THE UNITE GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2024 53 MIKE BURT CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER as wider macro risk developments impacting the PBSA sector, Higher Education, property market and economy. We provide flexibility in our risk appetite across individual objectives. As a Group, we maintain a cautious risk appetite, broadly unchanged from the previous financial year. While the impact of inflationary pressures is reducing, other macroeconomic factors and political stability are extant, and the Board continues to take a prudent approach to both risk and opportunity. STRESS TESTING/SCENARIO PLANNING AND OUR STRATEGIC PLAN Each year, the Board develops and refreshes the Group’s Strategic Plan. This is based on detailed three-year strategic/financial projections (with related scenario planning) and rolls forward for a further two years using more generic assumptions. The Board maps our strategic objectives against our risk profile, identifying risk events that could prevent or delay us meeting our strategic objectives. Then, always conscious that risk events do not necessarily happen in isolation, the Board stress tests these projections against combinations of the identified risk events. Through this process, a base case and stress-tested Strategic Plan are developed. During 2024, this scenario planning continued to closely monitor external factors, and the Board developed a wide range of scenarios and stress tests to assess our preparedness and ability to withstand adverse market conditions. Looking ahead to 2025, we have considered macroeconomic and political factors when assessing our principal risks: • Geopolitical instability, including the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, increasing tensions in the Middle East and potential political uncertainty during the next US presidential term • Levels of inflation remain above the Bank of England’s target, delaying reductions in interest rates in the short to medium term • The UK Government’s upcoming reviews of international students and Higher Education funding during 2025 • An uncertain labour market with a relatively low unemployment rate of 4% but decreasing numbers of job vacancies. These external factors impact our risk profile to varying degrees and we have seen an impact in certain areas (such as the cost of funding and recruitment), while others are still emerging. Our year-end assessment of risk considered how these external factors have impacted us and the action we are taking to mitigate them. OUR RISK APPETITE The Group’s risk appetite is considered a fundamental part of the Board’s strategy setting and annual budget. This is underpinned by our aim to be a responsible and resilient business while delivering for our customers, employees and universities with attractive returns for our shareholders. Twice yearly, the Board reviews and assesses our risk appetite with a primary focus on the resilience of the business and its agility. This considered both threats to, and opportunities in, our business as well “ Viewing our operational and strategic objectives through the optic of both risk and opportunity ensures we can take informed and effective decisions, to protect and build value for all our stakeholders.”