Index Methodology:

 

A) The Brendan Wood Shareholder Conviction TopGun^TM Index

The Brendan Wood TopGun™ Index is a group of companies consisting of the highest rated investment targets selected through +/- 2000 personal consultations with institutional investment professionals (“The BW Panel”), conducted daily throughout each year. The TopGun™ Index companies are singled out from a universe of 1400 large cap candidate corporations worldwide. TopGun™ companies are those to whom investors attribute the highest ownership conviction and the best qualities of Management, Strategy, Growth, Disclosure and a host of other competitive investment criteria. To become an Index investment target for inclusion in the TopGun™ Index Portfolio it is also necessary for the TopGun™ company to be in a sector of highest current demand by investors.

 

EXHIBIT ONE: Example TopGun™ Index Portfolio Companies at November 11th 2022.

 

EXHIBIT TWO: Example of Index Report Which Identifies Oncoming Investor Demand, Sector by Sector

 

B) Application Rules

1. The selection algorithm identifies the highest rated investment quality companies and the business sectors which meet highest thresholds of demand by the Panel. Companies which combine the two are selected for inclusion in the TopGun™ Index. The number of selected companies will vary from time to time based upon the leading weight of their investment quality ratings as identified by the algorithm.
2. Withdrawal of Selections: As and when the algorithm determines that a company‘s investment score or sector demand of its principal business has decreased to a level beneath the then threshold of highest ratings, the company will be sold removing it from the TopGun™ Index portfolio.
3. Replacement of Withdrawn Selections: Provided another company meets the thresholds of highest individual investment quality ratings and sector demand of its principal business, the withdrawn selection will be replaced.
4. Re-Distribution of Proceeds: In the event that a Selection is withdrawn and no qualifying replacement is identified by the algorithm, the proceeds of the sale of the withdrawn selection will be distributed evenly across the remaining selected names in the portfolio. In the event that no more than fifteen companies meet the selection criteria at any time, the proceeds of a sale of a withdrawn company shall remain in cash and/or fixed income securities until the algorithm identifies a qualifying additional company.
5. Balancing: Investments in individual stocks are to be dollar ($) weighted equally, wherever possible, and subjected to re-balancing at least once per year.

 

C) Methodology

1. First Data Cut: Only Index stocks which are big cap and liquid are included in the potential investment target universe. This cut results in few if any eliminations due to the fact that the Index includes very few, if any, corporations which fall beneath the first cut criteria above.
2. Second Data Cut: Approximately 1400 corporations in the BWI universe are screened for the highest investor ratings awarded by the Panel across all competitive investment quality metrics. These are designated TopGun™ companies.
3. Third Data Cut: The corporations designated TopGuns™ are then filtered by the then current investor demand for sectors. This third cut reduces the candidate corporations to about twenty-five TopGun™ ( top 2%) investment targets, which the Index data confirms as big cap, liquid stocks of highest investment quality and in sectors of strongest investor demand worldwide.

 

Brendan Wood TopGun^TM Index History

 

Portfolio Composition

Index Top 10 Holdings: