Wells Fargo Utilities and High Income Fund Announces Sources of Distribution

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wells Fargo Utilities and High Income Fund (NYSE American: ERH) released information about the sources of today's distribution in a Notice provided to shareholders. The full text of the Notice is available below and on the Allspring Global Investments website.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS

This Notice provides information about the sources of the Fund's monthly distributions. You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's Managed Distribution Plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with 'yield' or 'income'.

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. Sources include net investment income (NII), short-term capital gains (ST), long-term capital gains (LT) and paid in capital. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The following table provides an estimate of the Fund's distribution sources, reflecting the fiscal year-to- date cumulative amount of distributions. The Fund attributes these estimates equally to each regular distribution throughout the year. Consequently, the estimated information as of the specified month-end shown below is for the current distribution, and also represents an updated estimate for all prior months in the year.

The following table provides information regarding distributions and total return performance over various time periods. This information is intended to help you better understand whether returns for the specified time periods were sufficient to meet distributions.

The fund makes distributions in accordance with a managed distribution plan that provides for the declaration of monthly distributions to common shareholders of the fund at an annual minimum fixed rate of 7.0%, based on the fund's average monthly net asset value (NAV) per share over the prior 12 months. Under the managed distribution plan, distributions are sourced from income and also may be sourced from paid-in capital and/or capital gains. The fund's distributions in any period may be more or less than the net return earned by the fund on its investments and therefore should not be used as a measure of performance or confused with yield or income. Distributions in excess of fund returns will cause the fund's NAV to decline. Investors should not draw any conclusions about the fund's investment performance from the amount of its distribution or from the terms of its managed distribution plan.

The quoted distribution rate is a figure that uses the fund's previous distribution to calculate an annualized figure. The distribution rate is calculated by annualizing the last distribution and then dividing by the period-ending NAV or market price. Special distributions, including special capital gains distributions, are not included in the calculation.

The Wells Fargo Utilities and High Income Fund is a closed-end equity and high-yield bond fund. The fund's investment objective is to seek a high level of current income and moderate capital growth with an emphasis on providing tax-advantaged dividend income.

The final determination of the source of all dividend distributions in the current year will be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax-reporting purposes will depend upon a fund's investment experience during the remainder of the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. Each fund will send shareholders a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell shareholders how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

For more information on Allspring's closed-end funds, please visit www.allspringglobal.com.

About Allspring Global Investments 
Allspring Global Investments is a leading independent asset management firm with $587 billion in assets under management,¹ 18 offices globally, and specialized investment teams supported by more than 480 investment professionals around the world. Allspring and its investment teams provide a broad range of differentiated investment products and solutions to help its diverse range of clients meet their investment objectives. For more information, please visit www.allspringglobal.com. 

1. As of September 30, 2021. AUM includes $93 billion from Galliard Capital Management, an investment advisor that is not part of the Allspring trade name/GIPS firm.

About GTCR 
Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Healthcare, Financial Services & Technology, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ – finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire, and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $20 billion in over 250 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.

About Reverence Capital Partners 
Reverence Capital Partners is a private investment firm focused on thematic investing in leading global, middle-market Financial Services businesses through control and influence oriented investments in 5 sectors: (1) Depositories and Finance Companies, (2) Asset and Wealth Management, (3) Insurance, (4) Capital Markets, and (5) Financial Technology/Payments. The firm was founded in 2013 by Milton Berlinski, Peter Aberg, and Alex Chulack, who collectively bring over 90 years of advisory and investing experience across a wide range of financial services sectors. For more information visit, please visit www.reverencecapital.com.

These closed-end funds are no longer available in public offerings and are only offered through broker-dealers on the secondary market. A closed-end fund is not required to buy its shares back from investors upon request. Shares of a fund may trade at either a premium or discount relative to the fund's net asset value, and there can be no assurance that any discount will decrease. The values of, and/or the income generated by, securities held by a fund may decline due to general market conditions or other factors, including those directly involving the issuers of such securities.

Equity securities fluctuate in value in response to factors specific to the issuer of the security. Debt securities are subject to credit risk and interest rate risk, and high-yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality have a much greater risk of default and their values tend to be more volatile than higher-rated securities with similar maturities. Foreign investments may contain more risk due to the inherent risks associated with changing political climates, foreign market instability, and foreign currency fluctuations. Risks of international investing are magnified in emerging or developing markets. Funds that concentrate their investments in a single industry or sector may face increased risk of price fluctuation over more diversified funds due to adverse developments within that industry or sector. Each fund is leveraged through a revolving credit facility and also may incur leverage by issuing preferred shares in the future. The fund is also subject to risks associated with any concentration of its investments in the utility sector.

The use of leverage results in certain risks, including, among others, the likelihood of greater volatility of the net asset value and the market price of common shares. Derivatives involve additional risks, including interest rate risk, credit risk, the risk of improper valuation, and the risk of noncorrelation to the relevant instruments they are designed to hedge or closely track.

Allspring Global Investments™ is the trade name for the asset management firms of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. These firms include but are not limited to Allspring Global Investments, LLC, and Allspring Funds Management, LLC. Certain products managed by Allspring entities are distributed by Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC (a broker-dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC). Associated with Allspring is Galliard Capital Management, LLC (an investment advisor that is not part of the Allspring trade name/GIPS firm).

This material is for general informational and educational purposes only and is NOT intended to provide investment advice or a recommendation of any kind—including a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or plan.

Some of the information contained herein may include forward-looking statements about the expected investment activities of the funds. These statements provide no assurance as to the funds' actual investment activities or results. Readers must make their own assessment of the information contained herein and consider such other factors as they may deem relevant to their individual circumstances.

© 2021 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.

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