Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Piper Sandler Company's Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and will include remarks by Piper Sandler management, followed by a question-and-answer session. I'll begin by turning the call over to Kathy Winslow. Please go ahead.

早安，歡迎參加 Piper Sandler 公司 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議將被錄音，其中包括 Piper Sandler 管理層的講話，隨後是問答環節。首先，我將把電話轉給凱西‧溫斯洛 (Kathy Winslow)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you for joining the Piper Sandler Companies Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Hosting the call today are Chairman and CEO, Chad Abraham; our President, Deb Schoneman; and CFO, Kate Clune.

謝謝您，接線生。早安，感謝您參加 Piper Sandler Companies 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。今天主持電話會議的是董事長兼執行長 Chad Abraham、總裁 Deb Schoneman 和財務長 Kate Clune。

Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing Piper Sandler's Second Quarter 2025 financial results, which is available on our website at pipersandler.com/earnings. Today's discussion of the results is complementary to the press release. A replay of this call will also be available at that same website later today.

今天早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了Piper Sandler 2025年第二季的財務業績，您可以在我們的網站pipersandler.com/earnings上查看。今天對業績的討論是新聞稿的補充。今天晚些時候，同一網站還將提供此通話的重播。

Before we begin, let me remind you that remarks made on today's call may contain forward-looking statements 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 reports on file with the SEC which are available on our website at pipersandler.com and on the SEC website at sec.gov.

在我們開始之前，讓我提醒您，今天電話會議上的言論可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述不是歷史或當前事實，包括關於信念和期望的陳述，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大不相同的因素已在公司提交給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 的報告中列明，這些報告可在我們的網站 pipersandler.com 和美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 網站 sec.gov 上查閱。

Today's discussion also includes statements regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures that management believes are meaningful when evaluating the company's performance. The non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not a substitute for measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is provided in our earnings release issued today.

今天的討論還包括有關某些非公認會計準則財務指標的聲明，管理層認為這些指標在評估公司績效時很有意義。非公認會計準則 (non-GAAP) 指標應被視為依照公認會計準則 (GAAP) 編製的財務績效指標的補充，而非替代。我們今天發布的收益報告中提供了這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的對帳。

I will now turn the call over to Chad.

現在我將電話轉給查德。

Thank you, Kate. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter 2025 earnings call.

謝謝你，凱特。大家早安。感謝您參加我們的 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。

When we spoke with you after the first quarter, the macro environment was challenging, and the second quarter began with uncertainty and persistent volatility. By mid-May, market sentiment shifted, equity markets recovered and confidence improved. As a more constructive outlook took hold, client engagement across businesses gained momentum.

當我們在第一季結束後與您交談時，宏觀環境充滿挑戰，第二季開始時就充滿不確定性和持續的波動。到五月中旬，市場情緒轉變，股市復甦，信心增強。隨著更具建設性的觀點逐漸佔據主導地位，各企業的客戶參與度也隨之增強。

As a result, we closed the second quarter with adjusted net revenues of $405 million, an 18.1% operating margin and adjusted EPS of $2.95, all higher compared to the same period last year. Advisory revenues were $206 million during the quarter, up 12% year-over-year, driven by our broad set of products and a higher average fee. We completed 71 transactions during the period, up compared to the second quarter of last year.

因此，我們第二季的調整後淨收入為 4.05 億美元，營業利潤率為 18.1%，調整後每股收益為 2.95 美元，均高於去年同期。本季諮詢收入為 2.06 億美元，年增 12%，這得益於我們廣泛的產品組合和更高的平均費用。我們在此期間完成了 71 筆交易，與去年第二季相比有所增加。

Performance was led by our Services and Industrials group, which delivered one of their best quarters since 2021. The strong performance of our services and industrials team reflects the continued addition of high-quality talent that focuses on sub verticals, important to our clients.

我們的服務業和工業集團業績領先，創下了 2021 年以來最好的季度之一。我們服務和工業團隊的強勁表現反映了我們不斷增加專注於對客戶至關重要的子垂直領域的高素質人才。

During the first half of 2025, advisory revenues were $423 million, up 24% compared to the year ago period. This growth was driven by higher revenues from M&A as well as increased non-M&A revenues, which include debt advisory, private capital advisory and restructuring. Our investments in non-M&A advisory capabilities continue to gain traction as total revenues from these product lines grew at a rate in excess of our overall advisory revenues.

2025 年上半年，諮詢收入為 4.23 億美元，比去年同期成長 24%。這一增長得益於併購收入的增加以及非併購收入的增加，其中包括債務諮詢、私人資本諮詢和重組。我們對非併購諮詢能力的投資持續獲得關注，因為這些產品線的總收入成長速度超過了我們的整體諮詢收入。

We have strategically expanded our industry and product capabilities, which has not only deepened client relationships, but also enhanced our ability to deliver comprehensive advice throughout the entire market cycle. For example, our debt advisory team has been very active, and we continue to experience strong demand for their services. Our best-in-class team, which leverages deep industry expertise and strong lending relationships is delivering effective solutions for our clients. Overall, our market leadership, broad industry coverage and product capabilities continue to drive strong relative performance.

我們策略性地擴展了我們的行業和產品能力，這不僅加深了客戶關係，而且增強了我們在整個市場週期中提供全面建議的能力。例如，我們的債務諮詢團隊非常活躍，我們持續感受到對其服務的強烈需求。我們一流的團隊利用深厚的行業專業知識和強大的貸款關係為我們的客戶提供有效的解決方案。總體而言，我們的市場領導地位、廣泛的行業覆蓋範圍和產品能力繼續推動強勁的相對業績。

Diversification from both a sector and product perspective, benefited us during the first half of 2025 even as the number of completed middle market M&A transactions declined year-over-year. Although volatility early in the quarter impacted some deal processes, the outlook for advisory services has improved. We have a robust pipeline of announced and in-process transactions, and we expect our third quarter advisory revenues to be largely consistent with the second quarter. Turning to corporate financing.

儘管已完成的中端市場併購交易數量同比下降，但從行業和產品角度進行的多元化仍使我們在 2025 年上半年受益。儘管本季初的波動影響了一些交易流程，但諮詢服務的前景有所改善。我們擁有大量已宣布和正在進行的交易，我們預計第三季的諮詢收入將與第二季基本持平。轉向企業融資。

Revenues were $35 million during the second quarter, down 31% from the year ago period. We completed 26 financings, raising $10 billion for corporate clients. Performance was driven by financial services. The team served as bookrunner on 14 of the 17 deals completed for financial services clients, which accounted for over half of our corporate financing revenues. While we're encouraged that corporate financing activity is improving in certain areas, other areas continue to be impacted by sector-specific factors.

第二季營收為 3,500 萬美元，較去年同期下降 31%。我們完成了26筆融資，為企業客戶籌集了100億美元。業績受到金融服務的推動。該團隊在為金融服務客戶完成的 17 筆交易中擔任了 14 筆的帳簿管理人，這些交易占我們企業融資收入的一半以上。雖然我們很高興看到某些地區的企業融資活動正在改善，但其他地區仍然受到特定行業因素的影響。

For the first half of the year, the economic fee pool for companies with sub-$5 billion of market cap decreased 19% year-over-year. Within that, some core sectors were down more meaningfully such as a 61% decline in the economic fee pool for biopharma companies. As we look ahead, our pipeline remains strong and diverse, and we're pleased the third quarter is off to a good start. Shifting to talent.

今年上半年，市值低於 50 億美元的公司的經濟費用池年減了 19%。其中，一些核心產業的降幅更為顯著，例如生物製藥公司的經濟費用池下降了 61%。展望未來，我們的產品線依然強勁且多樣化，我們很高興第三季取得了良好的開端。轉向人才。

We finished the quarter with 182 managing directors, consistent with first quarter levels and up 7% from a year ago. During the quarter, we hired 5 MDs to strengthen both sector and product expertise. These hires will strengthen our coverage in biopharma, insurance and technology and enhance our secondary capital advisory and debt advisory capabilities.

本季末，我們共有 182 位董事總經理，與第一季的水準持平，比去年同期成長了 7%。本季度，我們聘請了 5 名 MD 來增強行業和產品專業知識。這些招聘將加強我們在生物製藥、保險和技術領域的覆蓋範圍，並增強我們的二級資本諮詢和債務諮詢能力。

The additions were offset by some reductions in force actions, which reflect our ongoing focus on broader talent management. We remain intentional about strategically managing headcount and driving productivity while looking for opportunities to strengthen our platform.

新增人員數量因人力行動減少而有所抵消，這反映出我們持續關注更廣泛的人才管理。我們始終致力於策略性地管理員工數量和提高生產力，同時尋找機會加強我們的平台。

Overall, our second quarter results were strong and we are pleased with our performance. As we look ahead, we are entering the back half of the year with solid momentum and are well positioned to gain share.

總體而言，我們的第二季業績強勁，我們對我們的表現感到滿意。展望未來，我們正以強勁的勢頭進入下半年，並已做好獲得市場份額的準備。

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

說完這些，我將把電話轉給 Deb，討論我們的公共財政和經紀業務。

Thanks, Chad. I'll begin with an update on our public finance business.

謝謝，乍得。我先介紹一下我們的公共財政業務的最新情況。

Market conditions remained favorable during the second quarter, driven by growing infrastructure needs, relatively stable borrowing conditions and strong investor demand due to higher yields. These dynamics led issuers to more actively access the market. For the second quarter of 2025, we generated $42 million of municipal financing revenues, up 66% year-over-year, exceeding the market issuance growth in par value of 15%.

受基礎設施需求不斷增長、借貸條件相對穩定以及收益率上升帶來強勁的投資者需求的推動，第二季度市場狀況仍然良好。這些動態促使發行人更積極地進入市場。2025 年第二季度，我們產生了 4,200 萬美元的市政融資收入，年增 66%，超過市場發行面值 15% 的成長。

Activity was robust across both our governmental and specialty sectors with strong performance attributable to the breadth of our client and geographic reach. Performance was broad-based across several of our leading franchises, including those in Kansas and California as well as our special district and health care groups. Looking ahead, we have a robust pipeline, yet expect third quarter revenues to moderate from the very strong second quarter. Now turning to our brokerage businesses.

我們的政府和專業部門的業務活動都非常活躍，強勁的業績歸功於我們廣泛的客戶和地理覆蓋範圍。我們的幾家主要特許經營店均表現良好，包括堪薩斯州和加利福尼亞州的特許經營店以及我們的特別區和醫療保健集團。展望未來，我們擁有強大的產品線，但預計第三季的營收將比第二季的強勁表現有所放緩。現在談談我們的經紀業務。

After a sharp selloff in April, the equity markets recovered with major indices reaching all-time highs. Equity brokerage generated $58 million of revenues for the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 12% year-over-year. We traded 2.9 billion shares on behalf of over 1,200 unique clients as we assisted clients in navigating the heightened volatility and rapidly changing landscape.

在經歷了四月的大幅拋售之後，股市開始復甦，主要指數創下歷史新高。2025 年第二季度，股票經紀業務創造了 5,800 萬美元的收入，年增 12%。我們代表超過 1,200 名獨立客戶交易了 29 億股股票，幫助客戶應對加劇的波動性和快速變化的市場環境。

Additionally, activity has been robust on our derivatives desk. We have consistently grown the number of clients and revenue per client on our derivatives desk through our strategic focus on enhancing client relationships and delivering tailored solutions. We expect revenues to moderate from second quarter levels as volatility has normalized with the (inaudible) declining to 17 at the end of June. Lastly, turning to fixed income.

此外，我們的衍生性商品交易部門活動一直很活躍。我們透過策略重點加強客戶關係和提供客製化解決方案，不斷增加衍生性商品交易部門的客戶數量和每位客戶的收入。我們預計收入將從第二季的水平開始放緩，因為波動性已經正常化，6 月底（聽不清楚）下降到 17。最後，談談固定收益。

We generated $54 million of revenues for the second quarter of 2025, up 21% from the first quarter and 37% from the year ago period, driven by robust activity with our depository clients. Notably, we completed several large balance sheet restructuring trades in conjunction with the closing of bank M&A transactions. While engagement is high and the team continues to provide differentiated advice, activity with non-depository clients has been subdued caused by spread tightening and relative value concerns.

受存管客戶活躍度的推動，我們在 2025 年第二季創造了 5,400 萬美元的收入，較第一季成長 21%，較去年同期成長 37%。值得注意的是，我們在銀行併購交易完成的同時完成了幾項大型資產負債表重組交易。儘管參與度很高，團隊繼續提供差異化建議，但由於利差收緊和相對價值擔憂，非存款客戶的活動一直受到抑制。

The combination of potential Fed rate cuts and a steepening yield curve should continue to enhance client engagement and activity. However, given our strong second quarter, we anticipate fixed income revenues to soften in the third quarter.

聯準會可能降息以及殖利率曲線趨陡的結合應會繼續增強客戶的參與度和活動。然而，鑑於我們第二季的強勁表現，我們預計第三季固定收益收入將會下降。

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，讓她回顧我們的財務結果並提供有關資本使用的最新情況。

Thanks, Deb. Before reviewing our non-GAAP financial results, let me discuss an item impacting our GAAP results this quarter.

謝謝，黛布。在回顧我們的非公認會計準則財務結果之前，讓我先討論一下影響本季公認會計準則結果的一個因素。

For the second quarter of 2025, our GAAP results include a $5 million restructuring charge related to headcount reductions as well as vacated office space associated with our acquisition of Aviditi Advisors. Turning now to our adjusted non-GAAP financial results which should be considered in addition to and not a substitute for the corresponding GAAP financial measures.

2025 年第二季度，我們的 GAAP 業績包括與裁員以及收購 Aviditi Advisors 相關的騰出辦公空間相關的 500 萬美元重組費用。現在來談談我們調整後的非 GAAP 財務結果，這些結果應被視為對應 GAAP 財務指標的補充，而不是替代方案。

We generated net revenues of $405 million for the second quarter of 2025. Operating income was $73 million, resulting in an operating margin of 18.1%. We delivered $53 million of net income and $2.95 of diluted EPS. For the first half of 2025, net revenues totaled $789 million, operating income amounted to $142 million, and our operating margin was 18%. We generated $126 million of net income and $7.04 of diluted EPS.

2025 年第二季度，我們的淨收入為 4.05 億美元。營業收入為 7,300 萬美元，營業利益率為 18.1%。我們實現了 5300 萬美元的淨收入和 2.95 美元的稀釋每股收益。2025 年上半年，淨收入總計 7.89 億美元，營業收入達 1.42 億美元，營業利益率為 18%。我們創造了 1.26 億美元的淨收入和 7.04 美元的稀釋每股收益。

Net revenues for the second quarter of 2025 increased 6% from the first quarter of this year, and 14% compared to the second quarter of last year, driven primarily by strong activity in our municipal financing and institutional brokerage businesses. In addition, we benefited from increased advisory services revenues compared to the year ago quarter.

2025 年第二季的淨收入較今年第一季成長 6%，較去年第二季成長 14%，這主要得益於我們市政融資和機構經紀業務的強勁活動。此外，與去年同期相比，我們也受惠於諮詢服務收入的成長。

Net revenues for the first half of 2025 increased 14% over last year, driven by advisory services, which accounted for 54% of total net revenues and increased 24% year-over-year. Additionally, our municipal financing and equity brokerage businesses both delivered record revenues for the first half period. Turning to expenses.

2025年上半年淨收入較去年同期成長14%，主要得益於諮詢服務，諮詢服務佔總淨收入的54%，較去年同期成長24%。此外，我們的市政融資和股票經紀業務在上半年都實現了創紀錄的收入。談到費用。

We reported a compensation ratio of 62% for the second quarter of 2025 and 62.2% for the first half of the year, an improvement from the comparable period, driven by increased net revenues. We remain committed to exercising operating discipline and balancing employee retention and strategic investment opportunities.

我們報告稱，2025 年第二季的薪酬率為 62%，上半年的薪酬率為 62.2%，較去年同期有所改善，這得益於淨收入的成長。我們始終致力於執行經營紀律並平衡員工留任和策略投資機會。

For the second quarter of non-compensation expenses, excluding reimbursed deal costs, were $69 million, consistent with the first quarter and increased 6% year-over-year, driven by higher legal fees as well as increased professional fees associated with technology and consulting services. Non-compensation costs for the first half of 2025 excluding reimbursed deal expenses, totaled $139 million, an increase of 10% compared to the first half of last year. Moving to income tax expense.

第二季的非薪資支出（不包括報銷交易費用）為 6,900 萬美元，與第一季持平，年增 6%，這主要是由於法律費用增加以及與技術和諮詢服務相關的專業費用增加。2025 年上半年的非薪資成本（不包括報銷交易費用）總計 1.39 億美元，比去年上半年成長 10%。轉向所得稅費用。

Our income tax rate in the quarter was 28.1% and 11% for the first half of the year. Income tax expense for the year-to-date period was reduced by $26 million of tax benefits related to the vesting of restricted stock awards. Excluding the $26 million of benefits, our effective tax rate for the year-to-date period was 29.6%. Now finishing with capital.

我們本季的所得稅率為 28.1%，上半年的所得稅率為 11%。年初至今的所得稅費用減少了 2,600 萬美元，這是與限制性股票獎勵歸屬相關的稅收優惠。不包括 2,600 萬美元的福利，我們今年迄今的有效稅率為 29.6%。現在完成資本。

During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 85,000 shares or $21 million of our common stock and paid an aggregate of $17 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend. For the first half of this year, we returned an aggregate of $189 million to shareholders. This includes repurchases of approximately 351,000 shares or $102 million of our common stock, primarily related to employee tax withholdings on the vesting of restricted stock awards. It also includes an aggregate of $87 million or $4.30 per share paid to shareholders through our quarterly and special cash dividends.

本季度，我們回購了約 85,000 股普通股，價值 2,100 萬美元，並透過季度股息向股東支付了總計 1,700 萬美元。今年上半年，我們向股東累計返還1.89億美元。這包括回購約 351,000 股或價值 1.02 億美元的普通股，主要與限制性股票獎勵歸屬時的員工稅預扣有關。它還包括透過季度和特別現金股息向股東支付的總計 8,700 萬美元或每股 4.30 美元。

Lastly, I'm pleased to announce that effective today, the Board approved a $0.05 increase to our quarterly cash dividend to $0.70 per share. The dividend will be paid on September 12 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 29.

最後，我很高興地宣布，從今天起，董事會批准將我們的季度現金股息增加 0.05 美元至每股 0.70 美元。股利將於 9 月 12 日支付給 8 月 29 日營業結束時登記在冊的股東。

Thanks, Kate. Before taking questions, let me close with a few remarks on our acquisition announcement from earlier this morning. We've entered into a definitive agreement to acquire G Squared Capital Partners a boutique investment bank, specializing in government services and defense technology. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025.

謝謝，凱特。在回答問題之前，請允許我先就我們今天早上宣布的收購發表幾點評論。我們已達成最終協議，收購 G Squared Capital Partners，這是一家專門從事政府服務和國防技術的精品投資銀行。該交易預計將於 2025 年第三季完成。

Based in Washington D.C. area, G. Squared consists of 10 professionals, including 3 managing directors. The pending acquisition will further the growth of our technology investment banking group by combining their deep government sector experience with our cybersecurity and broader technology expertise as well as our strong access and relevance to private equity. In addition, we will provide G Squared access to our full suite of product capabilities to better serve their clients. This transaction is consistent with the strategic goal we've articulated previously to continue growing our M&A business and technology.

G. Squared 總部位於華盛頓特區，由 10 名專業人士組成，其中包括 3 名董事總經理。此次收購將結合他們在政府領域的深厚經驗以及我們在網路安全和更廣泛的技術專業知識以及我們在私募股權領域的強大管道和相關性，進一步促進我們技術投資銀行集團的發展。此外，我們將向 G Squared 提供我們全套產品功能，以便更好地服務他們的客戶。此次交易與我們先前闡述的繼續發展併購業務和技術的策略目標一致。

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

好了，我們現在可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Devin Ryan, Citizens.

德文·瑞安（Devin Ryan），公民。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. How are you?

你好。大家早安。你好嗎？

First question on consolidation in the depository space. Obviously, the Sandler team has been active in the nonbank space over the last few years, which was just given. But starting to see some bank M&A finally, and you guys are obviously starting to participate in that as well. I just want to get a sense of how you would frame what a more normal bank consolidation market could mean for revenue for Piper?

第一個問題是關於存款領域的整合。顯然，Sandler 團隊過去幾年一直活躍於非銀行領域，這只是冰山一角。但最終開始看到一些銀行併購，你們顯然也開始參與其中。我只是想了解一下，您認為更正常的銀行合併市場對 Piper 的收入意味著什麼？

And then just in what you're seeing the timing? Do you think that there's revenues potentially for the year ramping, or is this much more of a 2026 story and how you would bring that piece as well? Thank you.

那麼您所看到的是時間嗎？您是否認為今年的收入有可能會增加，或者這更像是 2026 年的故事，您對此有何看法？謝謝。

Yes. I do think the conditions have continued to improve for depository M&A obviously. Credit has been pretty good. There's capital available if that needs to be part of transactions. We're definitely seeing proof of regulatory approvals being quicker, yes. And I would say our pace of announcements has increased kind of across the spectrum, the small deals, a few of the larger deals. I do think some of these will -- some of the stuff because it's closing faster will close later in the year, but I still think we'll be a lot of this impact next year.

是的。我確實認為，存款併購的條件顯然已經持續改善。信用一直很好。如果需要成為交易的一部分，那麼就有可用的資金。是的，我們確實看到了監管部門審批速度加快的證據。我想說的是，我們的公告速度在各方面都有所加快，包括小型交易和一些大型交易。我確實認為其中一些會——有些因為關閉速度較快所以會在今年晚些時候關閉，但我仍然認為明年我們會受到很大影響。

But conversations are good. And it's -- honestly, it's hard to -- besides the fact that a lot of the bank stock prices haven't recovered quite as much, it's hard to imagine much of the other criteria being a lot better.

但談話很愉快。而且 — — 老實說，這很難 — — 除了許多銀行股票價格尚未恢復太多之外，很難想像其他標準會好很多。

Got it. Okay. Thanks, Chad.

知道了。好的。謝謝，乍得。

And then a follow-up here on Aviditi and just kind of the capital solutions, so almost one year post closing. It'd be great just to hear about how that business is enhancing connectivity with clients now that you've kind of been connected for some time in the go-to-market, I'm sure, kind of pretty well developed right now. So can you talk about how it's improving connectivity with clients. And then is there more that you can do there, meaning if you added a lot more resources or are there any capabilities you're learning you still might need to add for your sponsor clients?

然後是有關 Aviditi 和資本解決方案的後續跟進，因此交易結束後將近一年的時間。很高興聽到你們的業務如何增強與客戶的聯繫，因為你們已經在進入市場的道路上建立了聯繫一段時間了，我確信，現在發展得相當好了。那麼您可以談談它是如何改善與客戶的連接性的嗎？那麼，您還能做更多的事情嗎，這意味著如果您添加了更多的資源，或者您正在學習的任何功能是否仍可能需要為您的贊助客戶添加？

Yes, I would say, honestly, that transaction has worked out sort of exactly as we had hoped. Just as a reminder, they've got a couple of large parts of the business, actually a few parts of the business, but new fund and existing fund raising. And then obviously, the secondary market, they were heavily weighted sort of new capital raising. We did recently announced a significant hire to help just with more teams helping on the secondary side.

是的，我想說，老實說，這筆交易的進展正如我們所希望的那樣。提醒一下，他們有幾個大型業務部分，實際上是幾個業務部分，但有新基金和現有基金籌集。顯然，二級市場是新資本籌集的重要管道。我們最近確實宣布了一項重要招聘，以幫助更多的團隊在二級方面提供幫助。

I think what I've been really pleasantly surprised with is just the depth of relationships when you're raising money for a particular fund. You're dealing with the senior partners, the decision makers, and I think that helps across all types of transactions. It helps us tell our story about our debt advisory business. It helps us on sell-side M&A. So relative to other things we've done, I think we've had quite a bit of pickup. And certainly, quicker than other things in terms of the bankers really locking on to this as an opportunity.

我認為真正讓我感到驚訝的是當你為某個特定基金籌集資金時關係的深度。您正在與高級合夥人、決策者打交道，我認為這有助於處理所有類型的交易。它幫助我們講述我們的債務諮詢業務的故事。它幫助我們進行賣方併購。因此，相對於我們所做的其他事情，我認為我們已經取得了相當大的進步。毫無疑問，就銀行家真正抓住這個機會而言，這比其他事情要快得多。

So I think our timing was good. Transactions are picking up. And frankly, the results have been pretty good. So we're very pleased with how that's going.

所以我認為我們的時機很好。交易正在回升。坦白說，結果相當不錯。我們對目前的情況非常滿意。

Okay, that's great. I will leave it there, but thanks for taking the questions.

好的，太好了。我就到此為止了，但還是感謝您回答這些問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的詹姆斯·亞羅。

Good morning and thanks for taking the questions.

早上好，感謝您回答問題。

Chad, I was hoping you might be able to touch a little bit on the IPO backdrop as we look ahead. And perhaps if you could also comment, specifically on biotech. Any color you could offer on the scale of the pipelines and perhaps contextualize that versus history for the broader IPOs as well as biotech.

查德，我希望你能在我們展望未來時稍微談談 IPO 背景。或許您也可以評論一下，特別是關於生物技術。您可以提供任何有關管道規模的信息，並將其與更廣泛的 IPO 和生物技術的歷史進行比較。

Yes. So I honestly think that question is really the tale of two cities. We're -- relative to the IPO market, these are off of a few years that were really slow. So -- but we're definitely seeing a pickup. And I can just really comment on some of the sectors we're pretty active in we had a few years where we didn't see many IPOs in MedTech, and now we've been this year on 4 or 5 IPOs in MedTech, which is great to see.

是的。所以我真誠地認為這個問題其實是兩個城市的故事。相對於 IPO 市場而言，我們過去幾年的發展確實比較緩慢。所以——但我們確實看到了回升。我可以就我們非常活躍的一些領域發表評論：前幾年，我們在醫療技術領域沒有看到太多的 IPO，而今年我們已經在醫療技術領域看到了 4 或 5 家公司的 IPO，這是令人高興的。

Obviously, we've heavily invested in insurance. We've been on a few great transactions there. So the backdrop, the conditions, the performance of some of these deals, I do think that continues to set up for continued improvement in the IPO market. I would say relative to biotech, I mean, part of the reason our financing business has been down as we -- we're heavily weighted to health care and obviously weighted to biotech. And that people has been way down, frankly, follow-ons, but especially IPOs, I mean, I can't recall, but it's been a while since we've seen a biotech IPO.

顯然，我們在保險方面投入了大量資金。我們在那裡進行過幾筆很棒的交易。因此，我確實認為，這些交易的背景、條件和表現將繼續為 IPO 市場的持續改善奠定基礎。我想說，相對於生技，我們的融資業務下滑的部分原因是──我們嚴重依賴醫療保健，顯然也依賴生技。坦白說，人們對後續上市，尤其是 IPO 的熱情一直在下降，我的意思是，我不記得了，但我們已經有一段時間沒有看到生物技術 IPO 了。

So those are always kind of different markets. So I'd say -- in general, the IPO market is improving. In general, we were off in July here. We've done some nice transactions in biotech, but it's coming off of a slow pace. And so I think we're going to need to see continued improvement before that hits the biotech IPO market.

所以這些總是不同的市場。所以我想說——總體而言，IPO 市場正在改善。整體來說，我們這裡七月是休假。我們在生物技術領域進行了一些不錯的交易，但進展緩慢。因此我認為，在生物技術 IPO 市場受到影響之前，我們需要看到持續的改善。

That's very clear. Thank you.

這非常清楚。謝謝。

Just a second question, I'd just like to parse the constructive bank M&A tone versus the weaker 3Q fixed income trading commentary and perhaps it's just a timing issue. But some thoughts there?

第二個問題，我只是想分析一下建設性的銀行併購基調與較弱的第三季固定收益交易評論，也許這只是一個時間問題。但有一些想法嗎？

And then maybe also just on bank underwriting. So specifically, how does the weaker fixed income trading square with the improving bank M&A backdrop? And then if you could just comment on the outlook for bank equity and debt underwriting.

然後也許還只是關於銀行承銷。那麼具體來說，固定收益交易疲軟與銀行併購環境改善有何關係？然後，您能否評論一下銀行股權和債務承銷的前景？

Yes. I'll start, James, with the fixed income side. So I would say it's a little more of just having a really strong Q2 than seeing anything that might seem inconsistent with the commentary that Chad made on bank M&A. One of the things with our restructuring business. And we did have a very strong -- a couple of strong -- very large transactions in the second quarter. For example, we had a transaction -- a restructuring transaction that was over $2.5 billion in par relative to both the buys and sells. So very large. I just -- it's more about coming off that strong second quarter.

是的。詹姆斯，我先從固定收益方面開始。因此，我想說，這只是第二季表現非常強勁，而不是出現任何與查德對銀行併購的評論不一致的情況。我們的重組業務之一就是。我們在第二季確實有幾筆非常強勁的、非常大的交易。例如，我們有一筆交易——一筆重組交易，其買入和賣出的票面價值都超過 25 億美元。非常大。我只是——這更多的是關於強勁的第二季。

As we think about restructuring going forward, there's two pieces. One is maybe more a little bit tougher to predict, which is part of what's in our comments relative to restructuring. It is true that as M&A picks up, we will see and are seeing more of that activity. It's just a little difficult to predict exactly when that will happen. There's a more predictable side to restructuring that we see more seasonality around building into Q4.

當我們考慮未來的重組時，有兩點。其中一個可能更難預測，這也是我們對重組的評論的一部分。確實，隨著併購活動的興起，我們將會看到並且正在看到更多此類活動。只是有點難以預測這究竟何時會發生。重組有一個更可預測的方面，即我們看到第四季度的建築更具季節性。

So if that answers your question, if you need more clarity, but I would say it's just more the strong second quarter.

因此，如果這回答了您的問題，如果您需要更清晰的解釋，但我想說這只是第二季的強勁表現。

Yes. And the second part of your question, about just capital raising and DCM. We're definitely seeing a pickup there. With banks we did a lot of this financing five years ago, a lot of that paper rolls off. And frankly, the terms just and coupons continue to get better, and we have very high market share there. So we commented that a good chunk of what we did do in financings came from FSG this quarter. So we expect that to continue.

是的。你問題的第二部分是關於融資和 DCM 的。我們確實看到了那裡的回升。五年前我們與銀行進行了大量此類融資，許多此類票據都已到期。坦白說，條款和優惠券不斷變得更好，我們在那裡擁有非常高的市場份額。因此我們評論說，本季我們在融資方面所做的很大一部分來自 FSG。因此我們預計這種情況將會持續下去。

Really helpful. Thank you. And just to be clear, Deb, when you say restructuring, you mean balance sheet restructuring within fixed income right?

真的很有幫助。謝謝。需要明確的是，Deb，您說的重組是指固定收益中的資產負債表重組，對嗎？

Sorry, yes. Yes, that's what I'm thinking about. Yes. Thank you.

抱歉，是的。是的，這就是我所想的。是的。謝謝。

Perfect. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。

Brendan O'Brien, Wolfe Research.

布倫丹·奧布萊恩（Brendan O'Brien），沃爾夫研究公司。

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions.

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。

Just wanted to ask on the sponsor environment, just given the increased pressure to return capital to LPs, trends seem to have been improving of late. But I just want to get a sense as to how you would characterize the conversations you're having with your sponsor clients at the moment. Has there been any shifts in the tenor of those discussions over the past few weeks even it feels like we're starting to see some acceleration there.

只是想問贊助商的環境，考慮到向 LP 返還資本的壓力越來越大，最近的趨勢似乎有所改善。但我只是想了解您如何描述您目前與贊助客戶進行的對話。在過去幾週，這些討論的基調是否有任何變化，甚至感覺我們開始看到一些加速。

Yes. I mean, obviously, we've said it's coming several times. And I would say the data is a little bit better but not a lot better. I would say I've been out with sponsors a lot the last month and everybody seems pretty active. I do think there's a lot of transactions that have launched. I think relative to sort of process, people are still being careful, but I absolutely believe we're going to see a nice pickup in the back half and into next year, although I agree it's probably been a little slower than we thought.

是的。我的意思是，顯然我們已經說過好幾次了。我想說數據稍微好一點，但不會好很多。我想說，上個月我和贊助商一起出去過很多次，每個人似乎都很活躍。我確實認為已經有很多交易已經啟動。我認為相對於某種過程，人們仍然很謹慎，但我絕對相信我們將在下半年和明年看到良好的回升，儘管我同意它可能比我們想像的要慢。

That's helpful color. And then I guess for my follow-up question, more of a bigger picture one.

這是很有幫助的顏色。然後我想對於我的後續問題，更多的是一個更大的問題。

Now that we're on our way or entering what feels like a recovery, obviously, depending on how things react today and over the next few weeks with the trade deals. But now that we're on the path towards recovery, I just want to get a sense as to your confidence in your ability to hit that $2 billion investment banking target that you outlined prior to the slowdown and how to think about the trajectory of the building blocks from here.

現在我們似乎正在進入復甦階段，但這顯然取決於今天以及未來幾週貿易協議的反應。但現在我們正走在復甦的道路上，我只是想了解您對實現經濟放緩之前提出的 20 億美元投資銀行目標的能力的信心，以及如何看待從現在開始的發展軌跡。

Yes. I mean every time I talk about that, that's really just related to sort of the diversity of the business and seeing within each of those industry teams where our pockets are to grow, and we continue to invest in that. Obviously, we've talked a lot about technology. We did a small transaction today. Super complementary to our cyber and security practice gets us a new office in D.C.

是的。我的意思是，每次我談論這個時，這實際上都與業務的多樣性有關，並且在每個行業團隊中看到我們的資金將增長，並且我們將繼續對此進行投資。顯然，我們已經討論了很多有關技術的話題。我們今天做了一筆小交易。對我們的網路和安全實踐的極大補充使我們在華盛頓特區設立了新辦公室。

I think there's just multiple verticals and things like that, that we're having success with. We talked a lot about our services and industrial business, which we felt, with the team we hired in Michigan, frankly, that has a lot of traction. So I think we're still on the brick-by-brick strategy with opportunity in every industry team.

我認為我們在多個垂直領域和類似領域都取得了成功。我們談了很多關於我們的服務和工業業務，坦白說，我們覺得我們在密西根州僱用的團隊有很大的吸引力。因此我認為我們仍在採取逐步推進的策略，每個產業團隊都有機會。

I'm always careful not to get pinned into a corner like exactly how many years is that going to take. But I think we have even more conviction as time goes by relative to each industry team where we're going to see the growth, where we're going to add the MDs, and we still believe we'll see some increased productivity because even though we're growing revenues, we're still not happy with the total productivity levels.

我總是很小心，不讓自己陷入困境，例如這到底需要多少年。但我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們會更加堅信每個行業團隊都會有所增長，我們會增加 MD，我們仍然相信我們會看到生產力有所提高，因為儘管我們的收入在增長，但我們對整體生產力水平仍然不滿意。

Great. Thank you for taking my questions.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。

Mike Grondahl, Northland Securities.

北國證券公司的麥克‧格隆達爾 (Mike Grondahl)。

Hey. Thank you and congrats on a strong quarter. First question, just, Chad, your healthcare advisory outlook, kind of what are you seeing there?

嘿。謝謝您，並恭喜本季業績強勁。第一個問題，查德，您對醫療保健諮詢前景有何看法？

Yes. If you remember, relative to advisory, healthcare was our only team that was down last year. It's been quite strong this year, probably our team that's up the most in advisory, which has had a big part of the improvement. So I think that's really twofold.

是的。如果您還記得的話，相對於諮詢而言，醫療保健是我們去年唯一表現不佳的團隊。今年我們的表現相當強勁，可能是我們團隊在諮詢方面進步最大的，這在很大程度上促進了進步。所以我認為這其實具有雙重意義。

Coming off of a very slow year, different regulatory environment that people are willing to try sort of not completely but mostly tariff proof relative to a lot of domestic businesses, a lot of service businesses. So we're having a very good year in healthcare advisory.

在經歷了非常緩慢的一年之後，人們願意嘗試不同的監管環境，雖然不是這種環境不是完全的，但主要是針對許多國內企業、許多服務企業的關稅證明。因此，我們在醫療保健諮詢領域度過了非常好的一年。

Got it. And then within that overall advisory, could you kind of describe a debt advisory transaction in a private capital market transaction. Just I want to better understand those two areas as that area along with restructuring is growing a lot.

知道了。然後，在整體諮詢範圍內，您能否描述一下私人資本市場交易中的債務諮詢交易。我只是想更好地了解這兩個領域，因為該領域以及重組正在快速發展。

Yes. We -- obviously, we sort of called out -- we really look at the non-M&A advisory business as Capital Advisory, which we already talked about, debt advisory and restructuring. Our pure sort of agented debt advisory has been one of the fastest-growing parts of the firm over the last four or five years, a lot of that has to do with all the alternative sources for capital with various credit funds.

是的。我們——顯然，我們有點呼籲——我們確實將非併購諮詢業務視為資本諮詢，我們已經討論過，債務諮詢和重組。過去四、五年來，我們純粹的代理債務諮詢業務一直是公司成長最快的業務之一，其中很大一部分與各種信貸基金的所有替代資本來源有關。

And so a typical transaction, obviously, there's never a typical transaction, but all types of transactions relative to financing to a sponsor to do an acquisition financing to a sponsor to recap financing that they have, adding sort of add-on capital, all sorts of things, sometimes sort of exclusive to one buyer. Sometimes there's a couple of buyers, but it's -- there's just been an explosion of various providers of credit, and that's been very good for our business because it's also it's hard for companies.

因此，典型的交易顯然永遠不會是典型的交易，而是與融資相關的所有類型的交易，向發起人進行收購融資，向發起人重新融資，增加附加資本，各種各樣的東西，有時是專門針對一個買家的。有時會有幾個買家，但各種信貸提供者的數量激增，這對我們的業務非常有利，因為對公司來說這也是很困難的。

They used to have to access capital with 10 or 12 banks. Now, there's several hundred funds, and I would say we've got that same success with certain private equity funds. Obviously, the really large ones have their own capital markets teams, but a lot of the mid-market, small capital markets groups, they may not have professionals there. So we've got several funds where we do all of their transactions, whatever the debt capital requirement is.

他們過去必須從 10 或 12 家銀行獲取資金。現在，有幾百隻基金，我想說我們在某些私募股權基金上也取得了同樣的成功。顯然，真正大型的公司都有自己的資本市場團隊，但許多中型市場、小型資本市場集團可能沒有專業人員。因此，我們擁有幾隻基金，無論債務資本要求是多少，我們都會進行所有交易。

And then the other part of the debt business, which I think you asked about. In our FSG business, we do some sort of underwritten, but we do a lot of agented debt business. A lot of this bank business we just talked about is sold to other financial institutions, depositories, other types of financial institutions. It's usually sort of five-year paper, a lot of the banks, other financial institutions sort of have that paper. A lot of times, they're just rolling that over with other financing. Sometimes it's new capital.

然後是債務業務的另一部分，我想您已經問過了。在我們的 FSG 業務中，我們進行某種承銷業務，但我們也進行大量代理債務業務。我們剛才談到的許多銀行業務都賣給了其他金融機構、存款機構和其他類型的金融機構。它通常是五年期票據，許多銀行和其他金融機構都有這種票據。很多時候，他們只是利用其他融資方式來延長這個期限。有時它是新資本。

Got it. That's helpful and congratulations.

知道了。這很有幫助，恭喜你。

Thank you.

謝謝。

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的詹姆斯·亞羅。

Thanks for the follow up. I just wanted to touch a little bit more on the comp and non-comp expenses.

感謝您的跟進。我只是想稍微談談薪資和非薪資費用。

On the comp side. How would you think about the comp ratio trajectory from here now that you're comfortably within, I think, your target range? And on the non-comp dollar side, growth ex-reimbursable expenses has been a bit higher than, I think, you previously talked about. So maybe just any update on how we should think about full year non-comp expenses.

在公司方面。我認為，既然您現在已經處於目標範圍內，那麼您如何看待現在的補償比率軌跡？而在非薪酬美元方面，扣除可報銷費用後的成長比您之前談到的要高一些。因此，也許只是關於我們應該如何考慮全年非薪酬支出的任何更新。

So thanks for the question, James. Starting on the comp ratio side, again, we continue to focus on that balance of driving leverage and then ensuring that we're also investing where those opportunities arise with the improved revenue this quarter. It allowed us to drive for that leverage that you referenced, and we'd expect for the remainder of the year to be in this range without providing any sort of specific figure.

謝謝你的提問，詹姆斯。從比較比率方面開始，我們再次繼續專注於推動槓桿的平衡，然後確保我們也在本季營收增加的情況下投資於出現這些機會的地方。它使我們能夠實現您所提到的槓桿作用，並且我們預計今年剩餘時間的槓桿作用將保持在這個範圍內，而無需提供任何具體數字。

To your point, we're kind of right in between our 61.5% to 62.5% sort of normalizing range for comp ratio. So feeling good about that. And that's really barring any significant outsized investments or kind of turn in the market conditions.

正如您所說，我們的複合比率正處於 61.5% 至 62.5% 的正常化範圍之間。對此我感覺很好。這實際上是在禁止任何重大的超額投資或市場狀況發生轉變。

Just to take a moment on non-comps. You're right, we are trending a bit above kind of that increased guided range that we provided for this year. I think about three material drivers there.

只是想花一點時間討論非同類產品。你說得對，我們的趨勢略高於我們今年提供的指導範圍。我認為那裡有三個物質驅動因素。

One is the large occupancy expense increase that we have telegraphed out there, and that has to do with the relocation of our headquarters here in Minneapolis. As we talked about at the end of the first quarter, T&E running a little bit ahead of where we had expected. Some of that just has to do with more people on the platform, higher cost of travel, et cetera. That has moderated a bit, although it does run a little bit ahead of where we thought we would still be kind of on a year-to-date basis.

一是我們已經宣布的入住費用大幅增加，這與我們遷至明尼阿波利斯總部有關。正如我們在第一季末談到的那樣，差旅和費用的支出比我們預期的要高一些。其中一些原因與平台上的人數增加、旅行成本增加等有關。儘管這一數字略有下降，但確實比我們預想的年初至今的水平高了一點。

Then the third category that I think is really what's driving the differential as we referenced in the script for this quarter is kind of professional and legal fees. Legal fees, I think about in two categories.

然後，我認為真正推動差異的第三類是專業費用和法律費用，正如我們在本季的腳本中提到的那樣。律師費，我認為分為兩類。

One is just sort of standard legal fees that come as running the business, a little bit ahead of where we expected. The other is a little bit more of a legal expense associated with some of our ECM transactions given the ECM volatility we saw at the beginning of the period here. We aren't adjusting that range. I think we'll be sort of between where we are here and the higher end of the range that we have provided for the remainder of the year, but we'll certainly update that guidance if anything changes.

一是經營業務時產生的標準法律費用，比我們預期的高一點。另一部分是與我們的部分 ECM 交易相關的法律費用，考慮到我們在本期初看到的 ECM 波動性。我們不會調整該範圍。我認為我們的預期將介於目前的水平和今年剩餘時間我們提供的範圍的高端之間，但如果有任何變化，我們肯定會更新該指導。

Okay. Thank you so much.

好的。太感謝了。

At this time, we have no further questions. I'd like to turn the floor back to Chad for any additional or closing remarks.

目前我們沒有其他問題。我想將發言權交還給查德，請他做進一步發言或做結束語。

Okay, thanks to everyone that joined us this morning. We look forward to updating you on our third quarter results. Have a great day.

好的，感謝今天早上加入我們的每個人。我們期待向您通報我們第三季的業績。祝你有美好的一天。

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

今天的會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。