Investor Newsletter January 2022

Firstly, may I wish you and your family a very happy New Year and welcome you to our first publication in 2022.

I am mindful that just before Christmas further restrictions were put in place by the Government

because of the arrival of Omicron. The presence of this new strain has refocused us all on what is important and strengthened our resolve to get the Booster to further protect ourselves and our loved ones.

Last month Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer of Pfizer said that Covid could become an endemic disease by 2024 and rather than disappear, it will become a vaccinated-protected ailment like the flu.

Seamus Heaney said in 2009, the year after the great financial crash that “ we should keep our feet on the ground to signify that nothing is beneath us, but we should also lift up our eyes to see nothing is beyond us ‘’- his words of wisdom remind us where we have come from with this pandemic and the hard work being undertaken unselfishly by so many diligent front line workers for our safety and long term benefit.

Our Business Continuity plan, mentioned in our April 2020 newsletter, continues to be reviewed and finetuned to ensure the safeguarding of our colleagues and their families. Separately it has afforded us the opportunity, with the right

people, to continue to accomplish important things with the use of relevant technology to continue to be able to look after your affairs.

Economies continue to move forward, emerging slowly from the pandemic, sometimes with two steps forward and one step back.

Talks of inflation have emerged, creating a cautionary note, despite the very clear messages delivered in the US and EU during 2021 to the contrary – we will need to watch this space in Quarter 1 for real signs of what will emerge.

Significant changes were made to Irish pensions legislation in 2021. These changes impose significant additional obligations on the trustees of pension schemes, including the directors of companies acting as trustees. The Pensions Authority published their final paper on December 13th last - further details are available for trustees and sponsoring employers on itswebsite. We will be discussing these with our corporate clients in the coming months.

We hope that you enjoy reading our newsletter.

Please stay safe, keep healthy and mind what is important.

Mark O’Sullivan

Managing Director