Company: NPFD
Filing Date: 2025-10-03
Form Type: N-CSR
Source: 0001193125-25-230111
Chunk: 3

Company: Nuveen Variable Rate Preferred & Income Fund
Filing Date: 2025-10-03
Form: N-CSR
Chunk 3
---
5. For more information on Fund investment objectives and policies, please refer to the Shareholder Update section at the end of the report. Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund (JFR) What factors affected markets during the reporting period?

| • |     | Uncertainty around tariffs and other potential policy shifts under the new administration, including federal spending 
 reductions, created bouts of volatility                                                                               |

| • |     | Interest rate moves and central bank signals affected issuers in the Fund’s market, as elevated borrowing costs 
 weighed on refinancing activity and new issuance.                                                               |

| • |     | Robust collateralized loan obligation (CLO) demand kept loan market technicals robust, even during period of 
 volatility.                                                                                                  |

| • |     | The U.S. economy showed resilience, rebounding quickly after periods of volatility, which supported risk assets. |

What key strategies were used to manage the Fund during the reporting period?

| • |     | The Fund avoided issuers likely to be negatively impacted by policy changes under the new administration, including 
 potential tariff and spending reductions.                                                                           |

| • |     | The Fund avoided most issuers undergoing liability management exercises (LMEs), while selectively targeting post-LME structures that offered attractive opportunities—when pricing dislocations created attractive entry points and credit agreements have been sufficiently amended to better protect lenders. |

| • |     | The Fund continued to focus on larger, more liquid issuers, allowing it to act quickly when market technical 
 mispriced fundamental risk, which enabled highly selective, opportunistic credit selection.                  |

How did the Fund perform and what factors affected relative performance? For the 12-monthreporting period ended July 31, 2025, JFR returned 6.37%. The Fund underperformed the S&P UBS Leveraged Loan Index, which returned 7.60%. Top contributors to relative performance

| • |     | Exposure to single B loans, particularly in lower-tier, B-rated issuers. |

| • |     | Security selection within the information technology and communication services sectors. |

| • |     | A position in bonds issued for CommScope, Inc. |

| • |     | The Fund’s use of leverage through bank borrowings and the issuance of preferred shares. In addition, the 
 Fund’s use of leverage was accretive to overall common share income.                                      |

Top detractors from relative performance

| • |     | Out-of-benchmark to equities received                                                
 from reorganizations, including V