Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Piper Sandler Companies' conference call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2024. During the question and answer session securities industry professionals may ask questions of management. The Company will make forward-looking statements on this call that are not historical or current facts, including statements about beliefs and expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated are identified in the Company's earnings release and reports on file with the SEC, which are available on the Company's website at w. w. w. dot Piper Sandler.com and on the SEC website at www.SEC.gov. This call will also include statements regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures. Non-gaap measures should be considered in addition to and not a substitute for measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP, please refer to the Company's earnings release issued today. For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, their earnings release is available on the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

早安，歡迎參加 Piper Sandler 公司的電話會議，討論 2024 年第一季的財務表現。在問答環節，證券業專業人士可能會向管理階層提出問題。本公司將在本次電話會議中做出非歷史或當前事實的前瞻性陳述，包括有關信念和期望的陳述，並涉及固有風險和不確定性。可能導致實際結果與預期結果有重大差異的因素已在公司的收益發布和向 SEC 備案的報告中列出，這些內容可在公司網站 w 上找到。 w。 w。點 Piper Sandler.com 和 SEC 網站 www.SEC.gov。此次電話會議還將包括有關某些非公認會計準則財務指標的聲明。非公認會計準則衡量標準應被視為除了按照公認會計原則編制的財務業績衡量標準之外，而不是替代根據公認會計原則編制的財務業績衡量標準，請參閱公司今天發布的收益報告。為了將這些非公認會計原則財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計原則指標進行調節，可以在公司網站的投資者關係頁面上查看其收益發布。

And at the SEC website. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

以及在 SEC 網站上。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Chad Abraham, Mr. Abraham.

現在我想把電話轉給查德·亞伯拉罕先生，亞伯拉罕先生。

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. It's great to be with you to talk about our first quarter 2024 results. I am here with Dan Schulman, our President and Kate Sloan, our CFO. During the first quarter, we generated adjusted net revenues of $334 million, a 16.8% operating margin and adjusted EPS of $2.79. While market headwinds persist, we're encouraged by the improvement in certain businesses, most notably Equity Capital Markets. Our diversified platform continues to perform well through various cycles. Corporate Investment Banking generated revenues of $210 million during the first quarter, a 25% increase over the same period last year, driven by higher revenues from both advisory and corporate financing.

大家早安，感謝您加入我們。很高興與您一起談論我們 2024 年第一季的業績。我和我們的總裁丹‧舒爾曼 (Dan Schulman) 以及我們的財務長凱特‧斯隆 (Kate Sloan) 一起來到這裡。第一季度，我們的調整後淨收入為 3.34 億美元，營業利潤率為 16.8%，調整後每股收益為 2.79 美元。儘管市場逆風持續存在，但某些業務的改善令我們感到鼓舞，尤其是股權資本市場。我們的多元化平台在各個週期中繼續表現良好。受諮詢和企業融資收入增加的推動，企業投資銀行業務第一季營收達 2.1 億美元，比去年同期成長 25%。

We benefited from the sector and product diversification of our business, along with increased revenues from private equity clients. Advisory Services revenues were $157 million during the quarter, an increased year over year, driven by higher average fees. The trend of advising on larger transactions and generating larger fees continues to be a key driver of our results. We completed 57 advisory transactions during the first quarter. Performance was led by the best quarter on record from our Energy and Power Team with solid contributions from our financial services, consumer and health care groups. In addition, following a record 2023, both our restructuring and debt advisory groups started this year with strong results. The outlook for M&A has improved as CEO confidence strengthens. We expect our second quarter advisory revenues to be consistent with the first quarter before improving in the second half of 2024, resulting in revenue seasonality similar to last year.

我們受益於業務的行業和產品多元化，以及私募股權客戶收入的增加。本季諮詢服務收入為 1.57 億美元，在平均費用上漲的推動下年增。為較大交易提供諮詢並產生較高費用的趨勢仍然是我們業績的關鍵驅動因素。第一季我們完成了 57 筆諮詢交易。我們的能源和電力團隊創下了有史以來最好的季度業績，金融服務、消費者和醫療保健團隊也做出了堅實貢獻。此外，繼 2023 年創紀錄之後，我們的重組和債務諮詢團隊今年伊始就取得了強勁成果。隨著執行長信心增強，併購前景有所改善。我們預計第二季的諮詢收入將與第一季保持一致，然後在 2024 年下半年有所改善，導致營收季節性與去年相似。

Turning to corporate financing, the market for equity underwriting improved considerably during the quarter, driven by a more accommodative backdrop and increased demand from companies looking to raise capital for context, the economic fee pool was approximately $2 billion during the quarter, almost double the average of the last eight quarters and more in line with normalized levels the sub $5 billion market cap fee pool also increased meaningfully and included an outsized contribution from healthcare. Corporate financing revenues were $53 million during the first quarter, nearly double the prior year quarter, driven by higher average fees and more completed transactions. We completed 35 equity debt and preferred financings raising over $10 billion for corporate clients. Performance was led by our market-leading healthcare franchise, which served as bookrunner on 19 of the 20 equity deals priced during the quarter.

轉向企業融資，在更加寬鬆的背景和尋求籌集資金的公司需求增加的推動下，本季度股票承銷市場大幅改善，本季度的經濟費用池約為 20 億美元，幾乎是平均水平的兩倍在過去八個季度中，以及與正常水平相符的情況下，低於50 億美元的市值費用池也顯著增加，其中包括來自醫療保健的巨大貢獻。第一季的企業融資收入為 5,300 萬美元，幾乎是去年同期的兩倍，這主要得益於平均費用上升和完成的交易增加。我們完成了 35 筆股本債務和優先融資，為企業客戶籌集了超過 100 億美元的資金。業績領先於我們市場領先的醫療保健特許經營權，該特許經營權在本季度定價的 20 筆股權交易中的 19 筆中擔任賬簿管理人。

Looking ahead, if this level of market activity is sustained, we expect participation will broaden across sectors.

展望未來，如果這種市場活動水準持續下去，我們預期參與範圍將擴大到各個產業。

Turning to Investment Banking, Managing Director headcount, our approach has not changed, and we continue to target the addition of five to seven MDs annually. We added a net two managing directors during the quarter, finishing with 171 MDs. We remain focused on strengthening sector coverage and expanding our product offerings, and we are well positioned to drive revenue growth as markets continue to normalize. During the last several years, we have grown our market leadership meaningfully and Piper Sandler is increasingly seen as a destination of choice for talented professionals and teams looking to leverage our full suite of products to better serve their clients and grow their book of business.

談到投資銀行業務，董事總經理人數，我們的方法沒有改變，我們繼續目標是每年增加五到七名董事總經理。本季我們淨增加了兩位董事總經理，最終增加了 171 位董事總經理。我們仍然專注於加強行業覆蓋範圍和擴大我們的產品供應，並且隨著市場繼續正常化，我們已準備好推動收入成長。在過去的幾年裡，我們顯著地擴大了市場領導地位，Piper Sandler 越來越被視為有才華的專業人士和團隊的首選目的地，他們希望利用我們的全套產品來更好地服務客戶並發展業務。

Our recruiting pipeline is robust with a number of investment banking Managing Directors slated to start during the second and third quarters of this year. Over the long term, we remain focused on growing our corporate investment banking revenues by continuing to advance corporate development, scaling industry teams, gaining market share with a focus in technology, increasing our product delivery to private equity clients and continuing to build out our equity capital markets business with a disciplined focus in each of our industry sectors.

我們的招募管道十分強勁，預計今年第二季開始招募多位投資銀行董事總經理。從長遠來看，我們仍然致力於透過繼續推進企業發展、擴大行業團隊規模、以技術為重點的市場份額、增加向私募股權客戶提供的產品以及繼續擴大我們的股權來增加企業投資銀行收入資本市場業務嚴格關注我們的每個行業領域。

With that, I will turn the call over to Deb to discuss our public finance and brokerage businesses.

接下來，我將把電話轉給黛布，討論我們的公共金融和經紀業務。

Thanks Chad, I'll begin with an update on our public finance business. While interest rates trended higher during the quarter, the market for higher yielding municipal debt offering testified credit spreads have tightened due to increased investor demand, allowing us to execute on a number of specialty transactions. We generated $21 million of municipal financing revenues during the first quarter of 2024, up 23% year over year, driven by our specialty sector business, we underwrote 86 municipal negotiated transactions, raising $4 billion of par value for our clients. Performance during the quarter was driven by our real estate, health care and affordable housing sectors, as well as our state and local government practice in Texas and Washington.

謝謝查德，我將首先介紹我們公共財政業務的最新情況。雖然本季利率呈上升趨勢，但由於投資者需求增加，高收益市政債券發行市場的信用利差已收緊，這使我們能夠執行許多專業交易。2024 年第一季度，我們產生了2,100 萬美元的市政融資收入，年增23%，在我們的專業部門業務的推動下，我們承銷了86 項市政協商交易，為客戶籌集了40 億美元的票面價值。本季的業績是由我們的房地產、醫療保健和經濟適用住房部門以及我們在德克薩斯州和華盛頓州的州和地方政府實踐所推動的。

As we look ahead, we believe a period of sustained municipal fund inflows and lower nominal interest rates are needed for middle market issuance to increase.

展望未來，我們認為，中間市場發行量的增加需要一段時期的市政資金持續流入和較低的名目利率。

Turning to our equity brokerage business, equity markets, some muted volatility during the first quarter as markets ground higher with indices hitting new highs, we generated revenues of $49 million for the first quarter of 2024, down 8% from the first quarter of last year, which benefited from increased volatility. We traded 2.6 billion shares during the quarter on behalf of over 1,200 unique clients as they sought our market-leading research, corporate access and trading capabilities. We continue to see client research both increasing as we demonstrate the value of our capabilities and ability to assist clients generate alpha during the quarter, we hired a senior research analyst in health care with coverage focused on biotech companies, a key addition in the build-out of our biotech franchise with muted volatility. We see near-term results to be relatively consistent with the first quarter, while expecting increased volumes and activity in the second half of the year.

談到我們的股票經紀業務、股票市場，隨著市場走高，指數創下新高，第一季波動性較小，2024 年第一季我們的營收為 4,900 萬美元，比去年第一季下降 8% ，受益於波動性的增加。本季度，我們代表 1,200 多家獨特客戶交易了 26 億股股票，因為他們尋求我們市場領先的研究、企業准入和交易能力。我們繼續看到客戶研究不斷增加，因為我們展示了我們的能力的價值以及幫助客戶在本季度產生阿爾法的能力，我們聘請了一位醫療保健領域的高級研究分析師，重點關註生物技術公司，這是構建中的一個關鍵補充。我們認為近期業績與第一季相對一致，同時預期下半年銷售量和活動將會增加。

Lastly, turning to fixed income, we generated revenues of $42 million for the first quarter of 2024. Consistent with the year ago quarter. Client activity is slowly improving but remains fairly muted as market participants wait for more certainty on interest rates. The breadth of our client relationships and product capabilities continues to provide a level of resiliency to our results. Public Entity clients were active as they found relative value in the short end of the yield curve, while insurance companies were active due to the higher rate environment.

最後，轉向固定收益，我們 2024 年第一季的營收為 4,200 萬美元。與去年同期一致。客戶活動正在緩慢改善，但由於市場參與者等待利率的更多確定性，因此仍然相當平靜。我們廣泛的客戶關係和產品能力繼續為我們的結果提供一定程度的彈性。公共實體客戶很活躍，因為他們在殖利率曲線的短端發現了相對價值，而保險公司則由於較高的利率環境而活躍。

Now I will turn the call over to Kate to review our financial results and provide an update on capital use.

現在我將把電話轉給凱特，以審查我們的財務表現並提供資本使用的最新資訊。

Instead, as a reminder, my comments will address our adjusted non-GAAP financial results, which should be considered in addition to and not a substitute for the corresponding GAAP financial measures. Net revenues of $334 million for the first quarter of 2024 increased 15% compared to the year ago quarter, driven by higher corporate investment banking revenues, primarily equity capital markets.

相反，作為提醒，我的評論將討論我們調整後的非公認會計原則財務業績，這些結果應被視為對相應公認會計原則財務指標的補充，而不是替代。受企業投資銀行收入（主要是股權資本市場）增加的推動，2024 年第一季的淨收入為 3.34 億美元，較去年同期成長 15%。

Turning to operating expenses and margins. Our compensation ratio was 63.1% for the first quarter of 2024 lower compared to the prior year quarter, driven by increased net revenue. Our compensation philosophy remains unchanged. We will continue to exercise solid operating discipline, balancing employee retention investment opportunities and near-term margin. Based on our current outlook of improving conditions and recruiting opportunities, we continue to expect our compensation ratio for the full year of 2024 to be near this level.

轉向營運費用和利潤。由於淨收入增加，我們 2024 年第一季的薪資率為 63.1%，低於去年同期。我們的薪酬理念維持不變。我們將繼續實行嚴格的營運紀律，平衡員工保留投資機會和近期利潤率。根據我們目前對改善條件和招募機會的展望，我們繼續預期 2024 年全年的薪資比率將接近這一水準。

Non-compensation expenses for the first quarter of 2024, excluding reimbursable expenses, were $61 million. We continue to focus on managing the actionable non-compensation expenses as they are a key driver of operating leverage. During the first quarter of 2024, we generated operating income of $56 million and an operating margin of 16.8%, highlighting the earnings capacity of our platform. Our income tax rate was 10.7% for the first quarter of 2024. Income tax expense for the first quarter was reduced by $11 million of tax benefits related to restricted stock award vesting. Excluding these benefits, our first quarter tax rate was 29.6%. We continue to expect our full year tax rate to be within a range of 27% to 29%, excluding the impact from stock vesting during the first quarter of 2024 we generated net income of $50 million and the diluted EPS of $2.79.

2024 年第一季的非薪資費用（不包括可報銷費用）為 6,100 萬美元。我們繼續專注於管理可採取行動的非薪酬費用，因為它們是營運槓桿的關鍵驅動因素。2024 年第一季度，我們實現營業收入 5,600 萬美元，營業利潤率為 16.8%，凸顯了我們平台的獲利能力。2024 年第一季我們的所得稅率為 10.7%。第一季的所得稅費用減少了 1,100 萬美元，與限制性股票獎勵歸屬相關的稅收優惠。排除這些福利，我們第一季的稅率為 29.6%。我們仍然預計全年稅率將在 27% 至 29% 的範圍內，排除 2024 年第一季股票歸屬的影響，我們的淨利潤為 5000 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為 2.79 美元。

Let me finish with an update on capital allocation. Our earnings resilience and capacity combined with our capital-light approach, enables us to generate meaningful amounts of excess cash to deploy through share repurchases, dividends and Corporate Development. We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders through market cycles. During the first quarter of 2024, we returned an aggregate of $88 million to shareholders through buybacks and dividends paid. We repurchased approximately 289,000 shares of our common stock or $52 million related to employee tax withholding on the vesting of restricted stock awards. These repurchases more than offset the share count dilution from this year's annual stock grants. We also paid an aggregate of $36 million or $1.60 per share to our shareholders through our quarterly and special cash dividends in addition, the Board approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.6 per share to be paid on June seventh to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 24th. Our first quarter results demonstrate the firm's resiliency during the mixed market conditions and our profitability metrics reflect strong performance relative to our peer set. We remain focused on providing near term value to our shareholders while continuing to grow our platform. And we're strongly positioned to accelerate earnings growth as markets continued to normalize.

最後讓我介紹一下資本配置的最新情況。我們的獲利彈性和能力與輕資本方法相結合，使我們能夠產生大量多餘現金，透過股票回購、股息和企業發展進行部署。我們仍然致力於透過市場週期向股東返還資本。2024 年第一季度，我們透過回購和支付股利向股東返還總計 8,800 萬美元。我們回購了約 289,000 股普通股，即與限制性股票獎勵歸屬時的員工預扣稅相關的 5,200 萬美元。這些回購足以抵銷今年年度股票授予所帶來的股份稀釋。我們也透過季度和特別現金股息向股東支付了總計3,600 萬美元，即每股1.60 美元。的股東。我們第一季的業績證明了公司在複雜的市場條件下的彈性，我們的獲利指標反映了相對於同業的強勁表現。我們仍然專注於為股東提供短期價值，同時繼續發展我們的平台。隨著市場繼續正常化，我們有能力加速獲利成長。

With that, we can open up the call for questions.

這樣，我們就可以開始提問了。

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, press star one to ask a question and we'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions.

謝謝。如果您想提問，請按下電話鍵盤上的星號一號。如果您使用免持電話，請確保您的靜音功能已關閉，以便您的訊號到達我們的裝置。再次，按星號 1 提問，我們將暫停片刻，讓每個人都有機會提出問題。

And we'll take our first question from Devin Ryan with Citizen's GMP. Please go ahead.

我們將透過 Citizen 的 GMP 回答 Devin Ryan 提出的第一個問題。請繼續。

Great. Good morning, everyone. How are you?

偉大的。大家，早安。你好嗎？

Evan Bayh, Tom. First question. Just want to hit on some kind of the advisory outlook. And Chad, I heard you comment that your private equity clients were more active or drove a bigger contribution in the quarter and just love to get a little more color around that client base and how I guess recent moves in interest rates are affecting kind of the recovery you're seeing there and whether, you know the recovery is coming back up at a fast pace or if you think this is going to play out over a couple of years, just trying to think about what current conditions look like and then how you think about kind of a normalization for sponsors, which have really been out of the market for the past couple of years?

埃文貝赫、湯姆.第一個問題。只是想談談某種諮詢前景。查德，我聽到你評論說，你的私募股權客戶在本季度更加活躍或做出了更大的貢獻，並且只是喜歡了解該客戶群的更多信息，以及我認為最近的利率變動如何影響你所看到的復甦，以及你是否知道復甦正在快速恢復，或者你是否認為這將在幾年內發揮作用，只是想一下當前的情況是什麼樣子，然後如何您是否考慮過讓過去幾年已經退出市場的贊助商實現某種正常化？

Yes, I think I think, Devin, we all got to keep in mind that compared to the first couple of quarters of 2023, that that was sort of a trough level. And so our PE. no contribution to M&A. It was definitely better than the first quarter of last year, but it but again, off of a pretty pretty low comp. So we've definitely seen an improvement, you know, for the most part, at least on the middle market deals. If a sponsor wants to do the deal they can they can get financing, but it's still not by any means a great environment. So I think this build is just a it's just a pretty slow build. And then as we've talked about many times. If we look back many years, our sponsor business just tends to be a little more seasonal in the back half versus the front half and a lot of that just has to do with a lot of processes kind of starting in the spring. Are you hoping to close in the fall trying to get the full credit for that year's financials.

是的，德文，我們都必須記住，與 2023 年的前幾季相比，這是一個低谷水平。我們的 PE 也是如此。對併購沒有貢獻。這肯定比去年第一季要好，但同樣是在相當低的競爭情況下。所以我們肯定看到了改進，你知道，在很大程度上，至少在中間市場交易上。如果贊助商想要完成這筆交易，他們可以獲得融資，但這無論如何仍然不是一個很好的環境。所以我認為這個構建只是一個非常緩慢的構建。然後正如我們多次討論過的那樣。如果我們回顧多年，我們的贊助商業務在後半段往往比前半段更具季節性，而這很大程度上與從春季開始的許多流程有關。您是否希望在秋季結束時嘗試獲得當年財務的全部信用？

Okay, got it. Really helpful. Thanks, Chad. And then a follow-up here. Just on the recruiting landscape. You mentioned that a couple of times on the call and your 2023 was a little bit of a slower year of recruiting, but you had very active years, maybe more so than some of the peers in the a couple of years. Leading into 2023. So is there any way to kind of frame out what you're hoping to accomplish on recruiting in 2024? And then beyond recruiting, you how you're thinking about maybe inorganic lift-outs or opportunities just do small M&A?

好，知道了。真的很有幫助。謝謝，查德。然後是這裡的後續。只是在招募方面。您在電話會議上多次提到，2023 年的招募速度有點慢，但您在這幾年非常活躍，也許比這幾年的一些同行更活躍。進入2023年。那麼，有什麼方法可以確定您希望在 2024 年招募中實現的目標嗎？然後，除了招募之外，您如何考慮無機剝離或小型併購的機會？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yes, I would say on the investment banking side or recruiting, you know, we have we actually did about the same amount of hiring in '23. I would say when you hit these tough periods like '22 and '23, we're a little more careful there. Some, you know, there's some MDs that if they're not productive, work off the platform. So there's a little bit of a netting going on there for us probably in 23, more than other years just given the environment, but we do feel pretty good about the recruiting pipeline. We called out that both in Q2 and Q3. We should have some good announcements. We have a good, a good slate of the five to seven kind of MDs that we usually talk about adding. We have that number sort of lined up ready to go. And then I would say our outlook.

是的，我想說的是，在投資銀行或招聘方面，我們實際上在 23 年進行了大約相同數量的招聘。我想說，當你遇到像'22和'23這樣的艱難時期時，我們會更加小心。你知道，有些 MD 如果生產力不高，就會在平台之外工作。因此，考慮到目前的環境，我們可能會在 23 年內完成一些工作，比其他年份要多，但我們確實對招募管道感到非常滿意。我們在第二季和第三季都指出了這一點。我們應該有一些好的公告。我們有一個很好的名單，其中有五到七種我們通常談論的MD。我們已經把這個數字排好隊準備出發了。然後我會說我們的展望。

Yes, I think if you look back, you know, 10 years, we've unless we do a big M&A deal, we've just kind of been averaging that number and I think we'll just keep that at a steady pace. I would say we're given relative performance. We're probably seeing more opportunities than we usually do, but we're also being very careful with the environment to kind of add the right people and really tried to add MDs that boost productivity and boost the average and boost the franchise and data quality.

是的，我想如果你回顧過去，你知道，十年來，除非我們進行大型併購交易，否則我們只是對這個數字進行平均，我認為我們會保持穩定的速度。我想說我們得到了相對的表現。我們可能會看到比平常更多的機會，但我們也非常謹慎地對待環境，以添加合適的人員，並真正嘗試添加 MD，以提高生產力、提高平均水平、提高特許經營權和數據品質。

Okay. Terrific. Maybe squeeze one more in just on kind of the comp ratio interplay. So you heard the commentary from Kate around kind of around the 63% level as we think about a recovery scenario for the capital markets. But how should we think about the I know you guys have given ranges before, but just think about kind of the comp leverage that will be inherent in the model? And maybe what a more normalized compensation ratio for you guys looks like now as the firm evolves?

好的。了不起。也許只是為了補償比率的相互作用而再擠進一個。因此，當我們考慮資本市場的復甦情景時，您聽到凱特的評論大約在 63% 的水平。但是我們應該如何考慮我知道你們之前已經給了範圍，但只要考慮一下模型中固有的補償槓桿呢？隨著公司的發展，你們現在更標準化的薪資比例可能是什麼樣的呢？

Yes. I mean, I have sort of given this answer before. I mean, obviously, we've had it not a lot of years where we've gotten it closer to 60 or 61. We always think about the 61.5 or 62 probably is closer to a good environment normalized. I do think we're being careful this year given of some of the hiring opportunities. And even though you know, Q1 24 was up over Q1 23. I mean, if it was all marginal. So I think we're still being careful about that comp ratio, which is why we made the comment that we expected for this year to stay in and around that level. Obviously, if we get some revenue upside will do better than that.

是的。我的意思是，我之前已經給過這個答案。我的意思是，很明顯，我們已經有很多年沒有接近 60 或 61 了。我們總是認為61.5或62可能更接近歸一化的良好環境。我確實認為，考慮到一些招聘機會，我們今年會非常謹慎。即使你知道，24 年第一季的業績也比 23 年第一季的業績有所成長。我的意思是，如果這一切都是微不足道的。因此，我認為我們仍然對補償比率持謹慎態度，這就是為什麼我們發表評論，預計今年將保持在該水平及其附近。顯然，如果我們獲得一些收入成長，效果會更好。

Yes. Okay, terrific. I'll get back in the queue. Thanks, guys.

是的。好吧，太棒了。我會回到隊列中。多謝你們。

Thanks.

謝謝。

We'll take our next question from Steven Chubak with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

我們將回答 Wolfe Research 的 Steven Chubak 提出的下一個問題。請繼續。

Good morning.

早安.

This is Brandon O'Brien filling in for Steven, to start, I just want to get an update on the opportunity with your bank clients, given it's now been a little over a year since the SVB. and SBNY. collapses. And I just want to get a sense as to what you're hearing from your bank clients across your different business lines and how has the potential rollback Basel three endgame impacted your expectation for the sizing or timing of this opportunity?

我是布蘭登·奧布萊恩 (Brandon O'Brien) 接替史蒂文，首先，我只想向您的銀行客戶了解有關此機會的最新信息，因為距離 SVB 已經過去一年多了。和SBNY。崩潰了。我只是想了解您從不同業務線的銀行客戶那裡聽到的情況，以及巴塞爾三項協議的潛在回滾如何影響您對這一機會的規模或時機的預期？

Yes. What I would say about our depository business, albeit obviously we got pretty diversified across sectors you know, honestly, Q1 was probably on the lower side for our financial services group and our depository group. And you know, I would actually argue the last couple of quarters and the environment for M&A and depository, it may have even gotten tougher. I mean, just with the different regulatory agencies, looking at things and just looking at the financial results from how the stocks are performing. So we I think like we've been saying for the last couple of quarters, we expect the depository environment to stay difficult. There's still opportunities within that when there's some capital raising some ability to do some recapitalization on the equity side, some debt financing, and we're still have a steady stream of smaller deals. But anything of size continues to be very difficult.

是的。關於我們的存款業務，我想說的是，儘管顯然我們在各個領域都相當多元化，但老實說，對於我們的金融服務集團和存款業務集團來說，第一季可能處於較低水平。你知道，我實際上會爭論過去幾個季度以及併購和託管的環境，甚至可能變得更加困難。我的意思是，只是與不同的監管機構一起觀察事物，並根據股票的表現來觀察財務結果。因此，我認為就像我們過去幾季一直在說的那樣，我們預計存款環境將繼續困難。當有一些資本籌集一些能力在股權方面進行一些資本重組、一些債務融資時，其中仍然存在機會，我們仍然有源源不斷的小額交易。但任何規模的事情仍然非常困難。

And I guess for my follow-up, I want to move over to ECM and underwriting. While the biotech ECM market has been dormant for much of the past two years. As you know, in your prepared remarks, there has been a notable pickup in activity year to date. However, I just want to get a sense as to whether this result is sustainable in your view? Or did 1Q benefit from what is likely a significant pent-up demand for on this space?

我想對於我的後續工作，我想轉向 ECM 和承保。而生物技術 ECM 市場在過去兩年的大部分時間裡一直處於休眠狀態。如您所知，在您準備好的發言中，今年迄今為止的活動顯著回升。不過，我只是想了解一下，您認為這個結果是否可持續？或者第一季是否受益於該領域潛在的龐大需求？

Yes, I would I would honestly say it's probably somewhere in between there. We made some I made some comments just about the the total overall fee pool. You know, across the street it was a good quarter for ECM. We definitely had a good quarter. We had some outsized biotech, our performance. I would say we have a really good backlog there. As I think obviously people can see our Dealogic numbers if I think about April, we're probably still on that same kind of run rate for ECM, but this isn't a business where we have visibility six months out. It depends on what happens with the equity markets and the mood of investors that you know that that particular week. But, you know, I think based on what we're seeing now and the deals we're doing, we feel pretty good. We feel pretty good about that environment. And I would say we've we've just started to see it across some of the other industry teams a little more activity in IPOs, a little more activity in energy, some we were on an IPO in financials. So a little bit of a discussion around some broadening to some of the industries, but that's going to be very tied to the overall market. So I mean, if we get some big negative correction, you know, that's never good for the mood of new issues.

是的，我會誠實地說它可能介於兩者之間。我們就總費用池發表了一些評論。你知道，街對面對 ECM 來說是一個很好的季度。我們確實度過了一個美好的季度。我們有一些超大型的生物技術，我們的表現。我想說我們那裡有很多積壓的訂單。我認為，如果我考慮四月份，人們顯然可以看到我們的 Dealogic 數據，我們可能仍處於 ECM 相同的運行率，但這不是一個我們在六個月後就能看到的業務。這取決於股票市場的情況以及您所知道的特定一周投資者的情緒。但是，你知道，我認為根據我們現在所看到的情況以及我們正在進行的交易，我們感覺非常好。我們對那個環境感覺很好。我想說的是，我們剛開始看到其他一些行業團隊在 IPO 方面有更多的活動，在能源領域有更多的活動，有些我們在金融領域進行 IPO。因此，圍繞著某些行業的一些擴展進行了一些討論，但這將與整個市場密切相關。所以我的意思是，如果我們得到一些重大的負面修正，你知道，這對新股的情緒永遠不會有好處。

That's great color.

那顏色真棒。

Thank you for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

And we'll take the next question from James Iorio with Goldman Sachs.

我們將回答高盛詹姆斯·伊奧裡奧（James Iorio）提出的下一個問題。

Please go ahead, sir.

請繼續，先生。

And good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Chad, these were excellent advisory results and I think especially strong versus the publicly available data. Maybe you could just help us understand some of the moving parts here I know you talked about higher fees, but maybe just on the other businesses within advisory, aside from M&A such as restructuring and then I guess other advisory and perhaps the outlook for these? And then secondly, do you feel more or less comfortable about the cadence of the advisory build versus the beginning of the year when we had five or six rate cuts in expectation?

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。乍得，這些都是非常出色的諮詢結果，我認為與公開數據相比尤其強勁。也許您可以幫助我們了解這裡的一些活動部分，我知道您談到了更高的費用，但也許只是諮詢中的其他業務，除了重組等併購之外，然後我猜還有其他諮詢，也許還有這些的前景？其次，與年初我們預期降息五到六次相比，您對諮詢構建的節奏感到或多或少感到舒適？

Yes. So maybe just a few comments on our Q1 advisory. We had a one one business we're incredibly proud of right now is our energy business that obviously, we did the Simmons deal in 2015 and we've had our various cycles. But I would say relative to peers, you know, some people that really cut back in energy we stayed pretty committed. And um, you know, we've really broadened that out. Obviously, we've got a lot of history in oilfield services, but we're doing a lot in E&P and development we're doing a lot in, you know, our midstream and that business and frankly now in energy transition. So we get we got a great, great pipeline in energy, but dumb health also had pretty balanced. I think health care and financials and industrials, they were all about same size. So we're just benefiting from that from that diversification.

是的。也許只是對我們第一季諮詢的一些評論。我們現在非常自豪的一對一業務是我們的能源業務，顯然，我們在 2015 年完成了西蒙斯交易，我們經歷了各種週期。但我想說的是，相對於同行，你知道，有些人確實減少了精力，但我們仍然非常堅定。嗯，你知道，我們確實擴大了範圍。顯然，我們在油田服務方面擁有悠久的歷史，但我們在勘探與生產和開發方面也做了很多工作，你知道，我們在中游和該業務方面也做了很多工作，坦率地說，現在在能源轉型方面也做了很多工作。所以我們得到了一個非常非常好的能量管道，但愚蠢的健康也相當平衡。我認為醫療保健、金融和工業的規模都差不多。所以我們只是從多元化中受益。

As far as the cadence from, like I said, you know that while the results were good on a peer basis and versus last year, still relatively depressed levels. And that's not that's not getting a lot better and anytime quick, it's getting better and it's improving, but it's a pretty slow, slow pace.

就節奏而言，就像我說的，你知道，雖然與去年相比，同行的結果很好，但仍然相對較低。這並不是說沒有變得更好，而且很快就會變得更好並且正在改善，但這是一個非常緩慢的步伐。

Can I see a noticeable difference in the last few weeks with sort of the different inflection points on rates, probably not, but it obviously can't be great for the business. So I think our our conclusion and based on our pipeline is private equity is definitely pick their head up there.

我能否在過去幾週看到明顯的差異，利率出現不同的轉折點，可能不會，但這顯然對業務不利。因此，我認為我們的結論以及基於我們的管道的結論是，私募股權肯定會在那裡抬起頭來。

Definitely we're definitely seeing more pitches. We're definitely starting more processes, and we'll definitely continue to see an improvement. But I think like we've been saying it will be it will be a slow improvement.

當然，我們肯定會看到更多的推廣。我們肯定會啟動更多流程，並且肯定會繼續看到改進。但我認為就像我們一直說的那樣，這將是一個緩慢的改進。

Okay.

好的。

That makes a lot of sense at maybe just on non-comps, you did demonstrate strong noncomp discipline again this quarter. Maybe just an update on the outlook for non-comp costs for the rest of the year?

這對於非比較來說可能很有意義，本季度您確實再次表現出了強大的非比較紀律。也許只是對今年剩餘時間的非補償成本前景進行更新？

Good morning, James. This is Kate on.So for noncomp three, I'll kind of reiterate our guidance of that $62 million per quarter.

早安，詹姆斯。我是 Kate。

Excluding those reimbursed deal expenses, we remain really committed to a lot of discipline in that space and want to make sure we're controlling the expenses that we're able to control. That being said, we've seen a little bit of a pickup in terms of T&E expense as expected, and there's going to be continued pressure as it pertains to things like data, comm services and occupancy. So again, maintaining that discipline around the areas we can control.

不包括那些報銷的交易費用，我們仍然致力於在該領域嚴格遵守紀律，並希望確保我們控制我們能夠控制的費用。話雖這麼說，我們已經看到差旅費支出如預期有所回升，並且與數據、通訊服務和占用率等相關的壓力將持續存在。再次強調，在我們可以控制的領域中保持紀律。

Consistent guidance was at $62 million a quarter, excluding those deal expenses and really focused on on maintaining that debt level.

一致的指導值為每季 6,200 萬美元，不包括這些交易費用，並且真正專注於維持該債務水準。

Okay. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

好的。真的很感激。謝謝。

And as a reminder, it's star one to ask a question. We'll take our next question from Mike Grondahl with Northland Securities. Please go ahead.

提醒一下，提問是第一要務。我們將回答 Northland Securities 的 Mike Grondahl 提出的下一個問題。請繼續。

Hey, thank you for Chad. When you talked about recruiting and kind of having five to seven banking MDs ready to go for 2Q and 3Q, um, could five to seven end up proving low. Is that something kind of coming out of your messaging there that this could be sort of a higher level than that by the time we get to '24.

嘿，謝謝你的查德。當您談到招聘和準備五到七名銀行董事總經理準備第二季和第三季時，嗯，五到七名最終可能會被證明很低。從你的消息中可以看出，到 24 世紀，這可能會比我們達到的水平更高。

Yes.

是的。

I mean, the guarantee the reason we sort of said the five to seven is, you know, typically it's sort of 90 to 100 days to onboard their garden leave. There's the various sectors that's sort of up the Group we have lined up today. Now we happened to be in sort of a heavy recruiting season could be it could it be a couple of higher than that maybe, but the chances of adding people the later we get into the year it is less, but I would say compared to a normal year from particularly on the banking side, yes, we've done a little bit more than we normally would at by this time in May. So we feel pretty good about we feel pretty good about where we're going to be with those assets towards the end of the year.

我的意思是，我們之所以說五到七天的原因是，你知道，通常需要 90 到 100 天的時間來享受花園假。我們今天列出的集團有各部門。現在我們碰巧正處於招聘旺季，可能會比這個數字高一些，但進入今年晚些時候，增加人員的機會會更少，但我想說，與與正常年份相比，特別是在銀行業方面，是的，我們在五月這個時候所做的工作比正常情況要多一些。因此，我們對年底前這些資產的狀況感到非常滿意。

Got it. Got it. And then on the on the corporate finance comments, it sounded like you were saying that you had a very robust $53 million in 1Q and that April was pretty solid or kind of maintain that level. But the outlook, the visibility isn't that far out, but at least into April, it kind of maintained that level. Did I hear that right yes.

知道了。知道了。然後在公司財務評論中，聽起來您好像在說您在第一季擁有非常強勁的 5300 萬美元，並且 4 月份相當穩定或保持了這一水平。但前景、能見度並沒有那麼遙遠，但至少到四月份，它還是維持了這個水準。我沒聽錯吧是的。

I mean, nothing's really changed. We've got a great pace. We've done a bunch of good deals in April that I thought was on the same run rate as March Yum. If things don't change, we'd feel great about that for the quarter. But this is also a business that you just don't get five months of visibility. And even if you do and you have deals lined up, things, things change quick. So we definitely feel better about the ECM business and frankly, our debt financing business and so on pending, you know, not a lot of change in the overall market know, it will be a nice up year in ECM. It's just I don't I don't like to make comments on ECM. You know, two and three quarters out because things can change pretty fast.

我的意思是，一切都沒有真正改變。我們的步伐很快。我們在四月做了很多不錯的交易，我認為這些交易的運作率與三月的百勝餐飲集團相同。如果情況沒有改變，我們會對本季的情況感到滿意。但這也是一項你無法獲得五個月可見度的業務。即使你這樣做了並且你已經安排了交易，事情也會很快改變。因此，我們對 ECM 業務肯定感覺更好，坦白說，我們的債務融資業務等懸而未決，你知道，整體市場沒有太多變化，這將是 ECM 的良好成長一年。只是我不喜歡對ECM發表評論。你知道，需要二到四分之三的時間，因為事情變化得很快。

Sure. Okay. Hey, thanks a lot.

當然。好的。嘿，非常感謝。

It appears there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference back to Mr. Chad Abraham for any additional or closing remarks.

目前似乎沒有其他問題了。現在我將把會議轉回查德·亞伯拉罕先生進行補充或結束演講。

All right. Thank you, operator, and everyone that joined. We look forward to updating you on our second quarter results have a great day and a good weekend.

好的。謝謝運營商以及所有加入的人。我們期待向您通報我們第二季的業績，祝您有個愉快的一天和愉快的週末。

And this concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。