Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp (AGM) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Farmer Mac Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jalpa Nazareth, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Farmer Mac 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給投資者關係和財務戰略高級總監 Jalpa Nazareth。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter of 2023 Earnings Conference Call. I'm Jalpa Nazareth, Senior Director of Investor Relations and Finance Strategy here at Farmer Mac. As we begin, please note that the information provided during this call may contain forward-looking statements about the company's business, strategies and prospects, which are based on management's current expectations and assumptions.

早上好，感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。我是 Jalpa Nazareth，Farmer Mac 投資者關係和財務戰略高級總監。首先，請注意，本次電話會議中提供的信息可能包含有關公司業務、戰略和前景的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期和假設。

These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected. Please refer to Farmer Mac's 2022 annual report and subsequent SEC filings for a full discussion of the company's risk factors. On today's call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures.

這些陳述並不是對未來業績的保證，並受到風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致我們的實際結果與預測存在重大差異。請參閱 Farmer Mac 的 2022 年年度報告和隨後向 SEC 提交的文件，了解對該公司風險因素的全面討論。在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。

Disclosures and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures can be found in the most recent Form 10-Q and earnings release posted on Farmer Mac's website, farmermac.com, under the Financial Information portion of the Investors section. Joining us from management this morning are President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Nordholm, who will discuss second quarter business and financial highlights and strategic objectives; and Chief Financial Officer Aparna Ramesh, who will provide greater detail on our financial performance.

這些非公認會計原則措施的披露和調節可以在 Farmer Mac 網站 farmermac.com 投資者部分的財務信息部分下發布的最新 10-Q 表格和收益發布中找到。今天上午，總裁兼首席執行官 Brad Nordholm 與我們管理層一起加入我們，他將討論第二季度的業務和財務亮點以及戰略目標；首席財務官 Aparna Ramesh，她將提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細信息。

Select members of our management team will also be joining us for the question-and-answer period. At this time, I'll turn the call over to President and CEO, Brad Nordholm. Brad?

我們管理團隊的精選成員也將參加我們的問答環節。此時，我會將電話轉給總裁兼首席執行官 Brad Nordholm。布拉德？

Thank you, Jalpa, and good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us. I'm pleased to report that for the second quarter of 2023, Farmer Mac once again surpassed previous records in revenues, core earnings and net effective spread, building on the strength of our performance.

謝謝你，賈爾帕，大家早上好。非常感謝您加入我們。我很高興地向大家報告，2023 年第二季度，Farmer Mac 在收入、核心收益和淨有效利差方面再次超越了之前的記錄，進一步增強了我們的業績實力。

Our capital base remains strong, which, along with our disciplined asset liability management and uninterrupted access to the capital markets supports our long-term strategic growth objectives and also serves as a buffer against market volatility and changing credit market conditions. These results further demonstrate the resilience of our business model and the success of strategic initiatives designed to grow the company profitably while fulfilling our mission to rural America and generating shareholder returns across changing market cycles.

我們的資本基礎仍然強勁，加上我們嚴格的資產負債管理和不間斷的資本市場准入，支持我們的長期戰略增長目標，並作為應對市場波動和不斷變化的信貸市場條件的緩衝。這些結果進一步證明了我們業務模式的彈性以及旨在實現公司盈利增長的戰略舉措的成功，同時履行我們對美國農村的使命，並在不斷變化的市場週期中為股東帶來回報。

In the second quarter, we reported core earnings of $42.2 million, reflecting a 37% increase over the same period last year. We achieved gross new business volume of $2.2 billion during the quarter, resulting in total outstanding business volume of $26.7 billion as of June 30, 2023. Included in the $2.2 billion of new volume was incremental volume in the form of an acquisition of mortgage servicing rights on $600 million of Farm & Ranch loans held by a third party.

第二季度，我們公佈的核心盈利為 4220 萬美元，比去年同期增長 37%。本季度我們實現了22 億美元的新業務總量，截至2023 年6 月30 日，未完成業務總量為267 億美元。22 億美元的新業務量中包括以收購抵押貸款服務權形式實現的增量業務量第三方持有的 6 億美元農場和牧場貸款。

Since the strategic acquisition and expansion of our loan servicing functions in the third quarter 2022; one, we have looked for opportunities such as this recent acquisition to scale this portfolio while creating more process transparency and greater efficiencies across our loan servicing platform. This capability gives us more direct oversight and governance of our portfolio, enhance security, more control over timely access to data and better visibility into loan performance from inception to maturity.

自 2022 年第三季度戰略收購和擴展我們的貸款服務功能以來；第一，我們一直在尋找像最近的收購這樣的機會來擴大這一投資組合，同時在我們的貸款服務平台上創造更多的流程透明度和更高的效率。這種能力使我們能夠更直接地監督和治理我們的投資組合，增強安全性，更好地控制及時訪問數據，並更好地了解從開始到到期的貸款績效。

We'll continue to work with our key partners to identify ways to capitalize on this initiative to create a more efficient process for our customers and their borrowers. The volume growth we've seen in the last -- first half of this year is largely attributable to the efforts we've made over the last few years to diversify our business model across several key markets.

我們將繼續與主要合作夥伴合作，尋找利用這一舉措的方法，為我們的客戶及其借款人創建更高效​​的流程。我們去年上半年看到的銷量增長很大程度上歸功於我們過去幾年在幾個關鍵市場上實現業務模式多元化所做出的努力。

The agricultural finance line of business grew over $500 million in the second quarter, predominantly due to the previously mentioned acquisition of new loan servicing rights and growth in our corporate AgFinance segment. There was good activity in corporate AgFinance, reflecting our success in building our reputation in this market.

第二季度農業金融業務增長超過 5 億美元，這主要是由於前面提到的新貸款服務權的收購以及我們企業農業金融部門的增長。企業農業金融領域表現良好，反映出我們在該市場建立聲譽的成功。

For example, during the second quarter, we were invited to participate in deals with very large well-known counterparties and have received more inquiries in recent months than we have ever seen before. Opportunities in this segment are generally more accretive from a net effective spread standpoint, the volume tends to be lumpy on a quarter-to-quarter basis. We remain focused on this segment as it is a key component of our diversification strategy, central to our mission and impactful for earnings and continued growth.

例如，在第二季度，我們受邀參與與非常大的知名交易對手的交易，並且最近幾個月收到的詢問比以往任何時候都多。從淨有效利差的角度來看，該細分市場的機會通常更具增值性，但季度與季度之間的交易量往往不穩定。我們仍然專注於這一領域，因為它是我們多元化戰略的關鍵組成部分，是我們使命的核心，對盈利和持續增長具有影響力。

Activity in our Farm & Ranch segment continues to be moderate as a result of the higher interest rate environment, but prepayment rates remained at historically low levels during the second quarter. We saw an increase in the number of loan applications and approvals during the second quarter, reflecting borrowers' adjustments to the new rate environment.

由於利率環境較高，我們的農場和牧場部門的活動繼續溫和，但第二季度的預付款率仍處於歷史低位。我們看到第二季度貸款申請和審批數量有所增加，反映出借款人對新利率環境的調整。

The agricultural mortgage market has seen a shift to primarily variable rate products as borrowers' sentiment generally expects rates to decrease over the next 5 to 10 years. Another key contributor to the increase in loan applications this past quarter was the enhancement of our scorecard underwriting product, AgXpress, which allows more loans with up to 65% loan-to-value ratios, which is an increase from our previous criteria of 55% max loan to value. The expansion of this criteria allows us to better support our customers with a product that aligns with other lenders in the marketplace today, and we can do this without increasing our credit risk appetite.

由於借款人普遍預期利率在未來 5 至 10 年內會下降，農業抵押貸款市場已主要轉向可變利率產品。上個季度貸款申請量增加的另一個關鍵因素是我們的記分卡承保產品 AgXpress 的增強，該產品允許更多貸款，貸款價值比高達 65%，這比我們之前 55% 的標準有所提高最大貸款價值。這一標準的擴展使我們能夠通過與當今市場上其他貸方一致的產品更好地支持我們的客戶，並且我們可以在不增加信用風險偏好的情況下做到這一點。

Turning to our rural infrastructure line of business. We saw continued healthy growth in the Renewable Energy segment during the second quarter. Our participation in syndicated renewable energy transactions has increased the number of opportunities we can participate in with key counterparties. The pipeline remains strong in the near term as we continue to focus on upsizing existing deals and bringing on new renewable energy opportunities. We also continue to invest additional resources to further support this segment.

轉向我們的農村基礎設施業務。第二季度我們看到可再生能源領域持續健康增長。我們參與可再生能源銀團交易增加了我們與主要交易對手參與的機會。隨著我們繼續專注於擴大現有交易規模並帶來新的可再生能源機會，短期內管道仍然強勁。我們還繼續投入更多資源來進一步支持這一領域。

Offsetting growth this quarter was the maturity of a single large AgVantage Security in the Rural Utilities segment that resulted in a net decrease in the rural infrastructure line of business. During the disruptions in the banking industry in March, many of our counterparties opted to delay the refinancing of upcoming maturities to better navigate the market volatility and evaluate their capital and liquidity needs.

本季度增長的抵消因素是農村公用事業領域單一大型 AgVantage Security 的成熟，導致農村基礎設施業務的淨減少。在三月份銀行業動盪期間，我們的許多交易對手選擇推遲即將到期的再融資，以更好地應對市場波動並評估其資本和流動性需求。

In recent months, as market has stabilized, we've seen many of those conversations resume, and we're having more discussions about our product offerings as potential capital efficiency and liquidity conduit for our customers. We anticipate that this will result in a growing volume pipeline as we look ahead to the second half of the year and into 2024.

近幾個月來，隨著市場趨於穩定，我們看到許多此類對話重新開始，並且我們正在更多地討論我們的產品作為客戶的潛在資本效率和流動性渠道。展望今年下半年和 2024 年，我們預計這將導致銷量不斷增長。

Over the last few years, we have invested in our infrastructure by upgrading technology platforms, processes and product offerings to improve the customer experience. I'm pleased to announce today that we will be rolling out a pilot program to complete collateral valuations using technology, which, if successful, should reduce total loan processing times. This pilot will begin with many Midwestern properties with the goal of launching the program more broadly in the first quarter of 2024.

在過去的幾年裡，我們通過升級技術平台、流程和產品來投資基礎設施，以改善客戶體驗。我今天很高興地宣布，我們將推出一項試點計劃，利用技術完成抵押品估值，如果成功，將減少總貸款處理時間。該試點項目將從中西部的許多物業開始，目標是在 2024 年第一季度更廣泛地啟動該計劃。

As we've mentioned previously, we are well into a significant upgrade of our treasury and cash management platforms and embarking on something similar with our loan purchase and processing platforms. Our commitment to incorporating innovation and modernizing existing technology is expected to continue to differentiate Farmer Mac and contribute to the transformation of the agricultural sector overall.

正如我們之前提到的，我們正在對我們的財務和現金管理平台進行重大升級，並開始對我們的貸款購買和處理平台進行類似的升級。我們對整合創新和現代化現有技術的承諾預計將繼續使 Farmer Mac 脫穎而出，並為整個農業部門的轉型做出貢獻。

Our underlying business model, strong capital position and uninterrupted access to the debt capital markets through the various market disruptions, uniquely positions us to partner with our customers. to help them manage their business and the risks they face around future capital requirements and liquidity.

我們的基本業務模式、強大的資本實力以及在各種市場動盪中不間斷地進入債務資本市場，使我們在與客戶合作方面處於獨特的地位。幫助他們管理業務以及未來資本要求和流動性所面臨的風險。

The foundation of our strategy is our consistent financial and operational execution coupled with proactive management of our balance sheet and funding sources. This has positioned us well in changing credit environments and is expected to continue to create more opportunities to enhance shareholder value and fulfill our mission.

我們戰略的基礎是我們一致的財務和運營執行以及對資產負債表和資金來源的積極管理。這使我們在不斷變化的信貸環境中處於有利地位，並有望繼續創造更多機會來提高股東價值並履行我們的使命。

So now I'd like to turn the call over to Aparna Ramesh, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss our financial results in more detail. Aparna.

現在我想將電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Aparna Ramesh，更詳細地討論我們的財務業績。阿帕娜。

Thank you, Brad, and good morning, everyone. Our record second quarter 2023 results highlight our balanced well-measured approach, continued strong credit quality and resiliency across market cycles. We achieved $2.2 billion of gross new business volume this quarter.

謝謝布拉德，大家早上好。我們創紀錄的 2023 年第二季度業績凸顯了我們平衡、衡量良好的方法、持續強勁的信貸質量和跨市場週期的彈性。本季度我們實現了 22 億美元的新業務總量。

Some of the key components included $675 million of wholesale financing from our large traditional counterparties in the Farm & Ranch segment, the majority of which was refinancing of existing AgVantage Securities, $563 million of additional loans serviced for others. $199 million in Farm & Ranch loan purchases, $165 million in new corporate AgFinance loan purchases and unfunded commitments.

其中一些關鍵組成部分包括來自農場和牧場領域大型傳統交易對手的 6.75 億美元批發融資，其中大部分是現有 AgVantage 證券的再融資，以及為其他機構提供的 5.63 億美元額外貸款。 1.99 億美元用於農場和牧場貸款購買，1.65 億美元用於新企業農業金融貸款購買和無資金承諾。

$135 million in new rural utilities loan purchases, $80 million of which was telecommunications loans and $72 million in new renewable energy loan purchases and purchase commitments. Even after repayments, maturities and acquisition of servicing rights, we grew about $300 million this quarter in our outstanding business volume. And this speaks to the benefit of strategic decisions over the last few years that we've undertaken to diversify our portfolio.

1.35 億美元用於新增農村公用事業貸款購買，其中 8000 萬美元為電信貸款，7200 萬美元用於新增可再生能源貸款購買和購買承諾。即使在還款、到期和獲得服務權之後，本季度我們的未完成業務量仍增長了約 3 億美元。這說明了我們過去幾年為實現投資組合多元化而做出的戰略決策的好處。

Turning to core earnings. Core earnings was $42.2 million, of $3.86 per share in second quarter 2023, and this reflects a 37% year-over-year increase. This increase was driven by record net effective spread of $81.8 million in second quarter 2023 compared to $60.9 million in the same period last year.

轉向核心收益。 2023 年第二季度核心收益為 4220 萬美元，每股收益 3.86 美元，同比增長 37%。這一增長的推動因素是 2023 年第二季度淨有效利差達到創紀錄的 8180 萬美元，而去年同期為 6090 萬美元。

In percentage terms, our net effective spread in second quarter of 2023 increased to 120 basis points, and this was primarily driven by a low-cost excess capital and our ability to redeploy this excess capital into higher earning assets as well as the continued trend towards higher spread volume. The capital that we raised opportunistically when rates were at historical lows in 2020 and 2021 continues to reduce the need for us to raise more expensive term and callable debt in a rising rate environment.

以百分比計算，我們在2023 年第二季度的淨有效利差增加至120 個基點，這主要是由於低成本過剩資本和我們將這些過剩資本重新部署到收益更高的資產的能力以及持續的趨勢推動的更高的點差量。我們在 2020 年和 2021 年利率處於歷史低位時投機籌集的資金繼續減少了我們在利率上升的環境下籌集更昂貴的定期債務和可贖回債務的需要。

We continue to defensively hold about $600 million to $800 million of cash and other short-term instruments in our liquidity portfolio. Not only does this help us weather potential market disruptions, our excess and highly liquid capital generates immediate returns in a high nominal rate environment. This benefit is expected to continue to create downward pressure on our non-GAAP funding costs as the short end of the curve continues to increase with Fed actions and the reinvesting of excess capital generates additional returns with an upward repricing of our short-term investment portfolio.

我們繼續在流動性投資組合中防禦性地持有約 6 億至 8 億美元的現金和其他短期工具。這不僅有助於我們應對潛在的市場干擾，而且我們過剩且高流動性的資本可以在高名義利率環境中立即產生回報。隨著美聯儲的行動，曲線的短端繼續增加，並且通過我們的短期投資組合的向上重新定價，多餘資本的再投資會產生額外的回報，預計這一好處將繼續對我們的非公認會計準則融資成本造成下行壓力。

While the rise in short-term rates has provided an asymmetric benefit to earnings, we project limited downside to earnings if rates decline in the future, due to our proactive equity capital allocation strategy. Specifically, we expect to retain some of the benefit over the medium term if rates decline as we have started extending maturities in our investment portfolio. Again, these are all practices that are highly consistent with our disciplined approach, which is designed to minimize earnings volatility.

雖然短期利率的上升為盈利帶來了不對稱的好處，但由於我們積極的股權資本配置策略，如果未來利率下降，我們預計盈利的下行空間有限。具體來說，如果利率下降，我們預計將在中期內保留部分收益，因為我們已經開始延長投資組合的期限。同樣，這些做法都與我們的嚴格方法高度一致，旨在最大限度地減少收益波動。

Our fundamental asset liability management approach, where we match fund, the duration and convexity of our assets and liabilities in all rate environments remains unchanged as it has allowed us to successfully navigate changing market environment and contain earnings volatility.

我們的基本資產負債管理方法，即我們在所有利率環境下匹配資金、資產和負債的久期和凸度保持不變，因為它使我們能夠成功應對不斷變化的市場環境並控制盈利波動。

Our business has certain natural hedges that we have honed over time as and this helps us be insulated from interest rate volatility. We see this as a key differentiator for us relative to other financial services entities, especially depository institutions. For example, when interest rates rise, prepayments also tend to decline but interest earned on excess cash and capital would likely increase, and we would continue to have strong market access as we're not reliant on deposits as a source of funding.

我們的業務具有一定的自然對沖，我們經過一段時間的磨練，這有助於我們免受利率波動的影響。我們認為這是我們相對於其他金融服務實體（尤其是存款機構）的一個關鍵區別。例如，當利率上升時，預付款也往往會下降，但多餘現金和資本所賺取的利息可能會增加，而且我們將繼續擁有強大的市場准入，因為我們不依賴存款作為資金來源。

Conversely, when interest rates decline, loan purchase volume often increases, but prepayments also tend to increase and interest on our liquidity portfolio usually ends, but we're able to manage our interest rate risk through exercising callable issuances and thereby, we're able to maintain our margins.

相反，當利率下降時，貸款購買量通常會增加，但預付款也往往會增加，我們的流動性投資組合的利息通常會結束，但我們能夠通過行使可贖回發行來管理我們的利率風險，因此，我們能夠以維持我們的利潤。

Although these natural business dynamics are not perfect offset, they do counterbalance to mitigate volatility from changes in short-term interest rates. Our liquidity and capital positions are well in excess of all regulatory ratios and our projections show minimal change in our profitability and market value regardless of the direction and size of any rate shop that we apply to stress our balance sheet.

儘管這些自然的商業動態並不能完美抵消，但它們確實可以抵消短期利率變化帶來的波動。我們的流動性和資本頭寸遠遠超過所有監管比率，並且我們的預測顯示，無論我們為資產負債表施加壓力的任何利率商店的方向和規模如何，我們的盈利能力和市場價值的變化都很小。

Let's now turn to operating expenses. Expenses increased by 21% year-over-year, and this is primarily due to the expenditures that are associated with a multiyear technology investment that we're making in our treasury and cash management systems to enhance our trading, hedging and reporting platforms.

現在讓我們轉向運營費用。費用同比增長 21%，這主要是由於我們對財務和現金管理系統進行多年技術投資相關的支出，以增強我們的交易、對沖和報告平台。

This modernization effort is expected to position us to be defensive against cyber and fraud threats and also allow us to scale our portfolio and diversify our product offerings. We expect our run rate operating expenses to increase at a pace above historical averages, over the next several years, given plans to continue to make investments in our team and our infrastructure to support our growth and strategic objectives.

這項現代化工作預計將使我們能夠防禦網絡和欺詐威脅，並使我們能夠擴大我們的產品組合併使我們的產品多樣化。鑑於計劃繼續對我們的團隊和基礎設施進行投資以支持我們的增長和戰略目標，我們預計未來幾年我們的運營費用將以高於歷史平均水平的速度增長。

Our operating efficiency is 27% year-to-date and below our strategic plan target of 30%. And this is primarily because revenue growth increased at a significantly higher rate than expenses. We will continue to closely monitor our efficiency ratio as we continue to make investments in our loan infrastructure and funding platform and innovate our loan processes to accelerate growth we may see some temporary increases above the 30% level.

今年迄今為止，我們的運營效率為 27%，低於我們 30% 的戰略計劃目標。這主要是因為收入增長速度明顯高於支出增長速度。我們將繼續密切監控我們的效率比率，因為我們繼續投資我們的貸款基礎設施和融資平台，並創新我們的貸款流程以加速增長，我們可能會看到一些暫時高於 30% 水平的增長。

Our credit profile remains very strong in aggregate despite economic headwinds. We saw a seasonal decrease in 90-day delinquencies from the first quarter as well as a repayment from a single $16 million permanent planting loans that became delinquent in first quarter of 2023. As of June 30, 90-day delinquencies reflect 17 basis points of our entire portfolio.

儘管面臨經濟逆風，但我們的信用狀況總體上仍然非常強勁。我們看到 90 天拖欠率較第一季度出現季節性下降，以及 2023 年第一季度拖欠的 1,600 萬美元永久種植貸款的償還。截至 6 月 30 日，90 天拖欠率反映了 17 個基點我們的整個投資組合。

As of June 30, 2023, the total allowance for losses was $19.1 million, reflecting a $1.1 million increase from first quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily attributable to new telecommunications business volume in the rural infrastructure portfolio and new agricultural storage and processing volumes in the agricultural finance portfolio.

截至2023 年6 月30 日，損失準備金總額為1,910 萬美元，較2023 年第一季度增加110 萬美元。這一增長主要歸因於農村基礎設施組合中新增的電信業務量以及農村基礎設施投資組合中新增的農產品儲存和加工量。農業金融投資組合。

Subsequent to quarter end, an entity purchased the assets and assumed the liabilities of a single agricultural storage and processing loans that was subject to bankruptcy proceedings in the first half of the year. As a result of this, Farmer Mac has received proceeds from this bankruptcy field, and we, therefore, expect to release during the third quarter, the entire allowance for loan loss attributed to this loan, which was approximately $4.6 million as of June 30.

季末後，某主體收購了上半年申請破產的單筆農產品倉儲加工貸款的資產並承擔了負債。因此，Farmer Mac 已從該破產領域獲得收益，因此，我們預計將在第三季度釋放歸因於該貸款的全部貸款損失準備金，截至 6 月 30 日約為 460 萬美元。

Now turning to capital. Farmer Mac's $1.4 billion of core capital as of June 30, 2023, exceeded our statutory requirement by $566 million or 17%. Core capital increased sequentially, primarily due to an increase in retained earnings.

現在轉向資本。截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日，Farmer Mac 的核心資本為 14 億美元，超出我們的法定要求 5.66 億美元，即 17%。核心資本環比增加，主要是由於留存收益增加。

Our Tier 1 capital ratio improved to 15.9% as of June 30, 2023, from 15.7% as of March 31, largely due to strong earnings results and higher retained earnings, maintaining credit standards that reflect our risk profile, coupled with strong levels of capital is a fundamental part of our long-term strategy.

截至2023 年6 月30 日，我們的一級資本比率從截至3 月31 日的15.7% 提高至15.9%，這主要是由於強勁的盈利業績和較高的留存收益、維持反映我們風險狀況的信貸標準以及強勁的資本水平是我們長期戰略的基本組成部分。

So in conclusion, our entire team delivered exceptional quarterly results surpassing the key metrics that we highlight on each call while staying within our credit framework.

因此總而言之，我們整個團隊交付了出色的季度業績，超越了我們在每次電話會議上強調的關鍵指標，同時保持在我們的信用框架內。

Notably, we delivered a record 19% return on equity this quarter and stayed well below our efficiency target of 30%. We believe that our balance sheet is continued to be well positioned for uncertainty and we're more optimistic than ever to deliver on our long-term strategic plan objectives.

值得注意的是，本季度我們實現了創紀錄的 19% 股本回報率，遠低於 30% 的效率目標。我們相信，我們的資產負債表將繼續處於有利的位置，以應對不確定性，並且我們對實現長期戰略計劃目標比以往任何時候都更加樂觀。

And with that, Brad, let me turn it back to you.

那麼，布拉德，讓我把它轉回給你。

Thanks, Aparna. Our business model is resilient and diversified and our balance sheet is very healthy. We operate with high capital levels and believe that we're well positioned to deliver earnings growth and strong profitability for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024.

謝謝，阿帕娜。我們的業務模式具有彈性和多元化，我們的資產負債表也非常健康。我們的資本水平很高，相信我們有能力在 2023 年剩餘時間和 2024 年實現盈利增長和強勁的盈利能力。

We've emphasized that our ability to issue long-dated fixed rate debt in all rate environments and economic cycles is a core competitive advantage that when combined with our approach to asset liability management, helps to produce consistent spreads and provides forward visibility to future earnings.

我們強調，我們在所有利率環境和經濟周期中發行長期固定利率債務的能力是一項核心競爭優勢，與我們的資產負債管理方法相結合，有助於產生一致的利差並提供對未來收益的前瞻性可見性。

I'm extremely proud of our team and the excellent progress that we're making on our multiyear strategic initiatives. We remain focused on our mission to increase the accessibility of financing for American agriculture and rural infrastructure. We are aligned across our organization and with our customers to bring even greater efficiencies and lower costs in providing financings to lenders for the benefit of their Farm & Ranch, Agribusiness and rural infrastructure customers.

我為我們的團隊以及我們在多年戰略計劃上取得的出色進展感到非常自豪。我們仍然專注於我們的使命，即增加美國農業和農村基礎設施融資的可及性。我們在整個組織內並與客戶保持一致，以提高向貸方提供融資的效率和降低成本，以造福於農場和牧場、農業綜合企業和農村基礎設施客戶的利益。

And now, operator, I'd like to see if we have any questions from anyone on the line today.

現在，接線員，我想看看今天在線的任何人是否有任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Bill Ryan with Seaport Research Partners.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Seaport Research Partners 的 Bill Ryan。

Very nice quarter. Just kind of looking at your mix of business, obviously changed a little bit in the quarter. You talked about the acquisition of the servicing asset. Some acceleration in corporate AgFinance. I know we've got 6 months left to go in the year, but how do you see the mix of business kind of playing out through the rest of 2023? That's the first question.

非常好的季度。只是看看您的業務組合，顯然在本季度發生了一些變化。您談到了服務資產的收購。企業農業金融有所加速。我知道今年還剩 6 個月，但您如何看待 2023 年剩餘時間內的業務組合表現？這是第一個問題。

And it's an important one as we've emphasized we're pleased with the increasing diversification of our business. We think it brings more stability through different economic cycles. And we tried to emphasize some of the reasons for that in the call today.

這是一件重要的事情，因為我們已經強調過，我們對業務的日益多元化感到滿意。我們認為它在不同的經濟周期中帶來了更多的穩定性。我們試圖在今天的電話會議中強調其中的一些原因。

As we look out, Bill, to the rest of 2023, with increasing acceptance and, I guess, experience with higher interest rates, we're optimistic that we'll see some increase in Farm & Ranch applications. We do expect to see more opportunity with corporate AgFinance, primarily because of our growing credibility in that market sector, including with leading syndicate banks. The overall credit demands are not necessarily increasing, but our presence is.

比爾，展望 2023 年剩餘時間，隨著人們的接受度不斷提高，而且我想，隨著利率上升的經驗，我們樂觀地認為，農場和牧場申請量將會有所增加。我們確實期望在企業農業金融領域看到更多機會，這主要是因為我們在該市場領域（包括領先的銀團銀行）的信譽不斷提高。總體信貸需求不一定在增加，但我們的存在卻在增加。

I think looking out to the rest of the year and then looking forward the next couple of years in terms of a percentage increase projection, but starting from a small notional base, we see probably the greatest growth in renewable energy.

我認為展望今年剩餘時間，然後展望未來幾年的百分比增長預測，但從較小的名義基礎開始，我們可能會看到可再生能源的最大增長。

So kind of looking out towards the end of the year, continued growth in renewable energy is still small, it's just starting to move the needle, hopefully, some higher levels of both Corporate AgFinance and Farm & Ranch. And at the end of the year, the balance will probably shift slightly towards -- ever so slightly towards Farm & Ranch and corporate Ag business just because they're larger books of business here at Farmer Mac.

因此，展望今年年底，可再生能源的持續增長仍然很小，它才剛剛開始推動企業農業金融和農場與牧場的發展。到今年年底，平衡可能會稍微轉向農場和牧場以及企業農業業務，因為它們是 Farmer Mac 的較大業務。

I want to emphasize that the servicing is very strategic for us. It is not a huge driver of top line or bottom line earnings results. But it provides us with a way to create more opportunities for how we create valuable relationships with our seller servicers.

我想強調的是，服務對我們來說非常具有戰略意義。它並不是頂線或底線盈利結果的巨大驅動力。但它為我們提供了一種創造更多機會的方法，讓我們能夠與賣家服務商建立有價值的關係。

It gives us more immediate access to data that, for example, among other things, supports our securitization programs. And it allows us to focus more on operational excellence in servicing, not just for our own operation, but for our seller servicers too. So you're going to continue to hear about that but it's not going to be a large breakout number in our earnings for at least the next couple of years.

它使我們能夠更直接地訪問數據，例如支持我們的證券化計劃的數據。它使我們能夠更加專注於服務的卓越運營，不僅是為了我們自己的運營，也是為了我們的賣家服務商。所以你會繼續聽到這個消息，但至少在接下來的幾年裡，這不會成為我們收入的一個大的突破數字。

Bill, I'm sorry, out, but a part I wanted to add something to that...

比爾，很抱歉，出去了，但我想添加一些內容......

Just to augment with Brad said on the Farm & Ranch space. We're also seeing increased demand for our AgVantage facilities. So we expect that to be another area of, I would say, compositional shift as you look out through that.

只是為了補充布拉德在農場和牧場領域的說法。我們還發現對 AgVantage 設施的需求不斷增加。因此，我想說，當你仔細觀察時，我們預計這將是構成轉變的另一個領域。

That's true, Bill. And Aparna makes a very good point, and AgVantage tends to be very lumpy. So one expected or unexpected new AgVantage facility in the back half of the year can move the needle by hundreds of millions of dollars.

確實如此，比爾。 Aparna 提出了一個非常好的觀點，而 AgVantage 則往往非常不穩定。因此，今年下半年預計或意想不到的新 AgVantage 設施可能會帶來數億美元的收入。

Okay. And a follow-up question on the modernization efforts. Obviously, we saw the acceleration in expenses this quarter, as you've been broadcasting for the last couple of quarters. What is the kind of the time frame you're thinking for the modernization effort? Is this going to go through 2024 or 2025? And the other part of that is, did you say the expense run rate you kind of expect it to return back to historical levels after this quarter? I just wanted to be clear on that.

好的。以及關於現代化努力的後續問題。顯然，正如您在過去幾個季度中所廣播的那樣，我們看到本季度的支出加速增長。您認為現代化工作的時間框架是怎樣的？這會持續到 2024 年還是 2025 年嗎？另一部分是，您是否說過您預計本季度後的費用運行率將恢復到歷史水平？我只是想澄清這一點。

Yes. I think a couple of points, Bill, let me just unpack your question into 2 places. One, the modernization effort that we're referring to that's begun, has to do with our treasury platforms. And what we're looking at and the good news here is that we expect to see an acceleration in the time line.

是的。我想有幾點，比爾，讓我把你的問題分解成兩個地方。一，我們所指的現代化工作已經開始，與我們的財務平台有關。我們正在關注的好消息是，我們預計時間線會加速。

It will run through 2024, but we'll probably see some modest acceleration into this year. And that is likely to put a little bit of upward pressure on operating expenses, but we expect to see that fully be completed by the end of 2024 at the latest. If anything, maybe by the middle of 2024, it should all be completed. So that's probably going to create a little bit of lumpiness just in our operating expenses as we start to move forward some of that into this year.

它將持續到 2024 年，但我們可能會在今年看到一些適度的加速。這可能會給運營支出帶來一些上行壓力，但我們預計最遲會在 2024 年底之前完全完成。如果有的話，也許到 2024 年中期，一切都應該完成。因此，當我們開始將其中的一部分推進到今年時，這可能會給我們的運營支出帶來一些波動。

And then we're also embarking on some other types of innovation that are a little bit more offensive in nature, some modernization, but things that we've done on our loan platform origination front. So that will probably get laddered in and staggered and some of those efforts are likely to spill well into 2024 and into 2025.

然後我們還開始進行一些其他類型的創新，這些創新本質上更具攻擊性，有些現代化，但我們在貸款平台發起方面已經做了一些事情。因此，這可能會逐步推進並交錯進行，其中一些努力可能會持續到 2024 年和 2025 年。

But it's too early to really ascertain what the magnitude of it is. But most of the modernization efforts are related to the treasury platform that we have a pretty good handle on. So given all of that and thinking through just how the rate environment might shift, we think that we'll still be able to maintain that efficiency ratio of 30%. But certainly, this quarter, you saw us at about 27%. So we expect to see a little bit of an uptick trending up towards that 30%, but still staying comfortably in that range.

但現在真正確定其嚴重程度還為時過早。但大多數現代化工作都與我們掌握得很好的財務平台有關。因此，考慮到所有這些，並考慮利率環境可能如何變化，我們認為我們仍然能夠保持 30% 的效率比。但可以肯定的是，本季度我們的佔比約為 27%。因此，我們預計會出現一點點上升趨勢，接近 30%，但仍舒適地保持在該範圍內。

And our next question today comes from Gary Gordon, a private investor.

今天我們的下一個問題來自私人投資者加里戈登。

First, a few questions, if you don't mind. First, my favorite one, what were your charge-offs for the quarter?

首先問幾個問題，如果你不介意的話。首先，我最喜歡的一個是，您本季度的沖銷額是多少？

Zero.

零。

Zero, once again. Two, I was looking at the interest margin, which was pretty remarkable at 120 basis points. I noticed there's something called fair value hedges on fair value hedge relationships, I have no idea what that is, that added about 7 basis points, and it looks volatile. This was an unusually good quarter. What is that? And is it basically nonrecurring or just volatile over time?

零，再一次。第二，我關注的是息差，120 個基點的息差非常引人注目。我注意到公允價值對沖關係中有一種叫做公允價值對沖的東西，我不知道那是什麼，它增加了大約7個基點，而且看起來很不穩定。這是一個異常好的季度。那是什麼？它基本上是非重複性的還是只是隨著時間的推移而波動？

Yes. So Gary, this is just very fundamental to our business model because when we talk to you about core earnings and net effective spread, we really take out the effect of derivatives that we engage in purely for risk management reasons. So no volatility there. We're not running a prop trading work or anything like that. But what it does -- do is as interest rates continue to fluctuate, there's an inverse proportion to those derivatives. And so you're naturally going to see some noise that really results from that.

是的。所以加里，這對我們的商業模式來說非常重要，因為當我們與您談論核心收益和淨有效利差時，我們確實排除了純粹出於風險管理原因而從事的衍生品的影響。所以那裡沒有波動。我們不從事自營交易工作或類似的事情。但它的作用是，隨著利率持續波動，這些衍生品會成反比。所以你自然會看到一些由此產生的噪音。

So anything that's really a fair value hedge has the effect of impacting our P&L, but -- and that's really why we have this metric of core earnings and net effective spread because that gives you a little bit more of a pure look at what our true margins are.

因此，任何真正的公允價值對沖都會影響我們的損益，但是——這就是為什麼我們有這個核心收益和淨有效利差指標，因為這讓你更純粹地了解我們的真實情況邊距是。

So essentially, that's -- again, since we're not really doing this for trading purposes or to make -- do anything other than really manage our interest rate risk. All of this will really revert to the mean over time if we hold these assets to maturity, which is really how we look at it. So that's really what I would say about that number that you're looking at. There is some volatility, but it's not really meaningful to us from a profitability side.

因此，從本質上講，這又是因為我們這樣做並不是為了交易目的，也不是為了真正管理我們的利率風險之外的任何事情。如果我們將這些資產持有至到期日，那麼隨著時間的推移，所有這些都將真正恢復到平均值，這正是我們的看法。這就是我對你所看到的這個數字的看法。雖然存在一些波動，但從盈利角度來看，這對我們來說並沒有真正的意義。

Okay. But as a run rate, maybe the 115 basis points might be a little more practical.

好的。但作為運行利率，也許 115 個基點可能更實際一些。

That's right. That's right. And we continue to anchor our expectations as a metric of somewhere between 90 to 100 basis points, maybe ticks up between 95 to 105 basis points because of the diversification of our revenue streams as well as some of the opportunistic issuances that we've done. That does not factor in any fluctuations from these types of hedging. That actually has the effect of really normalizing us or bringing us back to the mean.

這是正確的。這是正確的。我們繼續將預期定為 90 至 100 個基點之間的指標，可能會上升 95 至 105 個基點，因為我們收入來源的多元化以及我們已經進行的一些機會主義發行。這並未考慮這些類型的對沖帶來的任何波動。這實際上具有使我們真正正常化或使我們回到平均值的效果。

So the 120 basis points, those continue to be the same reasons that we talked to you about before. Strong diversification from our revenue streams, compositional shift towards higher earning assets as well as the continued payoff of those opportunistic issuances that we've done, that's brought down our overall cost of funds as the nominal rate environment that means to reprice upwards.

因此，120 個基點，這些仍然是我們之前與您討論過的相同原因。我們收入來源的強勁多元化、向高收益資產的構成轉變以及我們所做的機會主義發行的持續回報，這降低了我們的整體資金成本，因為名義利率環境意味著重新定價。

Last question is about the dividend. Obviously, that's a decision for early next year. But just looking at the numbers, so your current dividend of $4.40 is something like 30% of your current operating earnings run rate. My impression is your dividend payout target is about 40%.

最後一個問題是關於股息。顯然，這是明年初的決定。但只要看一下數字，您當前的股息 4.40 美元大約相當於您當前營業利潤運行率的 30%。我的印像是你的股息支付目標約為40%。

Even at 40%, if you're near or maintain your current ROE that leaves growth in capital of something like 10%, 11%, which I would think it will be a challenge to use, and you're sitting there with $700 million in excess capital. It seems like there's a lot of excess capital on the books and being generated. How do I think about the dividend in this discussion?

即使是 40%，如果你接近或維持當前的 ROE，資本增長也會達到 10%、11% 左右，我認為這將是一個挑戰，而你坐在那裡有 7 億美元在過剩的資本中。賬面上似乎有大量過剩資本正在產生。我如何看待這次討論中的股息？

Yes. First, Gary, I don't think I've ever mentioned 40%. I think we have mentioned mid-30s a number of times. And in some of these above expected return years that maybe has diluted it down into the low 30s or as you know now, 30%. You won't be surprised to hear that we will evaluate the actual dividend when we get our 2023 numbers kind of at year-end.

是的。首先，Gary，我想我從來沒有提到過 40%。我想我們已經多次提到30多歲了。在其中一些高於預期回報的年份中，回報率可能會被稀釋到 30 左右，或者如你現在所知，30%。當我們在年底獲得 2023 年的數據時，我們將評估實際股息，您不會感到驚訝。

I, for one, am very hopeful that we can continue to execute on our strategic plan, and that means putting stronger growth on segments of business that will consume capital. And so I'm pleased that we have this cushion. It gives us credibility with our regulators. It also gives us a lot of leeway in being opportunistic to grow faster in some of these segments if the market opportunity presents itself.

就我個人而言，我非常希望我們能夠繼續執行我們的戰略計劃，這意味著需要消耗資本的業務領域將實現更強勁的增長。所以我很高興我們有這個墊子。它使我們獲得監管機構的信任。如果市場機會出現，這也為我們提供了很大的餘地，使我們能夠在其中一些細分市場中抓住機會，實現更快的增長。

That's more contrast to a lot of commercial banks today, I'd now. So we're in a great position. We'll evaluate the dividend at year-end. We will take into consideration -- our Board will -- all the things that we have in the past, growth rates, capital consumption and probably a gravitation towards that mid-30s target again. But we still have half the year left to go.

我現在認為，這與今天的許多商業銀行形成了鮮明對比。所以我們處於有利地位。我們將在年底評估股息。我們將考慮——我們的董事會將考慮——我們過去的所有事情、增長率、資本消耗，以及可能再次實現 30 歲左右目標的傾向。但我們還有半年的時間。

And our next question today comes from Brendan McCarthy with Sidoti.

今天我們的下一個問題來自布倫丹·麥卡錫和西多蒂。

I'm wondering if you can expand on the loan servicing growth in business volume and what the spread looks like on that business? It looks like the total widening in NES to 120 basis points was primarily driven by Farm & Ranch. I was just wondering if you could provide some insight on the spread on the loan servicing business volume.

我想知道您是否可以擴大貸款服務業務量的增長以及該業務的利差如何？ NES 總體擴大至 120 個基點似乎主要是由農場和牧場推動的。我只是想知道您是否可以提供一些有關貸款服務業務量利差的見解。

Yes. The loan servicing spread and it's really fee income is very similar to what you see in other loan servicing operations for different types of loan assets and other sectors, commercial loans, for example -- commercial mortgage loans. And so we're talking -- think of it in the teens basis point range.

是的。貸款服務價差及其實際費用收入與您在不同類型的貸款資產和其他部門（例如商業貸款）的其他貸款服務業務中看到的非常相似 - 商業抵押貸款。所以我們正在談論 - 在十幾個基點範圍內考慮它。

It's important to -- and as I said earlier, it's not something that has a huge impact on top line or bottom line revenue today, but it is strategic. Doing our loan servicing, we have access to payment data on those loans almost instantaneously versus a 2- to 3-week delay with third-party servicers is an example.

正如我之前所說，這很重要，這並不是對當今的頂線或底線收入產生巨大影響的事情，但它具有戰略意義。在提供貸款服務時，我們幾乎可以立即獲取這些貸款的付款數據，而第三方服務商則需要 2 到 3 週的延遲。

That gives us the ability to make more immediate decisions if there are and identify any potential issues. It also is very supportive of our securitization efforts, which require very, very tight reporting. So it's very important in that regard. The $600 million approximately that was added this quarter was acquisition from one of our large seller servicers firm with whom we have a great relationship. And they just concluded that it wasn't strategic for them. But it is for us.

這使我們能夠在存在並識別任何潛在問題時做出更立即的決策。它還非常支持我們的證券化工作，這需要非常非常嚴格的報告。所以這在這方面非常重要。本季度增加的大約 6 億美元是從我們與我們有良好關係的一家大型賣家服務公司收購的。他們剛剛得出結論，這對他們來說沒有戰略意義。但這是為了我們。

And the other thing I'd note is that while the top line and bottom line revenue numbers don't move the needle that much today, it is highly accretive. There are huge economies of scale in this business. And so for example, with our existing loan servicing operation, we were able to take on this additional $600 million with very, very minimal incremental expense.

我要指出的另一件事是，雖然今天的頂線和底線收入數字沒有太大變化，但它具有很高的增值性。該行業具有巨大的規模經濟。例如，通過我們現有的貸款服務業務，我們能夠以非常非常小的增量費用承擔這額外的 6 億美元。

It almost all goes right to the bottom line. So we'll continue to look for opportunities in the future particularly when our interest and an existing seller servicers interests align and hope to grow further.

幾乎一切都直接到了底線。因此，我們將繼續尋找未來的機會，特別是當我們的興趣與現有賣家服務商的興趣一致並希望進一步增長時。

Great. And then one more question in the Rural Utilities business, I know you mentioned there was one single maturity that drove the sequential decline there. What was the size of that loan?

偉大的。關於農村公用事業業務的另一個問題，我知道您提到有一個單一的成熟度推動了該業務的連續下降。該筆貸款的規模是多少？

So Brendan, yes, a lot of this tends to be a bit lumpy and this was around $500 million. But stay tuned because as we look out into Q3 and Q4, you're going to probably see a renewing of some of that, which will probably recalibrate back up. So sometimes a Q-over-Q picture can be a little misleading. But as we said in response to one of the earlier questions, continue to see some lumpiness in the AgVantage maturities because we're also actively renewing a number of them. That's probably can have an offsetting side.

所以布倫丹，是的，其中很多都有點不穩定，大約是 5 億美元。但請繼續關注，因為當我們展望第三季度和第四季度時，您可能會看到其中一些內容的更新，這可能會重新校準。因此有時 Q-over-Q 圖片可能會有點誤導。但正如我們在回答之前的問題之一時所說，AgVantage 到期日仍然存在一些波動，因為我們也在積極更新其中一些到期日。這可能會有抵消的一面。

Great. That's helpful. And one final question. Just it looks like in the Farm & Ranch business, I guess, volume would have been down sequentially if it weren't for that large loan servicing acquisition. What are the business trends like in that business now? Are higher interest rates really weighing on that business in the second quarter?

偉大的。這很有幫助。最後一個問題。我想，如果沒有大規模的貸款服務收購，農場和牧場業務的銷量將會連續下降。現在該行業的業務趨勢如何？較高的利率真的會在第二季度對該業務造成壓力嗎？

Yes. Well, higher interest rates are. They significantly slow prepayments. But keep in mind that these loans are regularly advertising loans. And so it's not that we're getting prepaid on a bunch of loans because they're refinancing with other people that they're making regularly scheduled payments. And that's what's driving most of the net change in Farm & Ranch.

是的。嗯，利率更高。他們大大減緩了預付款。但請記住，這些貸款通常是廣告貸款。因此，我們並不是因為他們正在與其他人進行再融資而預付了一堆貸款，而是他們定期付款。這就是推動《農場與牧場》大部分淨變化的原因。

Farmer Mac hosted, it's now annual Seller Summit in Des Moines in June. And it was anecdotal, but I think what we heard there was that for those who have the direct engagement with those farmers and ranchers, that there's a bit more optimism that volumes are starting to come back. And as I mentioned in my opening comments, that may be largely attributable to just borrowers getting used to a higher interest rate environment and realizing that they do have opportunities to expand their Farm & Ranch operations and that maybe they want to borrow fixed rate or maybe variable rate given their outlook for interest rates.

Farmer Mac 於 6 月在得梅因主辦了一年一度的賣家峰會。這是軼事，但我認為我們聽到的是，對於那些與農民和牧場主有直接接觸的人來說，人們對產量開始回升更加樂觀。正如我在開場白中提到的，這可能很大程度上歸因於借款人習慣了更高的利率環境，並意識到他們確實有機會擴大農場和牧場業務，並且也許他們想藉固定利率或也許考慮到他們對利率的展望，浮動利率。

And so that slightly more nuanced examination of borrowing opportunity that we're hearing about amongst farmers and ranchers. We hope to see that show up in some incremental volume in the third and fourth quarters.

因此，我們對農民和牧場主的借貸機會進行了更加細緻的審查。我們希望看到第三和第四季度的增量有所體現。

Our next question today comes from the (inaudible), a retail investor.

今天我們的下一個問題來自（聽不清）散戶投資者。

And I got a lot of comments and I have a lot of questions. Just I think you guys continue to be very humble in terms of how you guys have performed, but just absolutely phenomenal results. It's showing up in the share price to some extent, but I don't think it's fully reflected. And I appreciate the fact you're trying to highlight the growth opportunities, but they just seem really phenomenal.

我收到了很多評論，也有很多問題。只是我認為你們對於你們的表現仍然非常謙虛，但絕對是驚人的結果。它在一定程度上反映在股價中，但我認為還沒有完全反映。我很欣賞你試圖強調增長機會，但它們看起來確實是驚人的。

So that's kind of where some of my comments and questions are going to go, but even the recent performance, just on a 6-month basis, very, very strong in light of -- we've seen performance in the financial sector, especially banks doing a horrible job with duration matching, you guys are showing an ability to grow your loan book and actually have spreads improve. That is -- it's almost boring and amazing. That's very, very good.

這就是我的一些評論和問題的所在，但即使是最近的表現，僅以 6 個月為基礎，也非常非常強勁，因為我們已經看到了金融領域的表現，尤其是銀行在期限匹配方面做得很糟糕，你們表現出了增加貸款簿的能力，並且實際上利差有所改善。也就是說——這幾乎是無聊又令人驚奇。這非常非常好。

There was a previous question on the dividend, and this is something I talked to Jalpa, I think Brad and Aparna in the past. Slide 15, there's a change from second quarter to third quarter. As an investor, I appreciate that. And I think other investors need to look at that as well. And I'm sure there's some work that went into putting in this slide with this dividend CAGR discussion.

之前有一個關於股息的問題，這是我和 Jalpa、Brad 和 Aparna 過去談過的問題。幻燈片 15，從第二季度到第三季度有一個變化。作為投資者，我對此表示讚賞。我認為其他投資者也需要考慮這一點。我確信這張幻燈片中關於股息複合年增長率的討論需要做一些工作。

So the first question is Farmer Mac, the fastest dividend grower, over the last 12 years within those cohorts, S&P 500, Russell 2000, is that -- are we the fastest dividend CAGR, the largest?

因此，第一個問題是 Farmer Mac，過去 12 年中，在標準普爾 500 指數、羅素 2000 指數等這些股票中，股息增長最快，我們是股息複合年增長率最快、最大的嗎？

Yes, that is exactly a question I've been asking and we're going to get to the bottom of that because I think we may be. And when you look at the absolute consistency on top of that, it is a remarkable story. And to your first point, I'd just like to note that we have always insisted that comparisons with banks as comparables are really not relevant.

是的，這正是我一直在問的問題，我們將徹查到底，因為我認為我們可能會這樣做。當你看到最重要的絕對一致性時，你會發現這是一個了不起的故事。對於你的第一點，我想指出的是，我們一直堅持認為，與可比銀行進行比較實際上是不相關的。

And the current situation the banks face with stagnant commercial loan notional rates and increasing deposit costs and the challenges that, that presents to them on maintaining margins in contrast to us is something that we are talking to investors more about because we think this current environment is a real opportunity for us not to compare ourselves to commercial banks, but to differentiate ourselves from commercial banks.

銀行目前面臨的商業貸款名義利率停滯不前、存款成本上升以及與我們相比在維持利潤率方面面臨的挑戰是我們與投資者更多討論的問題，因為我們認為當前的環境是對我們來說，這是一個真正的機會，不是將自己與商業銀行進行比較，而是將自己與商業銀行區分開來。

Our asset liability model and practices are almost the exact opposite of banks and that we have the call option on the liabilities, not the issuer of the liability.

我們的資產負債模型和做法幾乎與銀行完全相反，我們擁有負債的看漲期權，而不是負債的發行人。

Okay. Brad, that's helpful. I'll say it publicly. But I've said this privately with you guys is the -- you have a situation where the sell-side analysts are going to compare you to other financial companies. And I agree that's not true. I've talked to you and said this in the past, rightly or wrongly, but I think that the company, as a GSE needs to be valued based on previous valuations of other GSEs predating the craziness of the financial crisis like Fannie & Freddie.

好的。布拉德，這很有幫助。我會公開說出來。但我私下與你們說過，賣方分析師會將您與其他金融公司進行比較。我同意這不是真的。我過去曾和你談過這一點，無論正確與否，但我認為，作為一家政府支持企業，該公司需要根據房利美和房地美等金融危機瘋狂之前的其他政府支持企業之前的估值進行估值。

And if that's the case, then appropriate valuation, at least just on a PE basis, not even getting into the fact that there should be discussion on the dividend growth model from a valuation perspective, but a PE of 15 or higher given your performance seems to be more reasonable. That might be something you want to think about discussion and say, "Hey, look, Fannie & Freddie, pre-financial crisis trading at 15x PE for a number of years and certain dividend yield number.

如果是這樣的話，那麼適當的估值，至少只是在PE的基礎上，甚至沒有考慮到應該從估值的角度討論股息增長模型的事實，但考慮到你的業績，15或更高的PE似乎更加合理。你可能想討論一下這個問題，然後說：“嘿，看，房利美和房地美，金融危機前的幾年市盈率為 15 倍，股息收益率也有一定的數字。

This is our benchmark because that's what we are. Unfortunately, the peer group would only be a couple of companies, but you guys are in a very unique situation, and it's not being -- the company is not being valued in that way. The stock price should have a 2 in front of it. It's severely undervalued.

這是我們的基準，因為這就是我們的本質。不幸的是，同行群體只有幾家公司，但你們處於一個非常獨特的情況，而且公司並沒有以這種方式受到重視。股票價格前面應該有一個2。它的價值被嚴重低估。

Once again, that's just my opinion, but I'm always trying to help you guys and I know you're trying to be humble in terms of how you're performing, but it's pretty phenomenal what you've been able to accomplish. So that's just a comment. I want another question on the hiring. You talked about continuing to grow. Can you give us an update on the current head count? And how many open positions are we looking to fill in the remainder of the year?

再說一遍，這只是我的觀點，但我一直在努力幫助你們，我知道你們在表現方面試圖保持謙虛，但你們所取得的成就是相當驚人的。所以這只是一個評論。我想問另一個關於招聘的問題。您談到了持續增長。您能否向我們介紹當前人數的最新情況？我們希望在今年剩餘時間內填補多少空缺職位？

Yes. So thank you so much for those comments, and I think we really appreciate it. In terms of our headcount, we've certainly seen a much better picture in terms of -- when we look at it on a relative basis. We want to be at full complement of about 185, and that includes some part timers and so on. I believe our current head count is closer to 172, but...

是的。非常感謝您的這些評論，我認為我們真的很感激。就我們的員工人數而言，當我們相對地看待它時，我們確實看到了更好的情況。我們希望員工人數達到 185 人左右，其中包括一些兼職人員等。我相信我們目前的員工人數接近 172 人，但是......

I think that's right. At the end of the second quarter.

我認為這是對的。在第二季度末。

At the end of the second quarter. So -- that's not to say that we'll be successful in really getting to that 185 number, but that's really what we think of as full complement in terms of selling all of those positions. So we expect to see this 13 or so open positions start to get chipped away at, between now and year-end.

在第二季度末。所以，這並不是說我們會成功達到 185 個數字，但這確實是我們認為在出售所有這些頭寸方面的全面補充。因此，我們預計從現在到年底，這 13 個左右的未平倉頭寸將開始被削減。

But as we get to that full complement number, I think you'll see 2024 have some spillover as well. And that's also another reason why we think our efficiency ratio is a little depressed right now. And as we start to get to that full complement, you'll start to see it going back up to that 30%. So that's really just to give you a handle on how we think about managing the business and in line with some of our revenue projections.

但當我們達到這個完整的補充數字時，我認為您也會看到 2024 年也會有一些溢出效應。這也是我們認為我們的效率現在有點低迷的另一個原因。當我們開始實現這一完整補充時，您將開始看到它回到 30%。所以這實際上只是為了讓您了解我們如何考慮管理業務並與我們的一些收入預測保持一致。

I'll just add to that, first, that 180-plus number is -- that's full employment. You've always got some vacancies associated with turnover. Our turnover rates are well under 10%. In fact, they're down this year compared to last year. I think last time I looked at the first half of the year on an annualized basis, it's like 6%, 7%, which is extremely healthy, I think.

我想補充一點，首先，180 多個數字是——這是充分就業。總會有一些與人員流動相關的職位空缺。我們的流動率遠低於 10%。事實上，與去年相比，今年的數字有所下降。我想上次我按年化計算上半年的情況時，大概是 6%、7%，我認為這是非常健康的。

But even when you apply that to the 180, you end up with something less. And we don't discount our employment -- budget employment number by the natural number of vacancies that we might have happened. So I don't view the current head count as a weakness is not executing on plan. It's -- a couple of the positions are ones who have just decided to go slow on. A couple of them are because of turnover. So I think we're in a very comfortable range here, certainly within 10% of our target employment.

但即使你將其應用到 180 度，你最終得到的東西也會少一些。我們不會根據我們可能出現的職位空缺的自然數量來折扣我們的就業——預算就業人數。因此，我不認為目前的員工數量是未按計劃執行的弱點。有幾個職位剛剛決定放慢腳步。其中有幾個是因為人員流動。所以我認為我們現在處於一個非常舒適的範圍內，肯定在我們目標就業的 10% 之內。

Okay. And then on the Farm & Ranch book, we've had a number of transactions announced within California banks doing transactions. I think on a previous conference call, there was a discussion about potentially seeing some loan books, shake loose. Is that still a possibility? Are there any ongoing discussions? And then would those loans potentially be able to be acquired at some type of a discount to outstanding balance?

好的。然後在《農場與牧場》一書中，我們在加州銀行進行交易時宣布了許多交易。我想在之前的一次電話會議上，有人討論過可能會看到一些貸款書籍鬆動。這還有可能嗎？是否有任何正在進行的討論？那麼這些貸款是否可以以某種形式的未償餘額折扣獲得？

It's a great question. We're keeping an eye on what's happened with the failed California banks, namely Silicon Valley Bank. I think we have mentioned on our prior call that as an example, they have $750 million, something like that of vineyard loans. But those right now are held by the successor organization. So we're keeping an eye on it. There are other banks that last quarter had significant capital pressures attributable to their mark-to-market investment portfolios.

這是一個很好的問題。我們正在密切關注加州倒閉銀行（即矽谷銀行）的情況。我想我們在之前的電話會議中提到過，作為一個例子，他們有 7.5 億美元，類似於葡萄園貸款。但現在這些都由繼任組織持有。所以我們正在密切關注它。還有其他銀行上季度因按市值計價的投資組合而面臨巨大的資本壓力。

And I think I speculated on the last call that maybe some of them would be in a position of having to do a bit more selling. There are a couple of financial institutions where we're having discussions about maybe purchasing a larger portion of their agriculture mortgage loans than we have in the past. They maybe hold fewer on balance sheet and sell more to us, but nothing definitive on that.

我想我在上次電話會議中推測，也許他們中的一些人將不得不進行更多的拋售。我們正在與一些金融機構討論是否可能購買比過去更大比例的農業抵押貸款。他們可能在資產負債表上持有較少的資產，並向我們出售更多的產品，但對此沒有明確的說法。

Where we are seeing something that could result in some higher numbers during the remainder of the year is around AgVantage. From some of the institutional investors in agricultural mortgage loans, think insurance companies that do direct origination. They are showing some increased appetite for our AgVantage product. And so stay tuned on that because that's something that could end up -- could show up in our numbers towards the end of the year.

我們看到 AgVantage 周圍的情況可能會在今年剩餘時間內導致更高的數字。從一些農業抵押貸款的機構投資者來看，保險公司是做直接發起的。他們對我們的 AgVantage 產品的興趣有所增加。所以請繼續關注這一點，因為這可能最終會出現在我們年底的數據中。

Some of those facilities take a long time to put together. So we might put the facility together and it spills over into 2024. But that is an area where we're seeing some unexpected additional demand.

其中一些設施需要很長時間才能組裝起來。因此，我們可能會將該設施整合在一起，並延續到 2024 年。但在這個領域，我們看到了一些意想不到的額外需求。

Okay. That's helpful. And then I think it's worth spending some time talking more about the renewable energy book amounts Page 114 of the 10-Q. You got your June 30, 2022, outstanding balance, $148 million; June 30, 2023, $327 million. That's 122% year-over-year growth in that loan book. And you didn't say that, but that's a really big number. The wheel is starting to spin.

好的。這很有幫助。然後我認為值得花一些時間更多地討論 10-Q 第 114 頁的可再生能源書籍數量。您在 2022 年 6 月 30 日收到未清餘額 1.48 億美元； 2023 年 6 月 30 日，3.27 億美元。貸款賬簿同比增長 122%。你沒有這麼說，但這確實是一個很大的數字。車輪開始轉動。

I think there was a comment in the past, that's going to be $1 billion book at some point. Where does that book head at the end of this year? I mean that's really impressive growth.

我想過去有人評論說，這本書在某個時候將達到 10 億美元。這本書今年年底會走向何方？我的意思是，這確實是令人印象深刻的增長。

Yes. I think if you take the first half of the year and kind of use that rate of growth on a notional dollar basis for the second half, that's probably baseline. It could exceed that. We are committing additional resources to this area. For example, we haven't announced it yet, but we've just had an acceptance for a very senior experienced renewable energy executive who will be charged with bringing a bit more organization and both internal administration, but then more aggressive external outreach for those programs.

是的。我認為，如果你以今年上半年為例，並在下半年以名義美元為基礎使用該增長率，那麼這可能是基線。它可能會超過這個數字。我們正在向該領域投入更多資源。例如，我們還沒有宣布這一點，但我們剛剛接受了一位非常資深、經驗豐富的可再生能源高管，他將負責帶來更多的組織和內部管理，但隨後會為這些人提供更積極的外部推廣程式。

And that reflects our optimism about our opportunity to kind of double this book every year for the next couple of years with that $1 billion being in the sites just a few years out. And so -- and we think it could double again after that. So you're seeing a commitment of additional resources internally, and that reflects our -- not just optimism, but our confidence in the depth of this market and the comparative advantages that Farmer Mac has from a funding and national reach standpoint, and being a player in that market.

這反映了我們對未來幾年每年將這本書的銷量增加一倍的樂觀態度，幾年後網站上將投入 10 億美元。所以——我們認為此後它可能會再次翻倍。因此，您看到了內部額外資源的承諾，這不僅反映了我們的樂觀態度，而且反映了我們對這個市場深度的信心，以及Farmer Mac 從資金和全國影響力的角度來看所具有的相對優勢，並且作為一個該市場的參與者。

Okay. That's very helpful. I was hoping you would mention something like that under the hiring discussion. Building on the energy loan book comment, and I don't want to get a better understanding how this business works, but I see some companies like Hannon Armstrong and Ameresco that are doing these renewable energy projects and funding.

好的。這非常有幫助。我希望你能在招聘討論中提到類似的事情。基於能源貸款書的評論，我不想更好地了解這項業務是如何運作的，但我看到漢農·阿姆斯特朗和 Ameresco 等一些公司正在開展這些可再生能源項目和融資。

And Ameresco, I think it's more of like a design build, but can you help people understand, is there a difference between like, let's say, a Farm & Ranch loan, I'm a farmer, I want to do a project, I build a barn or something -- that's kind of -- I don't want to mischaracterize it all, but just to simplify it, maybe that's more of a one and done.

Ameresco，我認為這更像是一個設計構建，但是你能幫助人們理解，農場和牧場貸款之間有區別嗎？我是一個農民，我想做一個項目，我建造一個穀倉或其他東西——就像這樣——我不想曲解這一切，但只是為了簡化它，也許這更像是一個完成的事情。

But from what I've seen with some of these renewable energy companies, maybe design, build, maybe more project oriented. If you can get kind of hooked in as a project financer on Project A, is there an opportunity to be funding on B, C, D projects that they've been lining up going forward?

但從我所看到的一些可再生能源公司來看，也許是設計、建造，也許更多的是項目導向。如果你能成為項目 A 的項目融資者，是否有機會為他們一直在排隊的 B、C、D 項目提供資金？

Yes. So for individual projects, our sweet spot is probably the projects that require about $5 million to $25 million worth of debt, where we're taking all of it. So that's going to be -- take 2x debt. That's going to be a $10 million to $50 million solar project, that's going to be somewhere in the range of 10 to 50-megawatt solar project covering somewhere between 50 and 250 acres. And so a lot of these are being done in rural America.

是的。因此，對於單個項目，我們的最佳選擇可能是那些需要價值約 500 萬至 2500 萬美元債務的項目，我們將全部承擔。所以這將是——承擔兩倍的債務。這將是一個耗資 1000 萬至 5000 萬美元的太陽能項目，發電量在 10 至 50 兆瓦之間，佔地 50 至 250 英畝。其中很多都是在美國農村進行的。

Some are being done on warehouses, but we're always looking for that connection to rural America. And it could be because the buyer of the electricity, is it electric co-op or corporation that is serving rural America? It could be because it's located in rural America. So that's one part of it. Another part of it is the much larger deals where we may participate in the bank debt syndicate for that project.

有些是在倉庫裡完成的，但我們一直在尋找與美國鄉村的聯繫。這可能是因為電力的購買者是為美國農村服務的電力合作社還是公司？可能是因為它位於美國農村。這就是其中的一部分。另一部分是更大的交易，我們可能會參與該項目的銀行債務銀團。

And you've seen that -- we've done that in a couple of very, very large wind projects, again, set in rural America. The credit metrics are pretty much always the same. These are low investment grade BBB- BB+ credit metrics, very well established, well used. We're not doing anything very different or creative. It's just the national outreach and focus on rural America.

你已經看到了——我們已經在幾個非常非常大的風電項目中做到了這一點，同樣是在美國農村。信用指標幾乎總是相同的。這些是低投資級別 BBB- BB+ 信用指標，非常完善且使用良好。我們沒有做任何非常不同或有創意的事情。這只是全國范圍的推廣和對美國農村的關注。

The strategic -- the companies you mentioned as examples of potential strategic partners. Yes, we are talking with them and very current discussions. And you are correct in that if they are serial developers and there are many others out there, it provides an opportunity to -- as long as we're competitive and responsive to become really a preferred supplier of project finance debt and do project after project after project. And also provides an opportunity -- and one of the names you mentioned is an example of this, to look at option is to do pools, fund pools of project finance loans that they may be doing.

戰略——您提到的潛在戰略合作夥伴的公司。是的，我們正在與他們交談以及正在進行的討論。你是對的，如果他們是連續開發人員，並且還有許多其他開發人員，那麼只要我們具有競爭力和響應能力，就可以提供一個機會，成為真正的項目融資債務的首選供應商，並完成一個又一個項目項目結束後。並且還提供了一個機會 - 你提到的名字之一就是一個例子，看看選項是做資金池，他們可能正在做的項目融資貸款的資金池。

Very similar in a way to our AgVantage type bond underwriting. So yes, this is a real opportunity for us, and there is an opportunity to build relationships that can deliver recurring business opportunity.

在某種程度上與我們的 AgVantage 類型債券承銷非常相似。所以，是的，這對我們來說是一個真正的機會，並且有機會建立可以提供經常性業務機會的關係。

Okay. And just to interject on your comments, those would have a power takeoff agreement as part of the financing structure.

好的。順便插一句您的評論，這些將有一份動力起飛協議作為融資結構的一部分。

They do. We don't do speculative renewable energy projects where the power isn't committed to be sold to someone. So that's true for wind, that's true for solar. We're seeing a heightened opportunity with anaerobic digesters, where the output is really renewable natural gas, getting the hedges right, so we lock in a key margin -- a predictable margin on those is key. There -- as we've said before, there's a growing convergence between energy and American agriculture, and we want to be there.

他們是這樣。我們不會進行投機性的可再生能源項目，因為這些項目的電力不會出售給某人。對於風能來說是這樣，對於太陽能來說也是如此。我們看到厭氧消化器的機會更大，其輸出是真正的可再生天然氣，正確地進行對沖，因此我們鎖定了一個關鍵的利潤——可預測的利潤是關鍵。正如我們之前所說，能源和美國農業之間的融合日益緊密，我們希望做到這一點。

Okay. Perfect. And then does that loan book reflect that balance to $327 million? Are there customers that we've done multiple projects was in that number, already?

好的。完美的。那麼貸款賬簿是否反映了 3.27 億美元的餘額？我們已經完成了多個項目的客戶是否已經達到這個數字了？

On the -- for developer owners, I don't know that there are -- they're sponsor owners in there that have multiple projects that we financed at the same time. But I don't think that there are serial financings in there yet.

對於開發商業主來說，我不知道有沒有——他們是讚助商業主，擁有我們同時資助的多個項目。但我認為目前還沒有系列融資。

Okay. I mean I don't want to put words in your mouth, but in theory, that we could see an acceleration of growth if those relationships start to develop.

好的。我的意思是，我不想把話放在你嘴裡，但從理論上講，如果這些關係開始發展，我們可以看到增長的加速。

Yes. The other recurring opportunity is on the large deals with syndicated banks. There are a handful of Japanese and European banks that lead to $200 million, $300 million $400 million, $500 million syndicates. And is -- and we are beginning to do business with a number of them. And as we develop more of a reputation for them, that provides another opportunity to be a preferred partner with another financial institution in that case.

是的。另一個經常出現的機會是與銀團銀行的大型交易。有少數日本和歐洲銀行主導了 2 億美元、3 億美元、4 億美元、5 億美元的銀團。我們正開始與其中一些公司開展業務。在這種情況下，隨著我們為他們建立更多的聲譽，這提供了成為另一家金融機構的首選合作夥伴的另一個機會。

Okay. Thanks for humoring me on all the renewable energy portfolio questions, but I just think there's just a huge opportunity that needs to be discussed and needs to be understood by shareholders. And last question, maybe more for Aparna. You had talked about the securitization cadence. It seems like we're getting to be doing something twice a year. So should we be expecting something in the back half of this year? And is that kind of what we're thinking and messaging to the market as we look towards 2024?

好的。感謝您就所有可再生能源投資組合問題對我進行幽默，但我只是認為這有一個巨大的機會需要討論並需要股東的理解。最後一個問題，也許更多是針對阿帕娜的。您談到了證券化的節奏。似乎我們每年要做兩次某件事。那麼我們是否應該期待今年下半年的一些事情呢？當我們展望 2024 年時，這就是我們正在思考並向市場傳達的信息嗎？

Yes. Absolutely. We were successful in doing one this year. We've sort of been on a cadence of one per year so far. I think the rate environment has certainly slowed down, as you can see in our numbers, the long-term fixed rate purchase of Farm & Ranch, which tend to be the best candidate for securitization. That said, the team is very actively contemplating when we might do another one.

是的。絕對地。今年我們成功地做到了這一點。到目前為止，我們的節奏基本上是每年一次。我認為利率環境肯定已經放緩，正如您在我們的數據中看到的那樣，農場和牧場的長期固定利率購買往往是證券化的最佳候選者。也就是說，團隊正在非常積極地考慮何時再做一個。

And if it's not Q4, very likely -- very early in Q1 of next year, we'd be targeting coming out with another issuance. We're also in active discussion about other assets, now that we have a good sense of the investor appetite for rural assets in the securitization space. We're not moving out some of our assets within the rural infrastructure space. So that might be more of a longer-term slower maturing strategy, but that's also at play.

如果不是第四季度，很可能是在明年第一季度初，我們的目標是再發行一次。既然我們對投資者對證券化領域農村資產的興趣有了很好的了解，我們也在積極討論其他資產。我們不會轉移農村基礎設施領域的一些資產。因此，這可能更像是一種較長期、較慢成熟的策略，但這也在發揮作用。

Okay. Once again, Brad and Aparna, keep up the good work and the rest of the team, you're doing a great job, but just got to get people understand what you're doing. Thank you.

好的。布拉德和阿帕娜，再一次，繼續努力，團隊的其他成員，你們做得很好，但只需要讓人們了解你們在做什麼。謝謝。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Brad Nordholm for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給布拉德·諾德霍姆（Brad Nordholm）做閉幕致辭。

Good. Well, thank you all for the questions and active participation in this call. It means a lot to us. If we haven't said it, let me just say it right now that we're very pleased, but not at all surprised by the strong results of the second quarter. We've got a great business model. We have a crystal clear focus on our mission, our business purpose that goes from our Board to our -- all of our employees to our executive team.

好的。好的，感謝大家提出問題並積極參與本次電話會議。這對我們來說意義重大。如果我們還沒有說過，讓我現在就說，我們對第二季度的強勁業績感到非常高興，但一點也不感到驚訝。我們有一個很棒的商業模式。我們對我們的使命和業務目標有著明確的關注，從我們的董事會到我們的所有員工再到我們的執行團隊。

We have, as a part of that, a very, very deep commitment to American agriculture and rural infrastructure. We emphasize that we've got a very well-honed asset liability management, credit, enterprise risk management disciplines across this organization. Our operations are getting tighter every day.

作為其中的一部分，我們對美國農業和農村基礎設施做出了非常非常堅定的承諾。我們強調，我們整個組織擁有非常完善的資產負債管理、信貸、企業風險管理紀律。我們的運營一天比一天緊張。

I think that we have an outstanding team that's just getting stronger, that's getting better coordinated, that is getting more effective every day that we execute here. So in summary, the future is very bright. We appreciate your support. And as always, please reach back to us with any follow-on questions that you have. Thank you.

我認為我們擁有一支出色的團隊，我們每天都在變得更加強大，更加協調，更加高效。綜上所述，未來是非常光明的。我們感謝您的支持。與往常一樣，如果您有任何後續問題，請聯繫我們。謝謝。

Thank you, sir. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝你，先生。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。