Stellus Capital Investment Corp

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Stellus Capital Investment Corporation

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of assets and liabilities of Stellus Capital Investment Corporation and subsidiaries (the “Company”), including the consolidated schedules of investments, as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of operations, cash flows, and changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, financial highlights (in Note 8) for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements and financial highlights”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations, changes in its net assets, and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the two years in the period then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in*Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013)*issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated March 11, 2026, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements 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. 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. Our procedures included confirmation of investments owned as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, by correspondence with the custodian, loan agents, and borrowers; when replies were not received, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical audit matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Fair Value – Level 3 Investments – Refer to Notes 1 and 6 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

The Company held investments classified as Level 3 investments under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These investments included debt and equity securities with unique contract terms and conditions and/or complexity that considers a combination of multiple levels of market and asset specific inputs. The valuation techniques used in estimating the fair value of these investments vary and certain significant inputs used were unobservable.

We identified the valuation of Level 3 investments as a critical audit matter because of the judgments necessary for management to select valuation techniques and to use significant unobservable inputs to estimate their fair value. This required a high degree of auditor judgement and extensive audit effort to audit management’s estimate of fair value of Level 3 investments, including the need to involve fair value specialists possessing relevant valuation experience to evaluate the appropriateness of the valuation techniques and the significant unobservable inputs used in the valuation of certain investments.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to the fair value of certain Level 3 investments included the following, among otherss:

/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

Houston, Texas

March 11, 2026

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2024.

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Stellus Capital Investment Corporation

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Stellus Capital Investment Corporation and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated schedule of investments, as of December 31, 2025, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in net assets, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2025, the financial highlights (in Note 8) for the year ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”), of the Company and our report dated March 11, 2026, expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements].

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company 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 audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate

/s/ DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

Houston, Texas

March 11, 2026

Board of Directors and Shareholders

Stellus Capital Investment Corporation

Opinion on the financial statements

Wehave audited the consolidated statement of assets and liabilities of Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (a Maryland corporation) and subsidiaries (the “Company”), including the consolidated schedule of investments, as of December 31, 2023 (not presented herein) the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in net assets and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. 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 Company 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 audit 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 are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, 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 consolidated financial statements. Our procedures included verification by confirmation of securities as of December 31, 2023, by correspondence with portfolio companies or agents, or by other appropriate auditing procedures where replies were not received. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP

We served as the Company’s auditor from 2012 to 2024.

Dallas, Texas

March 4, 2024 (except for Note 14, as to which the date is March 4, 2025)