Performance Report

August 2026

Fund: Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF

Strategy: Global Active Credit

Return (since Sep. 2024): 3.87% pa gross (3.04% pa net)

Net return volatility (since Sep. 2024): 3.72% pa

Objective: The Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF (GFXD) targets returns in excess of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index (hedged to AUD), after management costs, by 1.0% to 2.0% per annum over rolling 3 year periods.

Strategy: The Fund offers an active fixed-income strategy focused on mispricing in global government and corporate bonds with the aim of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns over the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index (hedged to AUD). The Fund seeks to have broadly similar interest rate duration risk to the Index.
The Fund is permitted to invest in Australian and global bonds, such as government and semi-government bonds, bank and corporate bonds, hybrid and asset-backed securities, including residential-mortgage-backed securities, issued in G10 currencies hedged to Australian Dollars, as well as cash, cash equivalents and related derivatives. It can borrow, use derivatives and short-sell, meaning it may be geared (or leveraged). Leverage can amplify gains and also amplify losses.

Period Ending 2026-08-31	Gross Return	Net Return	Bloomberg Global Agg Corp Index (AUD Hedged)	Gross Excess Return^†	Net Excess Return^†
1 month	0.31%	0.25%	0.32%	-0.01%	-0.06%
Inception 12 Jun. 2026	-0.49%	-0.64%	-0.50%	0.01%	-0.14%
Equivalent Unlisted Class - Assisted Investor Class - ETL2586AU
3 months	-0.39%	-0.59%	-0.53%	0.14%	-0.06%
6 months	-0.55%	-0.96%	-1.06%	0.51%	0.09%
1 year	3.37%	2.62%	2.35%	1.02%	0.27%
Inception pa Sep. 2024	3.87%	3.04%	2.55%	1.33%	0.49%

^† The Excess Return column represents the gross and net return above the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index (AUD hedged)
* The yield displayed for the Fund is the annual running yield before fees. A fund’s running yield is a forward-looking measure of the income expected to be generated by the portfolio based on the coupons payable on the bonds held by the fund as at that date, before management fees, performance fees and fund expenses. The yield can change daily depending on factors, such as the fund's investment activity and market movements, and may be different on the day you invest. All investments carry risks, including that the value of investments may vary, future returns may differ from past returns, and that your capital is not guaranteed. The Fund has a different risk profile to the other comparisons, including, amongst other things, that it uses leverage, which means that both gains and losses may be amplified. To understand the Fund’s risks better, please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement.

Disclaimer: Past performance does not assure future returns. Returns and yields are shown net of management fees and costs unless otherwise stated. All investments carry risks, including that the value of investments may vary, future returns may differ from past returns, and that your capital is not guaranteed. To understand Fund’s risks better, please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement available at Coolabah Capital Investments' website.

*Note: all portfolio statistics other than yields and duration are reported on gross asset value*
Av. Portfolio Credit Rating	A	Modified Interest Rate Duration	5.69 years
Portfolio MSCI ESG Rating	AA	Gearing Permitted?	Yes
No. Cash Accounts	22	Net Annual Volatility (since incep.)	3.72%

No. Notes and Bonds

221

Fund: Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF

Return/Risk: 3.87% pa gross/3.04% pa net (3.72% pa volatility)

The since inception gross (net) return of 3.87% pa gross (3.04% pa net) is the total annual return earned by the fund since Sep. 2024, including interest income and movements in the price of the bond portfolio after all fund fees (assuming net returns are calculated from the historic gross returns using the current fee structure as displayed in the Product Disclosure Statement). The net return quoted applies to the Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF, with quarterly distributions reinvested. Investment return will vary depending upon investment date and any additional investments and withdrawals made. The annualised volatility estimate of 3.72% pa is based on the standard deviation of net daily returns since inception, which are then annualised, attributable to the Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF.

Portfolio Managers

Christopher Joye, Ashley Kabel, Roger Douglas, Fionn O'Leary (Coolabah Capital Investments)

Ticker	GFXD	Class Inception	12-Jun-26
ISIN	AU0000469959	Fund Inception	23-Sep-24
Benchmark	Bloomberg Global Agg Corp Index (AUD hedged)	Distributions	Quarterly
Asset-Class	Global Credit	Unit Pricing	Daily (earnings accrue daily)
Target Return	1-2% pa above Benchmark after fees	Management Fee	0.65% pa
Investment Manager	Coolabah Capital Investments (Retail)	Perf. Fee	20.5% of outperformance of Benchmark after fees
Responsible Entity	Equity Trustees	Custodian	Citigroup

Fund: Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF

Return/Risk: 3.87% pa gross/3.04% pa net (3.72% pa volatility)

Portfolio commentary: In August, the long duration daily liquidity Coolabah Active Global Bond Fund (GFXD) returned 0.31% gross (0.25% net), compared to the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index Hedged AUD (0.32%). Over the previous 12 months, GFXD returned 3.37% gross (2.62% net), outperforming the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index Hedged AUD (2.35%) by 1.02% (0.27% net). Since the inception of the ETF unit class on 14 June 2026, it has returned -0.49% gross (-0.64% net), compared to the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index Hedged AUD (-0.50%). GFXD ended August with a running yield of 6.19% pa, a weighted-average credit rating of A+, and a portfolio weighted average MSCI ESG rating of AA.

Since the inception of GFXD in September 2024, it has returned 3.87% pa gross (3.04% pa net), outperforming the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Index Hedged AUD (2.55% pa) by 1.33% pa (0.49% pa net). While GFXD's return volatility since inception has been low at around 3.72% pa (measured using daily returns), as a daily liquidity product with assets that are marked-to-market using executable prices, volatility does exist. This contrasts with illiquid credit (eg, loans and high yield bonds) wherein assets that have very high risk can appear to have remarkably low volatility, which is, in fact, just a mirage explained by the inability to properly value these assets using executable prices.

Strategy commentary: August was characterised by a global duration shock, with many longer-dated sovereign bond yields reaching multi-year highs. The rise in yields was largely driven by concerns around fiscal debt sustainability, persistent inflation and ongoing hyperscaler issuance.

The surge prompted US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to unexpectedly announce that buyback operations for longer-dated Treasuries would be increased "by at least double", and that the Treasury could use its General Account to help fund them. This drove a pullback in 30-year yields.

Fed Chair Warsh's hawkish speech at Jackson Hole also flattened yield curves, as he signalled there was "work to do" on inflation.

By month-end, the market was pricing a 65% chance of a hike at the September meeting. Commentary from the ECB and BoJ was similarly hawkish, leaving markets almost fully pricing hikes from both in September.

The month began on a risk-on footing. Positive developments in US-Iran talks combined with strong ISM data to drive a broad rally in the opening days of August, while credit continued its summer grind tighter, led by financials and subordinated debt, on thin supply and favourable seasonality.

A dramatically weaker-than-expected US non-farm payrolls report the following week, showing a 23,000 decline in employment against expectations for an 83,000 gain and accompanied by a sizeable downward revision to the prior month, reinforced the move, richening rates and bull-steepening curves.

That momentum reversed once high-grade bond issuance resumed in earnest after the quiet early-August lull. Rates sold off and curves moved slightly flatter through the back half of the month, with German long-end syndications, including a 30-year tap, clearing at the highest yields since 2011.

Hawkish central-bank rhetoric compounded the sell-off into month-end. The ECB's Isabel Schnabel flagged that further tightening would be necessary given inflation was unlikely to return to target, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish speech at Jackson Hole, reiterating the Fed's focus on above-target inflation and signalling there was "work to do", which flattened yield curves.

By month-end the market was pricing a 65% chance of a hike at the September FOMC meeting, a notable shift given the political calendar. Commentary from the ECB and the Bank of Japan was similarly firm, leaving markets almost fully pricing September hikes from both.

Fund: Coolabah Active Global Bond Complex ETF

Return/Risk: 3.87% pa gross/3.04% pa net (3.72% pa volatility)

Strategy commentary cont'd: Yields consequently finished August higher, although the moves were much smaller than July's. The 10-year US Treasury yield increased 4bps to 4.75%, leaving it 52bps above its level a year earlier. German 10-year Bund yields climbed 12bps to 3.32%, extending their highest levels in more than a decade, while 10-year UK Gilt yields were little changed at 5.06%. French OAT yields rose 18bps to 4.18% and Italian BTP yields 13bps to 4.15%, with the OAT/Bund spread widening 6bps to 85bps and the BTP/Bund spread 1bp wider at 83bps. Japanese 10-year government bond yields increased a further 15bps to 2.94%, 134bps higher than a year ago.

The battle between the bond market and policymakers over the long-term cost of capital remained the dominant theme. Warsh, operating under what we have described as an implicit contract with President Trump not to lift the policy rate ahead of the November mid-term elections, has instead encouraged higher term premia and an upward repricing of long-term yields.

The 30-year Treasury yield has done the heavy lifting, spiking to its highest level in almost two decades, and dragging the 30-year fixed mortgage rate, which prices off that benchmark, up roughly 70bps from its February lows near 6% to about 6.7%. Warsh has, in effect, foisted de facto rate hikes on American borrowers while leaving the cash rate untouched, which we regard as the least worst policy solution given the constraints.

The US Treasury has been pulling in the opposite direction. Having joined the coordinated yen-buying operation at the end of July, the first since 1998, which it funded by selling euros out of US reserves to avoid putting upward pressure on Treasury yields, Bessent's buyback expansion lifts purchases of 10- to 30-year bonds from US$2bn to US$4bn or more per operation, funded by skewing new issuance towards short-term bills. In direct opposition to Warsh's stated preference for letting markets set the price of money, this is artificial yield suppression by another name, as Bessent's own mentor, Stanley Druckenmiller, has publicly protested.

Investors have begun to fret that if the Fed and the Bank of Japan fall too far behind the curve, they may have to lift rates much more aggressively to expunge entrenched inflationary pressures. History suggests that melees between markets and manipulators tend not to end well for the latter.

The inflation backdrop justifies that concern. Underlying US inflation has been running at around 3.5% on a six-month annualised basis (3.3% year-on-year), well above the Fed's 2% objective, and core inflation has now been stuck above target for five and a half years. Our Taylor Rule modelling continues to imply the policy rate should sit 75-100bps above the current 3.50% to 3.75% range, and we think a US hike before year-end remains likely. A belated and globally synchronised hiking cycle is already under way across Australia, New Zealand and Europe, and in all likelihood the US will join it.

One driver is a theme we have long flagged: artificial intelligence is proving highly inflationary in the short to medium term. There is no imminent deflationary wave. Instead, AI is propagating an enormous spending and demand shock that has created bottlenecks throughout critical technology supply chains, bidding up the price of chips, memory, compute and almost anything associated with data centres. For the first time in modern history, technology costs are contributing to goods inflation rather than subtracting from it.

Compounding the squeeze are surging global military spending, profligate public spending, weak productivity outside the US, and never-ending supply-side shocks from the wars in Iran and Ukraine. This is why central banks have failed to hit their price-stability targets since the pandemic.

Currency markets reflected the policy tension. Despite the late-July intervention, the yen resumed its slide, with USD/JPY rising 1.5% to 159.74 amid concerns that the Bank of Japan remains behind its own inflation curve. The euro appreciated 0.8% against the US dollar to 1.162.