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Aberforth UK Small Companies Fund

Fees & Charges

Details of the Fund’s fees & charges and how they are calculated

Summary of Charges

The following charges are applicable to both the Accumulation and Income units of the Fund:

Costs & Charges Summary Table
Description (see notes below) Amount
Annual management charge 0.75%
Other charges 0.07%
Total ongoing charges (1) 0.82%
Portfolio transaction costs (2) 0.15%
Portfolio transaction taxes (2) 0.19%
Difference between creation & cancellation prices (3) 2.10%
Initial charge Nil
Exit charge Nil

Notes:

(1) For the 12 months to 31 December 2023

(2) Average over the last three financial years

(3) At the last financial year end on 31 December 2023

Management Fee

Under the terms of the management arrangement, the Fund pays a management fee of 0.75% per annum of the valuation of the Fund's property.

This fee accrues daily and is paid monthly in arrears. The fee is allocated 5/8ths to the capital property of the Fund and 3/8ths to the income property of the Fund.

The Fund does not pay a performance fee.

Ongoing Charges

The ongoing charges figure is defined by the Investment Association as the "cost of investing in a fund, expressed as a percentage of the value of your investment" and refers to the costs "used to pay for investment management, administration and independent oversight of the fund".

Ongoing charges may vary from year to year and reduce the potential growth of an investment in the Fund. The figure for ongoing charges excludes costs associated with buying and selling securities in the Fund's underlying portfolio.

For the 12 months to 31 December 2023, the Fund's ongoing charges figure was 0.82%. This figure is normally calculated every 6 months and is based on the actual expenses for the 12-month periods ending on 30 June and 31 December.

Explanation of Charges

Annual management charge: this is the fee paid to Aberforth for managing the Fund. The fee is accrued daily, based on the value of the Fund’s net assets and is reflected in the daily value of the Fund’s assets.

Performance fee: Aberforth does not charge a performance fee.

Ongoing charges: these are the annual operating expenses of running the Fund and are deducted from the net assets of the Fund. Ongoing charges include fees paid for management, custody, trustee, audit and registrar services, as well as the cost of printing the Annual and Interim Reports. They exclude portfolio transaction costs.

Portfolio transaction costs and taxes: these costs are incurred when buying and selling the Fund’s underlying investments, such as broker commissions and purchase taxes. In addition, there is a dealing spread between the prices at which the Fund buys or sells the underlying investments. Dealing spreads vary considerably depending on the investment being bought or sold, the transaction value and market sentiment.

Pricing policy (or Dealing spread): Aberforth operates a dual pricing methodology for this Fund whereby net contributions take place at the creation price and net withdrawals take place at the cancellation price. The creation price is calculated by reference to the offer prices of the underlying investments, plus an allowance for broker commissions and stamp duty. The cancellation price is calculated by reference to the bid prices of the underlying investments, less an allowance for broker commissions. This means that, when investments are bought or sold as a result of other investors joining or leaving the fund, existing or remaining investors are protected from the costs of these transactions. The difference between the creation and cancellation prices is shown in the table above.

Initial charge (or Entry/Preliminary charge): Aberforth waives the initial charge for all new investments thus no initial charge is payable by investors. Aberforth has no present intention to introduce an initial charge, but reserves the right to do so in future.

Exit charge: Aberforth does not charge investors to exit the Fund.

Investment Association

The Investment Association website contains useful information relating to costs and charges. This can be accessed via the following link https://www.theia.org/industry-policy/guidelines/costs-and-charges.