Market Update 

Hello, everyone. I'm Darren Spencer, Mercer's lead investment director. Thank you for joining us for our end-of-financial-year performance update as of 30 June 2025. Over the past 12 months, we've navigated a landscape marked by significant market volatility, geopolitical uncertainties, and complex macroeconomic currents. Despite these challenges, I am pleased to share what we believe are some great results across our portfolios and funds.

For our advisors with clients in Mercer super. Our default investment option, Mercer SmartPath has delivered positive results. For members aged 18 to 52, SmartPath achieved returns ranging from 12.3% to 12.6%. For those aged 52 and over, returns range from 9.5% to 12.4%. Most notably, these results represent the third consecutive year of double-digit returns for the majority of SmartPath members, underscoring the resilience and consistency of our investment approach.

Returns from the majority of our Advanced Multi-Blend funds that incorporate our best ideas on asset allocation, portfolio construction, and investment manager selection have also seen their best financial year returns from the last four years. A great example is our Advanced Balanced Multi-Blend fund, which delivered a solid 10.9% return in financial year 2025.

And finally, the majority of Mercer's multi-manager funds, which are invested in a blend of single sector funds to target the investment objectives certain investors are aiming for, have once again provided double-digit returns. Here you can see the 11.4% financial year 2025 return from one of those funds, the multi-manager balanced fund, which has had double-digit returns for a second year in a row.

You can find the financial year returns for all our portfolios and funds on our website. Thank you for your continued trust in Mercer. Remember, we are here as a partner to your portfolio, and are committed to delivering strong, sustainable portfolios for your clients, regardless of the market environment. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your Mercer representative with questions or to discuss tailored strategies.

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Hi, I'm Darren Spencer, Mercer's lead investment director. In light of the ongoing headlines about tariffs, geopolitics, and market volatility, we want to provide you with our insight into the current situation and reinforce the importance we see in maintaining a disciplined investment strategy at this time. The current market landscape is indeed fluid, and we are closely monitoring developments with heightened oversight across all our portfolios. While we've seen a rebound in share markets since a large sell off in early April, significant uncertainties remain regarding economic growth, corporate profitability, and consumer spending.

In this environment, our focus is on maintaining the resilience of our portfolios. We aim to achieve this through three important principles. Firstly, a highly strategic and flexible approach to the assets we invest in. Secondly, by investing in a diverse range of assets, geographies, and sectors that can reduce the overall impact of high volatility in one asset type. And finally, through robust risk management practices, so that we consider a variety of possible market outcomes and how best we can respond to them before they occur.

Adopting, this proactive approach helps to support our readiness to adapt to changing market conditions. By adhering to this disciplined investment strategy, our aim is to help your portfolio grow through time. During times of market fluctuations, remember that we are here as a partner to your portfolio to help navigate these challenges together. Thank you for your trust in Mercer. If you have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to reach out to your financial advisor or your Mercer representative.

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