healthy during these uncertain times. When I published my annual statement in June, we were emerging from the severe, unprecedented restrictions imposed in March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and by that time equity markets had rebounded from their lows in March and April. Over the course of the first half of the Company s financial year, markets have stabilised and continued to rise. Performance I am very pleased to report that the Company recorded a total return on net assets of +49.2% in the six months to 30th September 2020, outperforming by some margin the Company s benchmark index, the MSCI Europe (ex UK) small cap net total return index in sterling terms, which returned +34.9% over the same period. This outperformance was almost entirely a result of positive stock selection, which is a credit to our Investment Managers, whose strategy of focusing on Technology, Wellness an