Q1 2021 Maturity Results

The three loss making plans in the quarter were term contacts paying a regular income, with capital returns derived from the performance of a basket of shares on a ‘worst of’ basis. Such plans are inherently riskier than contacts linked to single indices such as the FTSE 100 or EURO STOXX 50. To reaffirm, no Lowes ‘Preferred’ plans realised a loss for investors. Q1 2021 worst performing maturities...

Income Paid

Capital Reduction

Equivalent Annualised Return Worst Performing Share

Plan Name

FOCUS FTSE 4 Quarterly Income Plan March 2015 FOCUS FTSE 4 Quarterly Income Plan February 2015 Meteor FTSE 5 Monthly Income Plan February 2015

30.81% -54.59%

-4.42% Standard Chartered plc (down by 54.59%)

Imperial Tobacco (down by 52.01%) Standard Chartered plc (down by 50.17%)

36.8% -52.01%

-2.71%

43.2% -49.83%

-1.19%

The top quartile of Q1 maturities returned an average annualised return of 8.83%, across an average term of 4 years. The best performing of these are summarised as below… 1. Hilbert Investment Solutions Kick out Series 3 Stock Defensive Autocall Issue 5. This ‘Preferred’ plan, linked to the performance of a basket of shares, matured early after six months triggering the return of investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 8.5% - an annualised gain of 17.88%. 2. Investec Defensive Enhanced Returns Plan 4 - EURO STOXX 50 Option. This ‘Preferred’ plan matured after 6 years, returning original capital in full in addition to a gain of 82%, despite the Euro Stoxx 50 being up by just 10%. This plan realised an annualised return of 10.49%. 3. Meteor FTSE Kick Out Plan March 2020 (Citi). This plan matured early on its first anniversary, returning original capital in full in addition to a gain of 10.25%. This plan struck immediately after the market crash in March 2020 and as such benefited from a 22.25% rise in the FTSE 100 Index. Consistent with our findings disclosed in Lowes’ Retail Structured Product Sector Review of the Decade 2010 – 2019, the most common underlying was the FTSE 100 Index, accounting for 59.57% of maturities in Q1. No FTSE 100 linked contracts realised a capital loss, though 7 did fail to mature with a gain as a function of the lethargic hangover from the March 2020 market crash.