Independentassurance report

The Directors are responsible for the selection, preparation and presentation of the selected KPIs in accordance with Cotlands reporting criteria and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 (“B-BBEE”), the Codes of Good Practice on Black Economic Empowerment gazetted in December 2019 (collectively referred to as “Cotlands reporting criteria”). This responsibility includes the identification of stakeholders and stakeholder requirements, material issues, commitments with respect to sustainability performance and design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation of the Report that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. The Directors are also responsible for determining the appropriateness of the measurement and reporting criteria in view of the intended users of the selected KPIs and for ensuring that those criteria are publicly available to the Report users.

We are required to comply with the independence and other ethical requirements of the Code of Professional Conduct for Registered Auditors issued by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA Code), which is founded on fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. The IRBA Code is consistent with the corresponding sections of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards).

KPMG Inc. applies the International Standard on Quality Management 1, which requires the firm to design, implement and operate a system of quality management including policies or procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Our responsibility is to express a limited assurance conclusion on the selected KPIs based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained. We conducted our assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. That Standard requires that we plan and perform our engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether the selected KPIs are free from material misstatement.

A limited assurance engagement undertaken in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised) involves assessing the suitability in the circumstances of Cotlands’ use of its reporting criteria as the basis of preparation for the selected KPIs, assessing the risks of material misstatement of the selected KPIs whether due to fraud or error, responding to the assessed risks as necessary in the circumstances, and evaluating the overall presentation of the selected KPIs. A limited assurance engagement is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement in relation to both risk assessment procedures, including an understanding of internal control, and the procedures performed in response to the assessed risks.

The procedures we performed were based on our professional judgement and included inquiries, observation of processes followed, inspection of documents, analytical procedures, evaluating the appropriateness of quantification methods and reporting policies, and agreeing or reconciling with underlying records.

Given the circumstances of the engagement, in performing the procedures listed above we:

• Interviewed management and senior executives to obtain an understanding of the internal control environment, risk assessment process and information systems relevant to the sustainability reporting process;
• Inspected documentation to corroborate the statements of management and senior executives in our interviews;
• Performed a walkthrough of the processes and systems to generate, collate, aggregate, monitor and report the selected KPIs;
• Performed a controls walkthrough of identified key controls;
• Inspected supporting documentation on a sample basis and performed analytical procedures to evaluate the data generation and reporting processes against the reporting criteria;
• Evaluated the reasonableness and appropriateness of significant estimates and judgments made by the directors in the preparation of the selected KPIs; and
• Evaluated whether the selected KPIs presented in the Report are consistent with our overall knowledge and experience of sustainability management and performance at Cotlands.

The procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing, and are less in extent than for a reasonable assurance engagement. As a result the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had we performed a reasonable assurance engagement. Accordingly, we do not express a reasonable assurance opinion about whether Cotlands’s selected KPIs have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the accompanying Cotlands reporting criteria.

Based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the selected KPIs as set out in the Subject Matter paragraph above for the year then ended 31 March 2026 are not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the reporting criteria.