Gladstone Capital Corp (GLAD) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Gladstone Capital Corporation first-quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Gladstone Capital Corporation 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. David Gladstone, Chairman and CEO of Gladstone Capital Corporation. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我想把會議交給東道主格萊斯頓資本公司董事長兼執行長戴維·格萊斯頓先生。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you so much and good morning, everyone. This is David Gladstone. This is the earnings conference call for Gladstone Capital for the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Thank you all for calling in. We're always happy to talk with you and share information about this company and your company. And we'll started, of course, and hear from our assistant General Counsel, Erich Hellmold, and he'll tell you some stuff that you need to know before you listen to Bob. Go ahead, Erich.

非常感謝大家，早安。這是大衛‧格萊斯頓。這是 Gladstone Capital 截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的季度的收益電話會議。感謝大家的來電。我們總是很樂意與您交談並分享有關該公司和您公司的資訊。當然，我們將首先聽取我們的助理總法律顧問 Errich Hellmold 的發言，他會告訴您一些在聽鮑伯講話之前需要了解的內容。繼續吧，埃里希。

Thank you, David, and good morning. Today's report may include forward-looking statements under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including those regarding our future performance. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that are based upon our current plans, which we believe to be reasonable.

謝謝你，大衛，早安。今天的報告可能包含根據 1933 年證券法和 1934 年證券交易法做出的前瞻性陳述，包括有關我們未來績效的陳述。這些前瞻性陳述涉及基於我們目前計劃的某些風險和不確定性，我們認為這些計劃是合理的。

Many factors may cause our actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including all risk factors in our Forms 10-Q, 10-K, and other documents we file with the SEC. Those can be found on the Investor Relations page of our website, www.gladstonecapital.com, where you can also sign up for our e-mail notification service, or on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

許多因素可能導致我們的實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果有重大差異，包括我們向 SEC 提交的 10-Q、10-K 表格和其他文件中的所有風險因素。這些資訊可以在我們網站 www.gladstonecapital.com 的投資者關係頁面上找到，您也可以在其中註冊我們的電子郵件通知服務，或在 SEC 網站 www.sec.gov 上找到這些資訊。

We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Today's call is an overview of our results, so I ask that you review our press release and Form 10-Q issued yesterday for more detailed information. Again, those can be found on the Investors page of our website.

我們沒有義務公開更新或修改任何這些前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，除非法律要求。今天的電話會議是我們結果的概述，因此我請您查看我們昨天發布的新聞稿和表格 10-Q 以了解更多詳細資訊。同樣，這些可以在我們網站的投資者頁面上找到。

Now I'll turn the call over to Gladstone Capital's President, Bob Marcotte.

現在我將把電話轉給 Gladstone Capital 的總裁 Bob Marcotte。

Good morning, and thank you all for dialing in this morning. I'll cover the highlights for last quarter and some comments regarding the outlook for the balance of fiscal '24 before turning the call over to Nicole Schaltenbrand to review the details of our financial results for the period.

早安，感謝大家今天早上撥電話。我將介紹上個季度的亮點以及有關 24 財年餘額前景的一些評論，然後將電話轉給 Nicole Schaltenbrand 以審查我們該期間財務業績的詳細信息。

So beginning with our last quarter's results, originations last quarter rebounded and totaled $58 million, including one new portfolio company and several existing portfolio companies. Repayments continue to be modest, which, combined with portfolio amortization, totaled $22 million. So net originations were $37 million for the period. Short-term SOFR were unchanged. So the weighted average yield on our investment portfolio was also consistent at 13.9%.

因此，從我們上個季度的業績開始，上個季度的起始資金反彈，總額達到 5,800 萬美元，其中包括一家新的投資組合公司和幾家現有的投資組合公司。還款金額仍然不大，加上投資組合攤銷，總額為 2,200 萬美元。因此，該期間的淨發起額為 3,700 萬美元。短期 SOFR 沒有變化。因此，我們投資組合的加權平均報酬率也穩定在 13.9%。

Average earning assets for the period declined slightly, resulting in a 1% decline in our total interest income to $23 million for the quarter. Borrowing cost declined with lower average bank borrowings given our equity issuance in the September quarter and debt placement. As a result, our net interest income rose 2.3% to $17.5 million for the quarter.

該期間的平均獲利資產略有下降，導致本季總利息收入下降 1%，至 2,300 萬美元。鑑於我們在九月季度的股票發行和債務配售，借款成本下降，平均銀行借款下降。因此，本季我們的淨利息收入成長了 2.3%，達到 1,750 萬美元。

Higher net interest income improved originations, and advisory fee credits lifted the net investment income by 8.6% to $11.9 million or just over $0.27 per share. The net realized and unrealized gains in the portfolio for the period totaled $8.1 million, which lifted our ROE for the quarter to 19.4% and 14.9% for the last 12 months.

更高的淨利息收入改善了起源，諮詢費抵免將淨投資收入提高了 8.6%，達到 1,190 萬美元，即每股略高於 0.27 美元。該期間投資組合的已實現和未實現淨收益總計 810 萬美元，這使得我們本季的淨資產回報率 (ROE) 在過去 12 個月中分別提高至 19.4% 和 14.9%。

With respect to the portfolio, our portfolio continues to perform well, with senior debt representing 73% of the portfolio, and we ended the quarter with only one non-earning asset, representing $6.1 million of cost or 0.4% of assets at fair value. We continue to prioritize our portfolio monitoring in areas where revenue headwinds compare to be most prevalent, which seem to be mostly consumer-facing sectors, which is unfortunately a small portion of our portfolio.

就投資組合而言，我們的投資組合持續表現良好，優先債務佔投資組合的73%，本季末我們只有一項非營利資產，相當於610 萬美元的成本或以公允價值計算的資產的0.4 %。我們繼續優先考慮收入逆風最普遍的領域的投資組合監控，這些領域似乎主要是面向消費者的行業，不幸的是，這只是我們投資組合的一小部分。

Appreciation for the quarter of $8.1 million was led by the broad-based depreciation of our debt investments, which totaled $6.3 million, while the net appreciation of our equity co-investments contributed an additional $1.6 million. And reflecting on our first-quarter of fiscal '24 performance and our near-term outlook, a few comments I'd like to leave you with.

本季升值 810 萬美元，主要是由於我們債務投資的廣泛貶值，總計 630 萬美元，而我們的股權共同投資的淨增值額外貢獻了 160 萬美元。回顧我們 24 財年第一季的業績和近期前景，我想向您發表一些評論。

Last quarter's deal activity certainly demonstrated the benefit of our incumbent position [which is] supporting growth-oriented businesses across a variety of industry sectors in an otherwise slow deal environment. PE sponsors are dealing with extended hold periods and continuing to seek ways to creatively grow or capitalize their investments and supporting performing businesses we know well is a low-risk way to grow our assets.

上季的交易活動無疑證明了我們現有立場的好處，即在交易緩慢的環境中支持各個行業領域的成長型企業。私募股權發起人正在應對延長持有期的問題，並繼續尋求創造性地成長或資本化其投資的方法，並支持我們熟知的業績良好的企業，這是一種低風險的資產成長方式。

That said, deal flow has improved, and we expect new originations to increase along with potential prepayment activity over the balance of the year as short-term interest rates are expected to decline and PE sponsors are expected to bring their more seasoned investments to market to generate liquidity events for their investors.

也就是說，交易流量有所改善，我們預計今年餘下的時間裡，隨著短期利率預計下降，以及私募股權發起人預計將其更成熟的投資推向市場，新的發起活動以及潛在的預付款活動將會增加。為投資者產生流動性事件。

We ended the quarter with a conservative leverage position at just 83% NAV and ample availability under our bank credit facilities. So we're very well-positioned to grow our earning assets and fee income to continue to support our shareholder distributions over the balance of the year.

本季結束時，我們的槓桿部位保守，資產淨值僅 83%，銀行信貸額度充足。因此，我們完全有能力增加我們的獲利資產和費用收入，以繼續支持我們在今年餘下的股東分配。

And now I'll turn the call over to Nicole to review the fund's detailed financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給妮可，以審查該基金的詳細財務表現。

Thanks, Bob. Good morning. During the September quarter, total interest income fell $300,000 or 1% to $23 million based on the small decline in average earning assets. The weighted average yield on interest-bearing portfolio is consistent at [3.9%]. The investment portfolio weighted average balance declined to $658 million, which was down $11 million or 1.6% compared to the prior quarter.

謝謝，鮑伯。早安.9月季度，由於平均獲利資產小幅下降，總利息收入下降了30萬美元，即1%，至2,300萬美元。計息投資組合的加權平均收益率一致為[3.9%]。投資組合加權平均餘額下降至 6.58 億美元，較上一季減少 1,100 萬美元，成長 1.6%。

Other income declined by $300,000 and total investment income fell by $500,000 or 2.3% to $23.2 million for the quarter. Total expenses declined by $1.5 million quarter over quarter as net management fees declined $1.2 million, with higher deal closing and advisory fee credits and $700,000 in lower financing costs from the reduction in average bank borrowings.

該季度其他收入下降 30 萬美元，總投資收入下降 50 萬美元，或 2.3%，至 2,320 萬美元。總費用較上季下降 150 萬美元，原因是淨管理費下降 120 萬美元，交易完成和諮詢費抵免額增加，平均銀行借款減少導致融資成本降低 70 萬美元。

Net investment income for the quarter ended December 31 was $11.9 million, which was an increase of $900,000 compared to the prior quarter or $27.4 per share, which exceeded the $24.75 per share dividends paid. The net increase in net assets resulting from operations was $20 million or $0.46 per share for the quarter ended December 31, as impacted by the realized and unrealized valuation depreciation covered by Bob earlier.

截至12月31日的季度淨投資收益為1,190萬美元，比上一季增加90萬美元，即每股增加27.4美元，超過每股支付的股息24.75美元。截至 12 月 31 日的季度，營運帶來的淨資產淨增加為 2000 萬美元，即每股 0.46 美元，這是受到鮑勃早些時候涵蓋的已實現和未實現估值折舊的影響。

Moving over to the balance sheet. As of December 31, total assets rose to $767 million, consisting of $750 million in investments at fair value and $70 million in cash and other assets. Liabilities rose with originations to $349 million as of December 31, and consisted primarily of $253 million of senior notes, and, as of the end of the quarter, advances under our $234 million line of credit [worth] $85 million.

轉向資產負債表。截至12月31日，總資產增至7.67億美元，其中包括7.5億美元的公允價值投資以及7,000萬美元的現金和其他資產。截至 12 月 31 日，負債增加至 3.49 億美元，主要包括 2.53 億美元的優先票據，以及截至本季末的 2.34 億美元信貸額度下的預付款，價值 8,500 萬美元。

As of December 31, net assets rose to $418 million from the prior quarter end, with investment appreciation and undistributed earnings NAV rose 2.3% from $9.39 per share as of September 30, to $9.61 per share as of December 31. Our leverage as of end of the quarter rose with the asset growth to 83% of net assets. Subsequent to December 31, we had a small $3 million prepayment of a syndicated second lien debt investment.

截至12月31日，淨資產較上季末增至4.18億美元，投資增值和未分配收益資產淨值從9月30日的每股9.39美元上升2.3%，至12月31日的每股9.61美元。截至本季末，隨著資產成長，我們的槓桿率上升至淨資產的 83%。12 月 31 日之後，我們預付了 300 萬美元的銀團第二留置權債務投資。

With respect to distributions, our monthly distributions to common stockholders of $8.25 per common share was announced for the month of January, February, and March , which is an annual run rate of $0.99 per share. The Board will meet in April to determine the monthly distributions to common stockholders for the following quarter. At the distribution rate for our common stock and with a common stock priced at about $10.30 per share yesterday, distribution run rate is now producing a yield of about 9.6%.

關於分配，我們宣布 1 月、2 月和 3 月向普通股股東分配的月度分配為每股普通股 8.25 美元，即年運行率為每股 0.99 美元。董事會將於四月召開會議，以確定下一季普通股股東的每月分配。按照我們普通股的分配率，昨天普通股的價格約為每股 10.30 美元，分配運行率現在產生的收益率約為 9.6%。

And now, I'll turn it back to David to conclude.

現在，我將把它轉回給大衛來總結。

Thank you very much, Nicole, you did a great job and so did Bob and Erich, and you all did good job. So they've informed our stockholders and analysts that follow the company. So with your report that you got the 10-Q filed yesterday to shareholders in this call that we're making, it pretty much brought up to date about everything going on.

非常感謝你，妮可，你做得很好，鮑勃和埃里希也是如此，你們都做得很好。因此，他們已經通知了關注公司的股東和分析師。因此，根據您昨天在我們正在進行的電話會議中向股東提交的 10-Q 報告，它幾乎提供了有關正在發生的一切的最新資訊。

So in summary, it's just another solid quarter. Sometimes that's pretty boring, but it's pretty nice when we have boring profitable quarters. They increased the net investment income by 8% over the prior quarter, and that's really good. It gives a good coverage of the current common distributions. Strong portfolio performance and generating net portfolio appreciation increased that net asset value by 2.3% from the last quarter. I love it when that goes up every quarter and it helps us pay our dividend.

總而言之，這又是一個穩健的季度。有時這很無聊，但當我們有無聊的盈利季度時，這非常好。他們的淨投資收入比上一季增加了 8%，這非常好。它很好地覆蓋了當前常見的發行版。強勁的投資組合表現和產生的投資組合淨增值使資產淨值較上季增加了 2.3%。我喜歡每個季度都會上漲，這有助於我們支付股息。

For 2023, Glad achieved returns on equity of 14.9%, which compares very favorably with other business development companies in our peer group. The company is also very well positioned for the coming year. The portfolio is in good shape, with modest leverage and very low non-performing assets and a strong balance sheet to support further growth.

2023 年，格萊德實現了 14.9% 的股本回報率，與我們同行集團中的其他業務開發公司相比非常有利。該公司也為來年做好了充分準備。該投資組合狀況良好，槓桿率適中，不良資產極低，資產負債表強勁，可支持進一步成長。

In summary, the company continues to stick with its strategy of investing in growth-oriented, lower middle market businesses with good management teams. Many of these investments are supported by mid-sized private equity funds that are looking for experienced partners to support their acquisition and growth profile of that business, which they are invested in. This gives us an opportunity to make an attractive investment on these paying loans that support our ongoing commitment to pay cash distributions.

總而言之，該公司繼續堅持投資於具有良好管理團隊的成長型、中低端市場業務的策略。其中許多投資都得到中型私募股權基金的支持，這些基金正在尋找經驗豐富的合作夥伴來支持他們投資的業務的收購和成長。這使我們有機會對這些償還貸款進行有吸引力的投資，以支持我們持續支付現金分配的承諾。

Going to stop now and ask the operator to see if there's anybody that has a question for the group here today.

現在停下來詢問接線員，看看今天是否有人對小組有疑問。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Joseph, Jefferies.

（操作說明）Kyle Joseph，Jefferies。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Bob, just kind of want to get your thoughts in terms of where spreads have been going in the lower middle market. Obviously, we track -- public credit markets have been very strong. Obviously, your markets tend to be a little bit more insulated or lag, but just get a sense for spreads you've been seeing on new deals.

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。鮑勃，只是想了解一下您對中低端市場利差的看法。顯然，我們追蹤的公共信用市場一直非常強勁。顯然，您的市場往往會更加隔離或滯後，但只需了解您在新交易中看到的利差。

Good morning, Kyle. The spreads really have not moved consistent with the overall yields. I would say, as we commented last quarter, there's definitely a lot of capital up market from us and in sponsored-oriented deals. Where there's reasonable size we occasionally will see some pricing compression in the 50-basis-point range.

早安，凱爾。利差其實並沒有與整體收益率保持一致。我想說，正如我們上季度評論的那樣，我們和贊助導向的交易中肯定有大量的資本市場。在規模合理的情況下，我們偶爾會看到價格壓縮在 50 個基點範圍內。

But for the most part in our initial investments, which tend to be $10 million to $20 million and grow, we don't, at this point, see that level of compression. Certainly that leaves interest rates that are relatively high level. So deal flow is not exactly as robust as we'd like, but we're really not seeing much in the way of spread compression today. It's just not where the market is right now. People are obviously expecting those rates to come down, but at this point, we're not seeing that pricing compression.

但在我們的初始投資中，大部分投資往往為 1,000 萬至 2,000 萬美元，並且會不斷成長，目前我們還沒有看到這種程度的壓縮。當然，這使得利率處於相對較高的水平。因此，交易流並不完全像我們希望的那樣強勁，但我們今天確實沒有看到太多價差壓縮的情況。只是現在的市場還不是這樣。人們顯然預計這些費率會下降，但目前我們還沒有看到價格壓縮。

Got it. Very helpful. And then on credit performance, obviously non-accruals were stable in the quarter. But just get a sense for top-line growth margins, EBITDA growth, and how your companies continue to do well in the face of higher rates and an ongoing inflation.

知道了。很有幫助。然後就信貸表現而言，本季非應計項目顯然保持穩定。但只要了解頂線成長率、EBITDA 成長，以及您的公司如何在面對更高的利率和持續的通貨膨脹時繼續表現良好。

Well, it's obviously, mix. As I said, we definitely increased investments in some performing assets on the quarter, which was a big part of our fundings and those higher performers are probably looking at 10% to 15% EBITDA lifts. There's certainly some where there's a little bit more headwinds.

嗯，很明顯，混合。正如我所說，本季度我們確實增加了對一些績效資產的投資，這是我們資金的很大一部分，而那些績效較高的資產可能會期望 EBITDA 提升 10% 至 15%。肯定有一些地方存在著更多的阻力。

If you look at the portfolio overall, EBITDA roughly was down slightly at low-single digits, 3% to 5%. There are definitely some sectors where there's more challenge. Those challenges would be in places like consumer-facing business, anything in the restaurant business, anything in discretionary healthcare; certain sectors are more exposed in those cases.

如果你看一下整個投資組合，你會發現 EBITDA 大致略有下降，為低個位數，即 3% 至 5%。肯定有一些領域面臨更多挑戰。這些挑戰將出現在面向消費者的業務、餐飲業務、全權醫療保健等領域；在這些情況下，某些部門面臨的風險更大。

I will say that those tend to be -- there are smaller sectors. And where there is some level of headwinds, as I've said in the past, our second-lien exposure, which is where it would be most impacted, tends to be the larger credits. Now on average, our leverage in our second-lien portfolio is significantly below our average for the portfolio. Our second-lien leverage average is something under three.

我想說的是，這些領域往往是較小的領域。正如我過去所說，在存在一定程度的逆風的情況下，我們的第二留置權風險敞口（即受影響最大的地方）往往是較大的信貸。現在，平均而言，我們第二留置權投資組合的槓桿率明顯低於該投資組合的平均槓桿率。我們的第二留置權平均槓桿率低於三。

So where we see headline pressure, it tends to be in the smaller credits where we control the credits as the senior lender. So overall, I would say we're still modestly defensive on the consumer side of the businesses, expecting things to improve. But most of those cases, we are the senior lender and in pretty good shape to manage the underlying portfolio risk profile. The overall leverage for the portfolio still runs at just under 4 turns of EBITDA. So we've got some cushion in those cases relative to enterprise value.

因此，在我們看到整體壓力的地方，往往是在較小的信貸中，我們作為高級貸款人控制信貸。因此，總的來說，我想說，我們在企業的消費者方面仍然保持適度的防禦態度，期待情況會有所改善。但在大多數情況下，我們是高級貸款人，並且能夠很好地管理潛在的投資組合風險狀況。該投資組合的整體槓桿率仍略低於 EBITDA 的 4 倍。因此，在這些情況下，我們相對於企業價值有一些緩衝。

Got it. Very helpful. Thanks for taking my questions.

知道了。很有幫助。感謝您回答我的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Robert Dodd, Raymond James.

（操作員說明）羅伯特·多德，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Good morning, and congratulations on another excellent quarter. If I can, Bob, can you give us some more color on the characteristics, the originations? I mean, you had $47 million [to] existing portfolio companies, and I think those were quite chunky in general. I mean, like Zupas was over $10 million -- there are several others that were quite large.

早上好，恭喜又一個出色的季度。如果可以的話，鮑勃，你能給我們更多關於特徵和起源的資訊嗎？我的意思是，你向現有的投資組合公司投資了 4700 萬美元，我認為這些資金總體來說相當可觀。我的意思是，像 Zupas 的價值超過 1000 萬美元——還有其他幾個相當大的。

So I mean, can you give us any color? Was that add-on acquisitions by those portfolio companies, recapitalizations or anything? It's a handful of big add-ons rather than sometimes we see more -- a large number of small ones. So any color you can give us about what the drivers were, the size of those follow-ons?

所以我的意思是，你能給我們任何顏色嗎？這些投資組合公司的附加收購、資本重組還是其他？這是一些大的附加元件，而不是有時我們看到的更多——大量的小附加元件。那麼您能給我們提供關於車手的顏色以及後續車手的尺寸嗎？

Well, the follow-ons for the most part were somewhere in that $10 million to $12 million range. I think the big ones -- Zupas went actually up and down. I mean, the company's continuing to grow and expand. We had to bring in another lender since it was getting so large. And once we brought in the other lender, there were additional fundings that happened on the quarter. So it actually today is still below where we were the prior quarter.

嗯，後續作品大部分都在 1,000 萬到 1,200 萬美元的範圍內。我認為最大的——祖帕斯實際上有起有落。我的意思是，公司正在持續發展和擴張。由於它變得如此龐大，我們不得不引入另一家貸方。一旦我們引入了另一家貸方，本季就會產生額外的資金。所以實際上今天仍然低於上一季的水平。

There are two other credits that we were in: one was -- ALS went up, and Leadpoint went up. In both of those cases, leverage had gotten very low. In fact, leverage was approaching well under [2%]. And sponsors looking to take a distribution, looking to reposition and manage their extended hold periods were part of it.

我們還有另外兩個功勞：一個是－ALS 上升，Leadpoint 上升。在這兩種情況下，槓桿率都變得非常低。事實上，槓桿比率遠低於[2%]。尋求分配、尋求重新定位和管理其延長持有期的贊助商也是其中的一部分。

One transaction decided not to sell with a very escalated valuation and our loan-to-value in that case is well under 30%. So most of those were probably positioning on the part of the sponsor. Those were the only notable ones. There were a couple of others that were in the couple of million-dollar range. But it turns out that I think there were a total of six investments in the portfolio at that point of any consequence above $1 million that was represented the most of the total dollars of those fundings. It just happens to be a case where strongly performing assets, we were opportunistic in putting out additional capital to those companies. Nobody wants to take their company to market when the interest rates are where they are and some of the buyers are kind of on the sidelines right now.

一筆交易決定不以非常高的估值出售，在這種情況下我們的貸款價值比遠低於 30%。所以大部分可能是贊助商的定位。這些是唯一值得注意的。還有一些價格在幾百萬美元範圍內。但事實證明，我認為當時投資組合中總共有 6 筆投資，其金額超過 100 萬美元，佔這些資金總額的大部分。這恰好是資產表現強勁的情況，我們機會主義地向這些公司提供了額外的資本。當利率處於當前水平時，沒有人願意將自己的公司推向市場，而一些買家目前處於觀望狀態。

Got it. Got it. Understood. I mean, that goes on to the follow-on. I mean, you mentioned in your prepared remarks as well, like, deal flow was -- you're improving, you expect there's going to be more activity later in the year. And you're also positioned for portfolio growth over the rest of the year. What's your comfort level that the portfolio is going to be up from here by year end, given you talk about maybe prepayment activity accelerates as well?

知道了。知道了。明白了。我的意思是，這將繼續下去。我的意思是，您在準備好的發言中也提到，交易流程正在改善，您預計今年稍後會有更多活動。您還可以在今年剩餘時間內實現投資組合的成長。考慮到您談到預付款活動可能也會加速，您對到年底投資組合將從現在開始上漲的信心程度如何？

I mean, can you give us some more thoughts on how you think the increase in prepayments, combined with increasing deal flow, how that's going to work out to ballpark what your portfolio could look like at year-end, [up flat]? Any color there?

我的意思是，您能否給我們一些更多的想法，您如何看待預付款的增加，加上交易流量的增加，這將如何計算出您的投資組合在年底的樣子，[持平]？那裡有什麼顏色嗎？

Prepayments is probably the toughest thing to predict. I mean, at this point, there's probably two or three decent-sized investments that we see likely to prepay. And if those prepayments come in at somewhere between $10 million to $25 million, maybe $30 million, the pace of growth originations, we are obviously going to be pressed to outpace that.

預付款可能是最難預測的事情。我的意思是，目前，我們認為可能有兩到三項規模相當的投資可能會提前償還。如果這些預付款達到 1,000 萬至 2,500 萬美元，甚至 3,000 萬美元（以成長速度），我們顯然將被迫超過這個速度。

I think in the past, we've done generally targeted to grow somewhere in the range of $20 million to $25 million a quarter. So if we're seeing similar amounts of prepayments, it's going to take two or three deal closings a quarter to get that number back up. That's not unheard of in the market where we're playing. When you're dealing with unitranches in the range that we're talking about, $20 million to $25 million deals are normal, and two or three deals a quarter is also fairly normal.

我認為過去我們的目標通常是每季實現 2,000 萬至 2,500 萬美元的成長。因此，如果我們看到類似金額的預付款，則每個季度需要完成兩到三筆交易才能使該數字回升。這在我們所在的市場中並非聞所未聞。當你處理我們所說的範圍內的單一分支時，2000萬至2500萬美元的交易是正常的，每個季度兩到三筆交易也相當正常。

So I think if you look back at our origination history, when the deal market was running, doing 200 to 215 in gross originations per year is certainly doable. So I think putting on 25 net is a conservative number for us to continue to grow the assets. Is that going to happen every quarter? I'm sure it's not, but I will also say we're feeling pretty good where we are and given our current capital base.

所以我認為，如果你回顧我們的發起歷史，當交易市場運作時，每年的總發起量達到 200 到 215 次肯定是可行的。因此，我認為淨資產 25 對於我們繼續成長資產來說是一個保守的數字。每個季度都會發生這種情況嗎？我確信不是，但我也要說，考慮到我們目前的資本基礎，我們覺得現在的情況相當不錯。

We tend to slot in above the SBICs, which cap out around $20 million for the most part. And we tend to slot in below the large-scale billion-dollar funds, which really don't want to put out anything less than $40 million. So if it's a zip code of $20 million to $40 million, we are in pretty good shape to be competitive on that profile. And there's obviously a few other guys that are out there, but that's the size deal that we are, I think, pretty well positioned to continue to originate.

我們傾向於投資於 SBIC 之上，其大部分上限約為 2000 萬美元。我們往往會選擇低於數十億美元的大型基金，這些基金確實不想投入低於 4,000 萬美元的資金。因此，如果郵遞區號為 2000 萬至 4000 萬美元，我們就處於非常好的狀態，在該方面具有競爭力。顯然還有其他一些人在那裡，但這就是我們的規模交易，我認為，我們已經做好了繼續發起的準備。

The mix may change a little bit. I expect with rates coming down, we may look at a little bit more second-lien paper, which will negate some of the compression in spreads likely to happen as rates come down. But for the most part, I think $25 million, plus or minus net asset growth a quarter, is still a track record that we've averaged, a track record I would expect for the balance of '24.

混合可能會稍微改變。我預計隨著利率下降，我們可能會考慮更多一點第二留置權文件，這將抵消利率下降時可能發生的利差壓縮。但在大多數情況下，我認為 2500 萬美元，加上或減去一個季度的淨資產增長，仍然是我們平均的記錄，我預計 24 年剩餘時間的記錄。

I appreciate that color. Thank you very much.

我很欣賞那種顏色。非常感謝。

Mickey Schleien, Ladenburg Thalmann.

米基‧施萊恩，拉登堡‧塔爾曼。

Good morning, everyone. Bob, following the common share issuance in the September quarter, the balance sheet leverage has been running a little bit below your target level. Is that purposeful because of your view on the economy or something else? Or do you expect your leverage to climb towards your target level as you invest your liquidity?

大家，早安。鮑勃，在九月份季度發行普通股後，資產負債表槓桿率一直略低於您的目標水平。這是有目的的，因為你對經濟的看法還是其他原因？或者，當您投資流動性時，您是否預期槓桿率會攀升至目標水準？

Good morning, Mickey. I think there's two factors there. One, we were flattered to have institutional buyers come into the stock in the volumes that they did. We've always had a long-term strategic objective to increase the institutional holding and the float in our shares. And when they showed up, we felt it appropriate to take that advantage. And you will note that our institutional share count has probably doubled as a result of that issuance. So strategically, it was good for the investor base and the flow in the stock market for us; we took advantage of it.

早上好，米奇。我認為有兩個因素。第一，我們很高興有機構買家如此大量地買進該股。我們一直有一個長期策略目標，就是增加機構持股和流通股。當他們出現時，我們覺得利用這個優勢是適當的。您會注意到，由於此次發行，我們的機構股票數量可能增加了一倍。因此，從策略上講，這對我們的投資者基礎和股票市場的流量都有好處；我們利用了它。

I think the second is we wanted to be in a position where we were strong relative to our capital base. The bank market conditions were a little unsettled in the summer, so we felt going long on the equity gave us a little bit more strength in that viewpoint.

我認為第二是我們希望處於相對於我們的資本基礎更強大的位置。夏季銀行市場狀況有點不穩定，因此我們認為做多股票讓我們在這觀點上更有優勢。

Lastly, I would say, yes, we are going to increase our leverage as the spreads probably start to contract with interest rates coming down. We're obviously skewed very much towards a fixed cost of capital right now. Having a strong equity base will allow us to put on assets and optimize our capital structure and allow us to continue to maintain the level of dividend coverage that we're going to look for to try to continue to maintain the dividend level at or above where it is today. So we'll grow into that leverage level with higher assets over the course of the next 12 to 18 months.

最後，我想說，是的，我們將增加槓桿，因為利差可能會隨著利率下降而開始收縮。我們現在顯然非常傾向於固定資本成本。擁有強大的股本基礎將使我們能夠投入資產並優化我們的資本結構，並使我們能夠繼續維持我們將尋求的股息覆蓋水平，以努力繼續將股息水平維持在或高於預期水平。就是今天。因此，在接下來的 12 到 18 個月內，我們將透過更高的資產達到槓桿水準。

That's very helpful. Thank you, Bob. That's it for me this morning.

這非常有幫助。謝謝你，鮑伯。今天早上我就是這樣。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Gladstone for final comments.

謝謝。女士們先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我將請格萊斯頓先生徵求最後意見。

Thank you very much. Appreciate you all calling in. Wish we had a few more questions, we like it when you ask questions, but we'll wait for next quarter to get some more questions. That's the end of this conference call.

非常感謝。感謝大家的來電。希望我們還有更多問題，我們喜歡您提出問題，但我們將等到下個季度再提出更多問題。本次電話會議到此結束。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。