Dear Investor, With Profound Regret Alchemy is not what it was.

We have lost investment capacity from £400m pa a few short years back to a likely £100m pa within the next year. This loss reflects a number of factors - one is simply the general market where our Plan represents a readily reduced commitment in a market where over commitment is a major issue. More significantly team issues at Alchemy, very low new deal activity and a weak overall investment performance, with continuing losses and largely defensive investing, have drained confidence.