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ZERO HOUR ALERT Two “old money” secrets to protect your money from chaos — A ZERO HOUR ALERT REPORT — Important Risk Warnings: Before investing you should consider carefully the risks involved, including those described below. If you have any doubt as to suitability or taxation implications, seek independent financial advice. General - Your capital is at risk when you invest, never risk more than you can afford to lose. Past performance and forecasts are not reliable indicators of future results. There is no guarantee dividends will be paid. Bid/offer spreads, commissions, fees and other charges can reduce returns from investments. Overseas shares - Some recommendations may be denominated in a currency other than sterling. The return from these may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations. Any dividends will be taxed at source in the country of issue. Funds – Fund performance relies on the performance of the underlying investments, and there is counterparty default risk which could result in a loss not represented by the underlying investment. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) with derivative exposure (leveraged or inverted ETFs) are highly speculative and are not suitable for risk-averse investors. Bonds – Investing in bonds carries interest rate risk. A bondholder has committed to receiving a fixed rate of return for a fixed period. If the market interest rate rises from the date of the bond’s purchase, the bond’s price will fall. There is also the risk that the bond issuer could default on their obligations to pay interest as scheduled, or to repay capital at the maturity of the bond. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate certain activities, including the buying and selling of commodities such as gold, and investments in cryptocurrencies. This means that you will not have the protection of the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Taxation – Profits from investments, and any profits from converting cryptocurrency back into fiat currency is subject to capital gains tax. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may be subject to change. Investment Director: Boaz Shoshan. Chief Strategist: Nick Hubble. Editors or contributors may have an interest in shares recommended. Information and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of other editors/contributors of Southbank Investment Research Limited. Full details of our complaints procedure and terms and conditions can be found on our website www.southbankresearch.com. Zero Hour Alert is issued by Southbank Investment Research Limited. Registered in England and Wales No 9539630. VAT No GB629 7287 94. Registered Office: 2nd Floor, Crowne House, 56-58 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1UN. Southbank Investment Research is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA No 706697. https:// register.fca.org.uk/. © 2019 Southbank Investment Research Ltd. – 2 – ...continued on next page... — A ZERO HOUR ALERT REPORT — Dear reader, As a subscriber to Zero Hour Alert, you know there are risks out there for your investments. In the past, we’ve outlined the threats posed by Italy, the pension system and demographics. But while our job is to warn you about these risks, it is also to introduce you to opportunities. And while Nick and I share a very Boaz Shoshan pessimistic outlook for some investments... there are others we Managing are very optimistic about. Editor Today, I am very happy to introduce you to two new “unplugged” wealth recommendations. These investments meet a very strict criteria. They must be scarce, portable, valued by humanity for a considerable period of time and impossible to default upon. So far, our only recommendations that fit all of these criteria are gold sovereigns and Krugerrands. That changes today. I can almost guarantee you won’t be familiar with at least one of the recommendations. These are well outside of the mainstream financial industry – we’re not talking about individual stocks, bonds or investment funds here. But while they’re out of the ordinary, they’ve actually been around for a very long time. In fact, the youngest of these assets dates back to the Mayan civilisation in the 10th century! The other has been around for an awful lot longer. These are tangible assets outside the financial system, which can be loaded into the boot of a car, transferred anywhere without anybody knowing... that still have great investment prospects. During their lifetimes, while banks have defaulted, monetary systems changed, wars been fought and currencies died... they have endured. Welcome to Zero Hour Alert. – 3 – ...continued on next page... — A ZERO HOUR ALERT REPORT — Churchill’s Gold The endangered asset class nearing extinction Boaz Shoshan 30 November 1895. Winston Churchill is celebrating his 21st birthday – and he’s under heavy fire from Cuban independence fighters. The future prime minister has travelled to Cuba with the permission of the Spanish government, to fight against the Cubans in his first taste of battle. Two of Cuba’s independence leaders, Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez, are among those attacking him in a war that will go to claim over 300,000 lives. But just before the fighting begins, young Churchill stumbles upon something near the docks of Havana that will stay with him for the rest of his life. Winston Churchill in 1895, a few months before he An asset class that, short of a total societal breakdown, we entered the Cuban War of believe will only increase in value as time goes on. Independence. Cuban cigars. While rarely found in investment portfolios, certain Cuban cigars have a terrific investment track record, as you’ll discover in this report (see the interview at the end for some astounding examples). There’s a reason for their stellar returns. Thanks to a certain historical event, the supply of a certain type of cigar is forever in the favour of the buy-and-hold investor. To find out why this is, we must travel forward in history... Past World War II, when businessmen and well-wishers sent thousands of Cuban cigars to Churchill as gifts... After the 1950s, when Romeo Y Julieta launched the Churchill cigar range in honour of the British wartime leader... To land squarely on Monday 17 April 1961, when the forces of history were about to send the price of Cuban cigars through the roof. – 4 – ...continued on next page... — A ZERO HOUR ALERT REPORT — The Bay of Pigs incident Following the ascent of Fidel Castro in 1959, the CIA was keen to stamp out communism in Cuba, which it considered the US’s backyard. To do this, it secretly trained a brigade of around 1,400 Cuban exiles in Guatemala, the Brigada Asalto 2506. Its task was to return to Cuba and overthrow Castro in an armed invasion. Castro’s total available force numbered Flag of Brigade 2506 close to 250,000. But it was hoped that the invasion would throw Cuba into chaos and that Brigade 2506 would gain momentum when Cubans disillusioned with Castro joined its ranks. The operation was a multilateral failure. A covert bombing operation intended to wipe out Castro’s air force destroyed only a few aircraft. JFK hesitated to order another as it would make US involvement blatant; it was meant to appear as a domestic counterrevolution within Cuba. To compound matters, Castro rounded up 100,000 suspected enemies of the regime as soon as the invasion occurred, dashing any hopes of rallying disillusioned locals to the cause. Running out of ammunition and without support, the brigade surrendered, just three days after the invasion. Che Guevara gloated to JFK in a note: “Thanks for [Bay of Pigs]. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it’s stronger than ever.” Before the dust had settled, the embarrassed Kennedy administration was already looking at other ways of putting pressure on Cuba. The CIA redoubled its efforts to kill Castro (resulting in over 600 assassination attempts), while the public side of the US government drew up a trade embargo, which gained congressional approval not long after. But before JFK signed the embargo into law, there was one last thing he had to do. A hidden task he gave a confidante, which has only come to light decades later. For JFK knew the value of this hidden asset class was going to increase markedly – and he wanted to be on the right side of the trade. JFK’s last request It is here we introduce Pierre Salinger, who was JFK’s press secretary and friend. Salinger was a leading figure in Kennedy’s presidential campaign, and a trusted unofficial adviser – part of JFK’s “kitchen cabinet”. The pair had much in common, both having commanded small US Navy vessels in the Pacific theatre of World War II. – 5 – ...continued on next page... — A ZERO HOUR ALERT REPORT — Salinger and Kennedy Early one evening, Kennedy summoned him into the Oval Office. Standing before the massive desk of the president, JFK gave him a special assignment. Salinger recalled: “Pierre, I need some help,” he said solemnly. “I’ll be glad to do anything I can Mr. President,” I replied. “I need a lot of cigars.” “How many, Mr. President?” “About 1,000 Petit Upmanns.” I shuddered a bit, although I kept my reaction to myself. “And, when do you need them, Mr. President?” “Tomorrow morning.” I walked out of the office wondering if I would succeed. But since I was now a solid Cuban cigar smoker, I knew a lot of stores, and I worked on the problem into the evening. The next morning, I walked into my White House office at about 8 a.m., and the direct line from the President’s office was already ringing. He asked me to come in immediately.

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