The Fund normally invests primarily in common stocks of companies whose market capitalizations at the time of the Fund’s initial purchase are below the dollar-weighted median market capitalization of companies in the Russell 2000® Index, which are often referred to as “micro‑cap” companies. However, the Fund is more broadly authorized to invest in common stocks of small capitalization companies, defined for this purpose as companies whose market capitalizations at the time of initial purchase are at or below the highest capitalization represented in the Russell 2000® Index. As of December 31, 2024, the highest capitalization represented in the Russell 2000® Index was $14.8 billion. The Fund’s benchmark index is the Russell Microcap® Index.

The Fund seeks to provide long-term growth of capital while taking a low‑risk approach to small company investing. The Fund selects stocks of companies that are selling at prices the Advisor believes are attractive in relation to the companies’ fundamental financial characteristics and business prospects. The Advisor uses a bottom‑up approach to select stocks for the Fund’s portfolio with a focus on companies’ competitive positions, strong balance sheets, and profit margin improvement potential. The Advisor believes that portfolios of smaller companies with low valuations, long-term attractive business fundamentals, and near-term profitability improvement potential should produce strong absolute and risk-adjusted returns over time.

As part of the investment process, the Advisor takes material environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors into account through an integrated approach within the investment team’s fundamental investment analysis framework. Material ESG factors are considered with respect to many companies in which the Fund may invest in order to identify issuers the Advisor believes will be materially impacted by such factors. Material ESG factors may be some of the many factors considered in making investment decisions. The Advisor’s determination of the ESG criteria to apply, and the assessment of the ESG characteristics of an issuer or industry, may differ from the criteria or assessment applied by other investors. As a result, the Fund may invest in issuers that do not reflect what may be considered to be positive ESG characteristics or ESG values of any particular investor. Moreover, the methodology used to integrate material ESG factors may not eliminate the possibility of the Fund having exposure to issuers that exhibit negative ESG characteristics and may change over time.