PennantPark Floating Rate Capital Ltd (PFLT) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's third fiscal quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加 PennantPark Floating Rate Capital 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）

It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Art Penn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital. Mr. Penn, you may begin your conference.

現在我很高興將電話轉交給 PennantPark Floating Rate Capital 的董事長兼執行長 Art Penn 先生。潘恩先生，您可以開始您的會議了。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to PennantPark Floating Rate Capital's third fiscal quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I joined today by Rick Allorto, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝大家，大家早安。歡迎參加 PennantPark Floating Rate Capital 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。今天，我們的財務長里克·阿洛託也來到了現場。

Rick, please start off by disclosing some general conference call information and include a discussion about forward-looking statements.

Rick，請先揭露一些關於電話會議的一般信息，並討論一下前瞻性聲明。

Thank you, Art. I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded. Please note that this call is the property of PennantPark Floating Rate Capital and that any unauthorized broadcast of this call in any form is strictly prohibited. An audio replay of the call will be available on our website.

謝謝你，阿特。我想提醒大家，今天的通話將會被錄音。請注意，本次通話屬於 PennantPark Floating Rate Capital 所有，嚴禁以任何形式未經授權傳播本次通話。通話錄音將在我們的網站上提供。

I'd also like to call your attention to the customary Safe Harbor disclosure in our press release regarding forward-looking information. Today's conference call may also include forward-looking statements and projections and we ask that you refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required by law. To obtain copies of our latest SEC filings, please visit our website at pennantpark.com or call us at 212-905-1000.

我還想提請您注意我們新聞稿中關於前瞻性資訊的慣例性「安全港」披露。今天的電話會議可能還會包含前瞻性陳述和預測，我們請您參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與這些預測有重大差異的重要因素。除非法律要求，否則我們不承擔更新前瞻性聲明的義務。如需我們最新的美國證券交易委員會文件副本，請造訪我們的網站 pennantpark.com 或致電 212-905-1000 與我們聯絡。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call back to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Art Penn.

此時，我想把電話轉回給我們的董事長兼執行長阿特·佩恩。

Thanks, Rick. I'm going to spend a few minutes discussing how we fared in the quarter ended June 30, highlight the financing activities we executed during the quarter to strengthen the balance sheets of both PFLT and the PSSL joint venture. Then I'll comment on our new joint venture, the current market environment for private middle market lending and how the portfolio is positioned for upcoming quarters.

謝謝你，里克。我將花幾分鐘時間討論截至 6 月 30 日的季度業績，重點介紹我們在本季度執行的融資活動，以加強 PFLT 和 PSSL 合資企業的資產負債表。然後我將評論我們的新合資企業、當前私人中端市場貸款的市場環境以及投資組合在未來幾季的配置。

Rick will conclude with a detailed review of the financials, and then we'll open up the call for Q&A. We are seeing an encouraging recent uptick in deal activity, which we believe will lead to increased loan originations in the second half of 2025. Additionally, we continue to provide additional capital to many of our existing portfolio companies as they execute their respective growth plans. Our platform continues to prove its strength as we support our existing portfolio companies and private equity borrowers with strategic capital solutions to help grow their businesses.

Rick 將最後詳細回顧財務狀況，然後我們將開放問答環節。我們看到近期交易活動出現了令人鼓舞的成長，我們相信這將導致 2025 年下半年貸款發放增加。此外，我們還將繼續為許多現有投資組合公司提供額外資金，以支持它們執行各自的成長計劃。我們的平台不斷證明自身的實力，我們透過提供策略資本解決方案來支持我們現有的投資組合公司和私募股權借款人，幫助他們發展業務。

With regard to how we fared in the quarter ended June 30, core net investment income for the quarter was $0.27 per share. We believe we will achieve net investment income coverage of the dividend as we scale into our target leverage range as the new joint venture becomes operational.

截至 6 月 30 日的季度，我們的業績表現為每股核心淨投資收益 0.27 美元。我們相信，隨著新合資企業投入運營，我們將逐步達到目標槓桿率範圍，從而實現淨投資收益覆蓋股息。

As a reminder, prior to Liberation Day, we proactively built a war chest to our ATM program and debt financing activities based on the expectation of sustained deal flow throughout the year. While market activity slowed the following Liberation Day, we have seen a notable rebound in recent weeks.

提醒大家，在解放日之前，我們根據全年持續的交易量預期，積極為我們的 ATM 計劃和債務融資活動建立了資金儲備。雖然解放日後市場活動有所放緩，但最近幾週我們看到了明顯的反彈。

Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the strong outlook for the remainder of the year and anticipate continued NII growth and full dividend coverage. We are pleased to announce the formation of a new joint venture with our long-term and trusted partner, Hamilton Lane. The company in Hamilton Lane have committed to provide $200 million of capital to the joint venture and combined with an expected $300 million financing facility, the total portfolio will be $500 million.

展望未來，我們對今年剩餘時間的強勁前景感到鼓舞，並預期淨利息收入將持續成長，股利覆蓋率將達到100%。我們很高興地宣布與長期值得信賴的合作夥伴 Hamilton Lane 成立一家新的合資企業。位於漢密爾頓巷的公司承諾向合資企業提供 2 億美元的資金，加上預計的 3 億美元融資，總投資組合將達到 5 億美元。

Similar to PSSL, the new joint venture will invest in our core middle market directly originated senior secured loans. We anticipate beginning to invest the capital towards the end of September or the beginning of October. We continue to believe that the current vintage of core middle market directly originated loans is excellent. In the core middle market, leverage is lower and spreads are higher than in the upper middle market.

與 PSSL 類似，新的合資企業將投資於我們核心的中端市場直接發放的優先擔保貸款。我們預計在九月底或十月初開始投入資金。我們仍然認為，目前核心中端市場直接發放貸款的品質非常優秀。在中端核心市場，槓桿率較低，價差較高，而中端高階市場則不然。

In the core middle market, the pricing on high-quality first lien term loans is over plus $475 million to $525 million, we continue to get meaningful covenant protections while the upper middle market is primarily characterized as covenant like.

在核心中端市場，高品質優先擔保定期貸款的定價超過 4.75 億美元至 5.25 億美元，我們繼續獲得有意義的契約保護，而中高端市場主要以類似契約的形式出現。

Turning to our current portfolio. We continue to maintain what we believe is one of the most conservatively structured portfolios in the direct lending industry. As of June 30, our portfolio's weighted average leverage ratio through our debt security was 4.3 times, and the portfolio's weighted average interest coverage ratio was 2.5 times.

接下來，我們來看看目前的投資組合。我們繼續維持我們認為在直接貸款行業中最保守的投資組合結構之一。截至 6 月 30 日，我們投資組合透過債務證券實現的加權平均槓桿率為 4.3 倍，投資組合的加權平均利息保障倍數為 2.5 倍。

Our new platform investments made during the quarter, the weighted average debt-to-EBITDA was 3.8 times and the weighted average interest coverage was 2.6 times. Weighted average loan to value was 46% and yield of maturity was 10.3%. As of June 30, we had two investments on nonaccrual status and total nonaccruals represented only 1% of the portfolio at cost and 0.5% at market value.

本季我們進行了新的平台投資，加權平均債務與 EBITDA 比率為 3.8 倍，加權平均利息保障倍數為 2.6 倍。加權平均貸款價值比為 46%，到期收益率為 10.3%。截至 6 月 30 日，我們有兩項投資處於非應計狀態，非應計投資總額以成本計算僅佔投資組合的 1%，以市值計算僅佔投資組合的 0.5%。

These are strong credit metrics, which reflect the rigor of our underwriting process and the discipline of our investment approach. We continue to believe that our focus on core middle market loans provides us with attractive investment opportunities where we provide important strategic capital to our borrowers.

這些都是強勁的信用指標，反映了我們承保流程的嚴謹性和我們投資方法的嚴謹性。我們仍然相信，我們專注於核心中端市場貸款，為我們提供了有吸引力的投資機會，為我們的借款人提供了重要的策略資本。

We have a demonstrated track record of value creation through the successful financing of growing middle market companies across five key sectors. These are sectors in which we possess deep domain expertise enabling us to ask the right questions and consistently deliver strong investment outcomes. There are business services, consumer, government services and defense, health care and software and technology.

我們擁有透過成功融資幫助五大關鍵領域的中型市場企業成長而創造價值的良好記錄。在這些領域，我們擁有深厚的專業知識，使我們能夠提出正確的問題，並持續取得良好的投資成果。服務領域包括商業服務、消費者服務、政府服務和國防、醫療保健以及軟體和技術。

These sectors have been recession-resilient, tend to generate strong free cash flow and have a limited direct impact to the recent tariff increases and uncertainty. Core middle market companies typically those with $10 million to $50 million of EBITDA, operate below the threshold of broadly syndicated loan or high-yield markets.

這些產業具有較強的抗衰退能力，往往能產生強勁的自由現金流，並且受近期關稅上漲和不確定性的直接影響有限。核心中型市場公司通常指 EBITDA 在 1,000 萬美元至 5,000 萬美元之間的公司，其營運規模低於廣泛銀團貸款或高收益市場的門檻。

The core middle market, because we are an important strategic lending partner, the process and package of terms we receive is attractive. We have many weeks to do our diligence with care. We thoughtfully structured transactions with sensible credit statistics, meaningful covenants, substantial equity cushions to protect our capital, attractive spreads and equity co-investment.

核心中端市場，因為我們是重要的策略貸款合作夥伴，所以我們獲得的流程和條款組合很有吸引力。我們有好幾週的時間認真細緻地完成這項工作。我們精心設計了交易結構，採用合理的信用統計數據、有意義的契約、充足的股權緩衝來保護我們的資本、有吸引力的利差和股權共同投資。

Additionally, from a monitoring perspective, we received monthly financial statements to help us stay on top of the companies. Regarding covenant protections, while the upper middle market has seen significant erosion, our originated first lien loans consistently include the meaningful covenants that safeguard our capital.

此外，從監控的角度來看，我們每個月都會收到財務報表，以幫助我們掌握各公司的動態。關於契約保護，雖然中高端市場遭受了嚴重的侵蝕，但我們所發放的第一順位抵押貸款始終包含保障我們資本的重要契約。

Credit quality since inception of 14 years ago has been excellent. PFLT has invested $7.8 billion in over 500 companies, and we've experienced only 23 non-accruals. Since inception, PFLT's loss ratio on invested capital is only 11 basis points annually.

自14年前成立以來，信貸品質一直非常出色。PFLT 已向 500 多家公司投資了 78 億美元，但只出現過 23 起非應計項目。自成立以來，PFLT 的投資資本損失率每年僅為 11 個基點。

As a provider of strategic capital, we fuels the growth of our portfolio companies. In many cases, we participate in the upside of the company by making an equity co-investment. Our returns on these equity co-investments have been excellent over time.

作為策略資本的提供者，我們協助投資組合公司的發展。在很多情況下，我們透過股權共同投資來分享公司發展帶來的利益。長期以來，我們在這些股權共同投資上的回報都非常出色。

Overall, for our platform from inception through June 30, we've invested over $583 million in equity co-investments and have generated an IRR of 26% and a multiple on invested capital of 2 times.

總體而言，從平台成立到 6 月 30 日，我們已投入超過 5.83 億美元進行股權聯合投資，並產生了 26% 的內部收益率和 2 倍的投資資本回報。

As of June 30, our portfolio grew to $2.4 billion, up from $2.3 billion in the prior quarter. During the quarter, we continued to originate attractive investment opportunities and invested $208 million in four new and 17 existing portfolio companies at a weighted average yield of 10.1%.

截至6月30日，我們的投資組合成長至24億美元，高於上一季的23億美元。本季度，我們繼續發掘有吸引力的投資機會，向 4 家新投資組合公司和 17 家現有投資組合公司投資了 2.08 億美元，加權平均收益率為 10.1%。

During the quarter, we undertook several key initiatives to fortify our balance sheet enhance liquidity and position the company to capitalize on emerging market opportunities. In April, we amended the truest revolving credit facility and reduced the interest rate on the facility to SOFR plus 200 from SOFR plus 225. The amendment also extended the revolving period and final maturity by one year to August 2028 and August 2030, respectively.

本季度，我們採取了幾項關鍵措施來強化資產負債表、增強流動性，並使公司能夠抓住新興市場機會。4 月份，我們修改了真正的循環信貸安排，並將該安排的利率從 SOFR 加 225 降低到 SOFR 加 200。該修正案還將循環期限和最終到期日分別延長了一年，至 2028 年 8 月和 2030 年 8 月。

Our financial strength was also enhanced by attractive equity capital raised from our ATM program. During the quarter, we raised $32 million from the issuance of 2.8 million shares of our common stock at an average price of $11.31 per share.

我們的ATM計畫所募集到的可觀股權資本也增強了我們的財務實力。本季度，我們透過發行 280 萬股普通股籌集了 3,200 萬美元，平均每股價格為 11.31 美元。

Our PSSL joint venture has also taken significant strides and bolstering its financial strength as well. As of June 30, the JV portfolio totaled $1.1 billion. And during the quarter, it invested $52 million in seven new and two existing portfolio companies at a weighted average yield of 10.8%.

我們的 PSSL 合資企業也取得了顯著進展，財務實力也得到了增強。截至6月30日，合資企業投資組合總額為11億美元。該季度，該公司向七家新投資組合公司和兩家現有投資組合公司投資了 5,200 萬美元，加權平均收益率為 10.8%。

In April, PSSL closed on a new securitization financing at an attractive weighted average price of SOFR plus 171. PSSL has $250 million of additional committed debt and equity capital and a gross total portfolio to $1.4 billion. We believe that the increase in scale of the JV's balance sheet will continue to drive attractive mid-teens returns on invested capital and enhance PFLT's earnings momentum.

4 月，PSSL 完成了一筆新的證券化融資，加權平均價格為 SOFR 加 171，極具吸引力。PSSL 擁有 2.5 億美元的額外承諾債務和股權資本，總投資組合達 14 億美元。我們相信，合資企業資產負債表規模的擴大將繼續推動投資資本獲得可觀的15%左右的回報率，並增強PFLT的盈利勢頭。

From an outlook perspective, our experienced -- team and our wide origination funnel is well set up to produce active deal flow. Our continued focus remains on capital preservation and being patient investors. Our mission and goal or a steady, stable and protected dividend stream, coupled with the preservation of capital.

從前景來看，我們經驗豐富的團隊和廣泛的客戶開發管道已經做好充分準備，能夠產生活躍的交易流。我們將繼續專注於資本保值，做一個有耐心的投資者。我們的使命和目標是提供穩定、可靠且有保障的股利流，同時保全資本。

Everything we do is aligned to that goal. We seek to find investment opportunities in growing middle market companies that have high free cash flow conversion. We capture that free cash flow primarily in first lien, senior secured instruments, we pay out those contractual cash flows in the form of dividends to our shareholders.

我們所做的一切都是為了實現這個目標。我們致力於尋找投資機會，投資對像是那些自由現金流轉換率高的成長型中型市場公司。我們主要透過優先擔保票據來取得自由現金流，並將這些合約現金流以股利的形式支付給股東。

Let me now turn the call over to Rick, our CFO, to take you through the financial results in more detail.

現在我把電話交給我們的財務長里克，讓他更詳細地向大家介紹財務表現。

Thank you, Art. For the quarter ended June 30, GAAP net investment income was $0.25 per share, while core net investment income was $0.27 per share. Operating expenses for the quarter were as follows: interest and expenses on debt were $25.4 million. Base management and performance-based incentive fees were $11.3 million. General and administrative expenses were $1.95 million and provision for taxes was $0.2 million.

謝謝你，阿特。截至 6 月 30 日的季度，GAAP 淨投資收益為每股 0.25 美元，而核心淨投資收益為每股 0.27 美元。本季營運費用如下：債務利息和支出為 2,540 萬美元。基本管理費和績效獎金為 1,130 萬美元。一般及行政費用為 195 萬美元，稅金準備金為 20 萬美元。

For the quarter ended June 30, net realized and unrealized change on investments, including provision for taxes was a loss of $5.3 million. As of June 30, NAV was $10.96 per share, which is down 1% from $11.07 per share last quarter.

截至 6 月 30 日的季度，投資的已實現和未實現淨變動（包括稅務準備）為虧損 530 萬美元。截至 6 月 30 日，每股淨值為 10.96 美元，比上一季的每股 11.07 美元下降了 1%。

As of June 30, our debt-to-equity ratio was 1.3 times, and our capital structure is diversified across multiple funding sources, including both secured and unsecured debt. As of June 30, our key portfolio statistics were as follows: the portfolio remains well diversified, comprising 155 companies across 50 industries. The weighted average yield on our debt investments was 10.4% and approximately 99% of the debt portfolio is floating rate. Fixed income equaled only 1.8% of total interest income.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們的負債權益比率為 1.3 倍，我們的資本結構多元化，資金來源多樣，包括有擔保債務和無擔保債務。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的主要投資組合統計數據如下：該投資組合仍然保持良好的多元化，涵蓋 50 個行業的 155 家公司。我們債務投資的加權平均收益率為 10.4%，其中約 99% 的債務組合為浮動利率。固定收益僅佔總利息收入的1.8%。

We had two non-accruals, which represent 1% of the portfolio at cost and 0.5% at market value. The portfolio is comprised of 90% first lien senior secured debt, less than 1% in subordinated debt, 2% in equity of PSSL and 8% in equity coal investments. The debt to EBITDA on the portfolio is 4.3 times, and interest coverage was 2.5 times.

我們有兩個非應計項目，以成本計算佔投資組合的 1%，以市值計算佔投資組合的 0.5%。該投資組合由 90% 的優先擔保債務、不到 1% 的次級債務、2% 的 PSSL 股權和 8% 的煤炭股權投資組成。此投資組合的債務與 EBITDA 比率為 4.3 倍，利息保障倍數為 2.5 倍。

Now let me turn the call back to Art.

現在讓我把電話轉回給Art。

Thanks, Rick. In conclusion, I want to express my gratitude to our dedicated team of professionals for their unwavering commitment to PFLT and its shareholders. Thank you all for your time today and for your investment and confidence in us. That concludes our remarks.

謝謝你，里克。最後，我要對我們敬業的專業團隊表示衷心的感謝，感謝他們對 PFLT 及其股東的堅定承諾。感謝各位今天抽出時間，也感謝你們對我們的投資與信任。我們的發言到此結束。

At this time, I would like to open up the call for questions.

現在，我想開放提問環節。

(Operator instructions) Brian Mckenna, Citizens.

（操作員說明）布萊恩·麥肯納，市民。

Congratulations on the new JV with Hamilton Lane. Just a few questions here. If this pickup in the acceleration in deal activity continues how much of the $500 million could you deploy over the next few quarters? How are you thinking about the potential accretion from the JV within the PFLT? And then obviously, Hamilton Lane is getting access to high-quality core middle market deal flow and transactions. But is there anything you can leverage from the Hamilton Lane platform to drive better outcomes for the JV as well?

祝賀與 Hamilton Lane 成立新的合資企業。這裡就問幾個問題。如果交易活動加速成長的勢頭持續下去，在接下來的幾個季度裡，您可以部署多少這 5 億美元？您如何看待JV向PFLT內部的潛在吸積？顯然，Hamilton Lane 也因此獲得了高品質的核心中階市場交易機會。但是，您能否利用 Hamilton Lane 平台為合資企業帶來更好的結果？

Bunch of great questions in there, Brian. Let's make sure I hit them all. In terms of being able to ramp it, I think we think of it as kind of a 12 month ramp for the $500 million, maybe 18 months on the outside.

布萊恩，這裡面有很多好問題。確保我把它們全都擊中。就擴大規模而言，我們認為 5 億美元的目標需要 12 個月的時間才能實現，最多可能需要 18 個月。

But in light of our platform, we think of it was a 12 to 18 month ramp. And as you've seen, the two other JVs we've had in our platform, both the PFLT and PNNT, these things can -- have done well and we hope it will be well in a good sympatico with Hamilton Lane. They can grow very substantially above and beyond that.

但就我們的平台而言，我們認為這是一個 12 到 18 個月的過渡期。正如你所看到的，我們平台上的另外兩個合資企業，PFLT 和 PNNT，都取得了不錯的成績，我們希望它能與 Hamilton Lane 保持良好的合作關係。它們還能在此基礎上大幅成長。

So our vote would be this is a long-term partnership with this JV and then it grows from $500 million to something larger over time. We've been able to get kind of NII dividend yields on these JVs in the mid- to upper teens between the PSSL 1 here and PFLT as well as PSSL for PNNT kind of mid- to upper teens returns on an NII basis on the capital invested, so you can model the $150 million we're putting in and put it mid-to upper teens NII return on that and see what that means.

因此，我們的投票結果是，這是一項與合資企業的長期合作，隨著時間的推移，其規模將從 5 億美元增長到更大的規模。我們已經能夠從這些合資企業中獲得大約 15% 到 10% 的淨利息收入股息收益率，PSSL 1 和 PFLT 以及 PSSL 和 PNNT 的淨利息收入收益率在投資資本的基礎上達到了 15% 到 10% 左右。因此，您可以模擬我們投入的 1.5 億美元，並假設其淨利息收入收益率達到 15% 到 10% 左右，看看這意味著什麼。

But over time, we hope it's a really long term -- great long-term partnership. We've had a lot of exposure to Hamilton Lane to date, and that's kind of what led the way to this, and we think there's a real synthetic around credit and how we look at things.

但我們希望隨著時間的推移，這能成為一段真正長久的、偉大的長期合作關係。到目前為止，我們已經接觸了很多 Hamilton Lane，這在某種程度上促成了這件事，我們認為信貸以及我們看待事物的方式之間存在著真正的全面性聯繫。

And then yes, we expect all these JVs, the other JVs we have as well to be real partnerships where parties contribute ideas and diligence and thoughts with what's going on in the economy. Hamilton Lane has a lot of great relationships with private equity sponsors and other people that we could be doing business with. So we expect and hope that they will help us in that regard. So we're very excited about it.

是的，我們希望所有這些合資企業，以及我們現有的其他合資企業，都能成為真正的合作夥伴關係，各方都能貢獻想法、努力和對經濟情勢的思考。Hamilton Lane 與私募股權投資者和其他可能與我們開展業務的人建立了良好的關係。因此，我們期望並希望他們能在這方面幫助我們。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。

Okay. That's really helpful. And then maybe just a little bit of a bigger picture question. You and the team have clearly done a great job growing your public BDCs in aggregate, the market caps for both PFLT and PNNT totaled about $1.5 billion. I'm curious to what's your longer-term growth plans for both of these vehicles?

好的。這真的很有幫助。然後，或許可以問一個更宏觀的問題。您和您的團隊顯然在發展您的上市 BDC 方面做得非常出色，PFLT 和 PNNT 的總市值約為 15 億美元。我很想知道你們對這兩款車型的長期發展規劃是什麼？

And I think I asked you this almost every quarter, but at what point or size does it make sense to merge them? And then assuming you ultimately have one public BDC longer term, I mean, would you ever think about internalizing the corporate structure?

我想我幾乎每季都會問你這個問題，但是合併到什麼規模或程度才有意義呢？然後假設你最終長期擁有一家上市的商業發展公司，我的意思是，你會考慮將公司結構內部化嗎？

So in terms of the first question, growth, we're not the type of firm to sit here and put the kind of growth parameters out there and then kind of have goals because we think that's antithetical to credit quality and investment selection.

所以就第一個問題，也就是成長而言，我們不是那種會在這裡提出成長參數並設定目標的公司，因為我們認為這與信貸品質和投資選擇是背道而馳的。

So in a business where you have quality on one scale and quality on the other. Clearly, we focus on quality. So the growth will be organic based on the opportunity in the market and where it makes sense to invest. So the growth will be the growth as you've seen overall all these years, and it will be based on kind of the market opportunity.

所以在一個行業裡，品質既有高標準，也有低標準。顯然，我們注重品質。因此，成長將是基於市場機會和投資方向的自然成長。所以成長將和你這些年來看到的整體成長一樣，並且將基於某種市場機會。

You do ask the same question every quarter, Brian, about potentially merging and the answer every quarter and you can record this and play back to yourself going forward is all things are always on the table. That said, PNNT is still -- we still got to work through some equity rotation issues at PNNT. So we -- our main focus there is to do that. And then once we do that, we can come up for air and assess all the different options that are available in the world, we, of course, put shareholder value is, number one, what's best for shareholders. And that's always our north star when we look at these things.

布萊恩，你每季都會問同樣的問題，關於合併的可能性，而每季的答案都是──你可以把這些都錄下來，以後再回放──那就是一切皆有可能。也就是說，PNNT 仍然存在一些股權輪動問題。所以，我們——我們在那裡的主要目標就是做到這一點。然後，一旦我們完成了這些，我們就可以喘口氣，評估世界上所有不同的選擇，當然，我們把股東價值放在第一位，什麼對股東最有利。當我們看待這些事情時，這始終是我們遵循的指路明燈。

Arren Cyganovich, Truist.

Arren Cyganovich，Truist。

You mentioned in your press release that you expect that NII will -- or you anticipate that NII will fully cover the dividend over time. Maybe you could talk a little bit about timing associated with that or expectations as you go throughout the rest of the year?

您在新聞稿中提到，您預計 NII 將會——或者您預計 NII 最終將完全覆蓋股息。或許您可以談談與此相關的時機安排，或者您對今年剩餘時間的預期？

Yes. So look, we have -- it's a good question, Arren, and welcome back to PennantPark and PFLT. We have three levers of NII growth at the company. Lever one is leveraging up to our target leverage ratio of about 1.5 times area. We're below that as of quarter end. So that's lever number one.

是的。所以，你看，我們——這是一個好問題，Arren，歡迎回到 PennantPark 和 PFLT。公司有三個淨利息收入成長的槓桿。槓桿一正在將槓桿率提高到我們目標槓桿率，約為面積的 1.5 倍。截至季末，我們低於這個數字。這是第一個槓桿。

Lever number two is filling out PSSL 1, that's the Kemper JV. We've got some more capital to deploy there before that's kind of full at this point in time, of course. You can always grow these things once you get full, but that's kind of lever number two.

第二個槓桿是填入 PSSL 1，也就是 Kemper JV。當然，在資金基本上用完之前，我們還有一些資金可以投入那裡。當你吃飽之後，你總是可以繼續種植這些東西，但這算是第二個槓桿。

And then lever number 3 is the new Hamilton Lane JV, PSSL 2. As I just said, that's probably a 12- to 18-month ramp. So we think as we pull those levers, 1, 2 and 3, we'll will target covering -- certainly covering the dividend, if not more. You guys can do the model. You're an expert of modeling, but our models show that between those levers, we can more than cover the dividend over time.

然後，第三層槓桿是新的 Hamilton Lane JV，PSSL 2。正如我剛才所說，這可能需要 12 到 18 個月的時間才能完成。所以我們認為，當我們拉動這三個槓桿（1、2 和 3）時，我們將以覆蓋股息為目標——當然，如果不能覆蓋股息，至少要覆蓋更多。你們可以做這個模型。您是建模方面的專家，但我們的模型顯示，透過這些手段，我們最終獲得的收益完全可以涵蓋股利。

That's helpful. And credit quality continues to be very strong. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing at the portfolio company level in terms of some of the metrics there in terms of EBITDA growth, et cetera?

那很有幫助。信貸品質依然非常強勁。您能否談談您在投資組合公司層級觀察到的一些指標，例如 EBITDA 成長等？

Yes. Look, we -- EBITDAs continues to grow nicely in general, kind of mid to upper single digits overall. Certainly, it's dependent on the underlying company in the industry, but you could see non-accruals are relatively light. We hope to keep them that way. You can also see that we're keeping leverage level on both new deals and the overall portfolio low as well, new deals 3.8 times debt to EBITDA, 2.6 times interest coverage, overall portfolio of 4.7 times, debt-to-EBITDA 2.5 times coverage, a very limited pick in this portfolio.

是的。你看，我們－EBITDA整體上持續保持良好成長，整體上達到了個位數中高水準。當然，這取決於行業內的特定公司，但你可以看到非應計項目相對較少。我們希望它們能一直保持這樣。您還可以看到，我們對新交易和整體投資組合的槓桿水平都保持較低水平，新交易的債務與 EBITDA 比率為 3.8 倍，利息保障倍數為 2.6 倍，整體投資組合的債務與 EBITDA 比率為 4.7 倍，利息保障倍數為 2.5 倍數，該投資組合中的選擇非常有限。

That's what happens when you keep leverage low. Again, we feel like we are among the lowest risk in our -- in the peer group in addition to the fact that we still get covenants that are meaningful to protect the capital. So the portfolio is chugging along well. Of course, like any portfolio with 150 names or so, there's going to be a few underperformers, and there are. But overall, we are seeing a relatively strong situation with the portfolio.

這就是低槓桿的後果。再次強調，我們感覺自己是同業中風險最低的公司之一，此外，我們還能獲得對保護資本有意義的契約。所以投資組合目前進展順利。當然，任何包含 150 隻左右股票的投資組合都會有一些表現不佳的股票，而且確實如此。但總體而言，我們看到投資組合的情況相對強勁。

Christopher Nolan, Ladenburg Thalmann.

克里斯多福諾蘭，拉登堡塔爾曼。

Guys, is the high -- or I guess, Rick, is the high level of unrestricted cash at quarter end, going to be directed towards the JV.

各位，季度末大量的非限制性現金——或者我猜，里克，是指季度末大量的非限制性現金——是否會流向合資企業？

Chris, that cash, some of it will, yes, will be used for the JV. Quarter end tends to be a high collection period. So as just some part of that cash balance is just a timing from a cash management and working capital perspective in terms of using it to deploy and fund new investments versus temporarily pay down debt, waiting for new opportunities.

克里斯，那筆錢，是的，其中一部分將用於合資企業。季度末通常是收款高峰期。因此，部分現金餘額只是從現金管理和營運資本的角度來看，用於部署和資助新投資的時機問題，而不是暫時償還債務，等待新的機會。

Great. And Art, strategically, given the comments you gave on the lending market, are you expecting to see improved loan pricing power given what seems to be increased appetite for leverage by middle market companies?

偉大的。Art，從策略角度來看，鑑於你對貸款市場的評論，考慮到中型市場公司對槓桿的需求似乎有所增加，你是否預期貸款定價能力會得到提升？

Yes. Thanks, Chris. By the way, welcome back to PennantPark as well. Good to see you back on the case. We certainly hope so. I mean spreads have certainly come down over the last year, 1.5 years.

是的。謝謝你，克里斯。順便也歡迎回到 PennantPark。很高興看到你重新投入案件調查。我們當然希望如此。我的意思是，在過去一年半的時間裡，價差確實有所下降。

Today, $4.75 to $5.25 is kind of the range. We hope that and increased supply will give us an opportunity to maintain. And then maybe expand those spreads. Constitutionally, though, kind of lessons learned over many years is credit first. So we're generally okay if the credit is excellent taken slightly lower spread because, of course, nonaccruals are really what gets you and where the pain is felt in these portfolios. So we are going to be trying to get more spread if we can. At the same time, most importantly, select excellent credit. So hopefully, with more supply, there'll be an opportunity to get more spread, but of course, no guarantees.

如今，價格區間大概在 4.75 美元到 5.25 美元之間。我們希望供應增加能為我們提供維持營運的機會。然後或許可以擴大這些價差。但從憲法角度來看，多年來學到的教訓首先是榮譽。所以，如果信用狀況良好，我們通常可以接受略低的利差，因為當然，非應計項目才是真正讓你吃虧的地方，也是這些投資組合中真正感受到痛苦的地方。所以，如果可以的話，我們會努力擴大傳播範圍。同時，最重要的是，選擇信用良好的人。所以，希望隨著供應量的增加，能夠有更多機會進行推廣，但當然，這並不能保證。

Michele Scheff, Raymond James.

米歇爾·謝夫，雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

So going back to the recent rebound in M&A activity, is there any sort of mix shift in terms of what's in the pipeline or where dollars are being deployed, whether it's the industry there are investing in or whether it's incumbent borrowers versus new borrowers or sponsor versus non-sponsor?

回到最近併購活動的反彈，在正在進行的專案或資金部署方面，是否存在某種組合變化？無論是投資的產業，或是現有借款人與新借款人，或是發起人與非發起人？

Yes. Great question. So up to about a month ago, I would have said it's mostly incumbencies where we're doing delayed draw drawdowns or add-on loans to existing companies. Again, most of our prototypical deals are where we start with a company that's being bought from a founder or a family and entrepreneur by a middle market private equity firm. It does between 10% and 20% of EBITDA. It's a fragmented industry, and the private equity firm wants to do a consolidation play in a fragmented industry.

是的。問得好。所以直到大約一個月前，我還會說，我們主要針對的是現有企業，進行延期提款或向現有公司提供附加貸款。同樣，我們的大多數典型交易都是從一家中型市場私募股權公司從創始人或家族企業家手中收購一家公司開始的。它佔 EBITDA 的 10% 到 20%。這是一個分散的行業，而這家私募股權公司想要在這個分散的行業中進行整合。

We come in, we provide the capital to do the initial deal and then add on loans, whether it delay draw or otherwise to take that into $20 million EBITDA company up to $30 million, $40 million, $50 million and above. And in that case, we become kind of a strategic partner, where -- our capital is the fuel to drive that growth. We participate in the equity through the co-investor there's kind of a built-in equity upside to the package of what we deliver.

我們介入，提供資金進行初始交易，然後透過延遲提款或其他方式增加貸款，使 EBITDA 從 2000 萬美元的公司發展到 3000 萬美元、4000 萬美元、5000 萬美元甚至更高。在這種情況下，我們就成為了某種策略夥伴，我們的資金就是推動成長的燃料。我們透過共同投資者參與股權投資，我們提供的產品和服務組合本身就帶有股權增值潛力。

So up until about a month ago, I would have said it's virtually all add-ons and delay draws and that's pretty good. I mean we have a lot of incumbency. We have 190-some companies broadly throughout the platform, 158 in PFLT. So there's just a lot of just incumbency and add-ons with credits that you know and like, and that's great. And if we don't like the creditor, we're credits underperforming, we don't have to give them the extra capital. So that's really a built-in competitive edge when you have portfolios of this size and scale.

所以直到大約一個月前，我還會說這幾乎全是附加組件和延遲抽獎，這已經相當不錯了。我的意思是，我們有很多現任官員。我們平台上共有 190 多家公司，其中 158 家在 PFLT。所以現在有很多你熟悉且喜歡的現有功能和附加功能，這很棒。如果我們不喜歡債權人，或我們的信貸表現不佳，我們就不必向他們提供額外的資金。所以，擁有如此規模的投資組合，確實是一種內在的競爭優勢。

I do -- I would say that in the last month, in the last month, some new platforms have been increasingly coming to us. And we've been more active starting the new platforms, again, back with that smaller company with the add-on acquisition pipeline and regenerating that. So that's kind of the difference in the last month.

是的——我想說，在過去一個月裡，一些新的平台越來越多地湧入我們這裡。而且我們一直在積極啟動新平台，再次回到那家規模較小的公司，透過附加收購管道並重振旗鼓。這是上個月的主要變化。

In PFLT, in particular, it's virtually all sponsors -- sponsor deals. Again, in -- our focus here is capital preservation and yield the capital preservation first. So we like having a loan to value of 40% or 50%, which is typically what it is today. So that if there's a bump in the road, that sponsor capital provides the cushion.

尤其是在 PFLT 中，幾乎全是贊助商——贊助協議。再次強調－我們這裡的重點是保本和收益，首先要確保保本。所以我們喜歡貸款價值比為 40% 或 50%，這通常是目前的情況。這樣，如果遇到困難，發起人的資金就能起到緩衝作用。

And typically, when they're putting in 50%, 60% of the equity from the get-go, if there's a bump in the road, typically, they will invest additional capital to solve that problem, and we certainly saw that in spades during COVID when virtually every liquidity situation was solved with additional sponsor capital.

通常情況下，當他們從一開始就投入 50% 或 60% 的股權時，如果遇到困難，他們通常會追加投資來解決問題，我們在新冠疫情期間就充分看到了這一點，幾乎所有流動性問題都是透過追加發起人資金來解決的。

In terms of the industries, it's the same old industries where we think we have the domain expertise. Clearly, we're shying away from tariff. We always shied away from tariff impact even more so today. But by and large, it's the same industries.

就產業而言，還是那些我們認為自己擁有專業知識的老牌產業。顯然，我們正在迴避關稅問題。我們一直以來都盡量避免關稅的影響，今天更是如此。但總的來說，還是相同的行業。

And at this time, there are no additional callers in the queue. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Art Penn for any additional or closing comments.

目前，隊列中沒有其他來電者。我謹將會議交還給阿特·佩恩先生，請他作補充或總結發言。

I think there might be a question in the queue if we could or may bought away -- yes, it looks like there is.

我認為隊列中可能會出現一個問題，即我們是否可以或能夠買下它——是的，看起來確實如此。

Paul Johnson, KBW.

保羅·約翰遜，KBW。

I hopped on a little late here. I apologize if you already mentioned this on the call or if the question has already been asked. But it looks like just kind of based on the ATM activity for the quarter that you guys issued most likely most of the shares on the ATM pretty early in the quarter, the stock would have been trading at a bigger discount to NAV than kind of where you guys trade today, but you obviously have the history of subsidizing that discount when you issue those shares.

我來晚了一點。如果您已經在電話會議中提到過這一點，或者這個問題已經被問過了，我深表歉意。但從本季的 ATM 交易活動來看，你們很可能在本季初就透過 ATM 發行了大部分股票，因此，當時的股票交易價格相對於淨資產值的折讓幅度應該比現在更大，但顯然你們有在發行這些股票時補貼這種折讓的先例。

I'm just curious, I mean, is that something that you would plan on doing going forward pretty regularly in terms of just kind of capital management just sort of -- or is there going to be more, I guess, context around valuation of shares, I guess, going forward?

我只是好奇，我的意思是，就資本管理而言，這是否是您未來會經常做的事情——或者，我想，未來在股票估值方面會有更多需要考慮的因素？

It's a good question, Paul. And the answer is, of course, yes, and yes. We did issue 32 million of shares -- 2.8 million shares, at $11.31. That was a pre-Liberation Day price. We were building our war chest for what we thought was going to be a very active 2025.

保羅，你問得好。答案當然是肯定的，沒錯。我們確實發行了 3,200 萬股股票——其中 280 萬股，每股價格為 11.31 美元。這是解放日之前的價格。我們當時正在為我們認為將會非常活躍的 2025 年儲備資金。

So between the ATM program and all the things that we were doing with our credit facility and the redialing of the securitization. So our timing was good from the standpoint of issuing shares at a very attractive price pre-Liberation Day. Unfortunately, the deal fluid income after Liberation Day, we had 60 to 90 days of light deal flow. It seems to be picking back up again. And we certainly think and are hopeful that the remainder of this year will be good, and we can deploy that war chest that we built through the ATM program and through our credit facilities nicely here for the remainder of 2025.

所以，在 ATM 程序、我們利用信貸額度所做的一切以及重新啟動證券化之間。因此，從發行股票的時機來看，我們在解放日之前以非常優惠的價格發行股票，時機把握得很好。不幸的是，解放日之後，交易流動性收入下降了 60 到 90 天。似乎又開始好轉了。我們當然認為並希望今年剩下的時間會很好，我們可以很好地利用我們透過 ATM 計劃和信貸額度積累的資金，為 2025 年剩餘時間做好準備。

As you know, ATM programs are very efficient. They're low cost. They tend to -- at least the way we've done it and been surgical in terms of kind of how the stock trades. So we look at everything. We look at our deal flow, we look at the capital structure, we look at where the stock is trading.

如您所知，ATM程式非常有效率。它們價格低廉。他們往往會這樣做——至少就我們目前採取的方式而言，我們對股票的交易方式進行了精準的調整。所以我們會考慮所有方面。我們會關注交易流、資本結構和股票交易情況。

And -- but right now, we are -- as we speak very -- have a lot of capital, as you can see, between being underlevered at PFLT and having two JVs that have available capital. So at least at this point, we're set, and we're in good shape to now deploy all the capital that we raised.

但是——就在我們說話的時候，我們——擁有大量的資金，正如你所看到的，這得益於PFLT的低槓桿率以及兩家合資企業擁有可用資金。所以至少目前我們已經準備就緒，可以部署我們籌集到的所有資金了。

And at this time, there are no additional callers in the queue. Mr. Penn, I'd like to turn the conference back over to you for any additional or closing comments.

目前，隊列中沒有其他來電者。佩恩先生，我想把會議交還給您，請您作補充或總結發言。

Yes. I just want to thank everybody for participating today and wishing everybody a terrific remainder of summer. Our next quarterly earnings will be after 2Q. So later than normal because of the annual report. So it will be kind of mid to late November, probably right before Thanksgiving. We'll talk to everybody next. And thank you for your time and support of PFLT.

是的。我只想感謝大家今天的參與，並祝福大家有個美好的夏日餘下時光。我們的下一季財報將在第二季之後發布。因為要提交年度報告，所以比平常晚。所以大概會在11月中下旬，可能就在感恩節之前。接下來我們會和所有人談談。感謝您抽出時間並支持PFLT。

That does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。