UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Investment Company Act file number: 811-09253
Allspring Funds Trust
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
525 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94105
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
Matthew Prasse
Allspring Funds Management, LLC
525 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94105
(Name and address of agent for service)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 800-222-8222
Date of fiscal year end: July 31
Registrant is making a filing for 9 of its series:
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund, Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund, Allspring Growth Fund, Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund, Allspring Large Cap Core Fund, Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund, Allspring Large Company Value Fund, Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund and Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund.
Date of reporting period: July 31, 2022
ITEM 1. REPORT TO STOCKHOLDERS
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring
Special Large Cap Value Fund
Special Large Cap Value Fund
(formerly, Allspring Classic Value Fund)
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 14 | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 23 | |
| 29 | |
| 30 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Effective May 2, 2022, the Fund changed its name from Allspring Classic Value Fund to Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Notice to Shareholders
At a meeting held February 23-24, 2022, the Board of Trustees of the Allspring Funds approved changing the name of the Fund from Allspring Classic Value Fund to Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund which became effective on May 2, 2022. There was no change to the Fund’s investment process because of the name change.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | James M. Tringas, CFA ®‡, Bryant VanCronkhite, CFA ®‡, CPA, Shane Zweck, CFA ®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (EIVAX) | 8-1-2006 | -10.73 | 6.94 | 9.49 | -5.29 | 8.21 | 10.14 | 1.19 | 1.11 | ||
| Class C (EIVCX) | 8-1-2006 | -6.99 | 7.45 | 9.47 | -5.99 | 7.45 | 9.47 | 1.94 | 1.86 | ||
| Class R (EIVTX)3 | 3-1-2013 | – | – | – | -5.47 | 8.00 | 9.91 | 1.44 | 1.36 | ||
| Class R6 (EIVFX)4 | 11-30-2012 | – | – | – | -4.86 | 8.86 | 10.68 | 0.76 | 0.65 | ||
| Administrator Class (EIVDX) | 7-30-2010 | – | – | – | -5.07 | 8.40 | 10.34 | 1.11 | 0.95 | ||
| Institutional Class (EIVIX) | 8-1-2006 | – | – | – | -4.96 | 8.65 | 10.59 | 0.86 | 0.70 | ||
| Russell 1000® Value Index5 | – | – | – | – | -1.43 | 8.26 | 11.10 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R, Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.11% for Class A, 1.86% for Class C, 1.36% for Class R, 0.65% for Class R6, 0.95% for Administrator Class, and 0.70% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R shares. |
| 4 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 5 | The Russell 1000® Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with lower price/book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk and focused portfolio risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 1000® Value Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Value Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | Stock selection in health care and an overweight in the information technology (IT) sector detracted from the Fund’s relative performance. |
| ■ | Stock selection in materials and an underweight in the communication services sector contributed to relative performance. |
Macro pressures, U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) policies, and geopolitical events dominated.
Equity markets were choppy, driven by economic pressures of rising inflation and the Fed tightening as well as ramifications from the continued spread of COVID-19 variants. Additionally, the Russia-Ukraine war amplified worries around commodity supply issues driving inflation even higher. Investors expressed concerns around increased recession risks, record-high gasoline prices, significantly higher mortgage rates, and falling consumer sentiment, which pressured stock prices.
Rather than try to time when these macro headwinds will subside, we look to invest in companies that can control their destiny via their financial flexibility. Many companies have been forced to take defensive measures as inflation and interest rates have moved higher. While our companies are certainly not immune from these factors, their financial flexibility and competitive advantages allow them to navigate the current environment and be strategic as opportunities arise.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| General Motors Company | 4.14 |
| Caterpillar Incorporated | 4.00 |
| Walmart Incorporated | 3.78 |
| American International Group Incorporated | 3.65 |
| D.R. Horton Incorporated | 3.36 |
| Cigna Corporation | 3.32 |
| NextEra Energy Incorporated | 3.23 |
| AerCap Holdings NV | 3.14 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C | 2.86 |
| ConocoPhillips | 2.79 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Elevated market volatility provided numerous opportunities for portfolio repositioning to take advantage of dislocations between short-term fears and the long-term cash generation ability of our holdings when seen through our
reward-to-risk lens. Overall, the most notable sector weight changes included decreases within financials and consumer discretionary and increases in materials and health care.
Detractors from performance included stock selection in health care and an overweight in the underperforming IT sector.
Within the health care sector, a medical device company, Teleflex Inc., detracted from relative returns. In recent years, management has deployed capital to acquire businesses that diversify the company’s global product set. The goal is to create a growing, more-sustainable cash stream. During the period, however, shares were hurt by a Medicare reimbursement decision and continued pandemic concerns that we believe to be overly pessimistic. Auto manufacturer General Motors Co. (GM) detracted from relative returns. GM has a leading market share position in large pickup trucks and tangential subsidiaries that generate strong free cash flow to help facilitate future balance-sheet deployment. The company is facing near-term commodity and logistic headwinds that we believe will subside. We expect GM to benefit from historically low vehicle inventories and be recognized for its transformation into more of a technology company.
Key contributors included stock selection within materials and an underweight in the worst-performing communication services sector.
Within materials, the largest contributor to the Fund’s performance was FMC Corp*., which develops, markets, and sells crop protection globally. We initiated a position after operational challenges from the supply chain were compounded by management comments that they would not be pushing price in order to pursue growth. We correctly assessed, through additional conversations with management, that the commentary on price/volume was a miscommunication. Subsequently, improvement in operational performance and price increases drove shares higher. Contributing the most to the Fund’s performance was ConocoPhillips, which explores, produces, and markets crude oil and natural gas. The stock benefited from a significant rise
| * | This security was no longer held at the end of the reporting period. |
8 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
in oil and gas prices. We believe that ConocoPhillips can execute its strategy in a wide range of commodity prices, and we expect continued strong cash-flow generation with disciplined allocation of that cash, particularly as the Shell Permian acquisition is integrated into the company.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
We expect continued market volatility for the remainder of 2022 as investors digest recession risks, inflationary pressures, and the Fed’s response.
Our process tends to perform best in the middle and late innings of a cycle, as early cyclical beneficiaries give way to companies with sustainable free cash flow and flexible balance sheets. We take comfort in the defensive capabilities of our investment process to protect capital as economic headwinds increase, but we also appreciate our companies’ ability to “play offense” and deploy capital when accretive opportunities present themselves. Through our bottom-up stock selection process, we focus on investing in companies that we believe have the potential to generate strong cash flows and have the balance sheet flexibility to make effective investment decisions. In our view, this approach may better position our investments to reap outsized rewards relative to the level of risk taken. Because of this disciplined investment process, we remain confident in our ability to navigate all economic environments over the long term.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 917.39 | $5.18 | 1.09% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.39 | $5.46 | 1.09% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 914.10 | $8.83 | 1.86% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.57 | $9.30 | 1.86% |
| Class R | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 916.80 | $6.18 | 1.30% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,018.35 | $6.51 | 1.30% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 919.48 | $3.09 | 0.65% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.57 | $3.26 | 0.65% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 918.26 | $4.33 | 0.91% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.28 | $4.56 | 0.91% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 918.81 | $3.33 | 0.70% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.32 | $3.51 | 0.70% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 96.98% | |||||
| Communication services: 5.49% | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 2.86% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 192,080 | $ 22,404,211 | |||
| Media: 2.63% | |||||
| Comcast Corporation Class A | 547,340 | 20,536,197 | |||
| Consumer discretionary: 7.50% | |||||
| Automobiles: 4.14% | |||||
| General Motors Company † | 891,925 | 32,341,201 | |||
| Household durables: 3.36% | |||||
| D.R. Horton Incorporated | 336,829 | 26,282,767 | |||
| Consumer staples: 7.91% | |||||
| Beverages: 2.20% | |||||
| Keurig Dr. Pepper Incorporated | 444,617 | 17,224,463 | |||
| Food & staples retailing: 3.78% | |||||
| Walmart Incorporated | 224,009 | 29,580,388 | |||
| Food products: 1.93% | |||||
| Mondelez International Incorporated Class A | 235,102 | 15,055,932 | |||
| Energy: 7.38% | |||||
| Oil, gas & consumable fuels: 7.38% | |||||
| ConocoPhillips | 224,205 | 21,844,293 | |||
| EOG Resources Incorporated | 179,215 | 19,932,292 | |||
| Exxon Mobil Corporation | 164,134 | 15,909,509 | |||
| 57,686,094 | |||||
| Financials: 13.19% | |||||
| Banks: 4.33% | |||||
| Bank of America Corporation | 564,157 | 19,074,148 | |||
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | 128,153 | 14,783,730 | |||
| 33,857,878 | |||||
| Capital markets: 4.68% | |||||
| Intercontinental Exchange Incorporated | 182,570 | 18,620,314 | |||
| The Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated | 53,946 | 17,985,057 | |||
| 36,605,371 | |||||
| Insurance: 3.65% | |||||
| American International Group Incorporated | 550,656 | 28,507,461 | |||
| Mortgage REITs: 0.53% | |||||
| Annaly Capital Management Incorporated | 603,771 | 4,153,944 | |||
| Health care: 16.38% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 1.22% | |||||
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 33,960 | 9,522,724 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 7.50% | |||||
| Abbott Laboratories | 77,427 | $ 8,427,157 | |||
| Medtronic plc | 201,420 | 18,635,378 | |||
| Stryker Corporation | 65,464 | 14,058,394 | |||
| Teleflex Incorporated | 73,027 | 17,560,072 | |||
| 58,681,001 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 4.90% | |||||
| Cigna Corporation | 94,359 | 25,982,694 | |||
| Humana Incorporated | 25,562 | 12,320,884 | |||
| 38,303,578 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 2.76% | |||||
| Merck & Company Incorporated | 241,688 | 21,592,406 | |||
| Industrials: 15.28% | |||||
| Aerospace & defense: 0.23% | |||||
| Raytheon Technologies Corporation | 19,422 | 1,810,325 | |||
| Commercial services & supplies: 2.57% | |||||
| Waste Management Incorporated | 122,020 | 20,079,611 | |||
| Industrial conglomerates: 2.76% | |||||
| Honeywell International Incorporated | 111,972 | 21,550,131 | |||
| Machinery: 6.58% | |||||
| Caterpillar Incorporated | 157,861 | 31,295,943 | |||
| Parker-Hannifin Corporation | 58,715 | 16,973,919 | |||
| Stanley Black & Decker Incorporated | 32,813 | 3,193,689 | |||
| 51,463,551 | |||||
| Trading companies & distributors: 3.14% | |||||
| AerCap Holdings NV † | 547,919 | 24,579,646 | |||
| Information technology: 15.48% | |||||
| IT services: 7.99% | |||||
| Accenture plc Class A | 58,242 | 17,837,195 | |||
| Akamai Technologies Incorporated † | 182,478 | 17,558,033 | |||
| Fiserv Incorporated † | 124,596 | 13,167,305 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 65,565 | 13,906,992 | |||
| 62,469,525 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 2.38% | |||||
| NXP Semiconductors NV | 101,361 | 18,638,261 | |||
| Software: 5.11% | |||||
| Microsoft Corporation | 69,520 | 19,517,045 | |||
| Salesforce.com Incorporated † | 111,097 | 20,444,070 | |||
| 39,961,115 | |||||
| Materials: 5.14% | |||||
| Construction materials: 2.78% | |||||
| Vulcan Materials Company | 131,456 | 21,733,620 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Containers & packaging: 2.36% | |||||
| Avery Dennison Corporation | 96,909 | $ 18,457,288 | |||
| Utilities: 3.23% | |||||
| Electric utilities: 3.23% | |||||
| NextEra Energy Incorporated | 298,606 | 25,229,222 | |||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $643,774,284) | 758,307,911 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 3.08% | |||||
| Investment companies: 3.08% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 24,131,967 | 24,131,967 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $24,131,967) | 24,131,967 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $667,906,251) | 100.06% | 782,439,878 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | (0.06) | (494,209) | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $781,945,669 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |
| Short-term investments | ||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $11,505,493 | $197,185,166 | $(184,558,692) | $0 | $0 | $24,131,967 | 24,131,967 | $63,318 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 13
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $643,774,284) | $ 758,307,911 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $24,131,967) | 24,131,967 |
Receivable for dividends | 513,338 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 164,071 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 29,925 |
Total assets | 783,147,212 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 489,247 |
Management fee payable | 363,882 |
Shareholder servicing fees payable | 136,013 |
Administration fees payable | 95,230 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 1,905 |
Distribution fees payable | 1,164 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 114,102 |
Total liabilities | 1,201,543 |
Total net assets | $781,945,669 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 605,654,177 |
Total distributable earnings | 176,291,492 |
Total net assets | $781,945,669 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 249,213,013 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 21,376,475 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $11.66 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $12.37 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 1,923,436 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 170,574 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $11.28 |
Net assets – Class R | $ 104,262 |
Shares outstanding – Class R1 | 8,847 |
Net asset value per share – Class R | $11.79 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 42,877,797 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 3,755,018 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $11.42 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 436,334,805 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 34,997,129 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $12.47 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 51,492,356 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 4,373,766 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $11.77 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends (net of foreign withholdings taxes of $40,728) | $ 13,655,499 |
Income from affiliated securities | 63,318 |
Total investment income | 13,718,817 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 5,843,914 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 584,069 |
Class C | 4,610 |
Class R | 219 |
Class R6 | 8,780 |
Administrator Class | 620,968 |
Institutional Class | 77,916 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 675,503 |
Class C | 5,466 |
Class R | 261 |
Administrator Class | 1,181,523 |
| Distribution fees | |
Class C | 16,345 |
Class R | 192 |
Custody and accounting fees | 38,210 |
Professional fees | 40,138 |
Registration fees | 77,043 |
Shareholder report expenses | 24,006 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Other fees and expenses | 18,915 |
Total expenses | 9,238,176 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (588,570) |
Class A | (13,182) |
Class R6 | (7,393) |
Administrator Class | (475,185) |
Institutional Class | (45,211) |
Net expenses | 8,108,635 |
Net investment income | 5,610,182 |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 76,574,770 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (125,314,708) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (48,739,938) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $ (43,129,756) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 15
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment income | $ 5,610,182 | $ 7,480,555 | ||
Payment from affiliate | 0 | 91,336 | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 76,574,770 | 141,881,141 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (125,314,708) | 87,092,988 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (43,129,756) | 236,546,020 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (53,341,156) | (2,978,223) | ||
Class C | (416,230) | 0 | ||
Class R | (18,487) | (777) | ||
Class R6 | (1,180,752) | (209,259) | ||
Administrator Class | (87,453,886) | (5,693,424) | ||
Institutional Class | (12,533,899) | (1,346,136) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (154,944,410) | (10,227,819) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 324,090 | 4,276,971 | 440,636 | 5,715,815 |
Class C | 36,301 | 482,008 | 20,672 | 266,040 |
Class R | 948 | 12,262 | 942 | 12,698 |
Class R6 | 3,978,072 | 49,735,620 | 345,499 | 4,430,363 |
Administrator Class | 171,967 | 2,395,405 | 174,108 | 2,515,174 |
Institutional Class | 1,030,473 | 15,516,545 | 518,647 | 6,693,911 |
| 72,418,811 | 19,634,001 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 3,914,851 | 50,679,898 | 224,806 | 2,850,540 |
Class C | 33,272 | 416,230 | 0 | 0 |
Class R | 1,414 | 18,487 | 49 | 634 |
Class R6 | 92,916 | 1,180,752 | 9,761 | 121,435 |
Administrator Class | 5,964,339 | 82,619,695 | 399,009 | 5,342,733 |
Institutional Class | 904,435 | 11,838,887 | 105,062 | 1,339,551 |
| 146,753,949 | 9,654,893 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (2,509,378) | (32,782,415) | (2,696,686) | (34,836,613) |
Class C | (60,475) | (791,051) | (259,632) | (3,123,585) |
Class R | (1,052) | (16,024) | (73) | (909) |
Class R6 | (1,355,475) | (18,601,665) | (351,081) | (4,814,715) |
Administrator Class | (2,691,847) | (37,718,367) | (2,587,756) | (35,964,411) |
Institutional Class | (1,720,987) | (23,698,526) | (3,857,032) | (51,528,718) |
| (113,608,048) | (130,268,951) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 105,564,712 | (100,980,057) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (92,509,454) | 125,338,144 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 874,455,123 | 749,116,979 | ||
End of period | $ 781,945,669 | $ 874,455,123 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $14.98 | $11.35 | $13.13 | $13.05 | $12.61 |
Net investment income | 0.06 | 0.11 | 0.14 | 0.10 | 0.11 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.00 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.59) | 3.66 | (0.58) | 0.94 | 1.39 |
Total from investment operations | (0.53) | 3.77 | (0.44) | 1.04 | 1.50 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.09) | (0.14) | (0.10) | (0.12) | (0.06) |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.79) | (0.14) | (1.34) | (0.96) | (1.06) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.66 | $14.98 | $11.35 | $13.13 | $13.05 |
Total return2 | (5.29)% | 33.49% 3 | (4.25)% | 9.03% | 12.43% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.17% | 1.18% | 1.18% | 1.18% | 1.18% |
Net expenses | 1.09% | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.10% |
Net investment income | 0.52% | 0.77% | 1.20% | 0.81% | 0.83% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $249,213 | $294,248 | $245,977 | $291,111 | $289,683 |
| 1 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 3 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate that had an impact of less than 0.005% on total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $14.59 | $10.99 | $12.75 | $12.69 | $12.31 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.03) 1 | 0.01 1 | 0.05 1 | 0.00 1,2 | 0.01 1 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.58) | 3.54 | (0.57) | 0.92 | 1.37 |
Total from investment operations | (0.61) | 3.60 | (0.52) | 0.92 | 1.38 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.02) | 0.00 |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.86) | (1.00) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.28 | $14.59 | $10.99 | $12.75 | $12.69 |
Total return3 | (5.99)% | 32.76% 4 | (4.99)% | 8.16% | 11.65% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.92% | 1.93% | 1.94% | 1.94% | 1.93% |
Net expenses | 1.86% | 1.86% | 1.86% | 1.86% | 1.86% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.24)% | 0.05% | 0.44% | 0.03% | 0.08% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $1,923 | $2,356 | $4,401 | $7,370 | $19,874 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
| 3 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 4 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate that had an impact of 0.50% on total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $15.11 | $11.42 | $13.22 | $13.15 | $12.70 |
Net investment income | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.06 | 0.05 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.61) | 3.71 | (0.59) | 0.95 | 1.44 |
Total from investment operations | (0.57) | 3.81 | (0.48) | 1.01 | 1.49 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.05) | (0.12) | (0.08) | (0.10) | (0.04) |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.75) | (0.12) | (1.32) | (0.94) | (1.04) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.79 | $15.11 | $11.42 | $13.22 | $13.15 |
Total return | (5.47)% | 33.51% 1 | (4.56)% | 8.70% | 12.21% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.36% | 1.41% | 1.41% | 1.43% | 1.44% |
Net expenses | 1.33% | 1.36% | 1.36% | 1.36% | 1.36% |
Net investment income | 0.30% | 0.49% | 0.95% | 0.55% | 0.56% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $104 | $114 | $76 | $88 | $74 |
| 1 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate that had an impact of 0.23% on total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $14.73 | $11.16 | $12.93 | $12.92 | $12.49 |
Net investment income | 0.18 | 0.16 | 0.19 1 | 0.16 1 | 0.16 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.64) | 3.60 | (0.57) | 1.00 | 1.39 |
Total from investment operations | (0.46) | 3.76 | (0.38) | 1.16 | 1.55 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.15) | (0.19) | (0.15) | (0.31) | (0.12) |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.85) | (0.19) | (1.39) | (1.15) | (1.12) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.42 | $14.73 | $11.16 | $12.93 | $12.92 |
Total return | (4.86)% | 34.05% | (3.87)% | 10.38% | 12.96% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.75% | 0.76% | 0.76% | 0.76% | 0.75% |
Net expenses | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% |
Net investment income | 0.97% | 1.22% | 1.67% | 1.27% | 1.29% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $42,878 | $15,313 | $11,552 | $4,231 | $2,578 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $15.83 | $11.99 | $13.81 | $13.68 | $13.17 |
Net investment income | 0.09 | 0.13 | 0.17 | 0.12 | 0.13 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.00 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.63) | 3.88 | (0.62) | 1.00 | 1.47 |
Total from investment operations | (0.54) | 4.01 | (0.45) | 1.12 | 1.60 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.12) | (0.17) | (0.13) | (0.15) | (0.09) |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.82) | (0.17) | (1.37) | (0.99) | (1.09) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.47 | $15.83 | $11.99 | $13.81 | $13.68 |
Total return | (5.07)% | 33.75% 2 | (4.15)% | 9.21% | 12.63% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.09% | 1.11% | 1.11% | 1.11% | 1.10% |
Net expenses | 0.92% | 0.92% | 0.93% | 0.95% | 0.95% |
Net investment income | 0.70% | 0.94% | 1.37% | 0.96% | 0.98% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $436,335 | $499,628 | $402,567 | $464,041 | $469,464 |
| 1 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
| 2 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate that had an impact of 0.03% on total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $15.10 | $11.44 | $13.22 | $13.14 | $12.68 |
Net investment income | 0.12 1 | 0.16 1 | 0.19 1 | 0.15 1 | 0.22 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.61) | 3.70 | (0.58) | 0.94 | 1.35 |
Total from investment operations | (0.49) | 3.86 | (0.39) | 1.09 | 1.57 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.14) | (0.20) | (0.15) | (0.17) | (0.11) |
Net realized gains | (2.70) | 0.00 | (1.24) | (0.84) | (1.00) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.84) | (0.20) | (1.39) | (1.01) | (1.11) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.77 | $15.10 | $11.44 | $13.22 | $13.14 |
Total return | (4.96)% | 34.01% | (3.86)% | 9.44% | 12.96% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.85% | 0.86% | 0.86% | 0.86% | 0.85% |
Net expenses | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% |
Net investment income | 0.92% | 1.22% | 1.59% | 1.22% | 1.24% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 40% | 46% | 34% | 27% | 21% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $51,492 | $62,796 | $84,544 | $106,869 | $137,263 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund (formerly, Allspring Classic Value Fund) (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund, if any, is included in securities lending income (including from affiliate) (net of fees and rebates) on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date. Dividend income is recorded net of foreign taxes withheld where recovery of such taxes is not assured.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $668,785,526 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $160,673,359 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (47,019,007) |
| Net unrealized gains | $113,654,352 |
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
24 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 42,940,408 | $0 | $0 | $ 42,940,408 |
| Consumer discretionary | 58,623,968 | 0 | 0 | 58,623,968 |
| Consumer staples | 61,860,783 | 0 | 0 | 61,860,783 |
| Energy | 57,686,094 | 0 | 0 | 57,686,094 |
| Financials | 103,124,654 | 0 | 0 | 103,124,654 |
| Health care | 128,099,709 | 0 | 0 | 128,099,709 |
| Industrials | 119,483,264 | 0 | 0 | 119,483,264 |
| Information technology | 121,068,901 | 0 | 0 | 121,068,901 |
| Materials | 40,190,908 | 0 | 0 | 40,190,908 |
| Utilities | 25,229,222 | 0 | 0 | 25,229,222 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 24,131,967 | 0 | 0 | 24,131,967 |
| Total assets | $782,439,878 | $0 | $0 | $782,439,878 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.700% |
| Next $500 million | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.625 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.600 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.590 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.565 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.555 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.530 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.505 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.69% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.35% and declining to 0.25% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.11% |
| Class C | 1.86 |
| Class R | 1.36 |
| Class R6 | 0.65 |
| Administrator Class | 0.95 |
| Institutional Class | 0.70 |
Distribution fees
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C and Class R shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Distribution fees are charged to Class C and Class R shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares and 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class R shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring
26 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
Funds Distributor received $4,659 from the sale of Class A shares and $17 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
Other transactions
On August 14, 2020, Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class of the Fund were reimbursed by Allspring Funds Management in the amount of $111, $8,863, $191 and $82,171, respectively. The reimbursements were made in connection with resolving certain fee reimbursements.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $334,428,112 and $388,904,377, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 17,276,792 | $10,227,819 |
| Long-term capital gain | 137,667,618 | 0 |
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed ordinary income | Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains |
| $16,706,918 | $46,011,352 | $113,654,352 |
9. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
10. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
28 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Classic Value Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian and transfer agent. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 29
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 81% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $137,667,618 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $14,599,660 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $7,723 has been designated as interest-related dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $10,381,253 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
30 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
32 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
34 | Allspring Special Large Cap Value Fund
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
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Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
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Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00644 09-22
A207/AR207 07-22
A207/AR207 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring
Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 18 | |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 21 | |
| 27 | |
| 33 | |
| 34 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Justin P. Carr, CFA®‡, Robert M. Wicentowski, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (EVSAX) | 2-28-1990 | -9.14 | 10.06 | 12.49 | -3.60 | 11.36 | 13.16 | 0.86 | 0.86 | ||
| Class C (EVSTX) | 6-30-1999 | -5.30 | 10.55 | 12.48 | -4.30 | 10.55 | 12.48 | 1.61 | 1.61 | ||
| Class R (EVSHX)3 | 9-30-2015 | – | – | – | -3.82 | 11.09 | 12.87 | 1.11 | 1.11 | ||
| Class R6 (EVSRX)4 | 9-30-2015 | – | – | – | -3.15 | 11.85 | 13.65 | 0.43 | 0.43 | ||
| Administrator Class (EVSYX) | 2-21-1995 | – | – | – | -3.49 | 11.49 | 13.30 | 0.78 | 0.74 | ||
| Institutional Class (EVSIX) | 7-30-2010 | – | – | – | -3.24 | 11.77 | 13.60 | 0.53 | 0.48 | ||
| S&P 500 Index5 | – | – | – | – | -4.64 | 12.83 | 13.80 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R, Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 0.87% for Class A, 1.62% for Class C, 1.12% for Class R, 0.43% for Class R6, 0.74% for Administrator Class, and 0.48% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Administrator Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R shares. |
| 4 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 5 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value weighted index with each stock’s weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. The use of derivatives may reduce returns and/or increase volatility. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the S&P 500 Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund outperformed its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | Stock selection was the main contributor to Fund performance, adding value in 7 of the 11 sectors. The Fund benefited from positive stock selection in the health care, industrials, and communications services sectors. |
| ■ | Negative stock selection effects detracted from relative performance within the consumer discretionary, financials, and consumer staples sectors. Sector-weighting decisions contributed modestly to performance. Variation in sector weights versus the Index were relatively small, as is typical for the strategy. |
U.S. equities moved higher to cap off a strong 2021 before selling off sharply in early 2022.
Throughout most of 2021, U.S. equity markets were supported by robust corporate earnings and consumer spending, still-accommodative monetary policy, and an improving labor market. Toward the end of the year, stocks continued moving higher despite rising inflation, strained supply chains, slowing economic growth, waning fiscal stimulus, and the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The global economy continued to rebound in early 2022, showing minimal disruption by the Omicron wave of COVID-19. However, the post-Cold War era effectively ended on February 24, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered the largest European military conflict since World War II. A U.S.- and European Union-led coalition of governments, central banks, and corporations imposed sanctions designed to isolate and financially cripple Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer. The fallout from Russia’s aggression sparked the worst global energy crisis since 1973. By April, equity markets came under intense pressure from elevated inflation, surging energy and food prices, slowing growth, tightening monetary policy, renewed COVID-19 lockdowns in China, and the war in Ukraine. U.S. equities fell into bear market territory during the second quarter of 2022, concluding the S&P 500’s worst first half of the year since 1970.
The Fund emphasized higher-quality stocks amid rising interest rates and slowing economic growth.
Amid an environment of rising inflation, slowing growth, geopolitical tensions, and central bank tightening, where possible, we have rotated out of higher-beta (more volatile) and long-duration assets over the past few months. It appears that investors are losing their appetite to hold excessively risky names. The strategy is currently positioned to benefit from increasing long rates and a less-than-expected increase in short rates. Credit spreads could widen if economic growth continues to decelerate and the yield curve flattens or inverts. This would hurt financials stocks,
especially banks, and potentially benefit some of the longer-duration assets, including mega-cap technology stocks. We have sought to mitigate some of this risk by overweighting insurance companies, which have typically benefited from an increase in short rates.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Apple Incorporated | 7.31 |
| Microsoft Corporation | 6.36 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 3.20 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C | 2.32 |
| Tesla Motors Incorporated | 2.00 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 1.93 |
| Exxon Mobil Corporation | 1.83 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1.65 |
| Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated Class B | 1.62 |
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 1.34 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
With most macroeconomic indicators signaling mid- to late-cycle dynamics, fundamentally attractive companies, based on measures such as profitability and valuation, look well positioned. The strategy maintains exposure to high-quality companies with the pricing power to navigate inflationary pressure, higher interest rates, stretched supply chains, and elevated energy and labor costs. As a result, the strategy generally remains close to benchmark weight in consumer goods, industrial goods, retailers, and technology hardware.
Stock selection was favorable in health care, industrials, and communications services.
The strategy’s risk-controlled discipline and its focus on bottom-up stock selection tend to limit the effect of sector allocations on relative performance, and that was true over this period. Bottom-up stock-selection effects in health care, industrials, and communications services contributed to relative performance. The health care sector is typically viewed as a safe haven of quality growth against rising rates. Holdings such as McKesson Corp. (+69%), Vertex
8 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (+39%), Elevance Health (+26%), and Molina Healthcare, Inc., (+25%) significantly outpaced the +2% return of the overall health care sector of the S&P 500. Quanta Services, Inc., (+53%) was a top performer within industrials as the company capitalized on strong demand for infrastructure solutions in the oil and gas, electric power, clean energy, and communications markets. The Walt Disney Co. (-40%) sold off after reporting disappointing earnings and underwhelming Disney+ subscriber growth. However, the Fund was underweight Disney relative to the benchmark, which contributed to results within communication services.
Stock selection was weakest in consumer discretionary, financials, and consumer staples.
Bottom-up stock selection effects in consumer discretionary, financials, and consumer staples detracted from relative performance. Target Corp. (-36%) reported disappointing earnings due to elevated inventory, deteriorating margins, and a slowdown in consumer spending. General Motors Co. (-36%) reported lower production volumes due to supply constraints, semiconductors shortages, and rising logistical costs. Capital One Financial Corp. (-31%) and Citigroup Inc. (-20%) sold off over concerns about widening credit spreads, deteriorating consumer spending, and rising consumer credit default risk. Within consumer staples, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (-29%) trended lower as sales were affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. We sold out of our position in Estée Lauder in response to deteriorating model ranks and an elevated risk of future earnings disappointments.
As the economic cycle matures, we expect the market to emphasize higher-quality companies.
Barely two years after the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed the deepest recession since World War II, the global economy is facing new threats from elevated inflation, decelerating growth, tightening financial conditions, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The coordinated monetary and fiscal policy response to the pandemic provided a backstop for 2020-2021’s economic recovery, but 2022’s growth is slowing as massive levels of fiscal and monetary support are unwound across the world.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
The first half of 2022 saw significant compression of valuations as equity prices fell sharply while earnings expectations have held firm. However, as companies report third-quarter earnings and give guidance for the remainder of the year, there is heightened risk the earnings outlook will deteriorate. We expect that for the remainder of 2022 the market will differentiate between firms that can maintain their margins and expand market share versus those that cannot.
Annualized rates of inflation recently reached a 40-year high, forcing developed central banks to launch an aggressive and synchronized tightening cycle last seen during the early 1980s. It appears that U.S. equity markets have already priced in a mild recession for 2022 while some of the more cyclical sectors of the market may be priced for a worse-than-average recession. Given the environment of tightening financial conditions, slowing economic growth, and rising recession risks, we believe it is prudent to emphasize higher-quality stocks.
As we monitor the macroeconomic environment, we will continue to diligently focus on company fundamentals and disciplined portfolio risk management.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 922.13 | $3.96 | 0.83% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.68 | $4.16 | 0.83% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 918.96 | $7.57 | 1.59% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,016.91 | $7.95 | 1.59% |
| Class R | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 921.10 | $5.14 | 1.08% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.44 | $5.41 | 1.08% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 924.47 | $1.96 | 0.41% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,022.76 | $2.06 | 0.41% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 922.67 | $3.38 | 0.71% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.27 | $3.56 | 0.71% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 924.07 | $2.29 | 0.48% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,022.41 | $2.41 | 0.48% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 98.80% | |||||
| Communication services: 8.25% | |||||
| Diversified telecommunication services: 1.05% | |||||
| AT&T Incorporated | 135,603 | $ 2,546,624 | |||
| Verizon Communications Incorporated | 160,991 | 7,436,174 | |||
| 9,982,798 | |||||
| Entertainment: 1.33% | |||||
| Activision Blizzard Incorporated | 71,434 | 5,711,148 | |||
| Netflix Incorporated † | 11,489 | 2,583,876 | |||
| The Walt Disney Company † | 25,128 | 2,666,081 | |||
| Warner Bros. Discovery Incorporated † | 108,054 | 1,620,810 | |||
| 12,581,915 | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 5.33% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 157,020 | 18,264,566 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 188,180 | 21,949,315 | |||
| Meta Platforms Incorporated Class A † | 64,194 | 10,213,265 | |||
| 50,427,146 | |||||
| Media: 0.54% | |||||
| Comcast Corporation Class A | 136,531 | 5,122,643 | |||
| Consumer discretionary: 10.88% | |||||
| Automobiles: 2.40% | |||||
| General Motors Company † | 105,497 | 3,825,321 | |||
| Tesla Motors Incorporated † | 21,211 | 18,908,546 | |||
| 22,733,867 | |||||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 1.27% | |||||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 541 | 846,243 | |||
| Darden Restaurants Incorporated | 24,813 | 3,088,970 | |||
| McDonald's Corporation | 24,198 | 6,373,027 | |||
| Starbucks Corporation | 20,173 | 1,710,267 | |||
| 12,018,507 | |||||
| Household durables: 0.86% | |||||
| D.R. Horton Incorporated | 59,332 | 4,629,676 | |||
| PulteGroup Incorporated | 79,906 | 3,485,500 | |||
| 8,115,176 | |||||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 3.20% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 224,540 | 30,301,673 | |||
| Multiline retail: 0.65% | |||||
| Target Corporation | 37,890 | 6,190,468 | |||
| Specialty retail: 1.84% | |||||
| AutoZone Incorporated † | 1,297 | 2,772,195 | |||
| Bath & Body Works Incorporated | 20,842 | 740,725 | |||
| Best Buy Company Incorporated | 16,579 | 1,276,417 | |||
| Lowe's Companies Incorporated | 29,327 | 5,617,000 | |||
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 23,384 | 7,037,181 | |||
| 17,443,518 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Textiles, apparel & luxury goods: 0.66% | |||||
| Nike Incorporated Class B | 35,453 | $ 4,074,259 | |||
| Tapestry Incorporated | 63,870 | 2,147,948 | |||
| 6,222,207 | |||||
| Consumer staples: 5.68% | |||||
| Beverages: 0.68% | |||||
| Monster Beverage Corporation † | 19,992 | 1,991,603 | |||
| PepsiCo Incorporated | 10,715 | 1,874,696 | |||
| The Coca-Cola Company | 40,813 | 2,618,970 | |||
| 6,485,269 | |||||
| Food & staples retailing: 1.67% | |||||
| Costco Wholesale Corporation | 11,078 | 5,996,521 | |||
| Walmart Incorporated | 74,060 | 9,779,623 | |||
| 15,776,144 | |||||
| Food products: 1.90% | |||||
| Archer Daniels Midland Company | 83,315 | 6,895,983 | |||
| Bunge Limited | 47,905 | 4,423,069 | |||
| Tyson Foods Incorporated Class A | 75,826 | 6,673,446 | |||
| 17,992,498 | |||||
| Household products: 1.01% | |||||
| The Procter & Gamble Company | 68,949 | 9,577,706 | |||
| Tobacco: 0.42% | |||||
| Altria Group Incorporated | 59,226 | 2,597,652 | |||
| Philip Morris International Incorporated | 14,428 | 1,401,680 | |||
| 3,999,332 | |||||
| Energy: 4.55% | |||||
| Oil, gas & consumable fuels: 4.55% | |||||
| Chevron Corporation | 66,087 | 10,823,729 | |||
| Diamondback Energy Incorporated | 48,224 | 6,173,636 | |||
| EOG Resources Incorporated | 48,722 | 5,418,861 | |||
| EQT Corporation | 76,250 | 3,357,288 | |||
| Exxon Mobil Corporation | 178,664 | 17,317,902 | |||
| 43,091,416 | |||||
| Financials: 10.26% | |||||
| Banks: 3.29% | |||||
| Bank of America Corporation | 106,418 | 3,597,993 | |||
| Citigroup Incorporated | 53,235 | 2,762,897 | |||
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | 92,138 | 10,629,040 | |||
| Regions Financial Corporation | 285,046 | 6,037,274 | |||
| Signature Bank | 4,474 | 830,240 | |||
| US Bancorp | 103,339 | 4,877,601 | |||
| Zions Bancorporation | 43,882 | 2,393,763 | |||
| 31,128,808 | |||||
| Capital markets: 1.73% | |||||
| Bank of New York Mellon Corporation | 58,265 | 2,532,197 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Capital markets (continued) | |||||
| CME Group Incorporated | 8,330 | $ 1,661,668 | |||
| Northern Trust Corporation | 39,390 | 3,930,334 | |||
| The Carlyle Group Incorporated | 81,817 | 3,183,499 | |||
| The Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated | 15,183 | 5,061,860 | |||
| 16,369,558 | |||||
| Consumer finance: 0.65% | |||||
| Capital One Financial Corporation | 45,394 | 4,985,623 | |||
| Synchrony Financial | 33,621 | 1,125,631 | |||
| 6,111,254 | |||||
| Diversified financial services: 1.62% | |||||
| Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated Class B † | 51,037 | 15,341,722 | |||
| Insurance: 2.97% | |||||
| Arch Capital Group Limited † | 81,011 | 3,596,888 | |||
| Everest Reinsurance Group Limited | 18,448 | 4,821,385 | |||
| Fidelity National Financial Incorporated | 24,656 | 985,254 | |||
| Lincoln National Corporation | 35,260 | 1,810,248 | |||
| MetLife Incorporated | 115,407 | 7,299,493 | |||
| Old Republic International Corporation | 146,426 | 3,407,333 | |||
| Prudential Financial Incorporated | 31,062 | 3,105,889 | |||
| The Hartford Financial Services Group Incorporated | 48,567 | 3,131,114 | |||
| 28,157,604 | |||||
| Health care: 14.31% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 2.42% | |||||
| AbbVie Incorporated | 46,548 | 6,680,103 | |||
| Exelixis Incorporated † | 183,966 | 3,848,569 | |||
| Moderna Incorporated † | 7,838 | 1,286,137 | |||
| United Therapeutics Corporation † | 14,489 | 3,347,973 | |||
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 27,804 | 7,796,520 | |||
| 22,959,302 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 1.23% | |||||
| Abbott Laboratories | 62,579 | 6,811,098 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 23,388 | 2,351,430 | |||
| Medtronic plc | 26,512 | 2,452,890 | |||
| 11,615,418 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 4.85% | |||||
| AmerisourceBergen Corporation | 39,212 | 5,722,207 | |||
| CVS Health Corporation | 85,611 | 8,191,260 | |||
| Elevance Health Incorporated | 17,725 | 8,456,598 | |||
| McKesson Corporation | 20,861 | 7,125,700 | |||
| Molina Healthcare Incorporated † | 11,337 | 3,715,362 | |||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 23,422 | 12,702,687 | |||
| 45,913,814 | |||||
| Life sciences tools & services: 1.05% | |||||
| Danaher Corporation | 5,785 | 1,686,154 | |||
| Maravai LifeSciences Holdings Class A † | 50,049 | 1,305,778 | |||
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated | 11,604 | 6,943,950 | |||
| 9,935,882 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 4.76% | |||||
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 125,007 | $ 9,223,016 | |||
| Eli Lilly & Company | 3,139 | 1,034,897 | |||
| Johnson & Johnson | 89,611 | 15,638,912 | |||
| Merck & Company Incorporated | 92,357 | 8,251,174 | |||
| Pfizer Incorporated | 215,603 | 10,890,108 | |||
| 45,038,107 | |||||
| Industrials: 8.00% | |||||
| Aerospace & defense: 1.15% | |||||
| General Dynamics Corporation | 25,903 | 5,871,433 | |||
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | 12,018 | 4,973,169 | |||
| 10,844,602 | |||||
| Air freight & logistics: 1.47% | |||||
| Expeditors International of Washington Incorporated | 24,795 | 2,634,469 | |||
| FedEx Corporation | 26,685 | 6,220,007 | |||
| United Parcel Service Incorporated Class B | 26,197 | 5,105,533 | |||
| 13,960,009 | |||||
| Airlines: 0.23% | |||||
| Delta Air Lines Incorporated † | 68,626 | 2,182,307 | |||
| Building products: 1.05% | |||||
| Builders FirstSource Incorporated † | 29,877 | 2,031,636 | |||
| Masco Corporation | 89,120 | 4,935,466 | |||
| Owens Corning Incorporated | 32,010 | 2,968,607 | |||
| 9,935,709 | |||||
| Commercial services & supplies: 0.46% | |||||
| Waste Management Incorporated | 26,754 | 4,402,638 | |||
| Construction & engineering: 0.45% | |||||
| Quanta Services Incorporated | 30,648 | 4,251,797 | |||
| Electrical equipment: 1.32% | |||||
| Acuity Brands Incorporated | 23,746 | 4,331,270 | |||
| AMETEK Incorporated | 13,063 | 1,613,281 | |||
| Eaton Corporation plc | 16,634 | 2,468,319 | |||
| Regal Rexnord Corporation | 30,574 | 4,106,088 | |||
| 12,518,958 | |||||
| Machinery: 1.50% | |||||
| AGCO Corporation | 25,398 | 2,766,350 | |||
| Crane Holdings Company | 20,187 | 1,997,100 | |||
| Cummins Incorporated | 11,349 | 2,511,647 | |||
| Deere & Company | 6,956 | 2,387,160 | |||
| Parker-Hannifin Corporation | 15,693 | 4,536,689 | |||
| 14,198,946 | |||||
| Road & rail: 0.37% | |||||
| CSX Corporation | 108,081 | 3,494,259 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Information technology: 27.42% | |||||
| Communications equipment: 1.04% | |||||
| Cisco Systems Incorporated | 217,200 | $ 9,854,364 | |||
| Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 0.48% | |||||
| Keysight Technologies Incorporated † | 20,519 | 3,336,389 | |||
| Zebra Technologies Corporation Class A † | 3,322 | 1,188,246 | |||
| 4,524,635 | |||||
| IT services: 3.57% | |||||
| Accenture plc Class A | 28,299 | 8,666,852 | |||
| Amdocs Limited | 64,274 | 5,595,694 | |||
| Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Class A | 9,175 | 623,533 | |||
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 14,740 | 5,214,865 | |||
| PayPal Holdings Incorporated † | 29,061 | 2,514,648 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 52,931 | 11,227,194 | |||
| 33,842,786 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 5.42% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 28,555 | 2,697,591 | |||
| Applied Materials Incorporated | 47,704 | 5,055,670 | |||
| Broadcom Incorporated | 20,435 | 10,942,534 | |||
| Intel Corporation | 83,341 | 3,026,112 | |||
| KLA Corporation | 11,763 | 4,511,581 | |||
| Lam Research Corporation | 1,944 | 972,991 | |||
| Micron Technology Incorporated | 62,770 | 3,882,952 | |||
| NVIDIA Corporation | 67,451 | 12,251,125 | |||
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 55,391 | 8,035,018 | |||
| 51,375,574 | |||||
| Software: 9.14% | |||||
| Adobe Incorporated † | 10,135 | 4,156,566 | |||
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated † | 7,543 | 1,403,601 | |||
| Fortinet Incorporated † | 50,455 | 3,009,641 | |||
| Intuit Incorporated | 10,425 | 4,755,572 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 214,599 | 60,246,523 | |||
| Oracle Corporation | 77,431 | 6,027,229 | |||
| Roper Technologies Incorporated | 5,330 | 2,327,451 | |||
| Salesforce.com Incorporated † | 25,043 | 4,608,413 | |||
| 86,534,996 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 7.77% | |||||
| Apple Incorporated | 425,735 | 69,186,201 | |||
| HP Incorporated | 130,322 | 4,351,452 | |||
| 73,537,653 | |||||
| Materials: 2.87% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.17% | |||||
| Celanese Corporation Series A | 20,523 | 2,411,658 | |||
| LyondellBasell Industries NV Class A | 53,243 | 4,745,016 | |||
| Westlake Chemical Corporation | 40,520 | 3,944,217 | |||
| 11,100,891 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 15
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Metals & mining: 1.12% | |||||
| Alcoa Corporation | 29,386 | $ 1,495,454 | |||
| Cleveland-Cliffs Incorporated † | 154,589 | 2,737,771 | |||
| Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated | 52,491 | 1,656,091 | |||
| Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company | 24,925 | 4,741,981 | |||
| 10,631,297 | |||||
| Paper & forest products: 0.58% | |||||
| Louisiana-Pacific Corporation | 85,426 | 5,435,656 | |||
| Real estate: 3.32% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 3.32% | |||||
| Alexandria Real Estate Equities Incorporated | 28,088 | 4,656,429 | |||
| CubeSmart | 39,789 | 1,825,121 | |||
| Extra Space Storage Incorporated | 31,157 | 5,904,875 | |||
| Gaming and Leisure Properties Incorporated | 59,138 | 3,074,585 | |||
| Prologis Incorporated | 32,750 | 4,341,340 | |||
| Public Storage Incorporated | 8,997 | 2,936,711 | |||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 10,057 | 3,377,040 | |||
| Weyerhaeuser Company | 146,269 | 5,312,490 | |||
| 31,428,591 | |||||
| Utilities: 3.26% | |||||
| Electric utilities: 1.30% | |||||
| NextEra Energy Incorporated | 49,983 | 4,223,064 | |||
| NRG Energy Incorporated | 136,076 | 5,136,869 | |||
| The Southern Company | 37,611 | 2,891,910 | |||
| 12,251,843 | |||||
| Independent power & renewable electricity producers: 0.64% | |||||
| AES Corporation | 272,560 | 6,056,283 | |||
| Multi-utilities: 1.32% | |||||
| DTE Energy Company | 50,415 | 6,569,075 | |||
| Sempra Energy | 35,852 | 5,944,262 | |||
| 12,513,337 | |||||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $531,365,526) | 935,510,883 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 0.95% | |||||
| Investment companies: 0.95% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 8,984,426 | 8,984,426 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $8,984,426) | 8,984,426 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $540,349,952) | 99.75% | 944,495,309 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | 0.25 | 2,409,283 | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $946,904,592 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |
| Short-term investments | ||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $19,482,368 | $124,864,160 | $(135,362,102) | $0 | $0 | $8,984,426 | 8,984,426 | $43,677 |
Futures contracts
| Description | Number of contracts | Expiration date | Notional cost | Notional value | Unrealized gains | Unrealized losses |
| Long | ||||||
| E-Mini S&P 500 Index | 43 | 9-16-2022 | $8,383,693 | $8,887,025 | $503,332 | $0 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 17
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $531,365,526) | $ 935,510,883 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $8,984,426) | 8,984,426 |
Cash at broker segregated for futures contracts | 1,587,600 |
Receivable for dividends | 1,071,700 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 397,672 |
Receivable for daily variation margin on open futures contracts | 131,617 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 121,335 |
Total assets | 947,805,233 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 353,744 |
Management fee payable | 263,359 |
Administration fees payable | 107,453 |
Shareholder servicing fees payable | 104,379 |
Distribution fees payable | 11,669 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 181 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 59,856 |
Total liabilities | 900,641 |
Total net assets | $946,904,592 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 438,443,676 |
Total distributable earnings | 508,460,916 |
Total net assets | $946,904,592 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 453,828,731 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 22,408,039 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $20.25 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $21.49 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 21,380,995 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 1,163,956 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $18.37 |
Net assets – Class R | $ 3,139,931 |
Shares outstanding – Class R1 | 153,699 |
Net asset value per share – Class R | $20.43 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 277,956,007 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 13,283,173 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $20.93 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 47,830,718 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 2,277,560 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $21.00 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 142,768,210 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 6,901,663 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $20.69 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends | $ 16,330,291 |
Income from affiliated securities | 43,677 |
Total investment income | 16,373,968 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 3,631,487 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 1,040,299 |
Class C | 51,826 |
Class R | 8,045 |
Class R6 | 93,384 |
Administrator Class | 65,879 |
Institutional Class | 203,337 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 1,238,452 |
Class C | 61,547 |
Class R | 9,577 |
Administrator Class | 117,718 |
| Distribution fees | |
Class C | 184,640 |
Class R | 9,406 |
Custody and accounting fees | 55,473 |
Professional fees | 49,874 |
Registration fees | 74,970 |
Shareholder report expenses | 51,367 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 21,862 |
Other fees and expenses | 94,773 |
Total expenses | 7,063,916 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Class A | (19,852) |
Administrator Class | (9,134) |
Institutional Class | (49,829) |
Net expenses | 6,985,101 |
Net investment income | 9,388,867 |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
| Net realized gains (losses) on | |
Unaffiliated securities | 100,849,324 |
Futures contracts | (135,799) |
Net realized gains on investments | 100,713,525 |
| Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on | |
Unaffiliated securities | (140,544,573) |
Futures contracts | 434,829 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (140,109,744) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (39,396,219) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $ (30,007,352) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 19
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment income | $ 9,388,867 | $ 9,224,638 | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 100,713,525 | 81,986,097 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (140,109,744) | 220,705,162 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (30,007,352) | 311,915,897 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (41,800,708) | (40,144,770) | ||
Class C | (2,103,959) | (2,202,870) | ||
Class R | (325,019) | (330,477) | ||
Class R6 | (27,186,743) | (25,321,636) | ||
Administrator Class | (4,249,188) | (4,226,866) | ||
Institutional Class | (13,233,665) | (13,403,739) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (88,899,282) | (85,630,358) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 872,276 | 19,043,317 | 1,622,096 | 32,886,449 |
Class C | 66,563 | 1,291,580 | 39,264 | 713,151 |
Class R | 32,976 | 767,963 | 17,104 | 349,021 |
Class R6 | 374,988 | 8,156,586 | 3,552,924 | 75,931,420 |
Administrator Class | 261,446 | 6,154,474 | 136,923 | 2,833,092 |
Institutional Class | 837,224 | 18,892,679 | 1,077,100 | 22,113,375 |
| 54,306,599 | 134,826,508 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 1,721,849 | 39,080,723 | 1,978,592 | 37,660,984 |
Class C | 100,635 | 2,069,063 | 123,928 | 2,147,585 |
Class R | 14,203 | 325,019 | 17,031 | 327,043 |
Class R6 | 1,103,953 | 25,895,916 | 1,222,488 | 23,967,764 |
Administrator Class | 164,016 | 3,859,677 | 190,727 | 3,751,963 |
Institutional Class | 509,416 | 11,813,677 | 620,802 | 12,045,656 |
| 83,044,075 | 79,900,995 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (3,094,354) | (68,315,947) | (3,799,753) | (76,614,099) |
Class C | (305,748) | (6,087,730) | (605,272) | (11,024,914) |
Class R | (72,052) | (1,563,821) | (46,393) | (946,015) |
Class R6 | (2,713,444) | (63,086,684) | (3,781,193) | (78,637,749) |
Administrator Class | (325,023) | (7,511,866) | (847,387) | (17,290,465) |
Institutional Class | (1,475,152) | (33,016,713) | (2,582,056) | (52,693,521) |
| (179,582,761) | (237,206,763) | |||
Net decrease in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | (42,232,087) | (22,479,260) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (161,138,721) | 203,806,279 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 1,108,043,313 | 904,237,034 | ||
End of period | $ 946,904,592 | $1,108,043,313 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $22.77 | $18.22 | $17.29 | $17.70 | $16.30 |
Net investment income | 0.16 | 0.14 | 0.23 | 0.25 | 0.24 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.78) | 6.18 | 1.47 | 0.38 | 1.90 |
Total from investment operations | (0.62) | 6.32 | 1.70 | 0.63 | 2.14 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.16) | (0.33) | (0.33) | (0.19) | (0.15) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.90) | (1.77) | (0.77) | (1.04) | (0.74) |
Net asset value, end of period | $20.25 | $22.77 | $18.22 | $17.29 | $17.70 |
Total return1 | (3.60)% | 36.73% | 9.97% | 4.31% | 13.28% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.84% | 0.85% | 0.86% | 0.84% | 0.83% |
Net expenses | 0.84% | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.84% | 0.83% |
Net investment income | 0.73% | 0.76% | 1.25% | 1.40% | 1.33% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $453,829 | $521,702 | $421,005 | $434,367 | $480,602 |
| 1 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $20.82 | $16.70 | $15.85 | $16.28 | $15.04 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.00) | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.12 | 0.09 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.71) | 5.64 | 1.32 | 0.35 | 1.76 |
Total from investment operations | (0.71) | 5.66 | 1.43 | 0.47 | 1.85 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | (0.10) | (0.14) | (0.05) | (0.02) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.74) | (1.54) | (0.58) | (0.90) | (0.61) |
Net asset value, end of period | $18.37 | $20.82 | $16.70 | $15.85 | $16.28 |
Total return1 | (4.30)% | 35.80% | 9.09% | 3.59% | 12.41% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.59% | 1.60% | 1.60% | 1.59% | 1.58% |
Net expenses | 1.59% | 1.60% | 1.60% | 1.59% | 1.58% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.02)% | 0.02% | 0.51% | 0.66% | 0.58% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $21,381 | $27,121 | $29,141 | $38,708 | $52,647 |
| 1 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $22.96 | $18.38 | $17.44 | $17.88 | $16.51 |
Net investment income | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.18 | 0.19 1 | 0.18 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.73) | 6.25 | 1.49 | 0.41 | 1.94 |
Total from investment operations | (0.69) | 6.32 | 1.67 | 0.60 | 2.12 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.10) | (0.30) | (0.29) | (0.19) | (0.16) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.84) | (1.74) | (0.73) | (1.04) | (0.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $20.43 | $22.96 | $18.38 | $17.44 | $17.88 |
Total return | (3.82)% | 36.38% | 9.68% | 4.07% | 12.97% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.09% | 1.08% |
Net expenses | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.09% | 1.08% |
Net investment income | 0.48% | 0.51% | 0.97% | 1.15% | 1.04% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $3,140 | $4,101 | $3,507 | $3,126 | $3,298 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 23
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $23.46 | $18.72 | $17.76 | $18.17 | $16.71 |
Net investment income | 0.26 1 | 0.24 | 0.31 | 0.32 | 0.30 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.80) | 6.36 | 1.51 | 0.40 | 1.97 |
Total from investment operations | (0.54) | 6.60 | 1.82 | 0.72 | 2.27 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.25) | (0.42) | (0.42) | (0.28) | (0.22) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.99) | (1.86) | (0.86) | (1.13) | (0.81) |
Net asset value, end of period | $20.93 | $23.46 | $18.72 | $17.76 | $18.17 |
Total return | (3.15)% | 37.35% | 10.39% | 4.77% | 13.78% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.41% | 0.42% | 0.43% | 0.41% | 0.40% |
Net expenses | 0.41% | 0.42% | 0.42% | 0.41% | 0.40% |
Net investment income | 1.16% | 1.18% | 1.70% | 1.84% | 1.71% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $277,956 | $340,631 | $253,223 | $340,606 | $445,678 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
24 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $23.55 | $18.78 | $17.80 | $18.17 | $16.71 |
Net investment income | 0.19 1 | 0.19 1 | 0.24 1 | 0.26 1 | 0.25 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.82) | 6.37 | 1.53 | 0.41 | 1.97 |
Total from investment operations | (0.63) | 6.56 | 1.77 | 0.67 | 2.22 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.18) | (0.35) | (0.35) | (0.19) | (0.17) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.92) | (1.79) | (0.79) | (1.04) | (0.76) |
Net asset value, end of period | $21.00 | $23.55 | $18.78 | $17.80 | $18.17 |
Total return | (3.49)% | 36.93% | 10.08% | 4.43% | 13.40% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.74% | 0.77% | 0.77% | 0.76% | 0.75% |
Net expenses | 0.73% | 0.74% | 0.74% | 0.74% | 0.74% |
Net investment income | 0.85% | 0.89% | 1.37% | 1.50% | 1.42% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $47,831 | $51,271 | $50,655 | $58,808 | $94,058 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 25
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $23.22 | $18.54 | $17.57 | $17.98 | $16.55 |
Net investment income | 0.24 | 0.23 1 | 0.29 1 | 0.30 1 | 0.28 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.80) | 6.29 | 1.51 | 0.40 | 1.95 |
Total from investment operations | (0.56) | 6.52 | 1.80 | 0.70 | 2.23 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.23) | (0.40) | (0.39) | (0.26) | (0.21) |
Net realized gains | (1.74) | (1.44) | (0.44) | (0.85) | (0.59) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.97) | (1.84) | (0.83) | (1.11) | (0.80) |
Net asset value, end of period | $20.69 | $23.22 | $18.54 | $17.57 | $17.98 |
Total return | (3.24)% | 37.26% | 10.39% | 4.69% | 13.65% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.51% | 0.52% | 0.52% | 0.51% | 0.50% |
Net expenses | 0.48% | 0.48% | 0.48% | 0.48% | 0.48% |
Net investment income | 1.09% | 1.14% | 1.67% | 1.77% | 1.67% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 25% | 36% | 50% | 63% | 73% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $142,768 | $163,217 | $146,707 | $285,616 | $411,988 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
26 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities and futures contracts that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Futures contracts
Futures contracts are agreements between the Fund and a counterparty to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity, financial instrument or currency at a specified price on a specified date. The Fund may buy and sell futures contracts in order to gain exposure to, or protect against, changes in security values and is subject to equity price risk. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between changes in market values of securities held by the Fund and the prices of futures contracts, and the possibility of an illiquid market. Futures contracts are generally entered into on a regulated futures exchange and cleared through a clearinghouse associated with the exchange. With futures contracts, there is minimal counterparty risk to the Fund since futures contracts are exchange traded and the exchange’s clearinghouse, as the counterparty to all exchange traded futures, guarantees the futures contracts against default.
Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to deposit either cash or securities (initial margin) with the broker in an amount equal to a certain percentage of the contract value. Subsequent payments (variation margin) are paid to or from the broker each day equal to the daily changes in the contract value. Such payments are recorded as unrealized gains or losses and, if any, shown as variation margin receivable (payable) in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Should the Fund fail to make requested variation margin payments, the broker can gain access to the initial margin to satisfy the Fund’s payment obligations. When the contracts are closed, a realized gain or loss is recorded in the Statement of Operations.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $545,424,898 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $415,727,074 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (16,153,331) |
| Net unrealized gains | $399,573,743 |
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
28 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 78,114,502 | $0 | $0 | $ 78,114,502 |
| Consumer discretionary | 103,025,416 | 0 | 0 | 103,025,416 |
| Consumer staples | 53,830,949 | 0 | 0 | 53,830,949 |
| Energy | 43,091,416 | 0 | 0 | 43,091,416 |
| Financials | 97,108,946 | 0 | 0 | 97,108,946 |
| Health care | 135,462,523 | 0 | 0 | 135,462,523 |
| Industrials | 75,789,225 | 0 | 0 | 75,789,225 |
| Information technology | 259,670,008 | 0 | 0 | 259,670,008 |
| Materials | 27,167,844 | 0 | 0 | 27,167,844 |
| Real estate | 31,428,591 | 0 | 0 | 31,428,591 |
| Utilities | 30,821,463 | 0 | 0 | 30,821,463 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 8,984,426 | 0 | 0 | 8,984,426 |
| 944,495,309 | 0 | 0 | 944,495,309 | |
| Futures contracts | 503,332 | 0 | 0 | 503,332 |
| Total assets | $944,998,641 | $0 | $0 | $944,998,641 |
Futures contracts are reported at their cumulative unrealized gains (losses) at measurement date as reported in the table following the Portfolio of Investments. For futures contracts, the current day’s variation margin is reported on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. All other assets and liabilities are reported at their market value at measurement date.
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 29
Notes to financial statements
with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $1 billion | 0.350% |
| Next $4 billion | 0.325 |
| Next $5 billion | 0.290 |
| Over $10 billion | 0.280 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.35% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.25% and declining to 0.15% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
30 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 0.87% |
| Class C | 1.62 |
| Class R | 1.12 |
| Class R6 | 0.43 |
| Administrator Class | 0.74 |
| Institutional Class | 0.48 |
Distribution fees
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C and Class R shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Distribution fees are charged to Class C and Class R shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares and 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class R shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $7,569 from the sale of Class A shares and $27 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $253,629,094 and $364,944,997, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. DERIVATIVE TRANSACTIONS
During the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund entered into futures contracts to gain market exposure. The Fund had an average notional amount of $69,064,053 in long futures contracts during the year ended July 31, 2022.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 31
Notes to financial statements
The fair value, realized gains or losses and change in unrealized gains or losses, if any, on derivative instruments are reflected in the corresponding financial statement captions.
8. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
9. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $15,544,726 | $18,005,630 |
| Long-term capital gain | 73,354,556 | 67,624,728 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed ordinary income | Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains |
| $17,220,527 | $91,698,754 | $399,573,743 |
10. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
11. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
12. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
32 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Disciplined U.S. Core Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 96% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $73,354,556 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $15,506,890 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $6,309,508 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
34 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 35
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
36 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund | 37
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
38 | Allspring Disciplined U.S. Core Fund
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00631 09-22
A203/AR203 07-22
A203/AR203 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring
Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
(formerly, Allspring Endeavor Select Fund)
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 14 | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 22 | |
| 28 | |
| 29 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Effective May 2, 2022, the Fund changed its name from Allspring Endeavor Select Fund to Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Notice to Shareholders
At a meeting held February 23-24, 2022, the Board of Trustees of the Allspring Funds approved changing the name of the Fund from Allspring Endeavor Select Fund to Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund which became effective on May 2, 2022. There was no change to the Fund’s investment process because of the name change.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Michael T. Smith, CFA®‡, Christopher J. Warner, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (STAEX) | 12-29-2000 | -26.42 | 12.50 | 13.08 | -21.94 | 13.83 | 13.75 | 1.25 | 1.03 | ||
| Class C (WECCX) | 12-29-2000 | -23.39 | 13.00 | 13.06 | -22.39 | 13.00 | 13.06 | 2.00 | 1.78 | ||
| Class R6 (WECRX)3 | 9-20-2019 | – | – | – | -21.60 | 14.33 | 14.24 | 0.82 | 0.60 | ||
| Administrator Class (WECDX) | 4-8-2005 | – | – | – | -21.92 | 14.01 | 13.99 | 1.17 | 0.94 | ||
| Institutional Class (WFCIX) | 4-8-2005 | – | – | – | -21.67 | 14.24 | 14.20 | 0.92 | 0.70 | ||
| Russell 1000® Growth Index4 | – | – | – | – | -11.93 | 16.30 | 15.95 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.03% for Class A, 1.78% for Class C, 0.60% for Class R6, 0.94% for Administrator Class, and 0.70% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 4 | The Russell 1000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with higher price/book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk, focused portfolio risk, and smaller-company securities risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 1000® Growth Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Growth Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | Stock selection within the information technology (IT) and consumer discretionary sectors detracted from performance. |
| ■ | Not owning two large positions within the benchmark detracted from relative performance. |
| ■ | Security selection within industrials, along with select health care positions, contributed to performance. |
Inflation and monetary policy dominated market sentiment.
Over the past year, a continual stream of macro headlines created high volatility for investors. Market sentiment wavered violently as investors grappled with high inflation, tightening Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, supply-chain disruptions, COVID-19 lockdowns, and the war in Ukraine. Amid this uncertainty, the dominant storyline was persistently high inflation, as the headline year-over-year consumer price index* reached 8.6% in June 2022, the highest level in more than 40 years. The Fed signaled in clear terms that it would take all necessary measures to tighten policy and dampen inflation. As a result, rising interest rates and the end of easy money triggered a bear market with few places for investors to hide. Many equity indexes contracted during the year, as rising interest rates also drove bond indexes into negative territory.
Within the Russell 1000 Growth Index, leadership tilted toward perceived beneficiaries of rising oil prices, inflation, and interest rates. Defensive sectors, such as utilities and real estate, outperformed, as did energy and commodity stocks. Growth stocks, often found in the IT sector, rotated sharply out of favor, with many companies experiencing a compression of their valuation despite reporting favorable financial results. Late in the period, evidence of peak inflation and a dovish shift in the Fed’s policy led to a market rally, with growth stocks outperforming the market during the early phase of the recovery.
Despite the heightened macro uncertainty, we did not significantly reposition the Fund. Our investment process has long focused on companies harnessing innovation to create superior long-term growth. This focus on security selection, even in times of high volatility, is key to generating strong long-term performance. The Fund remains positioned toward companies that we believe are situated on the right side of change.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 9.86 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 8.71 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 7.02 |
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 5.07 |
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 3.64 |
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated | 3.54 |
| Waste Connections Incorporated | 3.23 |
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 3.18 |
| ServiceNow Incorporated | 2.73 |
| Union Pacific Corporation | 2.70 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Stock selection within IT detracted from performance.
A detractor within IT, Block, Inc. is a leading technology company that provides full-circle solutions to small businesses. The company enables digital payments, online marketplaces, shipping and payroll services. During the year, investor sentiment rotated aggressively away from high-growth software and digital payments companies. Volatility was heightened for companies that increased capital expenditures or had exposure to cryptocurrencies. Block has modest exposure to cryptocurrencies and recently completed a strategic acquisition, which adversely affected gross profit margins in the short term. Our research indicates that Block has created a diverse financial ecosystem and has already seen improvements across its lines of businesses. We are closely monitoring fundamentals.
Also within IT, competitive concerns and lowered guidance pressured shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. During the pandemic, the company experienced a significant pull forward in new user growth and transaction volumes, resulting in difficult comparisons for the company to exceed. As brick-and-mortar sales recovered and the growth of ecommerce transactions slowed over the past two quarters,
| * | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index |
8 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
PayPal guided down its growth expectations. Additionally, a rise of new entrants into the payments industry roused investor fears over the long-term growth prospects of established legacy payment companies. Despite the short-term headwinds, we believe key products such as Venmo remain under-monetized and could lead to strong future growth for PayPal.
Not owning Apple or Tesla, two large components of the benchmark, hurt the Fund's relative performance.
Security selection within industrials, along with select health care positions, contributed to performance.
Within industrials, shares of Waste Connections, Inc., a waste disposal company, outperformed during the year. Waste Connections operates in a defensive industry with a stable financial profile and steady cash flows. The company benefits from high barriers to entry as environmental constraints limit the ability of competitors to create new landfills. With strong pricing power and a focus on increasing operational efficiencies, Waste Connections has consistently improved profitability and free cash flow despite higher labor and fuel costs. The company also has a successful track record of purchasing competitors with its excess free cash flow, which can boost growth by consolidating the industry and driving synergies at the acquired businesses. Over the year, macro concerns over inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war shifted many investors into defensive companies with pricing power. Waste Connections has consistently reported healthy volume growth across all regions, expanded profit margins, and growth in free cash flow. The role of Waste Connections as a consistent ”Core Holding” is important within our portfolio construction process, and we are confident in the company’s long-term outlook.
A leading provider of managed care and health insurance, UnitedHealth Group Inc. contributed to returns. United Health is well positioned to profitably outgrow competitors and drive strong long-term performance. A material portion of the company’s earnings today come from the Optum services segment which is a mix of pharmacy benefits, physician services, and data analytics. Long considered a crown jewel asset for the company, Optum Health is facilitating the changing payment dynamics in the U.S. health care system toward outcomes-based metrics which focuses more on preventative health care. Additionally, the Optum business is helping to drive industry-leading member growth in the core UnitedHealth insurance business, particularly in Medicare Advantage plans. During the year, UnitedHealth reported double-digit growth within Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Optum Health plans. By expanding into
additional new markets globally while improving the quality of coverage provided, we believe UnitedHealth is a ”Core Holding” poised for consistent long-term growth.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Maintaining focus on bottom-up fundamentals.
Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen volatile swings in market leadership as macro sentiment drove returns, disconnecting stock prices from underlying fundamentals. Our fundamentally based investment process can be challenged in these environments. It is our experience that these periods are often temporary in nature and can set the Fund up for strong performance in the future. Over the long term, we believe the growth of an underlying business is the dominant driver of equity returns.
Despite the recent focus on inflation, we do not believe the current environment represents a new long-term reality. The secular forces of demographics, debt, and disruption remain. We believe that the U.S. economy will ultimately return to slow levels of economic growth, which can be a tailwind for our investment style as businesses with superior fundamentals and sustainable growth are rewarded. Late in the period, we began to see evidence of this shift and a normalization of conditions for the Fund’s holdings.
As investors focused on companies on the right side of change, we focus on a long-term time horizon. Despite the recent volatility, many of our portfolio companies have reported favorable fundamental results. This is encouraging to us and reinforces our view that time is on our side. By remaining invested in these innovative companies, the portfolio is positioned to generate favorable compounding as fundamentals drive stock prices over the long term.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 847.18 | $4.58 | 1.00% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.84 | $5.01 | 1.00% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 846.37 | $8.15 | 1.78% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.97 | $8.90 | 1.78% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 848.89 | $2.75 | 0.60% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.82 | $3.01 | 0.60% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 847.20 | $4.31 | 0.94% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.13 | $4.71 | 0.94% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 848.35 | $3.21 | 0.70% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.32 | $3.51 | 0.70% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 97.32% | |||||
| Communication services: 11.05% | |||||
| Entertainment: 1.42% | |||||
| Spotify Technology SA † | 27,400 | $ 3,096,748 | |||
| Interactive media & services: 9.63% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 132,140 | 15,370,525 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 18,100 | 2,111,184 | |||
| Match Group Incorporated † | 49,286 | 3,613,157 | |||
| 21,094,866 | |||||
| Consumer discretionary: 20.02% | |||||
| Auto components: 1.28% | |||||
| Aptiv plc † | 26,750 | 2,805,808 | |||
| Automobiles: 1.95% | |||||
| Ferrari NV | 20,200 | 4,266,846 | |||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 2.64% | |||||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 3,700 | 5,787,614 | |||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 10.51% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 141,260 | 19,063,037 | |||
| MercadoLibre Incorporated † | 4,850 | 3,946,494 | |||
| 23,009,531 | |||||
| Specialty retail: 3.64% | |||||
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 26,516 | 7,979,725 | |||
| Financials: 5.53% | |||||
| Capital markets: 5.53% | |||||
| Intercontinental Exchange Incorporated | 39,190 | 3,996,988 | |||
| MarketAxess Holdings Incorporated | 12,100 | 3,276,438 | |||
| S&P Global Incorporated | 12,841 | 4,840,158 | |||
| 12,113,584 | |||||
| Health care: 11.16% | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 7.98% | |||||
| Align Technology Incorporated † | 9,100 | 2,556,827 | |||
| DexCom Incorporated † | 63,100 | 5,179,248 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 50,450 | 5,072,243 | |||
| Intuitive Surgical Incorporated † | 20,250 | 4,660,943 | |||
| 17,469,261 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 3.18% | |||||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 12,847 | 6,967,442 | |||
| Industrials: 7.50% | |||||
| Commercial services & supplies: 3.23% | |||||
| Waste Connections Incorporated | 53,040 | 7,073,945 | |||
| Machinery: 1.57% | |||||
| Deere & Company | 10,000 | 3,431,800 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Road & rail: 2.70% | |||||
| Union Pacific Corporation | 26,000 | $ 5,909,800 | |||
| Information technology: 37.40% | |||||
| Communications equipment: 2.30% | |||||
| Motorola Solutions Incorporated | 21,100 | 5,034,249 | |||
| IT services: 11.83% | |||||
| Block Incorporated Class A † | 45,500 | 3,460,730 | |||
| Fiserv Incorporated † | 42,394 | 4,480,198 | |||
| MongoDB Incorporated † | 12,000 | 3,749,640 | |||
| PayPal Holdings Incorporated † | 36,000 | 3,115,080 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 52,328 | 11,099,290 | |||
| 25,904,938 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 1.34% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 31,000 | 2,928,570 | |||
| Software: 21.93% | |||||
| Atlassian Corporation plc Class A † | 20,800 | 4,353,856 | |||
| Bill.com Holdings Incorporated † | 27,000 | 3,647,160 | |||
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated † | 41,700 | 7,759,536 | |||
| Crowdstrike Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 25,600 | 4,700,160 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 76,934 | 21,598,451 | |||
| ServiceNow Incorporated † | 13,380 | 5,976,311 | |||
| 48,035,474 | |||||
| Materials: 2.39% | |||||
| Chemicals: 2.39% | |||||
| The Sherwin-Williams Company | 21,650 | 5,238,001 | |||
| Real estate: 2.27% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 2.27% | |||||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 14,800 | 4,969,692 | |||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $120,612,084) | 213,117,894 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 2.84% | |||||
| Investment companies: 2.84% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 6,229,120 | 6,229,120 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $6,229,120) | 6,229,120 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $126,841,204) | 100.16% | 219,347,014 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | (0.16) | (356,666) | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $218,990,348 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $971,857 | $89,888,804 | $(84,631,541) | $0 | $0 | $ 6,229,120 | 6,229,120 | $ 17,150 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 320,350 | 4,770,175 | (5,090,525) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $6,229,120 | $17,196 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 13
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $120,612,084) | $ 213,117,894 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $6,229,120) | 6,229,120 |
Receivable for dividends | 33,686 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 7,507 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 119,503 |
Total assets | 219,507,710 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 348,797 |
Management fee payable | 77,457 |
Professional fees payable | 28,518 |
Administration fees payable | 26,056 |
Distribution fee payable | 1,847 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 327 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 34,360 |
Total liabilities | 517,362 |
Total net assets | $218,990,348 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 107,696,610 |
Total distributable earnings | 111,293,738 |
Total net assets | $218,990,348 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 101,833,152 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 13,306,320 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $7.65 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $8.12 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 3,103,083 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 1,025,773 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $3.03 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 40,355,982 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 4,227,113 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $9.55 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 5,882,398 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 671,164 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $8.76 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 67,815,733 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 7,131,136 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $9.51 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends (net of foreign withholdings taxes of $14,091) | $ 1,131,121 |
Income from affiliated securities | 17,223 |
Total investment income | 1,148,344 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 1,842,108 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 264,855 |
Class C | 9,699 |
Class R6 | 12,665 |
Administrator Class | 11,468 |
Institutional Class | 105,793 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 315,303 |
Class C | 11,547 |
Administrator Class | 21,855 |
| Distribution fee | |
Class C | 34,640 |
Custody and accounting fees | 19,889 |
Professional fees | 51,080 |
Registration fees | 107,829 |
Shareholder report expenses | 42,701 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Other fees and expenses | 13,798 |
Total expenses | 2,885,328 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (582,780) |
Class A | (23,143) |
Class R6 | (4,233) |
Administrator Class | (885) |
Institutional Class | (8,160) |
Net expenses | 2,266,127 |
Net investment loss | (1,117,783) |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 32,559,187 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (92,425,273) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (59,866,086) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(60,983,869) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 15
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment loss | $ (1,117,783) | $ (981,684) | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 32,559,187 | 38,305,108 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (92,425,273) | 41,309,796 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (60,983,869) | 78,633,220 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (23,155,876) | (10,518,393) | ||
Class C | (1,745,947) | (883,514) | ||
Class R6 | (5,165,574) | (2,734,798) | ||
Administrator Class | (1,537,533) | (764,611) | ||
Institutional Class | (12,444,118) | (6,195,904) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (44,049,048) | (21,097,220) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 967,499 | 9,750,987 | 910,566 | 9,439,265 |
Class C | 240,590 | 993,153 | 129,367 | 683,576 |
Class R6 | 2,451,711 | 25,577,401 | 569,519 | 6,909,745 |
Administrator Class | 50,063 | 601,613 | 153,640 | 1,732,301 |
Institutional Class | 1,940,962 | 19,549,872 | 1,122,261 | 13,663,932 |
| 56,473,026 | 32,428,819 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 2,215,143 | 22,638,764 | 1,050,716 | 10,276,004 |
Class C | 430,036 | 1,745,947 | 181,793 | 883,514 |
Class R6 | 406,418 | 5,165,574 | 232,545 | 2,730,078 |
Administrator Class | 130,906 | 1,531,605 | 69,407 | 760,704 |
Institutional Class | 974,855 | 12,351,415 | 527,036 | 6,176,862 |
| 43,433,305 | 20,827,162 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (2,032,288) | (18,646,650) | (2,729,863) | (28,108,562) |
Class C | (664,761) | (2,681,191) | (575,614) | (3,110,801) |
Class R6 | (1,908,298) | (21,891,244) | (1,784,268) | (21,244,087) |
Administrator Class | (346,530) | (3,550,440) | (228,663) | (2,633,373) |
Institutional Class | (2,871,527) | (32,714,655) | (2,171,020) | (26,836,883) |
| (79,484,180) | (81,933,706) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 20,422,151 | (28,677,725) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (84,610,766) | 28,858,275 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 303,601,114 | 274,742,839 | ||
End of period | $218,990,348 | $303,601,114 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $11.65 | $9.62 | $8.33 | $9.43 | $9.09 |
Net investment loss | (0.06) 1 | (0.05) 1 | (0.03) 1 | (0.03) 1 | (0.04) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2.01) | 2.93 | 2.08 | 0.97 | 2.23 |
Total from investment operations | (2.07) | 2.88 | 2.05 | 0.94 | 2.19 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) | (2.04) | (1.85) |
Net asset value, end of period | $7.65 | $11.65 | $9.62 | $8.33 | $9.43 |
Total return2 | (21.94)% | 31.66% | 26.57% | 15.37% | 27.35% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.26% | 1.25% | 1.26% | 1.30% | 1.25% |
Net expenses | 1.01% | 1.01% | 1.02% | 1.20% | 1.20% |
Net investment loss | (0.58)% | (0.50)% | (0.30)% | (0.35)% | (0.49)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 21% | 16% | 20% | 36% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $101,833 | $141,657 | $124,271 | $17,940 | $16,301 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $5.76 | $5.18 | $4.86 | $6.46 | $6.80 |
Net investment loss | (0.06) 1 | (0.07) 1 | (0.05) 1 | (0.06) 1 | (0.08) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.74) | 1.50 | 1.13 | 0.50 | 1.59 |
Total from investment operations | (0.80) | 1.43 | 1.08 | 0.44 | 1.51 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) | (2.04) | (1.85) |
Net asset value, end of period | $3.03 | $5.76 | $5.18 | $4.86 | $6.46 |
Total return2 | (22.39)% | 30.71% | 25.48% | 14.51% | 26.43% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 2.00% | 2.00% | 2.01% | 2.05% | 2.00% |
Net expenses | 1.78% | 1.78% | 1.79% | 1.95% | 1.95% |
Net investment loss | (1.35)% | (1.26)% | (1.06)% | (1.12)% | (1.22)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 21% | 16% | 20% | 36% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $3,103 | $5,876 | $6,651 | $2,116 | $3,792 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 1 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $14.03 | $11.37 | $9.63 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.02) 2 | (0.01) 2 | 0.01 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2.53) | 3.52 | 2.49 |
Total from investment operations | (2.55) | 3.51 | 2.50 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||
Net realized gains | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) |
Net asset value, end of period | $9.55 | $14.03 | $11.37 |
Total return3 | (21.60)% | 32.36% | 27.68% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||
Gross expenses | 0.83% | 0.82% | 0.82% |
Net expenses | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0.60% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.15)% | (0.09)% | 0.11% |
| Supplemental data | |||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 21% | 16% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $40,356 | $45,970 | $48,435 |
| 1 | For the period from September 20, 2019 (commencement of class operations) to July 31, 2020 |
| 2 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 3 | Returns for periods of less than one year are not annualized. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $13.07 | $10.66 | $9.15 | $10.12 | $9.62 |
Net investment loss | (0.06) 1 | (0.05) 1 | (0.02) 1 | (0.01) 1 | (0.03) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2.32) | 3.31 | 2.29 | 1.08 | 2.38 |
Total from investment operations | (2.38) | 3.26 | 2.27 | 1.07 | 2.35 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) | (2.04) | (1.85) |
Net asset value, end of period | $8.76 | $13.07 | $10.66 | $9.15 | $10.12 |
Total return | (21.92)% | 32.15% | 26.59% | 15.63% | 27.55% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.17% | 1.17% | 1.18% | 1.21% | 1.16% |
Net expenses | 0.94% | 0.94% | 0.94% | 1.00% | 1.00% |
Net investment loss | (0.50)% | (0.43)% | (0.21)% | (0.16)% | (0.28)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 21% | 16% | 20% | 36% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $5,882 | $10,934 | $8,979 | $2,590 | $3,068 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $13.99 | $11.36 | $9.68 | $10.57 | $9.95 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.03) 1 | (0.02) 1 | 0.01 1 | 0.00 1,2 | (0.01) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2.52) | 3.50 | 2.43 | 1.15 | 2.49 |
Total from investment operations | (2.55) | 3.48 | 2.44 | 1.15 | 2.48 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.01) |
Net realized gains | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) | (2.04) | (1.85) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (1.93) | (0.85) | (0.76) | (2.04) | (1.86) |
Net asset value, end of period | $9.51 | $13.99 | $11.36 | $9.68 | $10.57 |
Total return | (21.67)% | 32.11% | 26.91% | 15.76% | 28.01% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.93% | 0.92% | 0.93% | 0.97% | 0.92% |
Net expenses | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.72% | 0.80% | 0.80% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.27)% | (0.19)% | 0.07% | 0.05% | (0.08)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 21% | 16% | 20% | 36% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $67,816 | $99,164 | $86,407 | $107,670 | $131,655 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 21
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund (formerly, Allspring Endeavor Select Fund) (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Foreign currency translation
The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. The values of other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at rates provided by an independent foreign currency pricing source at a time each business day specified by the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are converted at the rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. Net realized foreign exchange gains or losses arise from sales of foreign currencies, currency gains or losses realized between the trade and settlement dates on securities transactions, and the difference between the amounts of dividends, interest and foreign withholding taxes recorded and the U.S. dollar equivalent of the amounts actually paid or received. Net unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses arise from changes in the fair value of assets and liabilities other than investments in securities resulting from changes in exchange rates. The changes in net assets arising from changes in exchange rates of securities and the changes in net assets resulting from changes in market prices of securities are not separately presented. Such changes are included in net realized and unrealized gains or losses from investments.
22 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date. Dividend income is recorded net of foreign taxes withheld where recovery of such taxes is not assured.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $129,037,056 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $109,446,136 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (19,136,178) |
| Net unrealized gains | $ 90,309,958 |
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to net operating loss. At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $(549,998) | $549,998 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had a qualified late-year ordinary loss of $567,749 which will be recognized on the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 24,191,614 | $0 | $0 | $ 24,191,614 |
| Consumer discretionary | 43,849,524 | 0 | 0 | 43,849,524 |
| Financials | 12,113,584 | 0 | 0 | 12,113,584 |
| Health care | 24,436,703 | 0 | 0 | 24,436,703 |
| Industrials | 16,415,545 | 0 | 0 | 16,415,545 |
| Information technology | 81,903,231 | 0 | 0 | 81,903,231 |
| Materials | 5,238,001 | 0 | 0 | 5,238,001 |
| Real estate | 4,969,692 | 0 | 0 | 4,969,692 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 6,229,120 | 0 | 0 | 6,229,120 |
| Total assets | $219,347,014 | $0 | $0 | $219,347,014 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
24 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.700% |
| Next $500 million | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.625 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.600 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.590 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.565 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.555 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.530 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.505 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.70% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.30% and declining to 0.20% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.03% |
| Class C | 1.78 |
| Class R6 | 0.60 |
| Administrator Class | 0.94 |
| Institutional Class | 0.70 |
Distribution fee
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. A distribution fee is charged to Class C shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $3,285 from the sale of Class A shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A and Class C shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $70,430,050 and $99,756,859, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
26 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 1,869,637 | $ 3,675,513 |
| Long-term capital gain | 42,179,411 | 17,421,707 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains | Late-year ordinary losses deferred |
| $21,551,529 | $90,309,958 | $(567,749) |
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 27
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Endeavor Select Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years or periods in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years or periods in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian and transfer agent. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
28 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 40% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $42,179,411 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $784,687 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $1,869,637 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 29
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
30 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
32 | Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
Allspring Discovery Large Cap Growth Fund | 33
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00633 09-22
A205/AR205 07-22
A205/AR205 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring Growth Fund
Contents
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| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 23 | |
| 30 | |
| 31 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Growth Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Growth Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Growth Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Robert Gruendyke, CFA®‡, Thomas C. Ognar, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (SGRAX) | 2-24-2000 | -33.42 | 10.71 | 11.55 | -29.35 | 12.03 | 12.21 | 1.16 | 1.16 | ||
| Class C (WGFCX) | 12-26-2002 | -30.54 | 11.63 | 11.54 | -29.54 | 11.63 | 11.54 | 1.91 | 1.91 | ||
| Class R6 (SGRHX)3 | 9-30-2015 | – | – | – | -29.05 | 12.53 | 12.71 | 0.73 | 0.70 | ||
| Administrator Class (SGRKX) | 8-30-2002 | – | – | – | -29.22 | 12.24 | 12.44 | 1.08 | 0.96 | ||
| Institutional Class (SGRNX) | 2-24-2000 | – | – | – | -29.09 | 12.47 | 12.67 | 0.83 | 0.75 | ||
| Russell 3000® Growth Index4 | – | – | – | – | -12.65 | 15.65 | 15.59 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.16% for Class A, 1.91% for Class C, 0.70% for Class R6, 0.96% for Administrator Class, and 0.75% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 4 | The Russell 3000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 3000® Index companies with higher price/book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk and smaller-company securities risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 3000® Growth Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Growth Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 3000® Growth Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | The Fund’s performance was inhibited by select stocks within the information technology (IT), health care and consumer discretionary sectors. |
| ■ | Select holdings within the materials sector aided performance. |
High inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical conflicts pervaded markets.
Over the past year, investors toiled with a myriad of headwinds including high inflation, rising interest rates, uncertainty around Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The confluence of these issues permeated the entire market, with growth stocks bearing the brunt of the carnage. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose from 1.23% at the start of the period to 2.64% at period end. Higher interest rates are designed to slow down economic growth, and a moderate gross domestic product growth environment actually favors growth stocks, as growth premiums tend to rise. This is the main reason that our portfolios have historically performed well during rising-rate cycles.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine added geopolitical risks to an already top down–driven market which has muted the impact of a strong earnings season for our holdings. This has been frustrating, as many of our stocks continue to exceed expectations, yet they have not been rewarded. Nevertheless, given the contraction of valuations in our universe coupled with our companies’ dynamic innovation, we believe there is a huge opportunity going forward.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 10.11 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 8.61 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 8.37 |
| Apple Incorporated | 6.30 |
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 3.38 |
| Monolithic Power Systems Incorporated | 2.68 |
| Tradeweb Markets Incorporated Class A | 2.63 |
| Copart Incorporated | 2.24 |
| Papa John's International Incorporated | 1.94 |
| Microchip Technology Incorporated | 1.85 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Select stocks in IT, health care, and consumer discretionary stocks hindered relative performance.
Higher interest rates and inflation adversely affected higher growth stocks. Weakness in the Fund came from select software and internet stocks in key areas including education, communications, gaming development, and application performance monitoring. Our underweight to Apple, Inc. hindered performance, as investors have flocked to the stock as a perceived safe haven amid a risk-off environment for other higher-growth technology companies. Within health care, diagnostics holding Natera Inc.* was the Fund’s largest detractor. The stock fell sharply following the publication of an article that highlighted the potential use of aggressive and potentially deceptive sales and billing practices. Additionally, the company lost a lawsuit to a competitor alleging that it knowingly engaged in false advertising with the intent of deceiving physicians. Within consumer discretionary, internet holding Chegg, Inc., underperformed after issuing weak user metrics and uninspiring guidance, citing a material slowdown in the education industry. With less visibility on its addressable market, we sold our position during the period.
Select materials, financials, and IT stocks aided Fund performance.
Within IT, Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., performed well after generating better-than-expected revenue, margins, and earnings. The company’s process technology enables it to manufacture chips with higher power density and a smaller footprint than comparable solutions. In what is widely considered a capacity-constrained environment for semiconductors, the company strategically added capacity in 2022 to fulfill the demand. Within financials, broker-dealer LPL Financial Holdings Inc. benefited as more financial advisors move from traditional wirehouses toward the independent and registered investment advisor channels. LPL also benefited from a rising-rate environment from margin and bank sweep balances. Elsewhere in the Fund, Linde PLC performed well after generating better-than-
| * | This security was no longer held at the end of the reporting period. |
8 | Allspring Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
expected revenue growth aided by favorable pricing and higher volumes across all geographies.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Areas of focus remain in sustainable and dynamic growth opportunities.
The portfolio has a strategic tilt toward diversification and sustainable growth. We continue to look for proven business models that are not dependent on capital markets to fund profitless growth over the long-term. While Inflation has hurt our portfolios over the past 18 months, we believe many of our companies are positioned well should it persist. We continue to take advantage where inflation is causing disruption and seek to capitalize on dynamic growth opportunities that we believe are not fully appreciated by investors. While the current top down–driven market has been frustrating, like all cycles, it is fleeting. Given the valuation contraction of many of our stocks—particularly down the market-cap spectrum, where we are overweight—coupled with their dynamic innovation, we believe investors face an enormous opportunity. We believe that, in this type of market—when sentiment is morose, volatility is high, and market noise is deafening—investors should consider investing in our portfolio, as historically we have come out of trying times and often prevailed in the ensuing periods.
Allspring Growth Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 833.07 | $5.09 | 1.12% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.24 | $5.61 | 1.12% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 833.80 | $8.64 | 1.90% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.37 | $9.49 | 1.90% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 834.69 | $3.18 | 0.70% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.32 | $3.51 | 0.70% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 833.74 | $4.36 | 0.96% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.03 | $4.81 | 0.96% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 834.31 | $3.41 | 0.75% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.08 | $3.76 | 0.75% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 96.42% | |||||
| Communication services: 10.86% | |||||
| Entertainment: 0.60% | |||||
| Take-Two Interactive Software Incorporated † | 150,874 | $ 20,025,506 | |||
| Warner Music Group Corporation Class A | 64,363 | 1,930,890 | |||
| 21,956,396 | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 10.26% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 2,711,560 | 315,408,659 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 258,840 | 30,191,098 | |||
| Meta Platforms Incorporated Class A † | 61,239 | 9,743,125 | |||
| ZoomInfo Technologies Incorporated † | 537,643 | 20,371,293 | |||
| 375,714,175 | |||||
| Consumer discretionary: 19.59% | |||||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 4.67% | |||||
| Airbnb Incorporated Class A † | 137,675 | 15,279,172 | |||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 21,353 | 33,400,790 | |||
| Papa John's International Incorporated | 740,175 | 70,975,381 | |||
| Planet Fitness Incorporated Class A † | 499,248 | 39,345,735 | |||
| Wingstop Incorporated | 94,303 | 11,899,153 | |||
| 170,900,231 | |||||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 8.39% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 2,272,249 | 306,640,003 | |||
| CarParts.com Incorporated † | 72,966 | 582,269 | |||
| 307,222,272 | |||||
| Specialty retail: 6.00% | |||||
| Five Below Incorporated † | 220,087 | 27,966,455 | |||
| Floor & Decor Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 688,195 | 55,447,871 | |||
| Leslie's Incorporated † | 3,199,294 | 48,501,297 | |||
| O'Reilly Automotive Incorporated † | 7,700 | 5,417,643 | |||
| Petco Health & Wellness Company †« | 4,159,447 | 57,899,501 | |||
| Ulta Beauty Incorporated † | 62,453 | 24,288,596 | |||
| 219,521,363 | |||||
| Textiles, apparel & luxury goods: 0.53% | |||||
| lululemon athletica Incorporated † | 38,691 | 12,013,942 | |||
| On Holding AG Class A †« | 347,364 | 7,562,114 | |||
| 19,576,056 | |||||
| Consumer staples: 0.20% | |||||
| Personal products: 0.20% | |||||
| The Estee Lauder Companies Incorporated Class A | 27,144 | 7,413,026 | |||
| Financials: 7.03% | |||||
| Capital markets: 7.03% | |||||
| BlackRock Incorporated | 13,625 | 9,117,578 | |||
| LPL Financial Holdings Incorporated | 318,977 | 66,959,652 | |||
| MarketAxess Holdings Incorporated | 187,667 | 50,816,470 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Capital markets (continued) | |||||
| The Charles Schwab Corporation | 493,043 | $ 34,044,619 | |||
| Tradeweb Markets Incorporated Class A | 1,369,059 | 96,546,041 | |||
| 257,484,360 | |||||
| Health care: 13.74% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 2.93% | |||||
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company † | 398,911 | 58,248,984 | |||
| Horizon Therapeutics plc † | 370,225 | 30,717,568 | |||
| Seagen Incorporated † | 102,470 | 18,442,551 | |||
| 107,409,103 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 5.39% | |||||
| Boston Scientific Corporation † | 1,429,180 | 58,667,839 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 606,524 | 60,979,923 | |||
| Figs Incorporated Class A † | 713,532 | 7,542,033 | |||
| Insulet Corporation † | 125,850 | 31,185,630 | |||
| Intuitive Surgical Incorporated † | 93,334 | 21,482,687 | |||
| iRhythm Technologies Incorporated † | 57,005 | 8,814,683 | |||
| Outset Medical Incorporated † | 554,430 | 8,565,944 | |||
| 197,238,739 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 0.46% | |||||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 30,712 | 16,656,346 | |||
| Health care technology: 0.64% | |||||
| Veeva Systems Incorporated Class A † | 105,390 | 23,563,096 | |||
| Life sciences tools & services: 1.91% | |||||
| Bio-Techne Corporation | 43,917 | 16,920,342 | |||
| Charles River Laboratories International Incorporated † | 27,824 | 6,971,025 | |||
| Codexis Incorporated † | 91,441 | 627,285 | |||
| Repligen Corporation † | 212,623 | 45,365,243 | |||
| 69,883,895 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 2.41% | |||||
| Catalent Incorporated † | 567,988 | 64,239,443 | |||
| Royalty Pharma plc Class A | 200,642 | 8,725,921 | |||
| Zoetis Incorporated | 83,430 | 15,230,147 | |||
| 88,195,511 | |||||
| Industrials: 5.80% | |||||
| Building products: 0.16% | |||||
| Zurn Water Solutions Corporation | 198,241 | 5,739,077 | |||
| Commercial services & supplies: 2.81% | |||||
| Casella Waste Systems Incorporated Class A † | 257,089 | 20,811,355 | |||
| Copart Incorporated † | 640,770 | 82,082,637 | |||
| 102,893,992 | |||||
| Electrical equipment: 1.56% | |||||
| Generac Holdings Incorporated † | 92,834 | 24,907,362 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Electrical equipment (continued) | |||||
| Regal Rexnord Corporation | 182,598 | $ 24,522,911 | |||
| Rockwell Automation Incorporated | 29,714 | 7,585,390 | |||
| 57,015,663 | |||||
| Road & rail: 1.27% | |||||
| CSX Corporation | 56,729 | 1,834,049 | |||
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services Incorporated | 95,175 | 17,442,722 | |||
| Union Pacific Corporation | 119,990 | 27,273,727 | |||
| 46,550,498 | |||||
| Information technology: 37.30% | |||||
| Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 0.08% | |||||
| Zebra Technologies Corporation Class A † | 8,542 | 3,055,388 | |||
| IT services: 5.51% | |||||
| DigitalOcean Holdings Incorporated †« | 356,841 | 14,623,344 | |||
| Flywire Corporation † | 677,987 | 15,905,575 | |||
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 349,313 | 123,583,446 | |||
| MongoDB Incorporated † | 23,805 | 7,438,348 | |||
| Thoughtworks Holding Incorporated † | 1,155,340 | 18,092,624 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 103,651 | 21,985,414 | |||
| 201,628,751 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 7.53% | |||||
| Allegro MicroSystems Incorporated † | 1,864,362 | 46,292,108 | |||
| Enphase Energy Incorporated † | 53,590 | 15,229,206 | |||
| Microchip Technology Incorporated | 984,073 | 67,763,267 | |||
| Monolithic Power Systems Incorporated | 210,930 | 98,023,390 | |||
| NVIDIA Corporation | 184,919 | 33,586,838 | |||
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 102,895 | 14,925,949 | |||
| 275,820,758 | |||||
| Software: 17.88% | |||||
| Avalara Incorporated † | 553,125 | 48,354,188 | |||
| Crowdstrike Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 128,289 | 23,553,860 | |||
| Dynatrace Incorporated † | 1,460,180 | 54,946,573 | |||
| Fair Isaac Corporation † | 16,972 | 7,841,573 | |||
| Jamf Holding Corporation † | 570,515 | 13,943,387 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 1,319,172 | 370,344,347 | |||
| Palo Alto Networks Incorporated † | 7,239 | 3,612,985 | |||
| Paycor HCM Incorporated †« | 214,560 | 5,726,606 | |||
| Procore Technologies Incorporated † | 350,605 | 18,126,279 | |||
| Rapid7 Incorporated † | 1,047,897 | 67,033,971 | |||
| Salesforce.com Incorporated † | 27,551 | 5,069,935 | |||
| ServiceNow Incorporated † | 51,392 | 22,954,751 | |||
| Workiva Incorporated † | 199,424 | 13,062,272 | |||
| 654,570,727 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 6.30% | |||||
| Apple Incorporated | 1,420,075 | 230,776,388 | |||
| Materials: 1.36% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.36% | |||||
| Linde plc | 164,716 | 49,744,232 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Real estate: 0.54% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 0.54% | |||||
| Equinix Incorporated | 17,583 | $ 12,373,860 | |||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 21,800 | 7,320,222 | |||
| 19,694,082 | |||||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $1,840,381,973) | 3,530,224,125 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 5.71% | |||||
| Investment companies: 5.71% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 147,500,432 | 147,500,432 | ||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC ♠∩∞ | 2.04 | 61,735,900 | 61,735,900 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $209,236,332) | 209,236,332 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $2,049,618,305) | 102.13% | 3,739,460,457 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | (2.13) | (78,104,502) | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $3,661,355,955 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| « | All or a portion of this security is on loan. |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∩ | The investment is a non-registered investment company purchased with cash collateral received from securities on loan. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $22,495,141 | $1,046,198,403 | $(921,193,112) | $0 | $0 | $ 147,500,432 | 147,500,432 | $ 198,831 | ||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 46,765,061 | 482,528,488 | (467,557,649) | 0 | 0 | 61,735,900 | 61,735,900 | 219,916 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $209,236,332 | $418,747 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Growth Fund
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities (including $60,899,136 of securities loaned), at value (cost $1,840,381,973) | $ 3,530,224,125 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $209,236,332) | 209,236,332 |
Receivable for investments sold | 21,901,651 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 1,799,482 |
Receivable for dividends | 318,931 |
Receivable for securities lending income, net | 24,645 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 92,576 |
Total assets | 3,763,597,742 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable upon receipt of securities loaned | 61,735,900 |
Payable for investments purchased | 34,989,970 |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 2,379,608 |
Management fee payable | 1,898,654 |
Administration fees payable | 471,255 |
Distribution fee payable | 11,302 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 1,076 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 754,022 |
Total liabilities | 102,241,787 |
Total net assets | $3,661,355,955 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 1,818,698,306 |
Total distributable earnings | 1,842,657,649 |
Total net assets | $3,661,355,955 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 1,885,963,018 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 70,384,811 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $26.80 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $28.44 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 19,207,907 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 1,285,191 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $14.95 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 408,403,051 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 10,226,532 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $39.94 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 320,743,928 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 9,339,009 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $34.34 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 1,027,038,051 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 25,881,418 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $39.68 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 15
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends | $ 13,688,121 |
Income from affiliated securities | 490,930 |
Total investment income | 14,179,051 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 34,799,807 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 5,243,198 |
Class C | 62,664 |
Class R6 | 135,577 |
Administrator Class | 645,235 |
Institutional Class | 2,009,055 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 6,241,902 |
Class C | 73,603 |
Administrator Class | 1,232,648 |
| Distribution fee | |
Class C | 220,690 |
Custody and accounting fees | 211,602 |
Professional fees | 52,344 |
Registration fees | 78,681 |
Shareholder report expenses | 114,818 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Other fees and expenses | 78,801 |
Total expenses | 51,220,723 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (495,105) |
Class A | (500,724) |
Class C | (4) |
Class R6 | (135,577) |
Administrator Class | (547,468) |
Institutional Class | (1,084,771) |
Net expenses | 48,457,074 |
Net investment loss | (34,278,023) |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 452,045,114 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2,133,081,244) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (1,681,036,130) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(1,715,314,153) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Growth Fund
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment loss | $ (34,278,023) | $ (38,092,952) | ||
Payment from affiliate | 0 | 2,016,641 | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 452,045,114 | 1,014,295,332 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2,133,081,244) | 757,318,098 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (1,715,314,153) | 1,735,537,119 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (569,285,399) | (358,619,034) | ||
Class C | (10,976,765) | (7,818,137) | ||
Class R6 | (69,584,122) | (42,602,746) | ||
Administrator Class | (96,628,240) | (66,234,491) | ||
Institutional Class | (256,416,897) | (166,987,346) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (1,002,891,423) | (642,261,754) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 1,587,549 | 56,321,377 | 4,159,750 | 181,613,411 |
Class C | 165,557 | 3,406,222 | 248,087 | 7,153,866 |
Class R6 | 2,817,456 | 130,744,052 | 2,633,504 | 157,076,681 |
Administrator Class | 1,063,551 | 44,787,131 | 1,768,270 | 92,055,009 |
Institutional Class | 3,690,262 | 181,234,986 | 5,133,176 | 306,552,959 |
| 416,493,768 | 744,451,926 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 14,811,926 | 547,893,130 | 8,547,067 | 345,130,553 |
Class C | 485,765 | 10,021,324 | 276,129 | 7,240,102 |
Class R6 | 1,149,664 | 63,197,038 | 712,832 | 39,868,693 |
Administrator Class | 2,018,217 | 95,582,763 | 1,326,828 | 65,545,322 |
Institutional Class | 4,557,460 | 249,019,631 | 2,893,642 | 161,089,029 |
| 965,713,886 | 618,873,699 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (11,515,400) | (392,523,025) | (8,500,042) | (369,809,329) |
Class C | (714,991) | (14,273,738) | (3,352,942) | (102,896,097) |
Class R6 | (1,668,671) | (82,352,828) | (2,784,658) | (162,067,725) |
Administrator Class | (4,956,152) | (205,413,567) | (3,627,405) | (192,491,936) |
Institutional Class | (12,429,230) | (564,164,472) | (8,323,049) | (489,126,072) |
| (1,258,727,630) | (1,316,391,159) | |||
Net increase in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 123,480,024 | 46,934,466 | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (2,594,725,552) | 1,140,209,831 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 6,256,081,507 | 5,115,871,676 | ||
End of period | $ 3,661,355,955 | $ 6,256,081,507 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $47.16 | $39.86 | $35.56 | $38.67 | $40.38 |
Net investment loss | (0.30) 1 | (0.32) | (0.19) | (0.13) | (0.12) |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.00 2 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (11.07) | 13.52 | 8.77 | 3.73 | 9.49 |
Total from investment operations | (11.37) | 13.20 | 8.58 | 3.60 | 9.37 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (8.99) | (5.90) | (4.28) | (6.71) | (11.08) |
Net asset value, end of period | $26.80 | $47.16 | $39.86 | $35.56 | $38.67 |
Total return3 | (29.35)% | 35.61% 4 | 27.08% | 13.55% | 27.66% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.16% | 1.16% | 1.17% | 1.18% | 1.18% |
Net expenses | 1.13% | 1.14% | 1.14% | 1.16% | 1.16% |
Net investment loss | (0.85)% | (0.83)% | (0.59)% | (0.45)% | (0.45)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 36% | 37% | 39% | 37% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $1,885,963 | $3,088,763 | $2,443,132 | $2,116,542 | $2,142,855 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
| 3 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 4 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate which had a 0.01% impact on the total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $30.47 | $27.32 | $25.87 | $30.33 | $34.05 |
Net investment loss | (0.34) 1 | (0.45) 1 | (0.32) 1 | (0.31) 1 | (0.33) |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 1.32 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (6.19) | 8.18 | 6.05 | 2.56 | 7.69 |
Total from investment operations | (6.53) | 9.05 | 5.73 | 2.25 | 7.36 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (8.99) | (5.90) | (4.28) | (6.71) | (11.08) |
Net asset value, end of period | $14.95 | $30.47 | $27.32 | $25.87 | $30.33 |
Total return2 | (29.54)% 3 | 36.64% 4 | 26.11% | 12.68% | 26.73% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.89% | 1.91% | 1.92% | 1.93% | 1.93% |
Net expenses | 1.89% | 1.91% | 1.91% | 1.91% | 1.91% |
Net investment loss | (1.61)% | (1.57)% | (1.35)% | (1.19)% | (1.19)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 36% | 37% | 39% | 37% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $19,208 | $41,094 | $114,123 | $156,056 | $185,346 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 3 | During the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund received payments from a service provider which had a 0.14% impact on the total return. |
| 4 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate which had a 5.92% impact on the total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $65.50 | $53.17 | $45.84 | $47.53 | $47.13 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.21) 1 | (0.23) | (0.07) | 0.00 1,2 | (0.01) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (16.36) | 18.46 | 11.68 | 5.02 | 11.49 |
Total from investment operations | (16.57) | 18.23 | 11.61 | 5.02 | 11.48 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (8.99) | (5.90) | (4.28) | (6.71) | (11.08) |
Net asset value, end of period | $39.94 | $65.50 | $53.17 | $45.84 | $47.53 |
Total return | (29.05)% | 36.19% | 27.65% | 14.06% | 28.26% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.73% | 0.73% | 0.74% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net expenses | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.41)% | (0.40)% | (0.15)% | 0.00% | (0.02)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 36% | 37% | 39% | 37% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $408,403 | $519,293 | $391,705 | $337,260 | $242,838 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $57.75 | $47.60 | $41.58 | $43.89 | $44.40 |
Net investment loss | (0.31) 1 | (0.29) | (0.16) 1 | (0.10) 1 | (0.11) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (14.11) | 16.34 | 10.46 | 4.50 | 10.68 |
Total from investment operations | (14.42) | 16.05 | 10.30 | 4.40 | 10.57 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (8.99) | (5.90) | (4.28) | (6.71) | (11.08) |
Net asset value, end of period | $34.34 | $57.75 | $47.60 | $41.58 | $43.89 |
Total return | (29.22)% | 35.82% | 27.31% | 13.78% | 27.90% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.08% | 1.08% | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% |
Net expenses | 0.96% | 0.96% | 0.96% | 0.96% | 0.96% |
Net investment loss | (0.68)% | (0.65)% | (0.40)% | (0.25)% | (0.24)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 36% | 37% | 39% | 37% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $320,744 | $647,618 | $559,109 | $561,900 | $564,391 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Growth Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $65.17 | $52.96 | $45.70 | $47.43 | $47.07 |
Net investment loss | (0.24) 1 | (0.26) 1 | (0.09) 1 | (0.01) 1 | (0.02) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (16.26) | 18.37 | 11.63 | 4.99 | 11.46 |
Total from investment operations | (16.50) | 18.11 | 11.54 | 4.98 | 11.44 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (8.99) | (5.90) | (4.28) | (6.71) | (11.08) |
Net asset value, end of period | $39.68 | $65.17 | $52.96 | $45.70 | $47.43 |
Total return | (29.09)% | 36.10% | 27.58% | 14.00% | 28.21% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.83% | 0.83% | 0.84% | 0.85% | 0.85% |
Net expenses | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net investment loss | (0.47)% | (0.44)% | (0.20)% | (0.03)% | (0.03)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 36% | 37% | 39% | 37% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $1,027,038 | $1,959,313 | $1,607,803 | $1,503,753 | $1,614,575 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Growth Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the
Allspring Growth Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $2,058,094,882 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $1,863,000,568 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (181,634,993) |
| Net unrealized gains | $1,681,365,575 |
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to corporate actions. At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $(18,379,899) | $18,379,899 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had a qualified late-year ordinary loss of $15,811,339 which will be recognized on the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
24 | Allspring Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 397,670,571 | $0 | $0 | $ 397,670,571 |
| Consumer discretionary | 717,219,922 | 0 | 0 | 717,219,922 |
| Consumer staples | 7,413,026 | 0 | 0 | 7,413,026 |
| Financials | 257,484,360 | 0 | 0 | 257,484,360 |
| Health care | 502,946,690 | 0 | 0 | 502,946,690 |
| Industrials | 212,199,230 | 0 | 0 | 212,199,230 |
| Information technology | 1,365,852,012 | 0 | 0 | 1,365,852,012 |
| Materials | 49,744,232 | 0 | 0 | 49,744,232 |
| Real estate | 19,694,082 | 0 | 0 | 19,694,082 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 209,236,332 | 0 | 0 | 209,236,332 |
| Total assets | $3,739,460,457 | $0 | $0 | $3,739,460,457 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
Allspring Growth Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.800% |
| Next $500 million | 0.750 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.700 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.640 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.615 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.605 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.580 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.555 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.69% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.45% and declining to 0.30% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
26 | Allspring Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.16% |
| Class C | 1.91 |
| Class R6 | 0.70 |
| Administrator Class | 0.96 |
| Institutional Class | 0.75 |
Distribution fee
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. A distribution fee is charged to Class C shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $8,296 from the sale of Class A shares and $2,006 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
Other transactions
On August 14, 2020, Class A and Class C were reimbursed by Allspring Funds Management in the amount of $234,729 and $1,781,912. The reimbursements were made in connection with resolving certain fee reimbursements.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $2,153,362,571 and $3,166,730,113, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had securities lending transactions with the following counterparties which are subject to offset:
Allspring Growth Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
| Counterparty | Value of securities on loan | Collateral received1 | Net amount |
| BNP Paribas Securities Corp. | $ 7,181,923 | $ (7,181,923) | $0 |
| JPMorgan Securities LLC | 14,889,977 | (14,889,977) | 0 |
| Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC | 38,770,164 | (38,770,164) | 0 |
| Citigroup Global Markets Inc. | 57,072 | (57,072) | 0 |
1 Collateral received within this table is limited to the collateral for the net transaction with the counterparty.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 69,959,765 | $ 3,696,975 |
| Long-term capital gain | 932,931,658 | 638,564,779 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains | Late-year ordinary losses deferred |
| $177,103,413 | $1,681,365,575 | $(15,811,339) |
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of
28 | Allspring Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
Allspring Growth Fund | 29
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Growth Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Growth Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers, or by other appropriate auditing procedures. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
30 | Allspring Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 20% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $932,931,658 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $15,181,269 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $69,959,765 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
Allspring Growth Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
32 | Allspring Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
Allspring Growth Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
34 | Allspring Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
Allspring Growth Fund | 35
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00636 09-22
A206/AR206 07-22
A206/AR206 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Contents
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| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 24 | |
| 30 | |
| 31 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Large Cap Core Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | John R. Campbell, CFA®‡, Vince Fioramonti, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (EGOAX) | 12-17-2007 | -9.22 | 8.91 | 11.67 | -3.66 | 10.20 | 12.33 | 1.23 | 1.08 | ||
| Class C (EGOCX) | 12-17-2007 | -5.39 | 9.36 | 11.66 | -4.39 | 9.36 | 11.66 | 1.98 | 1.83 | ||
| Class R (EGOHX)3 | 9-30-2015 | – | – | – | -3.81 | 9.95 | 12.06 | 1.48 | 1.33 | ||
| Class R6 (EGORX)4 | 9-30-2015 | – | – | – | -3.25 | 10.67 | 13.16 | 0.80 | 0.65 | ||
| Administrator Class (WFLLX) | 7-16-2010 | – | – | – | -3.57 | 10.32 | 12.50 | 1.15 | 0.97 | ||
| Institutional Class (EGOIX) | 12-17-2007 | – | – | – | -3.27 | 10.65 | 12.82 | 0.90 | 0.67 | ||
| S&P 500 Index5 | – | – | – | – | -4.64 | 12.83 | 13.80 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R, Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.08% for Class A, 1.83% for Class C, 1.33% for Class R, 0.65% for Class R6, 0.97% for Administrator Class, and 0.67% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Administrator Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R shares. |
| 4 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 5 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value weighted index with each stock’s weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk and focused portfolio risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the S&P 500 Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund outperformed its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | Sector-allocation decisions were the main contributor to Fund performance, adding value in 7 of the 11 sectors. The Fund benefited significantly from an overweight to energy and an underweight to communication services. This was somewhat unusual, as broad diversification and risk controls surrounding sector weights typically result in stock selection being the main driver of performance within the Fund. Stock selection-effects added value in six sectors, led by materials, health care, and communication services. |
| ■ | Underweights to more defensive sectors, including utilities and consumer staples, detracted from performance. Negative stock-selection effects detracted from relative performance within the financials, consumer discretionary, and information technology (IT) sectors. |
U.S. equities moved higher to cap off a strong 2021 before selling off sharply in early 2022.
Throughout most of 2021, U.S. equity markets were supported by robust corporate earnings and consumer spending, still-accommodative monetary policy, and an improving labor market. Toward the end of the year, stocks continued moving higher despite rising inflation, strained supply chains, slowing economic growth, waning fiscal stimulus, and the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The global economy continued to rebound in early 2022, showing minimal disruption by the Omicron wave of COVID-19. However, the post-Cold War era effectively ended on February 24, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered the largest European military conflict since World War II. A U.S.- and European Union-led coalition of governments, central banks, and corporations imposed sanctions designed to isolate and financially cripple Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer. The fallout from Russia’s aggression sparked the worst global energy crisis since 1973. By April, equity markets came under intense pressure from elevated inflation, surging energy and food prices, slowing growth, tightening monetary policy, renewed COVID-19 lockdowns in China, and the war in Ukraine. U.S. equities fell into bear market territory during the second quarter of 2022, concluding the S&P 500’s worst first half of the year since 1970.
The Fund emphasized higher-quality stocks amid rising interest rates and slowing economic growth.
Characteristics that are typically favored in the portfolio include attractive valuation, earnings consistency, profitability, and improving sentiment. Our experience demonstrates that fundamentally weighted strategies that invest in relatively inexpensive companies with improving fundamentals have typically rewarded long-term investors. We continue to build portfolios that adhere to this
philosophy while recognizing that pervasive macroeconomic risks require an elevated emphasis on risk controls, particularly as it relates to industry exposures, secular growth, and the yield curve.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Apple Incorporated | 6.31 |
| Microsoft Corporation | 5.34 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C | 3.46 |
| Costco Wholesale Corporation | 2.60 |
| Devon Energy Corporation | 2.33 |
| ConocoPhillips | 2.32 |
| Elevance Health Incorporated | 2.26 |
| O'Reilly Automotive Incorporated | 2.21 |
| Copart Incorporated | 2.19 |
| Pfizer Incorporated | 2.17 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
With most macroeconomic indicators signaling mid- to late-cycle dynamics, fundamentally attractive companies (based on measures such as profitability and valuation) look well positioned. The strategy maintains exposure to high-quality companies with the pricing power to navigate inflationary pressure, higher interest rates, stretched supply chains, and elevated energy and labor costs.
The Fund benefited from an overweight to energy and an underweight to the communication services sector.
The strategy’s risk-controlled discipline and its focus on bottom-up stock selection tend to limit the effect of sector allocations on relative performance. However, over the trailing 12-month period, the Fund benefited from a modest overweight to the energy sector, which rose by +67% and was the best-performing sector of the S&P 500. ConocoPhillips (+79%), Chevron Corp. (+68%), and Devon Energy Corp.
8 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
(46%) were among the top performers within the Fund, as energy stocks were boosted by an oil price shock, supply shortages, and geopolitical turmoil. The Fund also benefited from an underweight to and stock selection within the communications services sector which declined by 29% and was the worst-performing sector of the S&P 500.
Bottom-up stock-selection effects in materials and health care also contributed to relative performance. Within materials, Nucor Corp (+41%) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (+23%) capitalized on a rebound in steel prices and a shortage of raw materials. The health care sector is typically viewed as a safe haven of quality growth against rising rates. Holdings such as AbbVie Inc.(+28%), United Therapeutics Corp. (+27%), Elevance Health, Inc. (+26%), Pfizer Inc. (+22%), and CVS Health Corp. (+19) significantly outpaced the +2% return of the overall health care sector within the S&P 500 Index.
Stock selection was weakest in financials, consumer discretionary, and IT.
Bottom-up stock-selection effects in financials, consumer discretionary, and IT detracted from relative performance. Virtu Financial fell -35% as retail trading volumes declined in the wake of the market correction in technology stocks and cryptocurrencies. Within consumer discretionary, Target Corp. (-36%) and Brunswick Corp. (-30%) were both affected by inflationary concerns, deteriorating margins, and a slowdown in consumer spending. We sold out of our position in Brunswick Corp. due to deteriorating model ranks, rising interest rates, and an elevated risk of future earnings disappointments. Qorvo, Inc. (-45%) sold off based on supply-chain delays, semiconductor component shortages, and weakening smartphone demand in China. Zebra Technologies Corp. (-35%) declined in response to supply-chain constraints and elevated logistical costs. The Fund’s underweight to more defensive sectors, such as utilities and consumers, also detracted from performance.
As the economic cycle matures, we expect the market to emphasize higher-quality companies.
Barely two years after the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed the deepest recession since World War II, the global economy is facing new threats from elevated inflation, decelerating growth, tightening financial conditions, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The coordinated monetary and fiscal policy response to the pandemic provided a backstop for
2020–2021’s economic recovery, but 2022’s growth is slowing as massive levels of fiscal and monetary support are unwound across the world.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
The first half of 2022 saw significant compression of valuations, as equity prices fell sharply while earnings expectations have held firm. However, as companies report third-quarter earnings and give guidance for the remainder of the year, there is heightened risk the earnings outlook will deteriorate. We expect that for the remainder of 2022, the market will differentiate between firms that can maintain their margins and expand market share versus those that cannot.
Annualized rates of inflation recently reached a 40-year high, forcing developed central banks to launch an aggressive and synchronized tightening cycle last seen during the early 1980s. It appears that U.S. equity markets have already priced in a mild recession for 2022 while some of the more cyclical sectors of the market may be priced for a worse-than-average recession. Given the environment of tightening financial conditions, slowing economic growth, and rising recession risks, we believe it is prudent to emphasize higher-quality stocks. In addition to our current emphasis on quality, our longstanding focus on strong earnings and inexpensive valuations is presenting selective opportunities within cyclical value stocks.
As we monitor the macroeconomic environment, we will continue to diligently focus on company fundamentals and disciplined portfolio risk management.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 927.44 | $4.97 | 1.04% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.64 | $5.21 | 1.04% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 923.82 | $8.73 | 1.83% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.72 | $9.15 | 1.83% |
| Class R | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 926.38 | $6.07 | 1.27% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,018.50 | $6.36 | 1.27% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 929.11 | $3.11 | 0.65% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.57 | $3.26 | 0.65% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 927.39 | $4.64 | 0.97% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.98 | $4.86 | 0.97% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 929.19 | $3.20 | 0.67% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.47 | $3.36 | 0.67% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 99.22% | |||||
| Communication services: 5.96% | |||||
| Entertainment: 2.50% | |||||
| Activision Blizzard Incorporated | 105,437 | $ 8,429,688 | |||
| Warner Bros. Discovery Incorporated † | 206,392 | 3,095,880 | |||
| 11,525,568 | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 3.46% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 137,077 | 15,988,661 | |||
| Consumer discretionary: 8.88% | |||||
| Household durables: 3.15% | |||||
| Lennar Corporation Class A | 90,675 | 7,707,375 | |||
| PulteGroup Incorporated | 156,572 | 6,829,671 | |||
| 14,537,046 | |||||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 2.16% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 73,806 | 9,960,120 | |||
| Multiline retail: 1.36% | |||||
| Target Corporation | 38,485 | 6,287,679 | |||
| Specialty retail: 2.21% | |||||
| O'Reilly Automotive Incorporated † | 14,498 | 10,200,648 | |||
| Consumer staples: 2.60% | |||||
| Food & staples retailing: 2.60% | |||||
| Costco Wholesale Corporation | 22,142 | 11,985,465 | |||
| Energy: 6.70% | |||||
| Oil, gas & consumable fuels: 6.70% | |||||
| Chevron Corporation | 57,726 | 9,454,364 | |||
| ConocoPhillips | 109,917 | 10,709,213 | |||
| Devon Energy Corporation | 171,334 | 10,768,342 | |||
| 30,931,919 | |||||
| Financials: 12.82% | |||||
| Banks: 4.72% | |||||
| Citigroup Incorporated | 131,532 | 6,826,511 | |||
| Citizens Financial Group Incorporated | 185,568 | 7,046,017 | |||
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | 68,535 | 7,906,198 | |||
| 21,778,726 | |||||
| Capital markets: 6.39% | |||||
| BlackRock Incorporated | 11,861 | 7,937,144 | |||
| Evercore Partners Incorporated Class A | 64,843 | 6,482,355 | |||
| The Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated | 25,568 | 8,524,116 | |||
| VIRTU Financial Incorporated Class A | 280,988 | 6,555,450 | |||
| 29,499,065 | |||||
| Insurance: 1.71% | |||||
| Fidelity National Financial Incorporated | 197,694 | 7,899,852 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Health care: 14.64% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 5.19% | |||||
| AbbVie Incorporated | 52,982 | $ 7,603,447 | |||
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 11,861 | 6,899,425 | |||
| United Therapeutics Corporation † | 40,856 | 9,440,596 | |||
| 23,943,468 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 1.43% | |||||
| Hologic Incorporated † | 92,784 | 6,622,922 | |||
| Health care providers & services: 4.25% | |||||
| CVS Health Corporation | 96,211 | 9,205,468 | |||
| Elevance Health Incorporated | 21,879 | 10,438,471 | |||
| 19,643,939 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 3.77% | |||||
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | 99,900 | 7,370,622 | |||
| Pfizer Incorporated | 198,221 | 10,012,143 | |||
| 17,382,765 | |||||
| Industrials: 9.39% | |||||
| Building products: 1.60% | |||||
| Masco Corporation | 133,905 | 7,415,659 | |||
| Commercial services & supplies: 2.19% | |||||
| Copart Incorporated † | 78,814 | 10,096,073 | |||
| Construction & engineering: 1.89% | |||||
| EMCOR Group Incorporated | 75,123 | 8,742,064 | |||
| Machinery: 1.65% | |||||
| AGCO Corporation | 69,852 | 7,608,280 | |||
| Road & rail: 2.06% | |||||
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services Incorporated | 51,927 | 9,516,661 | |||
| Information technology: 28.14% | |||||
| Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 1.18% | |||||
| Zebra Technologies Corporation Class A † | 15,288 | 5,468,365 | |||
| IT services: 3.70% | |||||
| Accenture plc Class A | 30,841 | 9,445,365 | |||
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 21,615 | 7,647,171 | |||
| 17,092,536 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 6.68% | |||||
| Applied Materials Incorporated | 68,535 | 7,263,339 | |||
| Broadcom Incorporated | 16,343 | 8,751,350 | |||
| Qorvo Incorporated † | 52,982 | 5,513,837 | |||
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 64,316 | 9,329,679 | |||
| 30,858,205 | |||||
| Software: 10.27% | |||||
| Adobe Incorporated † | 15,815 | 6,486,048 | |||
| Fortinet Incorporated † | 141,020 | 8,411,843 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Software (continued) | |||||
| Microsoft Corporation | 87,776 | $ 24,642,233 | |||
| Oracle Corporation | 100,956 | 7,858,415 | |||
| 47,398,539 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 6.31% | |||||
| Apple Incorporated | 179,241 | 29,128,454 | |||
| Materials: 5.99% | |||||
| Chemicals: 2.15% | |||||
| CF Industries Holdings Incorporated | 103,855 | 9,917,114 | |||
| Metals & mining: 3.84% | |||||
| Nucor Corporation | 67,479 | 9,163,648 | |||
| Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company | 45,074 | 8,575,329 | |||
| 17,738,977 | |||||
| Real estate: 4.10% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 4.10% | |||||
| Simon Property Group Incorporated | 86,458 | 9,392,797 | |||
| Weyerhaeuser Company | 262,801 | 9,544,932 | |||
| 18,937,729 | |||||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $334,384,139) | 458,106,499 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 0.87% | |||||
| Investment companies: 0.87% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 4,015,223 | 4,015,223 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $4,015,223) | 4,015,223 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $338,399,362) | 100.09% | 462,121,722 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | (0.09) | (406,115) | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $461,715,607 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $4,053,285 | $67,655,876 | $(67,693,938) | $0 | $0 | $ 4,015,223 | 4,015,223 | $ 11,545 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 6,811,260 | 19,426,625 | (26,237,885) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,497 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $4,015,223 | $15,042 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $334,384,139) | $ 458,106,499 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $4,015,223) | 4,015,223 |
Receivable for dividends | 498,447 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 12,495 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 57,184 |
Total assets | 462,689,848 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 539,187 |
Management fee payable | 208,179 |
Administration fees payable | 70,273 |
Shareholder servicing fees payable | 70,148 |
Distribution fees payable | 10,819 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 75,635 |
Total liabilities | 974,241 |
Total net assets | $461,715,607 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 301,059,843 |
Total distributable earnings | 160,655,764 |
Total net assets | $461,715,607 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 330,583,981 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 20,858,960 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $15.85 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $16.82 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 18,080,828 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 1,174,143 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $15.40 |
Net assets – Class R | $ 142,325 |
Shares outstanding – Class R1 | 8,909 |
Net asset value per share – Class R | $15.98 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 4,535,031 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 283,696 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $15.99 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 1,527,856 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 94,199 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $16.22 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 106,845,586 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 6,675,612 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $16.01 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 15
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends | $ 8,035,230 |
Income from affiliated securities | 27,792 |
Total investment income | 8,063,022 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 3,575,769 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 747,513 |
Class C | 48,188 |
Class R | 593 |
Class R6 | 1,558 |
Administrator Class | 2,658 |
Institutional Class | 162,905 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 889,897 |
Class C | 57,029 |
Class R | 702 |
Administrator Class | 4,993 |
| Distribution fees | |
Class C | 171,074 |
Class R | 580 |
Custody and accounting fees | 27,635 |
Professional fees | 50,701 |
Registration fees | 47,593 |
Shareholder report expenses | 41,724 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Other fees and expenses | 18,060 |
Total expenses | 5,869,270 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (562,707) |
Class A | (107,869) |
Class R6 | (466) |
Administrator Class | (667) |
Institutional Class | (112,222) |
Net expenses | 5,085,339 |
Net investment income | 2,977,683 |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 51,089,392 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (71,803,083) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (20,713,691) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(17,736,008) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment income | $ 2,977,683 | $ 2,803,936 | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 51,089,392 | 68,784,754 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (71,803,083) | 90,218,551 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (17,736,008) | 161,807,241 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (47,154,331) | (43,568,141) | ||
Class C | (3,108,743) | (4,062,417) | ||
Class R | (22,264) | (69,596) | ||
Class R6 | (746,242) | (942,745) | ||
Administrator Class | (378,532) | (283,218) | ||
Institutional Class | (17,341,089) | (18,363,526) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (68,751,201) | (67,289,643) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 1,097,088 | 19,147,813 | 1,347,272 | 23,128,393 |
Class C | 29,275 | 502,832 | 57,119 | 930,310 |
Class R | 2,207 | 40,355 | 5,379 | 89,355 |
Class R6 | 15,663 | 266,817 | 22,468 | 376,280 |
Administrator Class | 59,959 | 1,204,301 | 16,251 | 286,289 |
Institutional Class | 1,676,327 | 29,645,655 | 946,066 | 15,869,566 |
| 50,807,773 | 40,680,193 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 2,550,202 | 44,759,070 | 2,687,262 | 41,377,941 |
Class C | 179,061 | 3,060,161 | 259,190 | 3,893,123 |
Class R | 1,260 | 22,264 | 4,276 | 65,764 |
Class R6 | 9,372 | 166,069 | 18,442 | 286,328 |
Administrator Class | 20,990 | 377,210 | 17,840 | 279,907 |
Institutional Class | 894,254 | 15,863,211 | 1,082,589 | 16,825,725 |
| 64,247,985 | 62,728,788 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (2,328,633) | (40,154,334) | (3,617,358) | (60,975,760) |
Class C | (574,944) | (10,038,659) | (942,897) | (15,386,123) |
Class R | (24,131) | (477,364) | (38,061) | (626,185) |
Class R6 | (54,832) | (979,083) | (143,020) | (2,452,243) |
Administrator Class | (118,858) | (2,102,057) | (42,338) | (720,832) |
Institutional Class | (2,878,046) | (49,352,502) | (4,234,725) | (70,438,804) |
| (103,103,999) | (150,599,947) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 11,951,759 | (47,190,966) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (74,535,450) | 47,326,632 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 536,251,057 | 488,924,425 | ||
End of period | $ 461,715,607 | $ 536,251,057 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $18.77 | $15.71 | $18.57 | $20.82 | $18.01 |
Net investment income | 0.09 | 0.08 1 | 0.14 | 0.25 | 0.15 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.55) | 5.33 | 0.51 | (0.29) | 3.01 |
Total from investment operations | (0.46) | 5.41 | 0.65 | (0.04) | 3.16 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.04) | (0.15) | (0.29) | (0.16) | (0.13) |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.46) | (2.35) | (3.51) | (2.21) | (0.35) |
Net asset value, end of period | $15.85 | $18.77 | $15.71 | $18.57 | $20.82 |
Total return2 | (3.66)% | 37.90% | 2.86% | 1.10% | 17.66% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.20% | 1.23% | 1.23% | 1.19% | 1.18% |
Net expenses | 1.06% | 1.06% | 1.06% | 1.08% | 1.10% |
Net investment income | 0.52% | 0.49% | 0.97% | 1.42% | 0.73% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $330,584 | $366,731 | $300,373 | $341,045 | $360,937 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $18.39 | $15.41 | $18.22 | $20.44 | $17.70 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.05) 1 | (0.04) 1 | 0.03 | 0.13 | (0.00) 2 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.52) | 5.23 | 0.47 | (0.30) | 2.96 |
Total from investment operations | (0.57) | 5.19 | 0.50 | (0.17) | 2.96 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | (0.01) | (0.09) | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.42) | (2.21) | (3.31) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Net asset value, end of period | $15.40 | $18.39 | $15.41 | $18.22 | $20.44 |
Total return3 | (4.39)% | 36.87% | 2.01% | 0.34% | 16.78% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.94% | 1.98% | 1.97% | 1.94% | 1.93% |
Net expenses | 1.83% | 1.83% | 1.83% | 1.83% | 1.85% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.27)% | (0.25)% | 0.21% | 0.67% | (0.02)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $18,081 | $28,335 | $33,405 | $47,649 | $61,529 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is more than $(0.005). |
| 3 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $18.89 | $15.70 | $18.57 | $20.81 | $18.04 |
Net investment income | 0.03 1 | 0.04 1 | 0.11 1 | 0.21 | 0.12 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.52) | 5.35 | 0.49 | (0.29) | 2.99 |
Total from investment operations | (0.49) | 5.39 | 0.60 | (0.08) | 3.11 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | (0.00) 2 | (0.25) | (0.11) | (0.12) |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.47) | (2.16) | (0.34) |
Net asset value, end of period | $15.98 | $18.89 | $15.70 | $18.57 | $20.81 |
Total return | (3.81)% | 37.56% | 2.56% | 0.87% | 17.37% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.40% | 1.47% | 1.47% | 1.44% | 1.43% |
Net expenses | 1.31% | 1.33% | 1.33% | 1.33% | 1.34% |
Net investment income | 0.19% | 0.27% | 0.69% | 1.18% | 0.48% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $142 | $559 | $910 | $2,043 | $2,042 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $18.91 | $15.81 | $18.68 | $20.92 | $18.09 |
Net investment income | 0.17 | 0.16 | 0.24 1 | 0.34 | 0.22 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.55) | 5.36 | 0.48 | (0.30) | 3.04 |
Total from investment operations | (0.38) | 5.52 | 0.72 | 0.04 | 3.26 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.12) | (0.22) | (0.37) | (0.23) | (0.21) |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.54) | (2.42) | (3.59) | (2.28) | (0.43) |
Net asset value, end of period | $15.99 | $18.91 | $15.81 | $18.68 | $20.92 |
Total return | (3.25)% | 38.47% | 3.23% | 1.60% | 18.16% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.77% | 0.80% | 0.79% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net expenses | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% |
Net investment income | 0.92% | 0.92% | 1.40% | 1.83% | 1.08% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $4,535 | $5,928 | $6,570 | $13,223 | $15,225 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $19.16 | $15.96 | $18.82 | $21.05 | $18.21 |
Net investment income | 0.10 1 | 0.10 1 | 0.18 1 | 0.29 1 | 0.17 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.55) | 5.43 | 0.49 | (0.30) | 3.05 |
Total from investment operations | (0.45) | 5.53 | 0.67 | (0.01) | 3.22 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.07) | (0.13) | (0.31) | (0.17) | (0.16) |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.49) | (2.33) | (3.53) | (2.22) | (0.38) |
Net asset value, end of period | $16.22 | $19.16 | $15.96 | $18.82 | $21.05 |
Total return | (3.57)% | 38.04% | 2.90% | 1.26% | 17.81% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.11% | 1.15% | 1.13% | 1.10% | 1.10% |
Net expenses | 0.97% | 0.97% | 0.97% | 0.97% | 0.98% |
Net investment income | 0.56% | 0.58% | 1.04% | 1.52% | 0.86% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $1,528 | $2,531 | $2,241 | $16,566 | $25,444 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $18.93 | $15.83 | $18.70 | $20.95 | $18.12 |
Net investment income | 0.16 | 0.19 | 0.24 1 | 0.34 | 0.23 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.55) | 5.33 | 0.48 | (0.30) | 3.03 |
Total from investment operations | (0.39) | 5.52 | 0.72 | 0.04 | 3.26 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.11) | (0.22) | (0.37) | (0.24) | (0.21) |
Net realized gains | (2.42) | (2.20) | (3.22) | (2.05) | (0.22) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (2.53) | (2.42) | (3.59) | (2.29) | (0.43) |
Net asset value, end of period | $16.01 | $18.93 | $15.83 | $18.70 | $20.95 |
Total return | (3.27)% | 38.42% | 3.22% | 1.56% | 18.16% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.87% | 0.90% | 0.89% | 0.86% | 0.85% |
Net expenses | 0.67% | 0.67% | 0.67% | 0.67% | 0.68% |
Net investment income | 0.91% | 0.90% | 1.40% | 1.82% | 1.15% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 31% | 46% | 28% | 45% | 33% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $106,846 | $132,167 | $145,425 | $600,595 | $690,855 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Large Cap Core Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the
24 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $338,744,743 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $146,857,408 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (23,480,429) |
| Net unrealized gains | $123,376,979 |
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. In addition, the Fund may utilize equalization accounting for tax purposes and designate earnings and profits, including net realized gains distributed to shareholders on redemption of shares, as a part of the dividends paid deduction for income tax purposes. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to equalization payments . At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $1,861,202 | $(1,861,202) |
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 27,514,229 | $0 | $0 | $ 27,514,229 |
| Consumer discretionary | 40,985,493 | 0 | 0 | 40,985,493 |
| Consumer staples | 11,985,465 | 0 | 0 | 11,985,465 |
| Energy | 30,931,919 | 0 | 0 | 30,931,919 |
| Financials | 59,177,643 | 0 | 0 | 59,177,643 |
| Health care | 67,593,094 | 0 | 0 | 67,593,094 |
| Industrials | 43,378,737 | 0 | 0 | 43,378,737 |
| Information technology | 129,946,099 | 0 | 0 | 129,946,099 |
| Materials | 27,656,091 | 0 | 0 | 27,656,091 |
| Real estate | 18,937,729 | 0 | 0 | 18,937,729 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 4,015,223 | 0 | 0 | 4,015,223 |
| Total assets | $462,121,722 | $0 | $0 | $462,121,722 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
26 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.700% |
| Next $500 million | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.625 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.600 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.590 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.565 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.555 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.530 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.505 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.70% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.35% and declining to 0.30% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.08% |
| Class C | 1.83 |
| Class R | 1.33 |
| Class R6 | 0.65 |
| Administrator Class | 0.97 |
| Institutional Class | 0.67 |
Distribution fees
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C and Class R shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Distribution fees are charged to Class C and Class R shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares and 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class R shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $3,981 from the sale of Class A shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A and Class C shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $155,709,000 and $208,261,990, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based
28 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Notes to financial statements
on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 5,128,593 | $ 5,089,812 |
| Long-term capital gain | 63,622,608 | 62,199,831 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed ordinary income | Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains |
| $3,806,710 | $33,472,127 | $123,376,979 |
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 29
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Large Cap Core Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Large Cap Core Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian and transfer agent. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
30 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 100% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $65,483,810 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022. Long-term capital gains in the amount of $1,861,202 were distributed in connection with Fund share redemptions.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $5,128,593 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $3,293,171 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
32 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
34 | Allspring Large Cap Core Fund
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
Allspring Large Cap Core Fund | 35
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00648 09-22
A208/AR208 07-22
A208/AR208 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 25 | |
| 32 | |
| 33 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Robert Gruendyke, CFA®‡, Thomas C. Ognar, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (STAFX) | 7-30-2010 | -25.34 | 10.76 | 11.80 | -20.79 | 12.08 | 12.46 | 1.17 | 1.07 | ||
| Class C (STOFX) | 7-30-2010 | -22.42 | 11.22 | 11.79 | -21.42 | 11.22 | 11.79 | 1.92 | 1.82 | ||
| Class R (STMFX)3 | 6-15-2012 | – | – | – | -20.99 | 11.80 | 12.18 | 1.42 | 1.32 | ||
| Class R4 (SLGRX)4 | 11-30-2012 | – | – | – | -20.60 | 12.32 | 12.76 | 0.89 | 0.80 | ||
| Class R6 (STFFX)5 | 11-30-2012 | – | – | – | -20.49 | 12.53 | 12.94 | 0.74 | 0.65 | ||
| Administrator Class (STDFX) | 7-30-2010 | – | – | – | -20.72 | 12.20 | 12.59 | 1.09 | 0.95 | ||
| Institutional Class (STNFX) | 7-30-2010 | – | – | – | -20.57 | 12.42 | 12.84 | 0.84 | 0.75 | ||
| Russell 1000® Growth Index6 | – | – | – | – | -11.93 | 16.30 | 15.95 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R, Class R4, Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.07% for Class A, 1.82% for Class C, 1.32% for Class R, 0.80% for Class R4, 0.65% for Class R6, 0.95% for Administrator Class, and 0.75% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the former Investor Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R shares. |
| 4 | Historical performance shown for the Class R4 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R4 shares. |
| 5 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 6 | The Russell 1000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with higher price/book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 1000® Growth Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Growth Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | The Fund’s performance was inhibited by stocks within information technology (IT), consumer discretionary and financials. |
| ■ | Holdings within materials and health care aided the Fund’s performance for the period. |
High inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical conflicts pervaded markets.
Over the past year, investors toiled with a myriad of headwinds including high inflation, rising interest rates, uncertainty around U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The confluence of these issues permeated the entire market, with growth stocks bearing the brunt of the carnage. The 10-year yield rose from 1.23% at the start of the period to 2.64% at period end. Higher interest rates are designed to slow down economic growth, and a moderate gross domestic product growth environment actually favors growth stocks, as growth premiums tend to rise. This is the main reason that our portfolios have historically performed well during rising-rate cycles.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine added geopolitical risks to an already top down–driven market which muted the impact of a strong earnings season for our holdings. This has been frustrating, as many of our stocks continue to exceed expectations, yet they have not been rewarded. Nevertheless, given the contraction of valuations in our universe coupled with our companies’ dynamic innovation, we believe there is a huge opportunity going forward.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 11.54 |
| Apple Incorporated | 8.59 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 8.34 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 6.44 |
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 3.43 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 2.97 |
| The TJX Companies Incorporated | 2.76 |
| Microchip Technology Incorporated | 2.05 |
| United Parcel Service Incorporated Class B | 2.04 |
| Copart Incorporated | 2.03 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Select IT, consumer discretionary, and financials stocks hindered relative performance.
Higher interest rates and inflation adversely affected higher growth stocks. Weakness in the Fund came from select software and internet stocks in key areas including digital advertising, gaming development, and application performance monitoring. Elsewhere within IT, our sizeable underweight to Apple Inc. impeded relative performance, as the stock outperformed the benchmark during the period. Investors have flocked to the company as a perceived safe haven amid a risk-off environment for other higher-growth technology companies. Other detractors within consumer discretionary included Floor and Décor Holdings, Inc.*, a specialty retailer of hardwood flooring, which fell in conjunction with other housing-related stocks amid rising mortgage rates and higher inflation. Within the financials sector, MarketAxess Holdings Inc.* fell sharply largely due to low bond fund turnover, tightening credit spreads within high grade and high yield, and generally lower volatility across the fixed income landscape in the latter part of 2021.
Select materials and health care stocks contributed to Fund performance.
Stocks within the communication services sector aided relative performance during the period. Our underweight to Meta Platforms aided relative performance as the stock fell 55% during the period. Recently, the company has faced several challenges that have weighed on the stock, such as increased media scrutiny (claiming that it promotes harmful, divisive content), iOS advertising headwinds, and competition from TikTok. Within materials, Linde PLC outperformed after generating better-than-expected revenue growth aided by both favorable pricing and higher volumes across all geographies. Within the health care sector, Seagen, Inc. rallied late in the period upon news that Merck would acquire it for a significant premium.
| * | This security was no longer held at the end of the reporting period. |
8 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Areas of focus remain in sustainable and dynamic growth opportunities.
The portfolio has a strategic tilt toward diversification and sustainable growth. We continue to look for proven business models that are not dependent on capital markets to fund profitless growth over the long-term. While inflation has hurt our portfolios over the past 18 months, we believe many of our companies are positioned well should it persist. We continue to take advantage where inflation is causing disruption and seek to capitalize on dynamic growth opportunities that we believe are not fully appreciated by investors. While the current top down–driven market has been frustrating, like all cycles, it is fleeting. Given the valuation contraction of many of our stocks coupled with their dynamic innovation, we believe there is an enormous opportunity for our investors going forward. We believe that, in this type of market—when sentiment is morose, volatility is high, and market noise is deafening—investors should consider adding to our portfolio, as historically we have come out of trying times and often prevailed in the ensuing periods.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 858.19 | $4.70 | 1.02% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.74 | $5.11 | 1.02% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 854.75 | $8.37 | 1.82% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.77 | $9.10 | 1.82% |
| Class R | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 857.25 | $5.71 | 1.24% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,018.65 | $6.21 | 1.24% |
| Class R4 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 859.25 | $3.69 | 0.80% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.83 | $4.01 | 0.80% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 859.77 | $3.00 | 0.65% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.57 | $3.26 | 0.65% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 858.45 | $4.38 | 0.95% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.08 | $4.76 | 0.95% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 859.17 | $3.46 | 0.75% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.08 | $3.76 | 0.75% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 97.80% | |||||
| Communication services: 8.87% | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 8.87% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 452,520 | $ 52,637,126 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 139,100 | 16,224,624 | |||
| Meta Platforms Incorporated Class A † | 23,205 | 3,691,916 | |||
| 72,553,666 | |||||
| Consumer discretionary: 18.82% | |||||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 3.27% | |||||
| Airbnb Incorporated Class A † | 54,660 | 6,066,167 | |||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 10,232 | 16,005,099 | |||
| Starbucks Corporation | 55,558 | 4,710,207 | |||
| 26,781,473 | |||||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 8.34% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 505,502 | 68,217,495 | |||
| Specialty retail: 4.82% | |||||
| O'Reilly Automotive Incorporated † | 7,833 | 5,511,220 | |||
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 13,883 | 4,177,950 | |||
| The TJX Companies Incorporated | 368,524 | 22,538,928 | |||
| Ulta Beauty Incorporated † | 18,475 | 7,185,112 | |||
| 39,413,210 | |||||
| Textiles, apparel & luxury goods: 2.39% | |||||
| lululemon athletica Incorporated † | 29,779 | 9,246,677 | |||
| Nike Incorporated Class B | 89,335 | 10,266,378 | |||
| 19,513,055 | |||||
| Consumer staples: 1.48% | |||||
| Beverages: 0.54% | |||||
| Constellation Brands Incorporated Class A | 17,796 | 4,383,333 | |||
| Food & staples retailing: 0.63% | |||||
| Sysco Corporation | 60,947 | 5,174,400 | |||
| Personal products: 0.31% | |||||
| The Estee Lauder Companies Incorporated Class A | 9,307 | 2,541,742 | |||
| Financials: 5.95% | |||||
| Capital markets: 5.95% | |||||
| BlackRock Incorporated | 10,178 | 6,810,914 | |||
| CME Group Incorporated | 32,203 | 6,423,854 | |||
| Intercontinental Exchange Incorporated | 40,333 | 4,113,563 | |||
| MSCI Incorporated | 9,321 | 4,486,570 | |||
| The Charles Schwab Corporation | 211,761 | 14,622,097 | |||
| Tradeweb Markets Incorporated Class A | 173,252 | 12,217,731 | |||
| 48,674,729 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Health care: 15.59% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 3.19% | |||||
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 31,599 | $ 4,488,322 | |||
| Horizon Therapeutics plc † | 101,643 | 8,433,320 | |||
| Seagen Incorporated † | 40,094 | 7,216,118 | |||
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 21,113 | 5,920,296 | |||
| 26,058,056 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 7.00% | |||||
| Abbott Laboratories | 78,943 | 8,592,156 | |||
| Boston Scientific Corporation † | 350,855 | 14,402,598 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 143,619 | 14,439,454 | |||
| Intuitive Surgical Incorporated † | 34,526 | 7,946,849 | |||
| Stryker Corporation | 55,331 | 11,882,332 | |||
| 57,263,389 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 1.45% | |||||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 21,833 | 11,840,909 | |||
| Health care technology: 0.46% | |||||
| Veeva Systems Incorporated Class A † | 16,952 | 3,790,128 | |||
| Life sciences tools & services: 2.81% | |||||
| Agilent Technologies Incorporated | 100,466 | 13,472,491 | |||
| ICON plc ADR † | 14,048 | 3,389,080 | |||
| IQVIA Holdings Incorporated † | 9,883 | 2,374,588 | |||
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated | 6,313 | 3,777,762 | |||
| 23,013,921 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 0.68% | |||||
| Zoetis Incorporated | 30,285 | 5,528,527 | |||
| Industrials: 7.75% | |||||
| Air freight & logistics: 2.04% | |||||
| United Parcel Service Incorporated Class B | 85,589 | 16,680,440 | |||
| Building products: 0.41% | |||||
| Johnson Controls International plc | 62,888 | 3,390,292 | |||
| Commercial services & supplies: 2.03% | |||||
| Copart Incorporated † | 129,728 | 16,618,157 | |||
| Electrical equipment: 0.83% | |||||
| Generac Holdings Incorporated † | 16,461 | 4,416,486 | |||
| Rockwell Automation Incorporated | 9,365 | 2,390,697 | |||
| 6,807,183 | |||||
| Road & rail: 2.44% | |||||
| CSX Corporation | 169,506 | 5,480,129 | |||
| J.B. Hunt Transport Services Incorporated | 30,458 | 5,582,038 | |||
| Union Pacific Corporation | 39,069 | 8,880,384 | |||
| 19,942,551 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Information technology: 36.84% | |||||
| IT services: 4.76% | |||||
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 79,398 | $ 28,090,218 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 51,305 | 10,882,304 | |||
| 38,972,522 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 7.78% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 72,152 | 6,816,199 | |||
| Enphase Energy Incorporated † | 22,645 | 6,435,256 | |||
| Microchip Technology Incorporated | 243,770 | 16,786,002 | |||
| NVIDIA Corporation | 133,765 | 24,295,737 | |||
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 63,914 | 9,271,365 | |||
| 63,604,559 | |||||
| Software: 15.71% | |||||
| Adobe Incorporated † | 3,593 | 1,473,561 | |||
| Autodesk Incorporated † | 6,063 | 1,311,548 | |||
| Crowdstrike Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 42,284 | 7,763,342 | |||
| Dynatrace Incorporated † | 171,178 | 6,441,428 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 336,272 | 94,405,004 | |||
| Palo Alto Networks Incorporated † | 3,266 | 1,630,061 | |||
| Salesforce.com Incorporated † | 19,198 | 3,532,816 | |||
| ServiceNow Incorporated † | 24,382 | 10,890,464 | |||
| Zoom Video Communications Incorporated † | 9,821 | 1,020,009 | |||
| 128,468,233 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 8.59% | |||||
| Apple Incorporated | 432,270 | 70,248,198 | |||
| Materials: 1.62% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.62% | |||||
| Linde plc | 43,801 | 13,227,902 | |||
| Real estate: 0.88% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 0.88% | |||||
| Equinix Incorporated | 5,800 | 4,081,692 | |||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 9,456 | 3,175,230 | |||
| 7,256,922 | |||||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $406,576,079) | 799,964,992 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 1.66% | |||||
| Investment companies: 1.66% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 13,554,667 | 13,554,667 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $13,554,667) | 13,554,667 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $420,130,746) | 99.46% | 813,519,659 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | 0.54 | 4,381,440 | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $817,901,099 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| ADR | American depositary receipt |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $9,488,900 | $230,288,646 | $(226,222,879) | $0 | $0 | $ 13,554,667 | 13,554,667 | $ 44,329 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 0 | 496,825 | (496,825) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $13,554,667 | $44,330 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $406,576,079) | $ 799,964,992 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $13,554,667) | 13,554,667 |
Receivable for investments sold | 10,084,061 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 252,681 |
Receivable for dividends | 106,347 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 50,028 |
Total assets | 824,012,776 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for investments purchased | 5,271,357 |
Management fee payable | 376,986 |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 135,068 |
Administration fees payable | 99,260 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 2,577 |
Distribution fees payable | 2,345 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 224,084 |
Total liabilities | 6,111,677 |
Total net assets | $817,901,099 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 357,316,172 |
Total distributable earnings | 460,584,927 |
Total net assets | $817,901,099 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 492,177,497 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 13,097,421 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $37.58 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $39.87 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 3,207,062 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 104,590 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $30.66 |
Net assets – Class R | $ 2,666,287 |
Shares outstanding – Class R1 | 75,001 |
Net asset value per share – Class R | $35.55 |
Net assets – Class R4 | $ 16,124 |
Shares outstanding – Class R41 | 407 |
Net asset value per share – Class R4 | $39.62 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 216,149,817 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 5,366,053 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $40.28 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 60,062,371 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 1,559,627 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $38.51 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 43,621,941 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 1,093,158 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $39.90 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 15
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends (net of foreign withholdings taxes of $1,695) | $ 5,411,258 |
Income from affiliated securities | 44,339 |
Total investment income | 5,455,597 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 7,117,857 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 1,253,814 |
Class C | 9,704 |
Class R | 5,815 |
Class R4 | 15 |
Class R6 | 88,711 |
Administrator Class | 95,423 |
Institutional Class | 86,352 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 1,492,251 |
Class C | 11,540 |
Class R | 5,649 |
Class R4 | 19 |
Administrator Class | 183,362 |
| Distribution fees | |
Class C | 34,619 |
Class R | 5,649 |
Custody and accounting fees | 55,113 |
Professional fees | 43,024 |
Registration fees | 93,102 |
Shareholder report expenses | 47,048 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Interest expense | 1,031 |
Other fees and expenses | 17,139 |
Total expenses | 10,667,335 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (726,126) |
Class A | (340,236) |
Class C | (1,339) |
Class R6 | (60,272) |
Administrator Class | (52,204) |
Institutional Class | (13,297) |
Net expenses | 9,473,861 |
Net investment loss | (4,018,264) |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 129,735,058 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (357,443,950) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (227,708,892) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(231,727,156) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment loss | $ (4,018,264) | $ (4,443,776) | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 129,735,058 | 165,932,271 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (357,443,950) | 117,641,204 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (231,727,156) | 279,129,699 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (94,969,340) | (79,883,893) | ||
Class C | (885,940) | (1,111,827) | ||
Class R | (440,556) | (455,637) | ||
Class R4 | (2,756) | (2,447) | ||
Class R6 | (47,295,062) | (42,121,261) | ||
Administrator Class | (11,436,683) | (10,082,395) | ||
Institutional Class | (11,138,623) | (9,083,723) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (166,168,960) | (142,741,183) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 208,098 | 9,675,849 | 358,636 | 18,235,977 |
Class C | 14,823 | 602,775 | 16,087 | 710,212 |
Class R | 24,867 | 948,090 | 10,934 | 514,288 |
Class R6 | 279,638 | 13,594,825 | 884,011 | 47,267,504 |
Administrator Class | 44,131 | 1,918,024 | 81,854 | 4,241,660 |
Institutional Class | 303,730 | 16,712,575 | 180,795 | 9,671,424 |
| 43,452,138 | 80,641,065 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 1,893,114 | 92,137,889 | 1,646,799 | 77,613,521 |
Class C | 22,198 | 885,940 | 27,637 | 1,109,089 |
Class R | 8,564 | 394,893 | 7,808 | 352,223 |
Class R4 | 54 | 2,756 | 0 | 0 |
Class R6 | 873,534 | 45,458,706 | 795,939 | 39,597,989 |
Administrator Class | 229,215 | 11,426,420 | 209,572 | 10,074,123 |
Institutional Class | 196,289 | 10,126,530 | 175,339 | 8,665,260 |
| 160,433,134 | 137,412,205 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (1,510,134) | (67,884,626) | (1,342,908) | (68,136,715) |
Class C | (68,591) | (2,691,286) | (136,498) | (6,097,440) |
Class R | (14,112) | (558,622) | (32,548) | (1,538,698) |
Class R6 | (2,266,673) | (110,291,919) | (1,505,795) | (80,465,331) |
Administrator Class | (241,347) | (11,229,775) | (335,762) | (17,408,048) |
Institutional Class | (754,103) | (34,467,686) | (415,498) | (22,387,229) |
| (227,123,914) | (196,033,461) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | (23,238,642) | 22,019,809 | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (421,134,758) | 158,408,325 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 1,239,035,857 | 1,080,627,532 | ||
End of period | $ 817,901,099 | $1,239,035,857 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $55.05 | $49.63 | $44.23 | $52.01 | $50.10 |
Net investment loss | (0.24) 1 | (0.25) | (0.11) 1 | (0.03) 1 | (0.08) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (9.43) | 12.60 | 9.66 | 3.47 | 12.56 |
Total from investment operations | (9.67) | 12.35 | 9.55 | 3.44 | 12.48 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $37.58 | $55.05 | $49.63 | $44.23 | $52.01 |
Total return2 | (20.79)% | 27.25% | 23.51% | 11.00% | 27.98% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.17% | 1.17% | 1.18% | 1.18% | 1.17% |
Net expenses | 1.04% | 1.05% | 1.05% | 1.07% | 1.07% |
Net investment loss | (0.52)% | (0.53)% | (0.24)% | (0.07)% | (0.16)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $492,177 | $688,523 | $587,771 | $529,110 | $534,694 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $46.65 | $43.32 | $39.41 | $47.97 | $47.25 |
Net investment loss | (0.49) 1 | (0.56) 1 | (0.38) 1 | (0.32) 1 | (0.31) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (7.70) | 10.82 | 8.44 | 2.98 | 11.60 |
Total from investment operations | (8.19) | 10.26 | 8.06 | 2.66 | 11.29 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $30.66 | $46.65 | $43.32 | $39.41 | $47.97 |
Total return2 | (21.42)% | 26.28% | 22.57% | 10.17% | 27.03% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.92% | 1.92% | 1.93% | 1.93% | 1.92% |
Net expenses | 1.82% | 1.82% | 1.82% | 1.82% | 1.82% |
Net investment loss | (1.29)% | (1.29)% | (1.00)% | (0.80)% | (0.90)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $3,207 | $6,351 | $9,918 | $11,504 | $15,586 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $52.61 | $47.81 | $42.86 | $50.89 | $49.34 |
Net investment loss | (0.32) 1 | (0.37) 1 | (0.20) 1 | (0.13) 1 | (0.20) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (8.94) | 12.10 | 9.30 | 3.32 | 12.32 |
Total from investment operations | (9.26) | 11.73 | 9.10 | 3.19 | 12.12 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $35.55 | $52.61 | $47.81 | $42.86 | $50.89 |
Total return | (20.99)% | 26.97% | 23.16% | 10.74% | 27.65% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.33% | 1.33% | 1.41% | 1.42% | 1.42% |
Net expenses | 1.28% | 1.29% | 1.32% | 1.32% | 1.32% |
Net investment loss | (0.75)% | (0.77)% | (0.49)% | (0.29)% | (0.40)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $2,666 | $2,929 | $3,322 | $4,499 | $5,661 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R4 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $57.50 | $51.43 | $45.72 | $53.23 | $50.94 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.13) 1 | (0.15) | 0.02 1 | 0.11 1 | 0.05 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (9.95) | 13.15 | 9.91 | 3.60 | 12.81 |
Total from investment operations | (10.08) | 13.00 | 9.93 | 3.71 | 12.86 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.07) | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.22) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $39.62 | $57.50 | $51.43 | $45.72 | $53.23 |
Total return | (20.60)% | 27.56% | 23.59% | 11.32% | 28.31% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.88% | 0.86% | 0.90% | 0.90% | 0.90% |
Net expenses | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.27)% | (0.28)% | 0.05% | 0.24% | 0.10% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $16 | $20 | $18 | $896 | $2,089 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $58.26 | $51.95 | $46.06 | $53.49 | $51.12 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.06) 1 | (0.08) 1 | 0.08 1 | 0.16 1 | 0.14 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (10.12) | 13.32 | 10.09 | 3.65 | 12.85 |
Total from investment operations | (10.18) | 13.24 | 10.17 | 3.81 | 12.99 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.13) | (0.02) | (0.05) |
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.28) | (11.24) | (10.62) |
Net asset value, end of period | $40.28 | $58.26 | $51.95 | $46.06 | $53.49 |
Total return | (20.49)% | 27.76% | 24.03% | 11.46% | 28.51% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.74% | 0.74% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net expenses | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.13)% | (0.13)% | 0.17% | 0.35% | 0.27% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $216,150 | $377,470 | $327,584 | $326,990 | $327,943 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $56.18 | $50.47 | $44.87 | $52.54 | $50.46 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.20) | (0.23) | (0.07) | 0.02 | (0.01) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (9.67) | 12.87 | 9.83 | 3.53 | 12.66 |
Total from investment operations | (9.87) | 12.64 | 9.76 | 3.55 | 12.65 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.01) | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.16) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $38.51 | $56.18 | $50.47 | $44.87 | $52.54 |
Total return | (20.72)% | 27.38% | 23.63% | 11.14% | 28.14% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.09% | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.09% |
Net expenses | 0.95% | 0.95% | 0.95% | 0.95% | 0.95% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.42)% | (0.43)% | (0.14)% | 0.05% | (0.03)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $60,062 | $85,825 | $79,334 | $67,158 | $79,154 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 23
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $57.83 | $51.67 | $45.84 | $53.31 | $51.00 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.11) 1 | (0.12) 1 | 0.03 1 | 0.12 1 | 0.10 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (10.02) | 13.21 | 10.04 | 3.63 | 12.80 |
Total from investment operations | (10.13) | 13.09 | 10.07 | 3.75 | 12.90 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | (0.09) | 0.00 | (0.02) |
Net realized gains | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.15) | (11.22) | (10.57) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (7.80) | (6.93) | (4.24) | (11.22) | (10.59) |
Net asset value, end of period | $39.90 | $57.83 | $51.67 | $45.84 | $53.31 |
Total return | (20.57)% | 27.61% | 23.89% | 11.37% | 28.37% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.84% | 0.84% | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.84% |
Net expenses | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.22)% | (0.23)% | 0.07% | 0.26% | 0.18% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 43% | 39% | 34% | 43% | 34% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $43,622 | $77,917 | $72,681 | $80,194 | $95,809 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
24 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Foreign currency translation
The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. The values of other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at rates provided by an independent foreign currency pricing source at a time each business day specified by the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are converted at the rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. Net realized foreign exchange gains or losses arise from sales of foreign currencies, currency gains or losses realized between the trade and settlement dates on securities transactions, and the difference between the amounts of dividends, interest and foreign withholding taxes recorded and the U.S. dollar equivalent of the amounts actually paid or received. Net unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses arise from changes in the fair value of assets and liabilities other than investments in securities resulting from changes in exchange rates. The changes in net assets arising from changes in exchange rates of securities and the changes in net assets resulting from changes in market prices of securities are not separately presented. Such changes are included in net realized and unrealized gains or losses from investments.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date. Dividend income is recorded net of foreign taxes withheld where recovery of such taxes is not assured.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $423,481,420 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $404,138,861 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (14,100,622) |
| Net unrealized gains | $390,038,239 |
26 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to net operating loss. At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $(2,232,857) | $2,232,857 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had a qualified late-year ordinary loss of $1,787,517 which will be recognized on the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 72,553,666 | $0 | $0 | $ 72,553,666 |
| Consumer discretionary | 153,925,233 | 0 | 0 | 153,925,233 |
| Consumer staples | 12,099,475 | 0 | 0 | 12,099,475 |
| Financials | 48,674,729 | 0 | 0 | 48,674,729 |
| Health care | 127,494,930 | 0 | 0 | 127,494,930 |
| Industrials | 63,438,623 | 0 | 0 | 63,438,623 |
| Information technology | 301,293,512 | 0 | 0 | 301,293,512 |
| Materials | 13,227,902 | 0 | 0 | 13,227,902 |
| Real estate | 7,256,922 | 0 | 0 | 7,256,922 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 13,554,667 | 0 | 0 | 13,554,667 |
| Total assets | $813,519,659 | $0 | $0 | $813,519,659 |
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.700% |
| Next $500 million | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.625 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.600 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.590 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.565 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.555 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.530 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.505 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.68% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.30% and declining to 0.20% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
28 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R | 0.21 |
| Class R4 | 0.08 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.07% |
| Class C | 1.82 |
| Class R | 1.32 |
| Class R4 | 0.80 |
| Class R6 | 0.65 |
| Administrator Class | 0.95 |
| Institutional Class | 0.75 |
Distribution fees
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C and Class R shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Distribution fees are charged to Class C and Class R shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares and 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class R shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $961 from the sale of Class A shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A and Class C shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. Class R4 is charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.10% of its average daily net assets. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 29
Notes to financial statements
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $448,155,734 and $650,479,777, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
During the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund had average borrowings outstanding of $75,809 at an average rate of 1.36% and paid interest in the amount of $1,031.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 2,671,408 | $ 3,631,113 |
| Long-term capital gain | 163,497,552 | 139,110,070 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains | Late-year ordinary losses deferred |
| $72,351,090 | $390,038,239 | $(1,787,517) |
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational
30 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 31
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Large Cap Growth Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers, or by other appropriate auditing procedures. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
32 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 88% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $163,497,552 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $2,504,178 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $2,671,408 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
34 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 35
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
36 | Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
Allspring Large Cap Growth Fund | 37
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00649 09-22
A209/AR209 07-22
A209/AR209 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring
Large Company Value Fund
Large Company Value Fund
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 25 | |
| 31 | |
| 32 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Large Company Value Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Ryan Brown, CFA®‡, Harindra de Silva, Ph.D., CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (WLCAX) | 3-31-2008 | -6.22 | 7.94 | 9.83 | -0.51 | 9.23 | 10.48 | 0.96 | 0.83 | ||
| Class C (WFLVX) | 3-31-2008 | -2.30 | 8.39 | 9.81 | -1.30 | 8.39 | 9.81 | 1.71 | 1.58 | ||
| Class R6 (WTLVX)3 | 4-7-2017 | – | – | – | -0.10 | 9.69 | 10.96 | 0.53 | 0.40 | ||
| Administrator Class (WWIDX) | 12-31-2001 | – | – | – | -0.49 | 9.29 | 10.62 | 0.88 | 0.75 | ||
| Institutional Class (WLCIX) | 3-31-2008 | – | – | – | -0.22 | 9.58 | 10.90 | 0.63 | 0.50 | ||
| Russell 1000® Value Index4 | – | – | – | – | -1.43 | 8.26 | 11.10 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 0.83% for Class A, 1.58% for Class C, 0.40% for Class R6, 0.75% for Administrator Class, and 0.50% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any) from funds in which the affiliated master portfolio invests, and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
| 4 | The Russell 1000® Value Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with lower price/book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 1000® Value Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund outperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Value Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | The Fund’s outperformance was primarily due to a favorable factor tilt environment, driven by our proprietary alpha engine and stock-specific risk controls. The highest expected return securities within the index outperformed their lowest expected return peers by approximately 11%. Sector exposure was also additive to relative performance. |
| ■ | Over the past year, the primary detractor was the small-size tilt. The smallest-cap securities within the index underperformed their mega-cap peers by approximately 4%. |
U.S. stocks delivered weak results during the reporting period.
While global markets continued to display strength in the last quarter of 2021, as the post-COVID-19 economic recovery marched on, this trend reversed quickly to start the new year as the Russell 1000® Index* declined -5.13% in the first quarter of 2022. Renewed skepticism in equity valuations proliferated, along with concerns over inflation and rising rates, bringing the year-to-date return of the Russell 1000® Index to -13.58% and its one-year return to nearly -6.87%. Energy (+68%), utilities (+16%), and consumer staples (+7%) were the best-performing sectors over the past year, while less-defensive sectors including consumer discretionary (-13%) and communication services (-30%) underperformed the Russell 1000® Index. The largest stocks in the Russell 1000 Index outperformed the Index during the period, meaning that, on average, the smaller the company, the worse the return. The smallest 200 stocks in the Russell 1000 Index declined an average of -11% for the trailing 12 months, while the largest 200 declined only -7%, a 4% difference.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Exxon Mobil Corporation | 3.29 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | 3.10 |
| NextEra Energy Incorporated | 2.86 |
| Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated Class B | 2.50 |
| Verizon Communications Incorporated | 2.26 |
| Pfizer Incorporated | 2.23 |
| Emerson Electric Company | 2.14 |
| Comcast Corporation Class A | 2.13 |
| Realty Income Corporation | 2.02 |
| Abbott Laboratories | 1.97 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Factor tilts toward attractive valuation and quality metrics added to performance; alpha model and sector allocations both contributed, while small-size tilt slightly detracted.
Over the period, factor tilts away from active short utilization and toward sales-to-price, and forward earnings yield were the largest contributors to performance from a factor perspective. Overweight exposures to trading volume, asset utilization, and six-month momentum were the largest detractors from the Fund’s performance. The Fund is fairly neutral to economic sectors, and the investment team does not select sectors. However, the Fund’s underweights to consumer discretionary and information technology added roughly 40 basis points (bps; 100 bps equal 1.00%). This was mostly offset by the allocation to smaller capitalization securities which detracted 37 bps.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
| * | The Russell 1000 ® Index measures the performance of the 1,000 largest companies in the Russell 3000® Index, which represents approximately 92% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. You cannot invest directly in an index |
8 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Going forward, our investment philosophy and process remain the same.
The investment philosophy employed in our value-equity strategy is based on the belief that security returns are predictable, based on common fundamental factors, and that market inefficiencies caused by patterns of investor behavior and economic change may be exploited to earn an excess return. The stock-selection model uses more than 70 fundamental, technical, and proprietary factors to build a diversified portfolio that we believe is well positioned to generate excess returns over a three- to five-year market cycle.
Our process is based on the fundamental belief that there is persistency in the types of characteristics investors prefer. If this belief holds going forward, we expect the Fund to potentially benefit from being properly positioned toward stocks with characteristics favored by investors over the long term. We continue to focus on companies with above-average quality metrics such as stocks with strong profit margins and return on assets. In addition, we continue to emphasize stocks with certain attractive valuation characteristics such as above-average cash-flow-to-price ratios and dividend yields. Finally, we will continue to deemphasize risk, as typified by companies with above-average volatility of analyst earnings expectations.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 947.14 | $3.91 | 0.81% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.78 | $4.06 | 0.81% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 942.87 | $7.61 | 1.58% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,016.96 | $7.90 | 1.58% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 948.59 | $1.93 | 0.40% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,022.81 | $2.01 | 0.40% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 946.49 | $3.62 | 0.75% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.08 | $3.76 | 0.75% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 948.20 | $2.42 | 0.50% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,022.32 | $2.51 | 0.50% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 96.97% | |||||
| Communication services: 6.42% | |||||
| Diversified telecommunication services: 2.26% | |||||
| Verizon Communications Incorporated | 111,825 | $ 5,165,197 | |||
| Entertainment: 0.05% | |||||
| Warner Bros. Discovery Incorporated † | 7,288 | 109,320 | |||
| Interactive media & services: 1.39% | |||||
| Meta Platforms Incorporated Class A † | 19,910 | 3,167,681 | |||
| Media: 2.13% | |||||
| Comcast Corporation Class A | 129,523 | 4,859,703 | |||
| Wireless telecommunication services: 0.59% | |||||
| T-Mobile US Incorporated † | 9,387 | 1,342,904 | |||
| Consumer discretionary: 5.97% | |||||
| Auto components: 0.29% | |||||
| Gentex Corporation | 15,208 | 429,170 | |||
| LCI Industries | 1,683 | 227,356 | |||
| 656,526 | |||||
| Automobiles: 2.07% | |||||
| Ford Motor Company | 110,198 | 1,618,809 | |||
| General Motors Company † | 85,320 | 3,093,703 | |||
| 4,712,512 | |||||
| Diversified consumer services: 1.33% | |||||
| Grand Canyon Education Incorporated † | 10,336 | 992,980 | |||
| H&R Block Incorporated | 50,949 | 2,035,922 | |||
| 3,028,902 | |||||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 1.14% | |||||
| Bloomin' Brands Incorporated | 71,220 | 1,452,176 | |||
| McDonald's Corporation | 4,349 | 1,145,396 | |||
| 2,597,572 | |||||
| Household durables: 0.08% | |||||
| Garmin Limited | 1,818 | 177,473 | |||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 0.22% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 3,785 | 510,786 | |||
| Multiline retail: 0.45% | |||||
| Dollar General Corporation | 4,118 | 1,023,035 | |||
| Specialty retail: 0.39% | |||||
| AutoZone Incorporated † | 422 | 901,979 | |||
| Consumer staples: 7.46% | |||||
| Beverages: 2.64% | |||||
| Coca Cola Bottling Corporation | 3,880 | 1,990,440 | |||
| PepsiCo Incorporated | 23,039 | 4,030,903 | |||
| 6,021,343 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Food & staples retailing: 1.89% | |||||
| Walmart Incorporated | 32,713 | $ 4,319,752 | |||
| Food products: 1.64% | |||||
| Bunge Limited | 958 | 88,452 | |||
| Cal-Maine Foods Incorporated | 28,429 | 1,453,006 | |||
| Mondelez International Incorporated Class A | 34,397 | 2,202,784 | |||
| 3,744,242 | |||||
| Household products: 1.29% | |||||
| Colgate-Palmolive Company | 6,142 | 483,621 | |||
| Kimberly-Clark Corporation | 5,629 | 741,846 | |||
| The Procter & Gamble Company | 12,308 | 1,709,704 | |||
| 2,935,171 | |||||
| Energy: 7.10% | |||||
| Oil, gas & consumable fuels: 7.10% | |||||
| Chevron Corporation | 21,942 | 3,593,661 | |||
| ConocoPhillips | 27,863 | 2,714,692 | |||
| Exxon Mobil Corporation | 77,440 | 7,506,259 | |||
| Marathon Petroleum Corporation | 4,735 | 434,010 | |||
| Phillips 66 | 9,509 | 846,301 | |||
| SM Energy Company | 17,377 | 717,323 | |||
| Targa Resources Corporation | 5,573 | 385,150 | |||
| 16,197,396 | |||||
| Financials: 17.23% | |||||
| Banks: 7.86% | |||||
| Bank of America Corporation | 63,649 | 2,151,973 | |||
| Community Bank System Incorporated | 3,372 | 227,037 | |||
| JPMorgan Chase & Company | 61,279 | 7,069,145 | |||
| PNC Financial Services Group Incorporated | 21,842 | 3,624,461 | |||
| Truist Financial Corporation | 54,874 | 2,769,491 | |||
| US Bancorp | 44,425 | 2,096,860 | |||
| 17,938,967 | |||||
| Capital markets: 2.62% | |||||
| BlackRock Incorporated | 1,751 | 1,171,734 | |||
| Intercontinental Exchange Incorporated | 6,471 | 659,977 | |||
| Moody's Corporation | 105 | 32,576 | |||
| S&P Global Incorporated | 8,948 | 3,372,770 | |||
| Stifel Financial Corporation | 10,576 | 632,551 | |||
| The Carlyle Group Incorporated | 2,424 | 94,318 | |||
| 5,963,926 | |||||
| Consumer finance: 0.97% | |||||
| Capital One Financial Corporation | 20,034 | 2,200,334 | |||
| Diversified financial services: 3.27% | |||||
| Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated Class B † | 18,973 | 5,703,284 | |||
| Equitable Holdings Incorporated | 62,074 | 1,764,764 | |||
| 7,468,048 | |||||
| Insurance: 2.51% | |||||
| Marsh & McLennan Companies Incorporated | 1,249 | 204,786 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Insurance (continued) | |||||
| Old Republic International Corporation | 22,049 | $ 513,080 | |||
| Progressive Corporation | 739 | 85,029 | |||
| Reinsurance Group of America Incorporated | 1,735 | 200,878 | |||
| The Travelers Companies Incorporated | 6,860 | 1,088,682 | |||
| W.R. Berkley Corporation | 58,180 | 3,637,995 | |||
| 5,730,450 | |||||
| Health care: 16.75% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 2.17% | |||||
| Dynavax Technologies Corporation † | 10,133 | 145,713 | |||
| Exelixis Incorporated † | 97,731 | 2,044,533 | |||
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 9,853 | 2,762,880 | |||
| 4,953,126 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 3.23% | |||||
| Abbott Laboratories | 41,356 | 4,501,186 | |||
| Baxter International Incorporated | 1,634 | 95,850 | |||
| Intuitive Surgical Incorporated † | 5,064 | 1,165,581 | |||
| Masimo Corporation † | 11,135 | 1,609,898 | |||
| 7,372,515 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 4.81% | |||||
| Cigna Corporation | 16,319 | 4,493,600 | |||
| CVS Health Corporation | 17,807 | 1,703,774 | |||
| Elevance Health Incorporated | 1,678 | 800,574 | |||
| Humana Incorporated | 8,250 | 3,976,500 | |||
| 10,974,448 | |||||
| Life sciences tools & services: 1.74% | |||||
| Danaher Corporation | 9,260 | 2,699,012 | |||
| IQVIA Holdings Incorporated † | 553 | 132,869 | |||
| Syneos Health Incorporated † | 14,311 | 1,132,573 | |||
| 3,964,454 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 4.80% | |||||
| Johnson & Johnson | 6,393 | 1,115,706 | |||
| Pfizer Incorporated | 100,589 | 5,080,750 | |||
| Viatris Incorporated | 310,477 | 3,008,522 | |||
| Zoetis Incorporated | 9,557 | 1,744,630 | |||
| 10,949,608 | |||||
| Industrials: 7.94% | |||||
| Aerospace & defense: 3.54% | |||||
| General Dynamics Corporation | 10,993 | 2,491,783 | |||
| L3Harris Technologies Incorporated | 5,525 | 1,325,834 | |||
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | 8,159 | 3,376,276 | |||
| Northrop Grumman Corporation | 1,827 | 874,950 | |||
| 8,068,843 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Air freight & logistics: 0.26% | |||||
| Forward Air Corporation | 3,850 | $ 403,981 | |||
| United Parcel Service Incorporated Class B | 928 | 180,858 | |||
| 584,839 | |||||
| Electrical equipment: 2.14% | |||||
| Emerson Electric Company | 54,105 | 4,873,237 | |||
| Industrial conglomerates: 0.27% | |||||
| 3M Company | 4,290 | 614,500 | |||
| Machinery: 1.73% | |||||
| Mueller Industries Incorporated | 58,799 | 3,958,937 | |||
| Information technology: 11.71% | |||||
| Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 2.37% | |||||
| Amphenol Corporation Class A | 50,210 | 3,872,697 | |||
| Arrow Electronics Incorporated † | 7,400 | 948,458 | |||
| Avnet Incorporated | 12,042 | 576,451 | |||
| 5,397,606 | |||||
| IT services: 1.97% | |||||
| Automatic Data Processing Incorporated | 9,487 | 2,287,505 | |||
| PayPal Holdings Incorporated † | 25,568 | 2,212,399 | |||
| 4,499,904 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 2.01% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 10,585 | 999,965 | |||
| Intel Corporation | 98,450 | 3,574,720 | |||
| 4,574,685 | |||||
| Software: 4.10% | |||||
| Autodesk Incorporated † | 9,984 | 2,159,739 | |||
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated † | 4,878 | 907,698 | |||
| Fortinet Incorporated † | 26,768 | 1,596,711 | |||
| InterDigital Incorporated | 9,212 | 565,525 | |||
| Oracle Corporation | 12,045 | 937,583 | |||
| Synopsys Incorporated † | 5,981 | 2,198,018 | |||
| Xperi Holding Corporation | 59,182 | 991,890 | |||
| 9,357,164 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 1.26% | |||||
| Super Micro Computer Incorporated † | 53,293 | 2,878,355 | |||
| Materials: 3.10% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.28% | |||||
| Dow Incorporated | 7,682 | 408,759 | |||
| Linde plc | 8,268 | 2,496,936 | |||
| 2,905,695 | |||||
| Metals & mining: 1.82% | |||||
| Alpha Metallurgical Resource Incorporated | 8,235 | 1,126,219 | |||
| Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated | 17,212 | 543,039 | |||
| Newmont Corporation | 54,962 | 2,488,679 | |||
| 4,157,937 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Real estate: 6.44% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 6.44% | |||||
| Outfront Media Incorporated | 104,586 | $ 1,930,658 | |||
| PotlatchDeltic Corporation | 70,403 | 3,451,859 | |||
| Prologis Incorporated | 8,177 | 1,083,943 | |||
| Realty Income Corporation | 62,368 | 4,614,608 | |||
| VICI Properties Incorporated | 4,150 | 141,889 | |||
| Weyerhaeuser Company | 95,390 | 3,464,565 | |||
| 14,687,522 | |||||
| Utilities: 6.85% | |||||
| Electric utilities: 4.42% | |||||
| Duke Energy Corporation | 8,854 | 973,320 | |||
| Exelon Corporation | 47,247 | 2,196,513 | |||
| NextEra Energy Incorporated | 77,193 | 6,522,037 | |||
| NRG Energy Incorporated | 10,395 | 392,411 | |||
| 10,084,281 | |||||
| Gas utilities: 0.70% | |||||
| Atmos Energy Corporation | 13,168 | 1,598,464 | |||
| Independent power & renewable electricity producers: 1.73% | |||||
| Vistra Energy Corporation | 152,899 | 3,952,439 | |||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $212,710,930) | 221,181,778 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 2.64% | |||||
| Investment companies: 2.64% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 6,030,286 | 6,030,286 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $6,030,286) | 6,030,286 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $218,741,216) | 99.61% | 227,212,064 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | 0.39 | 889,935 | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $228,101,999 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 15
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $3,185,550 | $45,768,524 | $(42,923,788) | $0 | $0 | $ 6,030,286 | 6,030,286 | $ 15,028 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 0 | 1,073,800 | (1,073,800) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 885 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $6,030,286 | $15,913 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
Futures contracts
| Description | Number of contracts | Expiration date | Notional cost | Notional value | Unrealized gains | Unrealized losses |
| Long | ||||||
| E-Mini S&P 500 Index | 30 | 9-16-2022 | $5,674,067 | $6,200,250 | $526,183 | $0 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $212,710,930) | $ 221,181,778 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $6,030,286) | 6,030,286 |
Cash at broker segregated for futures contracts | 485,000 |
Receivable for dividends | 321,316 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 103,833 |
Receivable for daily variation margin on open futures contracts | 89,951 |
Receivable for securities lending income, net | 104 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 95,239 |
Total assets | 228,307,507 |
| Liabilities | |
Management fee payable | 50,349 |
Shareholder servicing fees payable | 45,226 |
Administration fees payable | 37,882 |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 28,297 |
Professional fees payable | 25,544 |
Distribution fee payable | 1,400 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 315 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 16,495 |
Total liabilities | 205,508 |
Total net assets | $228,101,999 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 225,357,341 |
Total distributable earnings | 2,744,658 |
Total net assets | $228,101,999 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 209,748,316 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 17,339,259 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $12.10 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $12.84 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 2,306,579 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 181,995 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $12.67 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 842,013 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 69,154 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $12.18 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 10,563,784 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 860,731 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $12.27 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 4,641,307 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 380,425 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $12.20 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 17
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends | $ 5,146,662 |
Income from affiliated securities | 15,582 |
Total investment income | 5,162,244 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 985,313 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 472,797 |
Class C | 2,668 |
Class R6 | 176 |
Administrator Class | 19,331 |
Institutional Class | 5,796 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 562,854 |
Class C | 3,159 |
Administrator Class | 36,281 |
| Distribution fee | |
Class C | 9,458 |
Custody and accounting fees | 20,164 |
Professional fees | 47,156 |
Registration fees | 57,136 |
Shareholder report expenses | 29,182 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,097 |
Other fees and expenses | 16,803 |
Total expenses | 2,288,371 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (252,519) |
Class A | (45,152) |
Class C | (127) |
Class R6 | (59) |
Institutional Class | (447) |
Net expenses | 1,990,067 |
Net investment income | 3,172,177 |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
| Net realized gains (losses) on | |
Unaffiliated securities | 363,591 |
Futures contracts | (999,419) |
Net realized losses on investments | (635,828) |
| Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on | |
Unaffiliated securities | (3,678,927) |
Futures contracts | 397,744 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3,281,183) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3,917,011) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $ (744,834) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment income | $ 3,172,177 | $ 2,779,013 | ||
Net realized gains (losses) on investments | (635,828) | 81,860,640 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3,281,183) | (4,499,487) | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (744,834) | 80,140,166 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (69,443,204) | (6,068,389) | ||
Class C | (251,171) | (12,539) | ||
Class R6 | (86,276) | (6,338) | ||
Administrator Class | (4,848,775) | (421,669) | ||
Institutional Class | (1,377,309) | (104,689) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (76,006,735) | (6,613,624) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 543,328 | 7,419,850 | 460,068 | 7,325,335 |
Class C | 134,741 | 1,741,851 | 23,673 | 403,396 |
Class R6 | 109,779 | 1,464,312 | 459 | 6,850 |
Administrator Class | 33,271 | 527,147 | 19,696 | 307,479 |
Institutional Class | 152,312 | 2,120,636 | 96,498 | 1,453,459 |
| 13,273,796 | 9,496,519 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 5,322,527 | 67,769,743 | 402,269 | 5,917,427 |
Class C | 18,878 | 251,171 | 811 | 12,539 |
Class R6 | 6,739 | 86,178 | 375 | 5,555 |
Administrator Class | 367,797 | 4,755,104 | 27,675 | 411,280 |
Institutional Class | 107,135 | 1,377,163 | 6,928 | 103,445 |
| 74,239,359 | 6,450,246 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (1,973,957) | (27,390,524) | (1,546,833) | (22,989,566) |
Class C | (22,460) | (319,335) | (11,412) | (165,108) |
Class R6 | (60,314) | (772,823) | (60) | (931) |
Administrator Class | (463,319) | (5,873,746) | (74,300) | (1,090,860) |
Institutional Class | (112,541) | (1,495,683) | (42,825) | (649,187) |
| (35,852,111) | (24,895,652) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 51,661,044 | (8,948,887) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (25,090,525) | 64,577,655 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 253,192,524 | 188,614,869 | ||
End of period | $228,101,999 | $253,192,524 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $17.25 | $12.31 | $12.92 | $14.46 | $16.54 |
Net investment income | 0.17 | 0.19 | 0.20 | 0.24 | 0.19 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.06) | 5.20 | (0.53) | (0.15) | 1.29 |
Total from investment operations | 0.11 | 5.39 | (0.33) | 0.09 | 1.48 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.18) | (0.19) | (0.21) | (0.25) | (0.18) |
Net realized gains | (5.08) | (0.26) | (0.07) | (1.38) | (3.38) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (5.26) | (0.45) | (0.28) | (1.63) | (3.56) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.10 | $17.25 | $12.31 | $12.92 | $14.46 |
Total return1 | (0.51)% | 44.41% | (2.49)% | 1.44% | 9.39% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.94% | 0.96% | 0.99% | 0.97% | 0.94% |
Net expenses | 0.81% | 0.81% | 0.82% | 0.83% | 0.83% |
Net investment income | 1.28% | 1.23% | 1.63% | 1.84% | 1.28% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 365% | 488% | 366% | 221% | 258% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $209,748 | $231,930 | $174,028 | $196,075 | $214,247 |
| 1 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $17.84 | $12.75 | $13.34 | $14.81 | $16.86 |
Net investment income | 0.08 1 | 0.07 1 | 0.12 1 | 0.16 1 | 0.08 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.09) | 5.40 | (0.56) | (0.15) | 1.30 |
Total from investment operations | (0.01) | 5.47 | (0.44) | 0.01 | 1.38 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.08) | (0.12) | (0.08) | (0.10) | (0.05) |
Net realized gains | (5.08) | (0.26) | (0.07) | (1.38) | (3.38) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (5.16) | (0.38) | (0.15) | (1.48) | (3.43) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.67 | $17.84 | $12.75 | $13.34 | $14.81 |
Total return2 | (1.30)% | 43.33% | (3.27)% | 0.76% | 8.49% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.69% | 1.70% | 1.74% | 1.71% | 1.69% |
Net expenses | 1.58% | 1.58% | 1.58% | 1.58% | 1.58% |
Net investment income | 0.59% | 0.47% | 0.92% | 1.15% | 0.55% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 365% | 488% | 366% | 221% | 258% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $2,307 | $907 | $482 | $966 | $2,926 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $17.33 | $12.37 | $13.04 | $14.59 | $16.66 |
Net investment income | 0.24 1 | 0.25 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.26 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.07) | 5.22 | (0.57) | (0.14) | 1.30 |
Total from investment operations | 0.17 | 5.47 | (0.27) | 0.16 | 1.56 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.24) | (0.25) | (0.33) | (0.33) | (0.25) |
Net realized gains | (5.08) | (0.26) | (0.07) | (1.38) | (3.38) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (5.32) | (0.51) | (0.40) | (1.71) | (3.63) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.18 | $17.33 | $12.37 | $13.04 | $14.59 |
Total return | (0.10)% | 44.94% | (2.09)% | 1.92% | 9.88% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.51% | 0.53% | 0.58% | 0.55% | 0.51% |
Net expenses | 0.40% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 0.40% | 0.40% |
Net investment income | 1.79% | 1.65% | 1.69% | 2.26% | 1.73% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 365% | 488% | 366% | 221% | 258% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $842 | $224 | $151 | $20 | $23 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $17.42 | $12.44 | $13.06 | $14.59 | $16.66 |
Net investment income | 0.19 | 0.20 | 0.22 | 0.26 | 0.20 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.08) | 5.24 | (0.54) | (0.14) | 1.30 |
Total from investment operations | 0.11 | 5.44 | (0.32) | 0.12 | 1.50 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.18) | (0.20) | (0.23) | (0.27) | (0.19) |
Net realized gains | (5.08) | (0.26) | (0.07) | (1.38) | (3.38) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (5.26) | (0.46) | (0.30) | (1.65) | (3.57) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.27 | $17.42 | $12.44 | $13.06 | $14.59 |
Total return | (0.49)% | 44.36% | (2.41)% | 1.61% | 9.44% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.85% | 0.88% | 0.91% | 0.89% | 0.86% |
Net expenses | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% | 0.75% |
Net investment income | 1.31% | 1.30% | 1.71% | 1.93% | 1.37% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 365% | 488% | 366% | 221% | 258% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $10,564 | $16,080 | $11,813 | $13,854 | $16,744 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 23
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $17.35 | $12.38 | $13.04 | $14.58 | $16.65 |
Net investment income | 0.23 1 | 0.22 | 0.26 | 0.29 1 | 0.24 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (0.08) | 5.25 | (0.55) | (0.14) | 1.30 |
Total from investment operations | 0.15 | 5.47 | (0.29) | 0.15 | 1.54 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net investment income | (0.22) | (0.24) | (0.30) | (0.31) | (0.23) |
Net realized gains | (5.08) | (0.26) | (0.07) | (1.38) | (3.38) |
Total distributions to shareholders | (5.30) | (0.50) | (0.37) | (1.69) | (3.61) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.20 | $17.35 | $12.38 | $13.04 | $14.58 |
Total return | (0.22)% | 44.84% | (2.20)% | 1.86% | 9.77% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.61% | 0.63% | 0.66% | 0.63% | 0.62% |
Net expenses | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0.50% | 0.50% |
Net investment income | 1.61% | 1.56% | 1.96% | 2.14% | 1.60% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 365% | 488% | 366% | 221% | 258% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $4,641 | $4,051 | $2,142 | $2,948 | $17,606 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
24 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Large Company Value Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities and futures contracts that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Futures contracts
Futures contracts are agreements between the Fund and a counterparty to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity, financial instrument or currency at a specified price on a specified date. The Fund may buy and sell futures contracts in order to gain exposure to, or protect against, changes in security values and is subject to equity price risk. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are the imperfect correlation between changes in market values of securities held by the Fund and the prices of futures contracts, and the possibility of an illiquid market. Futures contracts are generally entered into on a regulated futures exchange and cleared through a clearinghouse associated with the exchange. With futures contracts, there is minimal counterparty risk to the Fund since futures contracts are exchange traded and the exchange’s clearinghouse, as the counterparty to all exchange traded futures, guarantees the futures contracts against default.
Upon entering into a futures contract, the Fund is required to deposit either cash or securities (initial margin) with the broker in an amount equal to a certain percentage of the contract value. Subsequent payments (variation margin) are paid to or from the broker each day equal to the daily changes in the contract value. Such payments are recorded as unrealized gains or losses and, if any, shown as variation margin receivable (payable) in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Should the Fund fail to make requested variation margin payments, the broker can gain access to the initial margin to satisfy the Fund’s payment obligations. When the contracts are closed, a realized gain or loss is recorded in the Statement of Operations.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid from net investment income quarterly and any net realized gains are paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $222,163,133 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $13,960,456 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (8,385,342) |
| Net unrealized gains | $ 5,575,114 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had current year deferred post-October capital losses consisting of $(3,934,173) in short-term capital losses and $779,473 in long-term capital gains which will be recognized in the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
26 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 14,644,805 | $0 | $0 | $ 14,644,805 |
| Consumer discretionary | 13,608,785 | 0 | 0 | 13,608,785 |
| Consumer staples | 17,020,508 | 0 | 0 | 17,020,508 |
| Energy | 16,197,396 | 0 | 0 | 16,197,396 |
| Financials | 39,301,725 | 0 | 0 | 39,301,725 |
| Health care | 38,214,151 | 0 | 0 | 38,214,151 |
| Industrials | 18,100,356 | 0 | 0 | 18,100,356 |
| Information technology | 26,707,714 | 0 | 0 | 26,707,714 |
| Materials | 7,063,632 | 0 | 0 | 7,063,632 |
| Real estate | 14,687,522 | 0 | 0 | 14,687,522 |
| Utilities | 15,635,184 | 0 | 0 | 15,635,184 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 6,030,286 | 0 | 0 | 6,030,286 |
| 227,212,064 | 0 | 0 | 227,212,064 | |
| Futures contracts | 526,183 | 0 | 0 | 526,183 |
| Total assets | $227,738,247 | $0 | $0 | $227,738,247 |
Futures contracts are reported at their cumulative unrealized gains (losses) at measurement date as reported in the table following the Portfolio of Investments. For futures contracts, the current day’s variation margin is reported on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. All other assets and liabilities are reported at their market value at measurement date.
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $1 billion | 0.400% |
| Next $4 billion | 0.375 |
| Next $5 billion | 0.340 |
| Over $10 billion | 0.330 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.40% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.25% and declining to 0.15% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 0.83% |
| Class C | 1.58 |
| Class R6 | 0.40 |
| Administrator Class | 0.75 |
| Institutional Class | 0.50 |
28 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Notes to financial statements
Distribution fee
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. A distribution fee is charged to Class C shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $2,101 from the sale of Class A shares and $8 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $880,021,374 and $904,618,595, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. DERIVATIVE TRANSACTIONS
During the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund entered into futures contracts to gain market exposure. The Fund had an average notional amount of $5,180,343 in long futures contracts during the year ended July 31, 2022.
The fair value, realized gains or losses and change in unrealized gains or losses, if any, on derivative instruments are reflected in the corresponding financial statement captions.
8. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 29
Notes to financial statements
9. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $64,652,869 | $2,835,252 |
| Long-term capital gain | 11,353,866 | 3,778,372 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed ordinary income | Unrealized gains | Post-October capital losses deferred |
| $331,897 | $5,575,114 | $(3,154,700) |
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
30 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Large Company Value Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Large Company Value Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 11% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $11,353,866 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $7,075,581 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $57,519,706 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
32 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
34 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
Allspring Large Company Value Fund | 35
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
36 | Allspring Large Company Value Fund
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00650 09-22
A210/AR210 07-22
A210/AR210 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring
Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
(formerly, Allspring Omega Growth Fund)
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 14 | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 22 | |
| 28 | |
| 29 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Effective May 2, 2022, the Fund changed its name from Allspring Omega Growth Fund to Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Notice to Shareholders
At a meeting held February 23-24, 2022, the Board of Trustees of the Allspring Funds approved changing the name of the Fund from Allspring Omega Growth Fund to Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund which became effective on May 2, 2022. There was no change to the Fund’s investment process because of the name change.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Michael T. Smith, CFA®‡, Christopher J. Warner, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (EKOAX) | 4-29-1968 | -31.89 | 10.81 | 12.18 | -27.73 | 12.13 | 12.85 | 1.26 | 1.26 | ||
| Class C (EKOCX) | 8-2-1993 | -29.27 | 11.36 | 12.17 | -28.27 | 11.36 | 12.17 | 2.01 | 2.01 | ||
| Class R (EKORX) | 10-10-2003 | – | – | – | -27.91 | 11.86 | 12.57 | 1.51 | 1.51 | ||
| Administrator Class (EOMYX) | 1-13-1997 | – | – | – | -27.61 | 12.33 | 13.07 | 1.18 | 1.10 | ||
| Institutional Class (EKONX) | 7-30-2010 | – | – | – | -27.44 | 12.61 | 13.35 | 0.93 | 0.85 | ||
| Russell 3000® Growth Index3 | – | – | – | – | -12.65 | 15.65 | 15.59 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.26% for Class A, 2.01% for Class C, 1.51% for Class R, 1.10% for Administrator Class, and 0.85% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | The Russell 3000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 3000® Index companies with higher price/book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk and smaller-company securities risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 3000® Growth Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 3000® Growth Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | Stock selection within the information technology (IT) and consumer discretionary sectors detracted from performance. |
| ■ | Not owning two large positions within the benchmark detracted from relative performance. |
| ■ | Security selection within industrials, along with select health care positions, contributed to performance. |
Inflation and monetary policy dominated market sentiment.
Over the past year, a continual stream of macro headlines created high volatility for investors. Market sentiment wavered violently as investors grappled with high inflation, tightening Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, supply-chain disruptions, COVID-19 lockdowns, and the war in Ukraine. Amid this uncertainty, the dominant storyline was persistently high inflation, as the headline year-over-year consumer price index reached 8.6% in June 2022, the highest level in more than 40 years. The Fed signaled in clear terms that it would take all necessary measures to tighten policy and dampen inflation. As a result, rising interest rates and the end of easy money triggered a bear market with few places for investors to hide. Many equity indexes contracted during the year, as rising interest rates also drove bond indexes into negative territory.
Within the Russell 1000 Growth Index*, leadership tilted toward perceived beneficiaries of rising oil prices, inflation, and interest rates. Defensive sectors, such as utilities and real estate, outperformed, as did energy and commodity stocks. Growth stocks, often found in the IT sector, rotated sharply out of favor, with many companies experiencing a compression of their valuation despite reporting favorable financial results. Late in the period, evidence of peak inflation and a dovish shift in the Fed’s policy led to a market rally, with growth stocks leading the market during the early phase of the recovery.
Despite the heightened macro uncertainty, we did not significantly reposition the Fund. Our investment process has long focused on companies harnessing innovation to create superior long-term growth. This focus on security selection, even in times of high volatility, is key to generating strong long-term performance. The Fund remains positioned toward companies that we believe are situated on the right side of change.
Stock selection within IT detracted from performance.
A detractor within IT, Block, Inc. is a leading technology company that provides full-circle solutions to small businesses. The company enables digital payments, online marketplaces, shipping, and payroll services. During the year, investor sentiment rotated aggressively away from high-growth software and digital payments companies. Volatility was heightened for companies that increased capital expenditures or had exposure to cryptocurrencies. Block has modest exposure to cryptocurrencies and recently completed a strategic acquisition, which adversely affected gross profit margins in the short term. Our research indicates that Block has created a diverse financial ecosystem and has already seen improvements across its lines of businesses. We are closely monitoring fundamentals.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 10.56 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 8.14 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 6.47 |
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 4.91 |
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 2.88 |
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated | 2.76 |
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 2.52 |
| Waste Connections Incorporated | 2.18 |
| Union Pacific Corporation | 2.13 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated | 2.06 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Also within IT, competitive concerns and lowered guidance pressured shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. During the pandemic, the company experienced a significant pull forward in new user growth and transaction volumes, resulting in difficult comparisons for the company to exceed. As brick-and-mortar sales recovered and the growth of
| * | The Russell 1000 ® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with higher price/book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
8 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
e-commerce transactions slowed over the past two quarters, PayPal guided down its growth expectations. Additionally, a rise of new entrants into the payments industry roused investor fears over the long-term growth prospects of established legacy payment companies. Despite the short-term headwinds, we believe key products such as Venmo remain under-monetized and could lead to strong future growth for PayPal.
Not owning Apple or Tesla, two large components of the benchmark, hurt the Fund's relative performance.
Security selection within industrials, along with select health care positions, contributed to performance.
Within industrials, shares of Waste Connections, Inc., a waste disposal company, outperformed during the year. Waste Connections operates in a defensive industry with a stable financial profile and steady cash flows. The company benefits from high barriers to entry, as environmental constraints limit the ability of competitors to create new landfills. With strong pricing power and a focus on increasing operational efficiencies, Waste Connections has consistently improved profitability and free cash flow despite higher labor and fuel costs. The company also has a successful track record of purchasing competitors with its excess free cash flow which can boost growth by consolidating the industry and driving synergies at the acquired businesses. Over the year, macro concerns over inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war shifted many investors into defensive companies with pricing power. Waste Connections has consistently reported healthy volume growth across all regions, expanded profit margins and growth in free cash flow. The role of Waste Connections as a consistent ”Core Holding” is important within our portfolio construction process, and we are confident in the company’s long-term outlook.
A leading provider of managed care and health insurance, UnitedHealth Group Inc. contributed to returns. UnitedHealth is well positioned to profitably outgrow competitors and drive strong long-term performance. A material portion of the company’s earnings today come from the Optum services segment, which is a mix of pharmacy benefits, physician services, and data analytics. Long considered a crown jewel asset for the company, Optum Health is facilitating the changing payment dynamics in the U.S. health care system toward outcomes-based metrics which focuses more on preventative health care. Additionally, the Optum business is helping to drive industry-leading member growth in the core United Health insurance business, particularly in Medicare Advantage plans. During the year, UnitedHealth reported double-digit growth within Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Optum Health plans. By expanding into additional new markets globally while
improving the quality of coverage provided, we believe UnitedHealth is a “Core Holding” poised for consistent long-term growth.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Maintaining focus on bottom-up fundamentals.
Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen volatile swings in market leadership as macro sentiment drove returns, disconnecting stock prices from underlying fundamentals. Our fundamentally based investment process can be challenged during these environments. It is our experience that these periods are often temporary in nature and can set the Fund up for strong performance in the future. Over the long term, we believe the growth of an underlying business is the dominant driver of equity returns.
Despite the recent focus on inflation, we do not believe the current environment represents a new long-term reality. The secular forces of demographics, debt, and disruption remain. We believe that the U.S. economy will ultimately return to slow levels of economic growth, which can be a tailwind for our investment style as businesses with superior fundamentals and sustainable growth are rewarded. Late in the period, we began to see evidence of this shift and a normalization of conditions for the Fund’s holdings.
As investors focused on companies on the right side of change, we focus on a long-term time horizon. Despite the recent volatility, many of our portfolio companies have reported favorable fundamental results. This is encouraging to us and reinforces our view that time is on our side. By remaining invested in these innovative companies, the portfolio is positioned to generate favorable compounding as fundamentals drive stock prices over the long term.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 824.51 | $5.65 | 1.25% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,018.60 | $6.26 | 1.25% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 821.56 | $8.90 | 1.97% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.03 | $9.84 | 1.97% |
| Class R | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 823.58 | $6.74 | 1.49% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,017.41 | $7.45 | 1.49% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 825.34 | $4.84 | 1.07% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.49 | $5.36 | 1.07% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 826.30 | $3.85 | 0.85% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.58 | $4.26 | 0.85% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 98.51% | |||||
| Communication services: 12.35% | |||||
| Entertainment: 2.97% | |||||
| Roku Incorporated † | 43,200 | $ 2,830,464 | |||
| Spotify Technology SA † | 96,000 | 10,849,920 | |||
| Warner Music Group Corporation Class A | 312,000 | 9,360,000 | |||
| 23,040,384 | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 9.38% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 430,940 | 50,126,941 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 39,700 | 4,630,608 | |||
| Match Group Incorporated † | 135,332 | 9,921,189 | |||
| ZoomInfo Technologies Incorporated † | 211,000 | 7,994,790 | |||
| 72,673,528 | |||||
| Consumer discretionary: 18.74% | |||||
| Auto components: 1.16% | |||||
| Aptiv plc † | 85,900 | 9,010,051 | |||
| Automobiles: 1.37% | |||||
| Ferrari NV | 50,100 | 10,582,623 | |||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 2.06% | |||||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 10,200 | 15,955,044 | |||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 10.06% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 467,280 | 63,059,436 | |||
| Doordash Incorporated † | 55,400 | 3,864,150 | |||
| MercadoLibre Incorporated † | 13,542 | 11,019,261 | |||
| 77,942,847 | |||||
| Specialty retail: 2.88% | |||||
| The Home Depot Incorporated | 74,113 | 22,303,566 | |||
| Textiles, apparel & luxury goods: 1.21% | |||||
| lululemon athletica Incorporated † | 30,300 | 9,408,453 | |||
| Financials: 2.65% | |||||
| Capital markets: 2.65% | |||||
| Intercontinental Exchange Incorporated | 111,130 | 11,334,149 | |||
| MarketAxess Holdings Incorporated | 33,863 | 9,169,423 | |||
| 20,503,572 | |||||
| Health care: 12.96% | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 7.87% | |||||
| Abiomed Incorporated † | 29,600 | 8,673,097 | |||
| Align Technology Incorporated † | 33,834 | 9,506,339 | |||
| DexCom Incorporated † | 155,200 | 12,738,816 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 107,200 | 10,777,888 | |||
| Inari Medical Incorporated † | 77,200 | 5,989,176 | |||
| Intuitive Surgical Incorporated † | 57,800 | 13,303,826 | |||
| 60,989,142 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Health care providers & services: 4.28% | |||||
| Centene Corporation † | 146,800 | $ 13,647,996 | |||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 35,969 | 19,507,427 | |||
| 33,155,423 | |||||
| Life sciences tools & services: 0.81% | |||||
| Bio-Techne Corporation | 16,400 | 6,318,592 | |||
| Industrials: 7.20% | |||||
| Commercial services & supplies: 2.18% | |||||
| Waste Connections Incorporated | 126,698 | 16,897,712 | |||
| Machinery: 1.25% | |||||
| Deere & Company | 28,200 | 9,677,676 | |||
| Professional services: 1.64% | |||||
| Equifax Incorporated | 60,700 | 12,680,837 | |||
| Road & rail: 2.13% | |||||
| Union Pacific Corporation | 72,657 | 16,514,936 | |||
| Information technology: 40.89% | |||||
| Communications equipment: 1.80% | |||||
| Motorola Solutions Incorporated | 58,500 | 13,957,515 | |||
| Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 3.95% | |||||
| Cognex Corporation | 146,100 | 7,448,178 | |||
| Teledyne Technologies Incorporated † | 31,700 | 12,407,380 | |||
| Zebra Technologies Corporation Class A † | 30,000 | 10,730,700 | |||
| 30,586,258 | |||||
| IT services: 13.51% | |||||
| Adyen NV ADR † | 454,500 | 8,190,090 | |||
| Block Incorporated Class A † | 127,667 | 9,710,352 | |||
| Fiserv Incorporated † | 134,640 | 14,228,755 | |||
| Globant SA † | 28,600 | 5,698,264 | |||
| MongoDB Incorporated † | 38,100 | 11,905,107 | |||
| PayPal Holdings Incorporated † | 128,438 | 11,113,740 | |||
| Snowflake Incorporated Class A † | 38,800 | 5,816,508 | |||
| Visa Incorporated Class A | 179,399 | 38,052,322 | |||
| 104,715,138 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 1.31% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 107,200 | 10,127,184 | |||
| Software: 20.32% | |||||
| Atlassian Corporation plc Class A † | 46,500 | 9,733,380 | |||
| Bill.com Holdings Incorporated † | 74,100 | 10,009,428 | |||
| Cadence Design Systems Incorporated † | 115,000 | 21,399,200 | |||
| Crowdstrike Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 62,800 | 11,530,080 | |||
| Datadog Incorporated Class A † | 77,600 | 7,915,976 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 291,450 | 81,821,673 | |||
| ServiceNow Incorporated † | 33,600 | 15,007,776 | |||
| 157,417,513 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Materials: 1.92% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.92% | |||||
| The Sherwin-Williams Company | 61,362 | $ 14,845,922 | |||
| Real estate: 1.80% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 1.80% | |||||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 41,600 | 13,968,864 | |||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $471,690,679) | 763,272,780 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 1.64% | |||||
| Investment companies: 1.64% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 12,712,088 | 12,712,088 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $12,712,088) | 12,712,088 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $484,402,767) | 100.15% | 775,984,868 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | (0.15) | (1,149,209) | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $774,835,659 |
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| ADR | American depositary receipt |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $3,533,406 | $215,259,821 | $(206,081,139) | $0 | $0 | $ 12,712,088 | 12,712,088 | $ 33,800 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 0 | 36,828,950 | (36,828,950) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,125 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $12,712,088 | $34,925 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 13
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $471,690,679) | $ 763,272,780 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $12,712,088) | 12,712,088 |
Receivable for dividends | 77,541 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 32,684 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 58,910 |
Total assets | 776,154,003 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 515,368 |
Management fee payable | 468,046 |
Shareholder servicing fees payable | 139,717 |
Administration fees payable | 123,815 |
Distribution fees payable | 4,424 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 739 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 66,235 |
Total liabilities | 1,318,344 |
Total net assets | $774,835,659 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 428,071,272 |
Total distributable earnings | 346,764,387 |
Total net assets | $774,835,659 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 670,220,898 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 12,656,917 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $52.95 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $56.18 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 6,677,577 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 234,263 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $28.50 |
Net assets – Class R | $ 3,448,250 |
Shares outstanding – Class R1 | 71,226 |
Net asset value per share – Class R | $48.41 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 23,916,503 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 399,147 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $59.92 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 70,572,431 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 1,119,702 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $63.03 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends (net of foreign withholdings taxes of $21,573) | $ 3,525,639 |
Income from affiliated securities | 47,355 |
Total investment income | 3,572,994 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 7,703,458 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 1,797,621 |
Class C | 21,821 |
Class R | 9,303 |
Administrator Class | 39,957 |
Institutional Class | 127,350 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 2,139,869 |
Class C | 25,801 |
Class R | 10,680 |
Administrator Class | 71,102 |
| Distribution fees | |
Class C | 75,943 |
Class R | 10,680 |
Custody and accounting fees | 46,820 |
Professional fees | 41,864 |
Registration fees | 55,132 |
Shareholder report expenses | 69,737 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,098 |
Other fees and expenses | 18,033 |
Total expenses | 12,285,269 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (13,055) |
Class A | (62,548) |
Class C | (47) |
Class R | (57) |
Administrator Class | (21,096) |
Institutional Class | (73,505) |
Net expenses | 12,114,961 |
Net investment loss | (8,541,967) |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 104,462,254 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (409,078,683) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (304,616,429) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(313,158,396) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 15
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment loss | $ (8,541,967) | $ (9,209,315) | ||
Payment from affiliate | 0 | 77,039 | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 104,462,254 | 125,000,255 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (409,078,683) | 214,581,974 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (313,158,396) | 330,449,953 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (121,148,916) | (52,646,623) | ||
Class C | (2,406,526) | (1,658,736) | ||
Class R | (676,869) | (283,298) | ||
Administrator Class | (3,927,696) | (1,791,540) | ||
Institutional Class | (11,872,753) | (5,339,881) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (140,032,760) | (61,720,078) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 219,171 | 15,490,689 | 350,374 | 25,590,993 |
Class C | 28,194 | 1,043,099 | 14,718 | 664,929 |
Class R | 6,255 | 363,627 | 11,943 | 814,900 |
Administrator Class | 11,839 | 836,637 | 48,988 | 3,916,369 |
Institutional Class | 200,533 | 15,639,020 | 195,561 | 16,423,930 |
| 33,373,072 | 47,411,121 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 1,570,459 | 116,182,478 | 720,490 | 50,390,977 |
Class C | 60,148 | 2,406,526 | 39,414 | 1,656,177 |
Class R | 9,970 | 675,390 | 4,084 | 265,103 |
Administrator Class | 44,622 | 3,731,324 | 20,456 | 1,592,066 |
Institutional Class | 133,993 | 11,768,627 | 65,296 | 5,297,486 |
| 134,764,345 | 59,201,809 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (1,343,090) | (89,808,431) | (1,180,768) | (86,101,997) |
Class C | (173,239) | (7,232,231) | (279,810) | (12,508,398) |
Class R | (12,968) | (761,541) | (24,737) | (1,723,435) |
Administrator Class | (57,641) | (4,435,541) | (69,000) | (5,807,302) |
Institutional Class | (413,787) | (29,889,860) | (280,092) | (23,718,471) |
| (132,127,604) | (129,859,603) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 36,009,813 | (23,246,673) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (417,181,343) | 245,483,202 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 1,192,017,002 | 946,533,800 | ||
End of period | $ 774,835,659 | $1,192,017,002 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $83.33 | $64.95 | $55.19 | $54.77 | $49.43 |
Net investment loss | (0.60) 1 | (0.65) | (0.38) 1 | (0.33) 1 | (0.32) 1 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.00 2 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (19.62) | 23.40 | 13.24 | 6.56 | 12.57 |
Total from investment operations | (20.22) | 22.75 | 12.86 | 6.23 | 12.25 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (10.16) | (4.37) | (3.10) | (5.81) | (6.91) |
Net asset value, end of period | $52.95 | $83.33 | $64.95 | $55.19 | $54.77 |
Total return3 | (27.73)% | 36.32% 4 | 24.55% | 13.89% | 26.86% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.26% | 1.26% | 1.28% | 1.28% | 1.28% |
Net expenses | 1.25% | 1.26% | 1.28% | 1.28% | 1.28% |
Net investment loss | (0.89)% | (0.90)% | (0.68)% | (0.64)% | (0.63)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 24% | 23% | 39% | 48% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $670,221 | $1,017,512 | $800,199 | $714,411 | $662,751 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
| 3 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 4 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate which had a 0.005% impact on the total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $49.82 | $40.52 | $35.83 | $38.02 | $36.47 |
Net investment loss | (0.63) 1 | (0.72) 1 | (0.50) 1 | (0.48) 1 | (0.50) 1 |
Payment from affiliate | 0.00 | 0.23 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (10.53) | 14.16 | 8.29 | 4.10 | 8.96 |
Total from investment operations | (11.16) | 13.67 | 7.79 | 3.62 | 8.46 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (10.16) | (4.37) | (3.10) | (5.81) | (6.91) |
Net asset value, end of period | $28.50 | $49.82 | $40.52 | $35.83 | $38.02 |
Total return2 | (28.27)% | 35.74% 3 | 23.61% | 13.04% | 25.88% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.98% | 2.01% | 2.03% | 2.03% | 2.03% |
Net expenses | 1.98% | 2.01% | 2.03% | 2.03% | 2.03% |
Net investment loss | (1.62)% | (1.63)% | (1.42)% | (1.40)% | (1.38)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 24% | 23% | 39% | 48% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $6,678 | $15,900 | $22,077 | $26,122 | $62,074 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
| 3 | During the year ended July 31, 2021, the Fund received a payment from an affiliate which had a 0.62% impact on the total return. See Note 4 in the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $77.22 | $60.60 | $51.82 | $51.92 | $47.30 |
Net investment loss | (0.70) 1 | (0.76) 1 | (0.47) 1 | (0.43) 1 | (0.43) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (17.95) | 21.75 | 12.35 | 6.14 | 11.96 |
Total from investment operations | (18.65) | 20.99 | 11.88 | 5.71 | 11.53 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (10.16) | (4.37) | (3.10) | (5.81) | (6.91) |
Net asset value, end of period | $48.41 | $77.22 | $60.60 | $51.82 | $51.92 |
Total return | (27.91)% | 36.01% | 24.24% | 13.63% | 26.53% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.49% | 1.49% | 1.52% | 1.53% | 1.53% |
Net expenses | 1.49% | 1.49% | 1.52% | 1.53% | 1.53% |
Net investment loss | (1.13)% | (1.12)% | (0.91)% | (0.88)% | (0.88)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 24% | 23% | 39% | 48% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $3,448 | $5,249 | $4,647 | $6,097 | $7,494 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $92.83 | $71.80 | $60.58 | $59.39 | $52.99 |
Net investment loss | (0.55) | (0.62) | (0.30) 1 | (0.25) 1 | (0.25) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (22.20) | 26.02 | 14.62 | 7.25 | 13.56 |
Total from investment operations | (22.75) | 25.40 | 14.32 | 7.00 | 13.31 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (10.16) | (4.37) | (3.10) | (5.81) | (6.91) |
Net asset value, end of period | $59.92 | $92.83 | $71.80 | $60.58 | $59.39 |
Total return | (27.61)% | 36.55% | 24.78% | 14.12% | 27.07% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.16% | 1.18% | 1.20% | 1.20% | 1.20% |
Net expenses | 1.09% | 1.09% | 1.09% | 1.10% | 1.10% |
Net investment loss | (0.73)% | (0.73)% | (0.49)% | (0.45)% | (0.45)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 24% | 23% | 39% | 48% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $23,917 | $37,163 | $28,712 | $26,141 | $24,140 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $96.91 | $74.62 | $62.69 | $61.10 | $54.21 |
Net investment loss | (0.29) | (0.40) | (0.16) 1 | (0.12) 1 | (0.11) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (23.43) | 27.06 | 15.19 | 7.52 | 13.91 |
Total from investment operations | (23.72) | 26.66 | 15.03 | 7.40 | 13.80 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (10.16) | (4.37) | (3.10) | (5.81) | (6.91) |
Net asset value, end of period | $63.03 | $96.91 | $74.62 | $62.69 | $61.10 |
Total return | (27.44)% | 36.87% | 25.09% | 14.39% | 27.39% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.93% | 0.93% | 0.95% | 0.95% | 0.95% |
Net expenses | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.85% |
Net investment loss | (0.49)% | (0.49)% | (0.25)% | (0.20)% | (0.20)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 27% | 24% | 23% | 39% | 48% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $70,572 | $116,193 | $90,900 | $75,456 | $64,792 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 21
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund (formerly, Allspring Omega Growth Fund) (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Foreign currency translation
The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. The values of other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at rates provided by an independent foreign currency pricing source at a time each business day specified by the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are converted at the rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. Net realized foreign exchange gains or losses arise from sales of foreign currencies, currency gains or losses realized between the trade and settlement dates on securities transactions, and the difference between the amounts of dividends, interest and foreign withholding taxes recorded and the U.S. dollar equivalent of the amounts actually paid or received. Net unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses arise from changes in the fair value of assets and liabilities other than investments in securities resulting from changes in exchange rates. The changes in net assets arising from changes in exchange rates of securities and the changes in net assets resulting from changes in market prices of securities are not separately presented. Such changes are included in net realized and unrealized gains or losses from investments.
22 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date. Dividend income is recorded net of foreign taxes withheld where recovery of such taxes is not assured.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $485,502,543 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $365,943,965 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (75,461,640) |
| Net unrealized gains | $290,482,325 |
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to net operating loss. At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $(6,082,539) | $6,082,539 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had a qualified late-year ordinary loss of $4,237,579 which will be recognized on the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 95,713,912 | $0 | $0 | $ 95,713,912 |
| Consumer discretionary | 145,202,584 | 0 | 0 | 145,202,584 |
| Financials | 20,503,572 | 0 | 0 | 20,503,572 |
| Health care | 100,463,157 | 0 | 0 | 100,463,157 |
| Industrials | 55,771,161 | 0 | 0 | 55,771,161 |
| Information technology | 316,803,608 | 0 | 0 | 316,803,608 |
| Materials | 14,845,922 | 0 | 0 | 14,845,922 |
| Real estate | 13,968,864 | 0 | 0 | 13,968,864 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 12,712,088 | 0 | 0 | 12,712,088 |
| Total assets | $775,984,868 | $0 | $0 | $775,984,868 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
24 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.800% |
| Next $500 million | 0.750 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.700 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.640 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.615 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.605 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.580 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.555 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.77% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.45% and declining to 0.30% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R | 0.21 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.26% |
| Class C | 2.01 |
| Class R | 1.51 |
| Administrator Class | 1.10 |
| Institutional Class | 0.85 |
Prior to December 1, 2021, the Fund's expenses were contractually capped at 1.30%, 2.05% and 1.55% for Class A, Class C and Class R, respectively.
Distribution fees
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C and Class R shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Distribution fees are charged to Class C and Class R shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares and 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class R shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $8,349 from the sale of Class A shares and $19 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C, Class R, and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
Other transactions
On August 14, 2020, Class A and Class C of the Fund was reimbursed by Allspring Funds Management in the amount of $4,497 and $72,542, respectively. The reimbursements were made in connection with resolving certain fee reimbursements.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $269,650,477 and $390,841,493, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated
26 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid was $140,032,760 and $61,720,078 of long-term capital gain for the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021, respectively.
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Undistributed long-term gain | Unrealized gains | Late-year ordinary losses deferred |
| $60,535,713 | $290,482,325 | $(4,237,579) |
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 27
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Omega Growth Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian and transfer agent. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
28 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $140,032,760 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 29
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
30 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
32 | Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
Allspring Discovery All Cap Growth Fund | 33
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00651 09-22
A211/AR211 07-22
A211/AR211 07-22
Annual Report
July 31, 2022
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Contents
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Financial statements | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | |
| 17 | |
| 18 | |
| 24 | |
| 31 | |
| 32 |
The views expressed and any forward-looking statements are as of July 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted, and are those of the Fund's portfolio managers and/or Allspring Global Investments. Discussions of individual securities or the markets generally are not intended as individual recommendations. Future events or results may vary significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. The views expressed are subject to change at any time in response to changing circumstances in the market. Allspring Global Investments disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any views expressed or forward-looking statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 1
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
Dear Shareholder:
We are pleased to offer you this annual report for the Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. Globally, stocks experienced rising volatility through the period, but overall, U.S. stocks didn’t fare as badly as non-U.S. equities while the global economy faced multiple challenges. Bonds also had poor performance during a difficult period, with major fixed income indexes all down for the 12-month period.
Earlier tailwinds provided by global stimulus programs, vaccination rollouts, and recovering consumer and corporate sentiment were more than offset by the highest rate of inflation in four decades, concerns about aggressive central bank rate hikes, more highly contagious COVID-19 variants, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The impact of already-significant supply chain disruptions was made worse by China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
For the 12-month period, both stocks and bonds registered significant losses, with U.S. large-cap stocks faring better than non-U.S. developed market equities and emerging market stocks. Returns from fixed-income securities were also negative in a period of high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. For the period, U.S. stocks, based on the S&P 500 Index,1 lost 4.64%. International stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI ex USA Index (Net),2 returned -15.26%, while the MSCI EM Index (Net) (USD)3 had weaker performance with a loss of 20.09%. Among bond indexes, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index4 returned -9.12%, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged)5 returned -18.45%, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index6 lost 6.93%, and the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index7 fell 7.72%.
Rising inflation, COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove market performance.
The period began with the COVID-19 Delta variant producing outbreaks globally in August, feeding market volatility and casting doubts over the ongoing economic recovery. The U.S. economy remained strong despite the Delta variant, ongoing inflationary pressures, and worries over Hurricane Ida. Emerging market equities experienced elevated volatility, largely influenced by China’s regulatory stance. Municipal debt had its first monthly loss since February 2021. Among commodities, crude oil fell sharply as the Delta variant caused expectations to dampen. However, oil remained a leading asset-class performer for the year.
| 1 | The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market-value-weighted index with each stock's weight in the index proportionate to its market value. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) All Country World Index (ACWI) ex USA Index (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. Source: MSCI. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indexes or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed, or produced by MSCI. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 3 | The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index (Net) (USD) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance of emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 4 | The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based benchmark that measures the investment-grade, U.S.-dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities (agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage pass-throughs), asset-backed securities, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 5 | The Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD Index (unhedged) is an unmanaged index that provides a broad-based measure of the global investment-grade fixed-income markets excluding the U.S.-dollar-denominated debt market. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 6 | The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of long-term tax-exempt bonds with a minimum credit rating of Baa. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 7 | The ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of domestic and Yankee high-yield bonds. The index tracks the performance of high-yield securities traded in the U.S. bond market. You cannot invest directly in an index. Copyright 2022. ICE Data Indices, LLC. All rights reserved. |
2 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence. Emerging markets declined on concerns over supply chain disruptions along with rising energy and food prices. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated it would soon start to slow the pace of asset purchases. U.S. concerns included a congressional showdown over the debt ceiling, the 2022 federal government budget, and the infrastructure package. Meanwhile, commodities thrived in September, driven by sharply higher energy prices.
Elevated inflation pressures and the global supply bottleneck continued in October, but strong earnings provided a bright spot in the U.S., the eurozone, and many Asian countries. Government bond yields rose globally as central banks prepared to tighten monetary policy. Commodity prices continued to rise, driven by sharply higher energy costs.
In November, as COVID-19 hospitalizations rose, most major global asset classes declined. Two exceptions were U.S. investment-grade bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities. President Biden signed a long-awaited infrastructure bill to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges, and railways. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI),1 a measure of domestic inflation conditions, jumped to its highest level in 31 years. While the threat of consistently high inflation led the Fed to discuss a faster pace of tapering, the Omicron strain created uncertainty. Commodities lost ground for the month, driven by sharp declines in oil prices (and energy costs in general) as well as precious metals.
Global volatility lessened in December as data indicated a lower risk of severe disease and death from the Omicron variant. Even so, several countries introduced restrictions on travel and hospitality, among other sectors, in an effort to reduce the spread. In the U.S., data indicated a stable economy overall, with robust corporate earnings. Consumer spending potential looked strong heading into 2022 on elevated household savings and the lowest household debt ratio since 1973. U.S. corporate and high-yield bonds had monthly gains while Treasuries declined. Bonds were adversely affected by the projection of multiple rate hikes in 2022 by senior Federal Open Market Committee members.
In January 2022, the main focus was on potential U.S. interest rate hikes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Fed hinted that a March interest rate hike was likely. Meanwhile, Russia threatened a potential invasion of Ukraine, which could disrupt Russia’s massive energy supplies and drive demand from non-Russian oil-producing countries. Elsewhere overseas, Europe saw food and energy prices spike, leading to rising inflation. Within fixed income, corporate bonds struggled in January, underperforming government bonds, as investors focused on continued elevated inflation and ongoing uncertainty over the U.S. monetary path.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics. Major global stock indexes were down in February, along with global bonds overall, with ongoing high levels of volatility in March along with mixed results that favored U.S. large-cap stocks. Prices of commodities spiked, including crude oil, natural gas, wheat, and precious metals, on elevated concerns of supply shortages. All of this fed already-high inflation concerns and added to expectations of more aggressive central bank interest rate hikes. Sweeping sanctions against Russia and corporate pullouts contributed to market volatility. Despite the geopolitical turmoil, the U.S. economic outlook remained largely unchanged, with a healthy job market and indications of growth.
In April, market volatility continued, with deepening losses across major capital markets, as both the S&P 500 and MSCI ACWI (Net)2 fell 8% or more for the month. The Chinese economy struggled through a strict lockdown as the government tried to contain a major COVID-19 outbreak, creating a global ripple effect that compounded existing supply shortages. This was exacerbated by the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global commodities. Meanwhile, U.S. annual inflation raged at 8.5%, its highest level since 1981, and investors braced themselves for aggressive Fed monetary tightening moves.
“ Global markets suffered their broadest retreat in a year during September, except for commodities, as concerns over inflation and the interest rate outlook depressed investor confidence.”
“ The Russian invasion of Ukraine dominated the financial world in February and March. Equity, bond, and commodity markets were shaken by fear, uncertainty, and an upending of demand-supply dynamics.”
| 1 | The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
| 2 | The MSCI ACWI (Net) is a free-float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. You cannot invest directly in an index. |
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 3
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Market volatility continued in May, although markets recovered ground late in the month. Value stocks continued to outperform growth stocks. The concerns that had dominated markets for months continued, including high inflation and geopolitical tensions that exacerbated high crude oil, gasoline, and food prices. In response, the Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.50%, with broad expectations of multiple rate hikes to come. Meanwhile, highly contagious COVID-19 variants persisted. However, labor markets in the U.S., the U.K., and Europe remained strong. The U.S. recorded a 3.6% unemployment rate, although labor market participation remained low. U.S. retail sales for April, released in May, indicated a fourth consecutive monthly increase, reflecting continued consumer resilience.
A historically bad year in financial markets continued in June with stocks posting further losses enroute to their worst first half of a year in 50 years. Bonds didn't fare much better. Driving the losses were the same factors that have been at play: rising global inflation and fears of recession as central banks increase rates to try to curb inflation, which climbed above 9% in June in the U.S. The Fed raised its short-term rate by another 0.75% in June, ending the month at a 1.50%–1.75% range. Meanwhile, U.S. economic data remained relatively robust as the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% and the housing market was only marginally affected, so far, by sharply higher mortgage rates.
Markets rebounded in July, led by U.S. stocks. While evidence began to point to an economic slowdown, and possibly a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the U.S. labor market remained surprisingly robust: July nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 500,000 and U.S. unemployment dipped to 3.5%. Meanwhile, crude oil and retail gasoline prices, major contributors to recent overall inflation, fell substantially from earlier highs. And while U.S. housing market data indicated a continued rise in home prices, home sales fell as houses became less affordable with mortgage rates at a 13-year high. The Fed raised rates another 0.75% in July and forecasts pointed to continued rate increases.
Don’t let short-term uncertainty derail long-term investment goals.
Periods of investment uncertainty can present challenges, but experience has taught us that maintaining long-term investment goals can be an effective way to plan for the future. To help you create a sound strategy based on your personal goals and risk tolerance, Allspring Funds offers more than 100 mutual funds spanning a wide range of asset classes and investment styles. Although diversification cannot guarantee an investment profit or prevent losses, we believe it can be an effective way to manage investment risk and potentially smooth out overall portfolio performance. We encourage investors to know their investments and to understand that appropriate levels of risk-taking may unlock opportunities.
Thank you for choosing to invest with Allspring Funds. We appreciate your confidence in us and remain committed to helping you meet your financial needs.
Sincerely,
Andrew Owen
President
Allspring Funds
President
Allspring Funds
For further information about your fund, contact your investment professional, visit our website at allspringglobal.com, or call us directly at 1-800-222-8222.
4 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Letter to shareholders (unaudited)
Notice to Shareholders
Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As a result of this military action, the United States and many other countries have instituted various economic sanctions against Russian and Belarus individuals and entities. The situation has led to increased financial market volatility and has had severe adverse effects on regional and global economic markets, including the markets for certain securities and commodities, such as oil and natural gas. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions imposed, other punitive action taken and the resulting market disruptions cannot be easily predicted.
Our solidarity and support goes out to our impacted employees and the people affected in Ukraine and their families. Allspring has a dedicated team of investment professionals actively monitoring the situation for any new developments and the potential impact to our clients and investment products. As the situation remains fluid, we are focused on the assessment of risks, valuation, and liquidity of impacted securities. Please visit our website at allspringglobal.com and click on “Russia-Ukraine Updates” for further information.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 5
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Investment objectiveThe Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
| Manager | Allspring Funds Management, LLC |
| Subadviser | Allspring Global Investments, LLC |
| Portfolio managers | Robert Gruendyke, CFA®‡, Thomas C. Ognar, CFA®‡ |
| Average annual total returns (%) as of July 31, 2022 | |||||||||||
| Including sales charge | Excluding sales charge | Expense ratios1 (%) | |||||||||
| Inception date | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | 1 year | 5 year | 10 year | Gross | Net 2 | |||
| Class A (EKJAX) | 1-20-1998 | -28.41 | 11.14 | 11.90 | -24.02 | 12.47 | 12.57 | 1.13 | 1.11 | ||
| Class C (EKJCX) | 1-22-1998 | -25.57 | 11.62 | 11.89 | -24.57 | 11.62 | 11.89 | 1.88 | 1.86 | ||
| Class R4 (EKJRX)3 | 11-30-2012 | – | – | – | -23.61 | 12.87 | 12.94 | 0.85 | 0.80 | ||
| Class R6 (EKJFX)4 | 11-30-2012 | – | – | – | -23.64 | 13.00 | 13.08 | 0.70 | 0.65 | ||
| Administrator Class (WFPDX) | 7-16-2010 | – | – | – | -23.96 | 12.58 | 12.70 | 1.05 | 1.00 | ||
| Institutional Class (EKJYX) | 6-30-1999 | – | – | – | -23.70 | 12.93 | 13.03 | 0.80 | 0.70 | ||
| Russell 1000® Growth Index | – | – | – | – | -11.93 | 16.30 | 15.95 | – | – | ||
Figures quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results, and do not reflect taxes that a shareholder may pay on an investment in a fund. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance shown without sales charges would be lower if sales charges were reflected. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted, which assumes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current month-end performance is available on the Fund’s website, allspringglobal.com.
Index returns do not include transaction costs associated with buying and selling securities, any mutual fund fees or expenses, or any taxes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
For Class A shares, the maximum front-end sales charge is 5.75%. For Class C shares, the maximum contingent deferred sales charge is 1.00%. Performance including a contingent deferred sales charge assumes the sales charge for the corresponding time period. Class R4, Class R6, Administrator Class and Institutional Class shares are sold without a front-end sales charge or contingent deferred sales charge.
| 1 | Reflects the expense ratios as stated in the most recent prospectuses. The expense ratios shown are subject to change and may differ from the annualized expense ratios shown in the financial highlights of this report. |
| 2 | The manager has contractually committed through November 30, 2022, to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers at 1.11% for Class A, 1.86% for Class C, 0.80% for Class R4, 0.65% for Class R6, 1.00% for Administrator Class, and 0.70% for Institutional Class. Brokerage commissions, stamp duty fees, interest, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses (if any), and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense caps. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. Without these caps, the Fund’s returns would have been lower. The expense ratio paid by an investor is the net expense ratio (the total annual fund operating expenses after fee waivers) as stated in the prospectuses. |
| 3 | Historical performance shown for the Class R4 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses applicable to the Class R4 shares. |
| 4 | Historical performance shown for the Class R6 shares prior to their inception reflects the performance of the Institutional Class shares, and includes the higher expenses applicable to the Institutional Class shares. If these expenses had not been included, returns for the Class R6 shares would be higher. |
Stock values fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions. Certain investment strategies tend to increase the total risk of an investment (relative to the broader market). This fund is exposed to foreign investment risk. Consult the Fund’s prospectus for additional information on these and other risks.
| ‡ | CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute. |
6 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
Growth of $10,000 investment as of July 31, 20221
| 1 | The chart compares the performance of Class A shares for the most recent ten years with the Russell 1000® Growth Index. The chart assumes a hypothetical investment of $10,000 in Class A shares and reflects all operating expenses and assumes the maximum initial sales charge of 5.75%. |
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 7
Performance highlights (unaudited)
MANAGER'S DISCUSSION
Fund highlights
| ■ | The Fund underperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000® Growth Index, for the 12-month period that ended July 31, 2022. |
| ■ | The Fund’s performance was inhibited by stocks within information technology (IT), consumer discretionary and industrials. |
| ■ | Holdings within communication services, materials, and financials aided the Fund’s performance for the period. |
High inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical conflicts have pervaded markets.
Over the past year, investors toiled with a myriad of headwinds including high inflation, rising interest rates, uncertainty around Federal Reserve (Fed) policy, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The confluence of these issues permeated the entire market, with growth stocks bearing the brunt of the carnage. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose from 1.23% at the start of the period to 2.64% at period end. Higher interest rates are designed to slow down economic growth, and a moderate gross domestic product growth environment actually favors growth stocks as growth premiums tend to rise. This is the main reason that our portfolios have historically performed well during rising-rate cycles.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine added geopolitical risks to an already top-down-driven market, which muted the impact of a strong earnings season for our holdings. This has been frustrating, as many of our stocks continue to exceed expectations, yet they have not been rewarded. Nevertheless, given the contraction of valuations in our universe coupled with our companies’ dynamic innovation, we believe there is a huge opportunity going forward.
| Ten largest holdings (%) as of July 31, 20221 | |
| Microsoft Corporation | 13.05 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A | 8.71 |
| Amazon.com Incorporated | 6.80 |
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 4.52 |
| Apple Incorporated | 4.16 |
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 1.85 |
| Monolithic Power Systems Incorporated | 1.77 |
| Deckers Outdoor Corporation | 1.74 |
| Repligen Corporation | 1.74 |
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C | 1.71 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's net assets. Holdings are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Select IT, consumer discretionary, and industrials stocks hindered relative performance.
Higher interest rates and inflation adversely affected higher growth stocks. Weakness in the Fund came from select software and internet stocks in key areas including digital advertising, gaming development, and application performance monitoring. Elsewhere within IT, our sizeable underweight to Apple Inc., impeded relative performance, as the stock outperformed the benchmark during the period. Investors flocked to the company as a perceived safe haven amid a risk-off environment for other higher-growth technology companies. Other detractors within consumer discretionary included Floor and Décor Holdings, Inc., a specialty retailer of hardwood flooring, which fell in conjunction with other housing-related stocks amid rising mortgage rates and higher inflation. Specialty footwear maker Crocs, Inc.*, retraced after issuing weaker guidance, citing supply chain and inventory disruptions. Within the industrials sector, Generac Holdings Inc. retraced 36% during the period. Nevertheless, we remain attracted to its growth profile given its strong backlog for home standby generators and nascent clean energy storage opportunity, a segment of its business that we feel is underappreciated.
Communication services, materials and financials contributed to Fund performance.
Stocks within the communication services sector aided relative performance during the period. Our underweight to Meta Platforms aided relative performance, as the stock fell 55% during the period. Recently, the company has faced several challenges that have weighed on the stock, such as increased media scrutiny (claiming that the company promotes harmful, divisive content), iOS advertising headwinds, and competition from TikTok. Elsewhere within financials, broker-dealer LPL Financial Holdings benefited as more financial advisors move from traditional wirehouses toward the independent and registered investment advisor channels. It also benefits from a rising-rate environment from margin and bank sweep balances. Within materials, Linde PLC performed well after generating better-than-
| * | This security was no longer held at the end of the reporting period. |
8 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Performance highlights (unaudited)
expected revenue growth aided by both favorable pricing and higher volumes across all geographies.
| Sector allocation as of July 31, 20221 |
| 1 | Figures represent the percentage of the Fund's long-term investments. These amounts are subject to change and may have changed since the date specified. |
Areas of focus remain in sustainable and dynamic growth opportunities.
The portfolio has a strategic tilt toward diversification and sustainable growth. We continue to look for proven business models that are not dependent on capital markets to fund profitless growth over the long-term. While Inflation has hurt our portfolios over the past 18 months, we believe many of our companies are positioned well should it persist. We continue to take advantage where inflation is causing disruption and seek to capitalize on dynamic growth opportunities that we believe are not fully appreciated by investors. While the current top-down-driven market has been frustrating, like all cycles, it is fleeting. Given the valuation contraction of many of our stocks coupled with their dynamic innovation, we believe there is an enormous opportunity for our investors going forward. We believe that, in this type of market—when sentiment is morose, volatility is high, and market noise is deafening—investors should consider investing in our portfolio, as historically we have come out of trying times and often prevailed in the ensuing periods.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 9
Fund expenses (unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments and contingent deferred sales charges (if any) on redemptions and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees, distribution (12b-1) and/or shareholder servicing fees, and other Fund expenses. This example is intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The example is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the six-month period and held for the entire period from February 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022.
Actual expenses
The “Actual” line of the table below provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the “Actual” line under the heading entitled “Expenses paid during period” for your applicable class of shares to estimate the expenses you paid on your account during this period.
Hypothetical example for comparison purposes
The “Hypothetical” line of the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) and contingent deferred sales charges. Therefore, the “Hypothetical” line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning account value 2-1-2022 | Ending account value 7-31-2022 | Expenses paid during the period1 | Annualized net expense ratio | |
| Class A | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 868.32 | $5.05 | 1.09% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.39 | $5.46 | 1.09% |
| Class C | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 865.01 | $8.51 | 1.84% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,015.67 | $9.20 | 1.84% |
| Class R4 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 871.37 | $3.71 | 0.80% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,020.83 | $4.01 | 0.80% |
| Class R6 | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 870.21 | $3.01 | 0.65% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.57 | $3.26 | 0.65% |
| Administrator Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 868.55 | $4.63 | 1.00% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,019.84 | $5.01 | 1.00% |
| Institutional Class | ||||
| Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 869.83 | $3.25 | 0.70% |
| Hypothetical (5% return before expenses) | $1,000.00 | $1,021.32 | $3.51 | 0.70% |
1 Expenses paid is equal to the annualized net expense ratio of each class multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 181 divided by 365 (to reflect the one-half-year period).
10 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Common stocks: 99.06% | |||||
| Communication services: 13.16% | |||||
| Entertainment: 1.91% | |||||
| Live Nation Entertainment Incorporated † | 324,986 | $ 30,545,434 | |||
| Take-Two Interactive Software Incorporated † | 102,200 | 13,565,006 | |||
| 44,110,440 | |||||
| Interactive media & services: 11.25% | |||||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class A † | 1,731,780 | 201,440,650 | |||
| Alphabet Incorporated Class C † | 340,460 | 39,711,254 | |||
| ZoomInfo Technologies Incorporated † | 507,312 | 19,222,052 | |||
| 260,373,956 | |||||
| Consumer discretionary: 15.44% | |||||
| Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 2.16% | |||||
| Airbnb Incorporated Class A † | 191,278 | 21,228,032 | |||
| Chipotle Mexican Grill Incorporated † | 6,198 | 9,695,036 | |||
| Hilton Worldwide Holdings Incorporated | 148,800 | 19,056,816 | |||
| 49,979,884 | |||||
| Internet & direct marketing retail: 6.80% | |||||
| Amazon.com Incorporated † | 1,164,860 | 157,197,857 | |||
| Specialty retail: 3.04% | |||||
| AutoZone Incorporated † | 4,600 | 9,831,994 | |||
| Five Below Incorporated † | 18,346 | 2,331,226 | |||
| Floor & Decor Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 189,159 | 15,240,541 | |||
| Tractor Supply Company | 100,600 | 19,262,888 | |||
| Ulta Beauty Incorporated † | 61,000 | 23,723,510 | |||
| 70,390,159 | |||||
| Textiles, apparel & luxury goods: 3.44% | |||||
| Deckers Outdoor Corporation † | 128,152 | 40,138,488 | |||
| lululemon athletica Incorporated † | 126,836 | 39,383,846 | |||
| 79,522,334 | |||||
| Consumer staples: 1.07% | |||||
| Food & staples retailing: 1.07% | |||||
| Costco Wholesale Corporation | 45,800 | 24,791,540 | |||
| Financials: 7.26% | |||||
| Capital markets: 7.26% | |||||
| LPL Financial Holdings Incorporated | 175,876 | 36,919,890 | |||
| MarketAxess Holdings Incorporated | 65,081 | 17,622,633 | |||
| MSCI Incorporated | 49,166 | 23,665,562 | |||
| S&P Global Incorporated | 43,300 | 16,321,069 | |||
| Stifel Financial Corporation | 244,732 | 14,637,421 | |||
| The Charles Schwab Corporation | 282,247 | 19,489,155 | |||
| Tradeweb Markets Incorporated Class A | 556,650 | 39,254,958 | |||
| 167,910,688 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 11
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| Health care: 16.77% | |||||
| Biotechnology: 3.99% | |||||
| Argenx SE † | 26,300 | $ 9,578,723 | |||
| Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company † | 171,123 | 24,987,380 | |||
| Horizon Therapeutics plc † | 329,362 | 27,327,165 | |||
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated † | 108,327 | 30,375,974 | |||
| 92,269,242 | |||||
| Health care equipment & supplies: 4.40% | |||||
| Abbott Laboratories | 129,556 | 14,100,877 | |||
| Boston Scientific Corporation † | 600,513 | 24,651,059 | |||
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation † | 373,490 | 37,550,685 | |||
| Insulet Corporation † | 103,198 | 25,572,464 | |||
| 101,875,085 | |||||
| Health care providers & services: 2.28% | |||||
| Centene Corporation † | 107,900 | 10,031,463 | |||
| UnitedHealth Group Incorporated | 78,837 | 42,756,459 | |||
| 52,787,922 | |||||
| Health care technology: 0.51% | |||||
| Veeva Systems Incorporated Class A † | 52,794 | 11,803,683 | |||
| Life sciences tools & services: 3.15% | |||||
| Bio-Techne Corporation | 84,843 | 32,688,311 | |||
| Repligen Corporation † | 187,985 | 40,108,480 | |||
| 72,796,791 | |||||
| Pharmaceuticals: 2.44% | |||||
| Royalty Pharma plc Class A | 433,800 | 18,865,962 | |||
| Zoetis Incorporated | 205,510 | 37,515,851 | |||
| 56,381,813 | |||||
| Industrials: 5.73% | |||||
| Aerospace & defense: 1.49% | |||||
| HEICO Corporation | 217,915 | 34,367,375 | |||
| Building products: 1.79% | |||||
| Advanced Drainage Systems Incorporated | 276,124 | 32,748,306 | |||
| Johnson Controls International plc | 160,313 | 8,642,474 | |||
| 41,390,780 | |||||
| Commercial services & supplies: 0.59% | |||||
| Copart Incorporated † | 106,810 | 13,682,361 | |||
| Electrical equipment: 1.64% | |||||
| Generac Holdings Incorporated † | 141,881 | 38,066,672 | |||
| Machinery: 0.22% | |||||
| Deere & Company | 14,628 | 5,020,037 | |||
| Information technology: 36.66% | |||||
| Communications equipment: 0.94% | |||||
| Arista Networks Incorporated † | 187,300 | 21,844,799 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
12 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| Shares | Value | ||||
| IT services: 4.90% | |||||
| MasterCard Incorporated Class A | 295,299 | $ 104,473,833 | |||
| MongoDB Incorporated † | 28,267 | 8,832,589 | |||
| 113,306,422 | |||||
| Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 8.02% | |||||
| Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated † | 202,415 | 19,122,145 | |||
| Allegro MicroSystems Incorporated † | 491,626 | 12,207,074 | |||
| Enphase Energy Incorporated † | 48,558 | 13,799,212 | |||
| Microchip Technology Incorporated | 417,666 | 28,760,481 | |||
| Monolithic Power Systems Incorporated | 87,906 | 40,851,676 | |||
| NVIDIA Corporation | 164,900 | 29,950,787 | |||
| NXP Semiconductors NV | 111,264 | 20,459,224 | |||
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 141,090 | 20,466,515 | |||
| 185,617,114 | |||||
| Software: 18.64% | |||||
| Atlassian Corporation plc Class A † | 54,359 | 11,378,426 | |||
| Avalara Incorporated † | 155,507 | 13,594,422 | |||
| Crowdstrike Holdings Incorporated Class A † | 135,562 | 24,889,183 | |||
| Dynatrace Incorporated † | 646,995 | 24,346,422 | |||
| Fair Isaac Corporation † | 17,900 | 8,270,337 | |||
| Microsoft Corporation | 1,075,452 | 301,922,394 | |||
| ServiceNow Incorporated † | 77,448 | 34,592,924 | |||
| Splunk Incorporated † | 116,800 | 12,136,688 | |||
| 431,130,796 | |||||
| Technology hardware, storage & peripherals: 4.16% | |||||
| Apple Incorporated | 592,781 | 96,332,840 | |||
| Materials: 1.35% | |||||
| Chemicals: 1.35% | |||||
| Linde plc | 103,732 | 31,327,064 | |||
| Real estate: 1.62% | |||||
| Equity REITs: 1.08% | |||||
| SBA Communications Corporation | 74,300 | 24,949,197 | |||
| Real estate management & development: 0.54% | |||||
| CBRE Group Incorporated Class A † | 146,891 | 12,576,807 | |||
| Total Common stocks (Cost $1,379,891,678) | 2,291,803,658 |
| Yield | |||||
| Short-term investments: 0.61% | |||||
| Investment companies: 0.61% | |||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class ♠∞ | 1.76% | 14,233,380 | 14,233,380 | ||
| Total Short-term investments (Cost $14,233,380) | 14,233,380 | ||||
| Total investments in securities (Cost $1,394,125,058) | 99.67% | 2,306,037,038 | |||
| Other assets and liabilities, net | 0.33 | 7,547,832 | |||
| Total net assets | 100.00% | $2,313,584,870 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 13
Portfolio of investments—July 31, 2022
| † | Non-income-earning security |
| ♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
| ∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
| Abbreviations: | |
| REIT | Real estate investment trust |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
| Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |||
| Short-term investments | ||||||||||
| Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $10,064,030 | $675,900,274 | $(671,730,924) | $0 | $0 | $ 14,233,380 | 14,233,380 | $ 77,576 | ||
| Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||||
| Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 19,959,385 | 32,157,415 | (52,116,800) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9,187 # | ||
| $0 | $0 | $14,233,380 | $86,763 | |||||||
| # | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
14 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Statement of assets and liabilities—July 31, 2022
| Assets | |
Investments in unaffiliated securities, at value (cost $1,379,891,678) | $ 2,291,803,658 |
Investments in affiliated securities, at value (cost $14,233,380) | 14,233,380 |
Receivable for investments sold | 12,276,881 |
Receivable for Fund shares sold | 836,784 |
Receivable for dividends | 354,949 |
Receivable for securities lending income, net | 490 |
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 137,024 |
Total assets | 2,319,643,166 |
| Liabilities | |
Payable for investments purchased | 2,327,232 |
Payable for Fund shares redeemed | 2,016,023 |
Management fee payable | 1,116,056 |
Administration fees payable | 236,926 |
Distribution fee payable | 13,401 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses payable | 60 |
Accrued expenses and other liabilities | 348,598 |
Total liabilities | 6,058,296 |
Total net assets | $2,313,584,870 |
| Net assets consist of | |
Paid-in capital | $ 1,417,158,671 |
Total distributable earnings | 896,426,199 |
Total net assets | $2,313,584,870 |
| Computation of net asset value and offering price per share | |
Net assets – Class A | $ 1,001,892,156 |
Shares outstanding – Class A1 | 86,808,060 |
Net asset value per share – Class A | $11.54 |
Maximum offering price per share – Class A2 | $12.24 |
Net assets – Class C | $ 23,163,108 |
Shares outstanding – Class C1 | 3,508,779 |
Net asset value per share – Class C | $6.60 |
Net assets – Class R4 | $ 128,025 |
Shares outstanding – Class R41 | 10,162 |
Net asset value per share – Class R4 | $12.60 |
Net assets – Class R6 | $ 856,049,611 |
Shares outstanding – Class R61 | 66,173,707 |
Net asset value per share – Class R6 | $12.94 |
Net assets – Administrator Class | $ 22,545,863 |
Shares outstanding – Administrator Class1 | 1,884,803 |
Net asset value per share – Administrator Class | $11.96 |
Net assets – Institutional Class | $ 409,806,107 |
Shares outstanding – Institutional Class1 | 31,937,284 |
Net asset value per share – Institutional Class | $12.83 |
| 1 | The Fund has an unlimited number of authorized shares. |
| 2 | Maximum offering price is computed as 100/94.25 of net asset value. On investments of $50,000 or more, the offering price is reduced. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 15
Statement of operations—year ended July 31, 2022
| Investment income | |
Dividends (net of foreign withholdings taxes of $134,500) | $ 10,009,091 |
Income from affiliated securities | 91,178 |
Total investment income | 10,100,269 |
| Expenses | |
Management fee | 19,107,685 |
| Administration fees | |
Class A | 2,636,893 |
Class C | 81,410 |
Class R4 | 781 |
Class R6 | 307,268 |
Administrator Class | 59,489 |
Institutional Class | 717,886 |
| Shareholder servicing fees | |
Class A | 3,137,353 |
Class C | 95,679 |
Class R4 | 975 |
Administrator Class | 112,554 |
| Distribution fee | |
Class C | 284,604 |
Custody and accounting fees | 136,363 |
Professional fees | 55,880 |
Registration fees | 78,194 |
Shareholder report expenses | 115,380 |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | 20,099 |
Other fees and expenses | 47,544 |
Total expenses | 26,996,037 |
| Less: Fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements | |
Fund-level | (742,984) |
Class A | (131,298) |
Class C | (66) |
Class R4 | (168) |
Class R6 | (213,973) |
Administrator Class | (6,788) |
Institutional Class | (388,088) |
Net expenses | 25,512,672 |
Net investment loss | (15,412,403) |
| Realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | |
Net realized gains on investments | 230,342,200 |
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (994,308,831) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (763,966,631) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | $(779,379,034) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
16 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Statement of changes in net assets
| Year ended July 31, 2022 | Year ended July 31, 2021 | |||
| Operations | ||||
Net investment loss | $ (15,412,403) | $ (17,785,602) | ||
Net realized gains on investments | 230,342,200 | 665,115,135 | ||
Net change in unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (994,308,831) | 314,062,592 | ||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | (779,379,034) | 961,392,125 | ||
| Distributions to shareholders from | ||||
| Net investment income and net realized gains | ||||
Class A | (309,130,200) | (148,403,252) | ||
Class C | (15,056,315) | (11,942,210) | ||
Class R4 | (291,397) | (135,124) | ||
Class R6 | (222,688,114) | (107,248,773) | ||
Administrator Class | (13,378,433) | (6,166,075) | ||
Institutional Class | (126,375,453) | (67,714,365) | ||
Total distributions to shareholders | (686,919,912) | (341,609,799) | ||
| Capital share transactions | Shares | Shares | ||
| Proceeds from shares sold | ||||
Class A | 3,310,399 | 50,327,381 | 5,587,886 | 98,163,377 |
Class C | 223,387 | 2,029,703 | 332,009 | 3,901,258 |
Class R4 | 4,488 | 72,140 | 4,273 | 78,471 |
Class R6 | 8,122,366 | 122,467,136 | 4,105,502 | 77,478,039 |
Administrator Class | 198,706 | 3,310,040 | 307,776 | 5,415,490 |
Institutional Class | 5,740,987 | 88,249,584 | 3,331,839 | 62,149,111 |
| 266,455,984 | 247,185,746 | |||
| Reinvestment of distributions | ||||
Class A | 19,056,650 | 289,089,373 | 8,581,749 | 138,681,054 |
Class C | 1,669,149 | 14,554,977 | 1,066,051 | 11,545,329 |
Class R4 | 17,671 | 291,397 | 7,716 | 132,869 |
Class R6 | 12,933,032 | 219,214,894 | 6,007,269 | 105,607,780 |
Administrator Class | 824,167 | 12,947,669 | 359,007 | 5,959,521 |
Institutional Class | 6,622,898 | 111,397,139 | 3,347,542 | 58,515,035 |
| 647,495,449 | 320,441,588 | |||
| Payment for shares redeemed | ||||
Class A | (13,457,217) | (193,624,038) | (9,543,692) | (165,540,766) |
Class C | (2,936,526) | (26,914,649) | (6,586,841) | (80,435,977) |
Class R4 | (82,779) | (1,205,111) | (7,604) | (144,046) |
Class R6 | (10,939,862) | (168,824,630) | (9,212,101) | (173,698,067) |
Administrator Class | (2,451,692) | (34,510,357) | (653,236) | (11,583,117) |
Institutional Class | (12,833,169) | (192,974,882) | (11,915,556) | (220,199,164) |
| (618,053,667) | (651,601,137) | |||
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from capital share transactions | 295,897,766 | (83,973,803) | ||
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | (1,170,401,180) | 535,808,523 | ||
| Net assets | ||||
Beginning of period | 3,483,986,050 | 2,948,177,527 | ||
End of period | $ 2,313,584,870 | $3,483,986,050 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 17
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class A | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $19.28 | $16.08 | $14.19 | $15.10 | $15.34 |
Net investment loss | (0.11) 1 | (0.13) 1 | (0.07) | (0.05) | (0.05) |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3.54) | 5.36 | 3.07 | 1.50 | 3.56 |
Total from investment operations | (3.65) | 5.23 | 3.00 | 1.45 | 3.51 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.54 | $19.28 | $16.08 | $14.19 | $15.10 |
Total return2 | (24.02)% | 34.93% | 22.78% | 12.97% | 26.54% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.13% | 1.13% | 1.14% | 1.15% | 1.15% |
Net expenses | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.10% | 1.11% | 1.11% |
Net investment loss | (0.75)% | (0.77)% | (0.52)% | (0.40)% | (0.34)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $1,001,892 | $1,501,805 | $1,178,453 | $1,050,751 | $1,048,632 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
18 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class C | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $12.85 | $11.40 | $10.45 | $11.87 | $12.86 |
Net investment loss | (0.14) 1 | (0.18) 1 | (0.13) 1 | (0.12) 1 | (0.13) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (2.02) | 3.66 | 2.19 | 1.06 | 2.89 |
Total from investment operations | (2.16) | 3.48 | 2.06 | 0.94 | 2.76 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $6.60 | $12.85 | $11.40 | $10.45 | $11.87 |
Total return2 | (24.57)% | 33.80% | 21.87% | 12.09% | 25.68% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.86% | 1.87% | 1.89% | 1.90% | 1.90% |
Net expenses | 1.85% | 1.86% | 1.86% | 1.86% | 1.86% |
Net investment loss | (1.51)% | (1.52)% | (1.27)% | (1.14)% | (1.09)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $23,163 | $58,524 | $111,046 | $153,404 | $201,138 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Total return calculations do not include any sales charges. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 19
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R4 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $20.58 | $17.00 | $14.89 | $15.69 | $15.75 |
Net investment loss | (0.08) 1 | (0.09) 1 | (0.03) 1 | (0.03) | (0.00) 1,2 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3.81) | 5.70 | 3.25 | 1.59 | 3.69 |
Total from investment operations | (3.89) | 5.61 | 3.22 | 1.56 | 3.69 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.60 | $20.58 | $17.00 | $14.89 | $15.69 |
Total return | (23.61)% | 35.30% | 23.20% | 13.21% | 27.06% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.85% | 0.85% | 0.86% | 0.87% | 0.87% |
Net expenses | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.80% |
Net investment loss | (0.47)% | (0.47)% | (0.20)% | (0.10)% | (0.02)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $128 | $1,457 | $1,129 | $3,940 | $3,727 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is more than $(0.005). |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
20 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Class R6 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $21.03 | $17.31 | $15.12 | $15.87 | $15.87 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.05) 1 | (0.06) 1 | (0.01) | (0.00) 1,2 | 0.02 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3.95) | 5.81 | 3.31 | 1.61 | 3.73 |
Total from investment operations | (4.00) | 5.75 | 3.30 | 1.61 | 3.75 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.94 | $21.03 | $17.31 | $15.12 | $15.87 |
Total return | (23.64)% | 35.49% | 23.39% | 13.40% | 27.27% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.71% | 0.71% | 0.72% |
Net expenses | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.65% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.30)% | (0.32)% | (0.07)% | (0.02)% | 0.12% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $856,050 | $1,179,098 | $954,852 | $820,383 | $196,934 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is more than $(0.005). |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 21
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Administrator Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $19.82 | $16.47 | $14.48 | $15.35 | $15.52 |
Net investment loss | (0.11) 1 | (0.12) 1 | (0.06) 1 | (0.04) 1 | (0.03) 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3.66) | 5.50 | 3.16 | 1.53 | 3.61 |
Total from investment operations | (3.77) | 5.38 | 3.10 | 1.49 | 3.58 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $11.96 | $19.82 | $16.47 | $14.48 | $15.35 |
Total return | (23.96)% | 35.02% | 23.02% | 13.02% | 26.70% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 1.04% | 1.05% | 1.06% | 1.07% | 1.07% |
Net expenses | 1.00% | 1.00% | 1.00% | 1.00% | 1.00% |
Net investment loss | (0.68)% | (0.67)% | (0.42)% | (0.29)% | (0.22)% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $22,546 | $65,665 | $54,341 | $49,042 | $57,582 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
22 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Financial highlights
(For a share outstanding throughout each period)
| Year ended July 31 | |||||
| Institutional Class | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Net asset value, beginning of period | $20.90 | $17.22 | $15.06 | $15.82 | $15.84 |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.06) 1 | (0.07) 1 | (0.02) 1 | 0.00 1,2 | 0.01 1 |
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments | (3.92) | 5.78 | 3.29 | 1.60 | 3.72 |
Total from investment operations | (3.98) | 5.71 | 3.27 | 1.60 | 3.73 |
| Distributions to shareholders from | |||||
Net realized gains | (4.09) | (2.03) | (1.11) | (2.36) | (3.75) |
Net asset value, end of period | $12.83 | $20.90 | $17.22 | $15.06 | $15.82 |
Total return | (23.70)% | 35.43% | 23.28% | 13.38% | 27.17% |
| Ratios to average net assets (annualized) | |||||
Gross expenses | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.81% | 0.82% | 0.82% |
Net expenses | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% |
Net investment income (loss) | (0.35)% | (0.37)% | (0.12)% | 0.02% | 0.07% |
| Supplemental data | |||||
Portfolio turnover rate | 54% | 48% | 45% | 60% | 45% |
Net assets, end of period (000s omitted) | $409,806 | $677,437 | $648,357 | $643,578 | $1,043,161 |
| 1 | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
| 2 | Amount is less than $0.005. |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 23
Notes to financial statements
1. ORGANIZATION
Allspring Funds Trust (the "Trust"), a Delaware statutory trust organized on March 10, 1999, is an open-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). As an investment company, the Trust follows the accounting and reporting guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification Topic 946, Financial Services – Investment Companies. These financial statements report on the Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund (the "Fund") which is a diversified series of the Trust.
Effective on November 1, 2021, the sale transaction of Wells Fargo Asset Management ("WFAM") by Wells Fargo & Company to GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P. was closed. In connection with the closing of the transaction, WFAM became known as Allspring Global Investments (“Allspring”) and various entities that provided services to the Fund changed their names to "Allspring", including Allspring Funds Management, LLC, the investment manager to the Fund, Allspring Global Investments, LLC and Allspring Global Investments (UK) Limited, both registered investment advisers providing subadvisory services to certain funds, and Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC, the Fund's principal underwriter. Consummation of the transaction resulted in a new investment management agreement and subadvisory agreement which became effective on November 1, 2021.
2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The following significant accounting policies, which are consistently followed in the preparation of the financial statements of the Fund, are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles which require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies are valued at net asset value. Interests in non-registered investment companies that are redeemable at net asset value are fair valued normally at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using any of the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has established a Valuation Committee comprised of the Trustees and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities, unless the determination has been delegated to the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee at Allspring Funds Management, LLC ("Allspring Funds Management"). The Board of Trustees retains the authority to make or ratify any valuation decisions or approve any changes to the Valuation Procedures as it deems appropriate. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports on any valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee or the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee which may include items for ratification.
Foreign currency translation
The accounting records of the Fund are maintained in U.S. dollars. The values of other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars at rates provided by an independent foreign currency pricing source at a time each business day specified by the Allspring Global Investments Pricing Committee. Purchases and sales of securities, and income and expenses are converted at the rate of exchange on the respective dates of such transactions. Net realized foreign exchange gains or losses arise from sales of foreign currencies, currency gains or losses realized between the trade and settlement dates on securities transactions, and the difference between the amounts of dividends, interest and foreign withholding taxes recorded and the U.S. dollar equivalent of the amounts actually paid or received. Net unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses arise from changes in the fair value of assets and liabilities other than investments in securities resulting from changes in exchange rates. The changes in net assets arising from changes in exchange rates of securities and the changes in net assets resulting from changes in market prices of securities are not separately presented. Such changes are included in net realized and unrealized gains or losses from investments.
24 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
Securities lending
The Fund may lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities are on loan, the Fund receives interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions is invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the "Securities Lending Fund"), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Investments in Securities Lending Fund are valued at the evaluated bid price provided by an independent pricing service. Income earned from investment in the Securities Lending Fund (net of fees and rebates), if any, is included in income from affiliated securities on the Statement of Operations.
In a securities lending transaction, the net asset value of the Fund is affected by an increase or decrease in the value of the securities loaned and by an increase or decrease in the value of the instrument in which collateral is invested. The amount of securities lending activity undertaken by the Fund fluctuates from time to time. The Fund has the right under the lending agreement to recover the securities from the borrower on demand. In the event of default or bankruptcy by the borrower, the Fund may be prevented from recovering the loaned securities or gaining access to the collateral or may experience delays or costs in doing so. In such an event, the terms of the agreement allow the unaffiliated securities lending agent to use the collateral to purchase replacement securities on behalf of the Fund or pay the Fund the market value of the loaned securities. The Fund bears the risk of loss with respect to depreciation of its investment of the cash collateral.
Security transactions and income recognition
Securities transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains or losses are recorded on the basis of identified cost.
Dividend income is recognized on the ex-dividend date. Dividend income is recorded net of foreign taxes withheld where recovery of such taxes is not assured.
Distributions to shareholders
Distributions to shareholders from net investment income and any net realized gains are recorded on the ex-dividend date and paid at least annually. Such distributions are determined in accordance with income tax regulations and may differ from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Dividend sources are estimated at the time of declaration. The tax character of distributions is determined as of the Fund's fiscal year end. Therefore, a portion of the Fund's distributions made prior to the Fund’s fiscal year end may be categorized as a tax return of capital at year end.
Federal and other taxes
The Fund intends to continue to qualify as a regulated investment company by distributing substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized capital gains (after reduction for capital loss carryforwards) sufficient to relieve it from all, or substantially all, federal income taxes. Accordingly, no provision for federal income taxes was required.
The Fund’s income and federal excise tax returns and all financial records supporting those returns for the prior three fiscal years are subject to examination by the federal and Delaware revenue authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund's tax positions taken on federal, state, and foreign tax returns, as applicable, for all open tax years and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability.
As of July 31, 2022, the aggregate cost of all investments for federal income tax purposes was $1,395,584,361 and the unrealized gains (losses) consisted of:
| Gross unrealized gains | $983,713,032 |
| Gross unrealized losses | (73,260,355) |
| Net unrealized gains | $910,452,677 |
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 25
Notes to financial statements
Reclassifications are made to the Fund’s capital accounts for permanent tax differences to reflect income and gains available for distribution (or available capital loss carryforwards) under federal income tax regulations. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. The primary permanent difference causing such reclassification is due to net operating loss. At July 31, 2022, as a result of permanent book-to-tax differences, the following reclassification adjustments were made on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
| Paid-in capital | Total distributable earnings |
| $(8,572,999) | $8,572,999 |
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had current year deferred post-October capital losses consisting of $(237,060,741) in short-term capital losses and $229,887,993 in long-term capital gains which will be recognized in the first day of the following fiscal year.
As of July 31, 2022, the Fund had a qualified late-year ordinary loss of $6,841,340 which will be recognized on the first day of the following fiscal year.
Class allocations
The separate classes of shares offered by the Fund differ principally in applicable sales charges, distribution, shareholder servicing, and administration fees. Class specific expenses are charged directly to that share class. Investment income, common fund-level expenses, and realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments are allocated daily to each class of shares based on the relative proportion of net assets of each class.
3. FAIR VALUATION MEASUREMENTS
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
| ■ | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities |
| ■ | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.) |
| ■ | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
26 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of July 31, 2022:
| Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
| Assets | ||||
| Investments in: | ||||
| Common stocks | ||||
| Communication services | $ 304,484,396 | $0 | $0 | $ 304,484,396 |
| Consumer discretionary | 357,090,234 | 0 | 0 | 357,090,234 |
| Consumer staples | 24,791,540 | 0 | 0 | 24,791,540 |
| Financials | 167,910,688 | 0 | 0 | 167,910,688 |
| Health care | 387,914,536 | 0 | 0 | 387,914,536 |
| Industrials | 132,527,225 | 0 | 0 | 132,527,225 |
| Information technology | 848,231,971 | 0 | 0 | 848,231,971 |
| Materials | 31,327,064 | 0 | 0 | 31,327,064 |
| Real estate | 37,526,004 | 0 | 0 | 37,526,004 |
| Short-term investments | ||||
| Investment companies | 14,233,380 | 0 | 0 | 14,233,380 |
| Total assets | $2,306,037,038 | $0 | $0 | $2,306,037,038 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
4. TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES
Management fee
Allspring Funds Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, L.P., is the manager of the Fund and provides advisory and fund-level administrative services under an investment management agreement. Under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for, among other services, implementing the investment objectives and strategies of the Fund, supervising the subadviser and providing fund-level administrative services in connection with the Fund’s operations. As compensation for its services under the investment management agreement, Allspring Funds Management is entitled to receive a management fee at the following annual rate based on the Fund’s average daily net assets:
| Average daily net assets | Management fee |
| First $500 million | 0.700% |
| Next $500 million | 0.675 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.650 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.625 |
| Next $1 billion | 0.600 |
| Next $3 billion | 0.590 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.565 |
| Next $2 billion | 0.555 |
| Next $4 billion | 0.530 |
| Over $16 billion | 0.505 |
For the year ended July 31, 2022, the management fee was equivalent to an annual rate of 0.65% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Allspring Funds Management has retained the services of a subadviser to provide daily portfolio management to the Fund. The fee for subadvisory services is borne by Allspring Funds Management. Allspring Global Investments, LLC ("Allspring
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 27
Notes to financial statements
Investments"), an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and a wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC, is the subadviser to the Fund and is entitled to receive a fee from Allspring Funds Management at an annual rate starting at 0.35% and declining to 0.275% as the average daily net assets of the Fund increase.
Administration fees
Under a class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management provides class-level administrative services to the Fund, which includes paying fees and expenses for services provided by the transfer agent, sub-transfer agents, omnibus account servicers and record-keepers. As compensation for its services under the class-level administration agreement, Allspring Funds Management receives an annual fee which is calculated based on the average daily net assets of each class as follows:
| Class-level administration fee | |
| Class A | 0.21% |
| Class C | 0.21 |
| Class R4 | 0.08 |
| Class R6 | 0.03 |
| Administrator Class | 0.13 |
| Institutional Class | 0.13 |
Waivers and/or expense reimbursements
Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed to waive and/or reimburse management and administration fees to the extent necessary to maintain certain net operating expense ratios for the Fund. When each class of the Fund has exceeded its expense cap, Allspring Funds Management will waive fees and/or reimburse expenses from fund-level expenses on a proportionate basis and then from class specific expenses. When only certain classes exceed their expense caps, waivers and/or reimbursements are applied against class specific expenses before fund-level expenses. Allspring Funds Management has contractually committed through November 30, 2022 to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses to the extent necessary to cap expenses. Prior to or after the commitment expiration date, the caps may be increased or the commitment to maintain the caps may be terminated only with the approval of the Board of Trustees. As of July 31, 2022, the contractual expense caps are as follows:
| Expense ratio caps | |
| Class A | 1.11% |
| Class C | 1.86 |
| Class R4 | 0.80 |
| Class R6 | 0.65 |
| Administrator Class | 1.00 |
| Institutional Class | 0.70 |
Distribution fee
The Trust has adopted a distribution plan for Class C shares pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. A distribution fee is charged to Class C shares and paid to Allspring Funds Distributor, LLC ("Allspring Funds Distributor"), the principal underwriter, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, at an annual rate of 0.75% of the average daily net assets of Class C shares.
In addition, Allspring Funds Distributor is entitled to receive the front-end sales charge from the purchase of Class A shares and a contingent deferred sales charge on the redemption of certain Class A shares. Allspring Funds Distributor is also entitled to receive the contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. For the year ended July 31, 2022, Allspring Funds Distributor received $14,368 from the sale of Class A shares and $1,072 in contingent deferred sales charges from redemptions of Class C shares. No contingent deferred sales charges were incurred by Class A shares for the year ended July 31, 2022.
28 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Notes to financial statements
Shareholder servicing fees
The Trust has entered into contracts with one or more shareholder servicing agents, whereby Class A, Class C and Administrator Class are charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of each respective class. Class R4 is charged a fee at an annual rate of 0.10% of its average daily net assets. A portion of these total shareholder servicing fees were paid to affiliates, and to certain entities that were affiliates of the Fund until November 1, 2021.
Interfund transactions
The Fund may purchase or sell portfolio investment securities to certain affiliates pursuant to Rule 17a-7 under the 1940 Act and under procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The procedures have been designed to ensure that these interfund transactions, which do not incur broker commissions, are effected at current market prices.
5. INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS
Purchases and sales of investments, excluding U.S. government obligations (if any) and short-term securities, for the year ended July 31, 2022 were $1,585,355,442 and $1,989,141,352, respectively.
6. SECURITIES LENDING TRANSACTIONS
The Fund lends its securities through an unaffiliated securities lending agent and receives collateral in the form of cash or securities with a value at least equal to the value of the securities on loan. The value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day and any increases or decreases in the required collateral are exchanged between the Fund and the counterparty on the next business day. Cash collateral received is invested in the Securities Lending Fund which seeks to provide a positive return compared to the daily Federal Funds Open Rate by investing in high-quality, U.S. dollar-denominated short-term money market instruments and is exempt from registration under Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act. Securities Lending Fund is managed by Allspring Funds Management and is subadvised by Allspring Investments. Allspring Funds Management receives an advisory fee starting at 0.05% and declining to 0.01% as the average daily net assets of the Securities Lending Fund increase. All of the fees received by Allspring Funds Management are paid to Allspring Investments for its services as subadviser.
In the event of counterparty default or the failure of a borrower to return a loaned security, the Fund has the right to use the collateral to offset any losses incurred. As of July 31, 2022, the Fund did not have any securities on loan.
7. BANK BORROWINGS
The Trust (excluding the money market funds), Allspring Master Trust and Allspring Variable Trust are parties to a $350,000,000 revolving credit agreement whereby the Fund is permitted to use bank borrowings for temporary or emergency purposes, such as to fund shareholder redemption requests. Interest under the credit agreement is charged to the Fund based on a borrowing rate equal to the higher of the Federal Funds rate or the overnight bank funding rate in effect on that day plus a spread. In addition, an annual commitment fee equal based on the unused balance is allocated to each participating fund.
For the year ended July 31, 2022, there were no borrowings by the Fund under the agreement.
8. DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS
The tax character of distributions paid during the years ended July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021 were as follows:
| Year ended July 31 | ||
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Ordinary income | $ 23,871,682 | $ 6,971,938 |
| Long-term capital gain | 663,048,230 | 334,637,861 |
As of July 31, 2022, the components of distributable earnings on a tax basis were as follows:
| Unrealized gains | Late-year ordinary losses deferred | Post-October capital losses deferred |
| $910,452,677 | $(6,841,340) | $(7,172,748) |
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 29
Notes to financial statements
9. CONCENTRATION RISKS
As of the end of the period, the Fund concentrated its portfolio of investments in the information technology sector. A fund that invests a substantial portion of its assets in any sector may be more affected by changes in that sector than would be a fund whose investments are not heavily weighted in any sector.
10. INDEMNIFICATION
Under the Fund's organizational documents, the officers and Trustees have been granted certain indemnification rights against certain liabilities that may arise out of performance of their duties to the Fund. The Fund has entered into a separate agreement with each Trustee that converts indemnification rights currently existing under the Fund’s organizational documents into contractual rights that cannot be changed in the future without the consent of the Trustee. Additionally, in the normal course of business, the Fund may enter into contracts with service providers that contain a variety of indemnification clauses. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is dependent on future claims that may be made against the Fund and, therefore, cannot be estimated.
11. CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that it had made the assessment that coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) is a pandemic. The impacts of COVID-19 are affecting the entire global economy, individual companies and investment products, the funds, and the market in general. There is significant uncertainty around the extent and duration of business disruptions related to COVID-19 and the impacts may last for an extended period of time. COVID-19 has led to significant uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets.
30 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Report of independent registered public accounting firm
To the Shareholders of the Fund and Board of Trustees
Allspring Funds Trust:
Allspring Funds Trust:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund (formerly, Wells Fargo Premier Large Company Growth Fund) (the Fund), one of the funds constituting Allspring Funds Trust (formerly, Wells Fargo Funds Trust), including the portfolio of investments, as of July 31, 2022, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of July 31, 2022, the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the years in the two-year period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the years in the five-year period then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Such procedures also included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2022, by correspondence with the custodian, transfer agent and brokers, or by other appropriate auditing procedures. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have not been able to determine the specific year that we began serving as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies; however, we are aware that we have served as the auditor of one or more Allspring Funds investment companies since at least 1955.
Boston, Massachusetts
September 27, 2022
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 31
Other information (unaudited)
TAX INFORMATION
For corporate shareholders, pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, 28% of ordinary income dividends qualify for the corporate dividends-received deduction for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, $663,048,230 was designated as a 20% rate gain distribution for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
Pursuant to Section 854 of the Internal Revenue Code, $7,872,881 of income dividends paid during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 has been designated as qualified dividend income (QDI).
For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022, $23,871,682 has been designated as short-term capital gain dividends for nonresident alien shareholders pursuant to Section 871 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Pursuant to Section 852 of the Internal Revenue Code, 100% of distributions paid from net investment income is designated as exempt-interest dividends for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2022.
PROXY VOTING INFORMATION
A description of the policies and procedures used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222, visiting our website at allspringglobal.com, or visiting the SEC website at sec.gov. Information regarding how the proxies related to portfolio securities were voted during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available on the website at allspringglobal.com or by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
QUARTERLY PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS INFORMATION
The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. Shareholders may view the filed Form N-PORT by visiting the SEC website at sec.gov.
32 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS
Each of the Trustees and Officers listed in the table below acts in identical capacities for each fund in the Allspring family of funds, which consists of 136 mutual funds comprising the Allspring Funds Trust, Allspring Variable Trust, Allspring Master Trust and four closed-end funds (collectively the “Fund Complex”). This table should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information1. The mailing address of each Trustee and Officer is 525 Market Street, 12th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Each Trustee and Officer serves an indefinite term, however, each Trustee serves such term until reaching the mandatory retirement age established by the Trustees.
Independent Trustees
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| William R. Ebsworth (Born 1957) | Trustee, since 2015 | Retired. From 1984 to 2013, equities analyst, portfolio manager, research director and chief investment officer at Fidelity Management and Research Company in Boston, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and retired in 2013 as Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity Strategic Advisers, Inc. where he led a team of investment professionals managing client assets. Prior thereto, Board member of Hong Kong Securities Clearing Co., Hong Kong Options Clearing Corp., the Thailand International Fund, Ltd., Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company, and Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. Audit Committee Chair and Investment Committee Chair of the Vincent Memorial Hospital Endowment (non-profit organization). Mr. Ebsworth is a CFA® charterholder. | N/A |
| Jane A. Freeman (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2015; Chair Liaison, since 2018 | Retired. From 2012 to 2014 and 1999 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Scientific Learning Corporation. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Freeman provided consulting services related to strategic business projects. Prior to 1999, Portfolio Manager at Rockefeller & Co. and Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Board member of the Harding Loevner Funds from 1996 to 2014, serving as both Lead Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Funds Trust from 2011 to 2012 and the chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Freeman is also an inactive Chartered Financial Analyst. | N/A |
| Isaiah Harris, Jr. (Born 1952) | Trustee, since 2009; Audit Committee Chair, since 2019 | Retired. Chairman of the Board of CIGNA Corporation from 2009 to 2021, and Director from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2011, Director of Deluxe Corporation. Prior thereto, President and CEO of BellSouth Advertising and Publishing Corp. from 2005 to 2007, President and CEO of BellSouth Enterprises from 2004 to 2005 and President of BellSouth Consumer Services from 2000 to 2003. Emeritus member of the Iowa State University Foundation Board of Governors. Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of Iowa State University School of Business. Advisory Board Member, Palm Harbor Academy (private school). Advisory Board Member, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Harris is a certified public accountant (inactive status). | N/A |
| David F. Larcker (Born 1950) | Trustee, since 2009 | James Irvin Miller Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business (Emeritus), Stanford University, Director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative and Senior Faculty of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance since 2006. From 2005 to 2008, Professor of Accounting at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Prior thereto, Ernst & Young Professor of Accounting at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 2005. | N/A |
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 33
Other information (unaudited)
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service* | Principal occupations during past five years or longer | Current other public company or investment company directorships |
| Olivia S. Mitchell (Born 1953) | Trustee, since 2006; Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, since 2018 | International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor since 1993, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Director of Wharton’s Pension Research Council and Boettner Center on Pensions & Retirement Research, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously taught at Cornell University from 1978 to 1993. | N/A |
| Timothy J. Penny (Born 1951) | Trustee, since 1996; Chair, since 2018 | President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organization, since 2007. Member of the Board of Trustees of NorthStar Education Finance, Inc., a non-profit organization, since 2007. | N/A |
| James G. Polisson (Born 1959) | Trustee, since 2018 | Retired. Chief Marketing Officer, Source (ETF) UK Services, Ltd, from 2015 to 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Principal of The Polisson Group, LLC, a management consulting, corporate advisory and principal investing company. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Russell Investments, Global Exchange Traded Funds from 2010 to 2012. Managing Director of Barclays Global Investors from 1998 to 2010 and Global Chief Marketing Officer for iShares and Barclays Global Investors from 2000 to 2010. Trustee of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute, a non-profit organization, from 2013 to 2015. Board member of the Russell Exchange Traded Fund Trust from 2011 to 2012. Director of Barclays Global Investors Holdings Deutschland GmbH from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Polisson is an attorney and has a retired status with the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bar Associations. | N/A |
| Pamela Wheelock (Born 1959) | Trustee, since January 2020; previously Trustee from January 2018 to July 2019 | Board member of the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency, Rochester, Minnesota since 2019. Interim President of the McKnight Foundation from January to September 2020. McKnight Foundation Consultant, November 2020 to February 2021. Acting Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Human Services, July 2019 through September 2019. Consultant (part-time), Minnesota Department of Human Services, October 2019 through December 2019. Chief Operating Officer, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity from 2017 to 2019. Vice President of University Services, University of Minnesota from 2012 to 2016. Prior thereto, on the Board of Directors, Governance Committee and Finance Committee for the Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (Saint Paul Foundation) from 2012 to 2018, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota from 2011 to 2012, Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2012 and Board Director from 2003 to 2015. Vice President, Leadership and Community Engagement, Bush Foundation, Saint Paul, Minnesota (a private foundation) from 2009 to 2011. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Sports and Entertainment from 2004 to 2009 and Senior Vice President from 2002 to 2004. Executive Vice President of the Minnesota Wild Foundation from 2004 to 2008. Commissioner of Finance, State of Minnesota, from 1999 to 2002. Currently Board Chair of the Minnesota Wild Foundation since 2010. | N/A |
* Length of service dates reflect the Trustee’s commencement of service with the Trust’s predecessor entities, where applicable.
34 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
Other information (unaudited)
Officers2
| Name and year of birth | Position held and length of service | Principal occupations during past five years or longer |
| Andrew Owen (Born 1960) | President, since 2017 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2017 and co-president of Galliard Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management, LLC, since 2019. Prior thereto, Head of Affiliated Managers, Allspring Global Investments, from 2014 to 2019 and Executive Vice President responsible for marketing, investments and product development for Allspring Funds Management, LLC, from 2009 to 2014. In addition, Mr. Owen was an Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Company from 2014 to 2021. |
| Jeremy DePalma (Born 1974) | Treasurer, since 2012 (for certain funds in the Fund Complex); since 2021 (for the remaining funds in the Fund Complex) | Senior Vice President of Allspring Funds Management, LLC since 2009. Senior Vice President of Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC from 2008 to 2010 and head of the Fund Reporting and Control Team within Fund Administration from 2005 to 2010. |
| Kate McKinley (Born 1977) | Chief Legal Officer, since 2021 | Chief Legal Officer of Allspring Global Investments since 2021. Prior thereto, held various roles at State Street Global Advisors beginning in 2010, including serving as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2019 to 2021, and Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional Client Group from 2016 - 2019. Prior to working at State Street Global Advisors served as Assistant General Counsel for Bank of America Corporation from 2005 to 2010 and as an Associate at WilmerHale from 2002 to 2005. |
| Christopher Baker (Born 1976) | Chief Compliance Officer, since 2022 | Global Chief Compliance Officer for Allspring Global Investments since 2022. Prior thereto, Chief Compliance Officer for State Street Global Advisors from 2018 to 2021. Senior Compliance Officer for the State Street divisions of Alternative Investment Solutions, Sector Solutions, and Global Marketing from 2015 to 2018. From 2010 to 2015 Vice President, Global Head of Investment and Marketing Compliance for State Street Global Advisors. |
| Matthew Prasse (Born 1983) | Secretary, since 2021 | Senior Counsel of the Allspring Legal Department since 2021. Senior Counsel of the Wells Fargo Legal Department from 2018 to 2021. Previously, Counsel for Barings LLC from 2015 to 2018. Prior to joining Barings, Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2008 to 2015. |
1 The Statement of Additional Information includes additional information about the Trustees and is available, without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-222-8222 or by visiting the website at allspringglobal.com.
2 For those Officers with tenures at Allspring Global Investments and/or Allspring Funds Management, LLC that began prior to 2021, such tenures include years of service during which these businesses/entities were known as Wells Fargo Asset Management and Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, respectively.
Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund | 35
Other information (unaudited)
LIQUIDITY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In accordance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), Allspring Funds Trust (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) on behalf of each of its series (other than the series that operate as money market funds), including the Fund, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund's liquidity risk. “Liquidity risk” is defined under the Liquidity Rule as the risk that the Fund is unable to meet redemption requests without significantly diluting remaining investors’ interests in the Fund. The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) previously approved the designation of Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), the Fund's investment manager, to administer the Program, and Allspring Funds Management has established a Liquidity Risk Management Council (the "Council") composed of personnel from multiple departments within Allspring Funds Management and its affiliates to assist Allspring Funds Management in the administration of the Program.
The Program is comprised of various components designed to support the assessment and/or management of liquidity risk, including: (1) the periodic assessment (no less frequently than annually) of certain factors that influence the Fund's liquidity risk; (2) the periodic classification (no less frequently than monthly) of the Fund's investments into one of four liquidity categories that reflect an estimate of their liquidity under current market conditions; (3) a 15% limit on the acquisition of “illiquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule); (4) to the extent the Fund does not invest primarily in “highly liquid investments” (as defined under the Liquidity Rule), the determination of a minimum percentage of the Fund's assets that generally will be invested in highly liquid investments (an “HLIM”); (5) if the Fund has established an HLIM, the periodic review (no less frequently than annually) of the HLIM and the adoption of policies and procedures for responding to a shortfall of the Fund's “highly liquid investments” below its HLIM; and (6) periodic reporting to the Board.
At a meeting of the Board held on May 24-25, 2022, the Board received and reviewed a written report (the “Report”) from Allspring Funds Management that, among other things, addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness for the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 (the “Reporting Period”). Other than extended foreign market holidays, no significant liquidity events impacting the Funds were noted in the Report. In addition, other than corporate-related changes to the Program, there were no material changes to the Program during the Reporting Period.
Allspring Funds Management determined in the Report that the Program has been implemented and operates effectively to manage each Fund’s, including the Fund’s, liquidity risk, and Allspring Funds Management continues to believe that the Program has been and continues to be adequately and effectively implemented to monitor and, as applicable, respond to the Fund’s liquidity developments.
There can be no assurance that the Program will achieve its objectives under all circumstances in the future. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for more information regarding the Fund’s exposure to liquidity risk and other risks to which an investment in the Fund may be subject.
36 | Allspring Premier Large Company Growth Fund
For more information
More information about Allspring Funds is available free upon request. To obtain literature, please write, visit the Fund's website, or call:
Allspring Funds
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
P.O. Box 219967
Kansas City, MO 64121-9967
Website: allspringglobal.com
Individual investors: 1-800-222-8222
Retail investment professionals: 1-888-877-9275
Institutional investment professionals: 1-800-260-5969
This report and the financial statements contained herein are submitted for the general information of the shareholders of the Fund. If this report is used for promotional purposes, distribution of the report must be accompanied or preceded by a current prospectus. Before investing, please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment. For a current prospectus and, if available, a summary prospectus, containing this information, call
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
1-800-222-8222 or visit the Fund's website at allspringglobal.com. Read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.
Allspring Global InvestmentsTM 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).
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.
© 2022 Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved.
PAR-0822-00654 09-22
A212/AR212 07-22
A212/AR212 07-22
ITEM 2. CODE OF ETHICS
(a) As of the end of the period covered by the report, Allspring Funds Trust has adopted a code of ethics that applies to its President and Treasurer. A copy of the code of ethics is filed as an exhibit to this Form N-CSR.
(c) During the period covered by this report, there were no amendments to the provisions of the code of ethics adopted in Item 2(a) above.
(d) During the period covered by this report, there were no implicit or explicit waivers to the provisions of the code of ethics adopted in Item 2(a) above.
ITEM 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT
The Board of Trustees of Allspring Funds Trust has determined that Isaiah Harris is an audit committee financial expert, as defined in Item 3 of Form N-CSR. Mr. Harris is independent for purposes of Item 3 of Form N-CSR.
ITEM 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
(a), (b), (c), (d) The following table presents aggregate fees billed in each of the last two fiscal years for services rendered to the Registrant by the Registrant’s principal accountant. These fees were billed to the registrant and were approved by the Registrant’s audit committee.
| Fiscal year ended July 31, 2022 | Fiscal year ended July 31, 2021 | |||||||
Audit fees | $ | 301,950 | $ | 261,020 | ||||
Audit-related fees | — | — | ||||||
Tax fees (1) | 41,085 | 35,200 | ||||||
All other fees | — | — | ||||||
|
|
|
| |||||
| $ | 343,035 | $ | 296,220 | |||||
|
|
|
| |||||
| (1) | Tax fees consist of fees for tax compliance, tax advice, tax planning and excise tax. |
(e) The Chair of the Audit Committees is authorized to pre-approve: (1) audit services for the mutual funds of Allspring Funds Trust; (2) non-audit tax or compliance consulting or training services provided to the Funds by the independent auditors (“Auditors”) if the fees for any particular engagement are not anticipated to exceed $50,000; and (3) non-audit tax or compliance consulting or training services provided by the Auditors to a Fund’s investment adviser and its controlling entities (where pre-approval is
required because the engagement relates directly to the operations and financial reporting of the Fund) if the fee to the Auditors for any particular engagement is not anticipated to exceed $50,000. For any such pre-approval sought from the Chair, Management shall prepare a brief description of the proposed services.
If the Chair approves of such service, he or she shall sign the statement prepared by Management. Such written statement shall be presented to the full Committees at their next regularly scheduled meetings.
(f) Not applicable
(g) Not applicable
(h) Not applicable
ITEM 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS
Not applicable.
ITEM 6. INVESTMENTS
A Portfolio of Investments for each series of Allspring Funds Trust is included as part of the report to shareholders filed under Item 1 of this Form.
ITEM 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Not applicable.
ITEM 8. PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Not applicable.
ITEM 9. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS
Not applicable.
ITEM 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS
There have been no material changes to the procedures by which shareholders may recommend nominees to the registrant’s Board of Trustees that have been implemented since the registrant’s last provided disclosure in response to the requirements of this Item.
ITEM 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
(a) The President and Treasurer have concluded that the Allspring Funds Trust disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) provide reasonable assurances that material information relating to the registrant is made known to them by the appropriate persons based on their evaluation of these controls and procedures as of a date within 90 days of the filing of this report.
(b) There were no significant changes in the registrant’s internal controls over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) that occurred during the most recent fiscal half-year of the period covered by this report that materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
ITEM 12. DISCLOSURES OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Not applicable.
ITEM 13. EXHIBITS
(a)(2) Certifications pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
(b) Certifications pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Allspring Funds Trust | ||
| By: | ||
| /s/ Andrew Owen | ||
| Andrew Owen | ||
| President | ||
Date: September 27, 2022 | ||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the date indicated.
Allspring Funds Trust | ||
| By: | ||
| /s/ Andrew Owen | ||
| Andrew Owen | ||
| President | ||
Date: September 27, 2022 | ||
| By: | ||
| /s/ Jeremy DePalma | ||
| Jeremy DePalma | ||
| Treasurer | ||
Date: September 27, 2022 | ||