B Riley Financial Inc (RILYP) 2018 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. Welcome to B. Riley Financial's Third Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. My name is Elmer, and I will be your conference operator today.

Earlier today, B. Riley Financial issued a press release with financial results for the third quarter of 2018. A copy of the release can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

Joining us for today's call from B. Riley Financial are Bryant Riley, Chairman and Co-CEO; Tom Kelleher, co-CEO; and Phillip Ahn, CFO and COO. (Operator Instructions) And then before concluding today's call, I'll provide the necessary cautions regarding forward-looking statements.

As a reminder, this call will be recorded, and a replay will be made available on the B. Riley website at ir.brileyfin.com.

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Bryant Riley. Mr. Riley, please proceed.

Thanks, Elmer, and thank you to everyone for joining us for our call this afternoon. First of all, let me start by saying that we remain as enthusiastic as ever about the strength in our B. Riley Financial businesses and the value our enhanced platform will continue to create for our clients, our partners and our shareholders.

As it relates to our third quarter, our increased revenue was primarily driven by strong operating results in our Capital Markets Segment, continued steady and stable results from our Appraisal, direct lending, wealth management and principal investment group and relatively muted activity in our GA retail business.

Results for the quarter were also enhanced from our acquisition of the advisory firm, GlassRatner, which we closed in August. It's worth noting that while early days, we're incredibly excited by this acquisition, and our new colleagues have hit the ground running since our merger and have already made meaningful contributions and connections for our B. Riley FBR restructuring practice and our Great American Appraisal and valuation practices.

Overall, we are seeing more opportunities through our ongoing business relationships and increased revenue opportunities from the ability to engage clients on multiple services and resources offered by our firm. Taken together, we believe our overall results speak to the continued momentum in each of our distinct businesses and the strength of our enhanced platform.

For the quarter, we also announced an $0.08 special dividend to go with our regular $0.08 quarterly dividend. While our acquisitions and investments often get highlighted, I do want to point out that since becoming B. Riley Financial through our public merger in 2014, we have attempted to strike a balance between investing in our business and returning a portion of our profits back to shareholders.

To that end, we have paid out $0.34 per share in special dividends this year, in addition to our regular dividend of $0.24 per share for a total of $0.58 returned to shareholders for the first 9 months of 2018. Additionally, we have bought back approximately 950,000 shares of our stock year-to-date, representing roughly $17 million, and announced a new $50 million buyback last week. We are committed to being proactive and will respond to opportunities that markets bring us in whatever form that they may come.

Now before I dive into our individual segments, I will turn the call over to Phil Ahn, our CFO, to discuss our Q3 financial metrics. Phil?

Thanks, Bryant, and welcome, everyone. For the third quarter of 2018, our total revenues increased to $99.7 million, up from $92.4 million for the same year-ago period. The increase in our total revenues for the quarter was primarily driven by our Capital Markets Segment, which includes results from our investment banking division, B. Riley FBR, our B. Riley Wealth Management business, our asset and fund management businesses and the results from GlassRatner, which we acquired on July 31, 2018.

Capital Markets Segment revenues increased to $76.3 million for the third quarter of 2018, up from $63.7 million for the same period last year, which was primarily driven by an increase in investment banking fees as well as the addition of our consulting business, GlassRatner. Capital Markets Segment income increased to $11 million for the quarter compared to a segment loss of $0.2 million for the same year-ago period.

Turning to results from our other segments. Our Auction and Liquidation segment, which primarily consists of our Great American retail liquidation division. Revenues for this segment were $2.5 million for the third quarter of 2018 with segment income of $0.3 million. This compares to revenues of $7.4 million and segment income of $2 million for the same year-ago period.

As we've made note on previous calls, results for this segment tend to be more variable due to the impact of periodic large-scale retail liquidations on our quarterly results. However, looking across the first 3 quarters, results in this segment have exceeded last year's revenues with $44.9 million of revenue for the 9 months ended September 30, 2018 compared to $43.2 million in revenue for the same year-ago period.

Next, our Valuation and Appraisal segment, which includes results from our Great American Appraisal business. Revenues for this segment increased to $9.4 million compared to $9 million for the same year-ago period, driven by an increase in Appraisal engagements for the third quarter of 2018. Segment income totaled $2.9 million for the quarter compared to $3 million for the same year-ago period. Our Appraisal segment continues to demonstrate steady quarterly results.

Our final segment is our Principal Investments segment, which currently consists of United Online. United Online generated revenues of $11.4 million with segment income of $4.1 million for the quarter. This segment generated $4.7 million of income for the second quarter of 2018. Revenues from United Online are primarily driven by services and fees for Internet access and the related subscription services. And while we expect that these results will diminish over time, it is important to note that United Online has generated cash flow in excess of our initial net investment and has outperformed our original estimates. United Online continues to provide us with meaningful cash flow and is expected to do so in future years.

Our acquisition of magicJack remains pending. However, we anticipate that we will close sometime in the fourth quarter. We will provide an update as soon as additional information becomes available, and we look forward to discussing its contributions to our Principal Investments segment results in future quarters.

Now turning to our profitability metrics, which are attributable to B. Riley Financial as a whole. Our net income for the third quarter of 2018 was $2.8 million or $0.10 per diluted share compared to net income of $0.4 million or $0.01 per diluted share for the same year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP metric, totaled $21 million for the third quarter compared to $15.8 million for the same year-ago period.

Adjusted net income, which is another non-GAAP metric, totaled $6.4 million or $0.24 per diluted share for the third quarter. This compares to $10.4 million or $0.38 per diluted share for the same year-ago period. For more information about adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income and a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP measures, you can refer to the section in today's earnings release regarding use of non-GAAP financial measures.

Now turning to our balance sheet. As of September 30, some highlights to our balance sheet include $233.9 million in cash and equivalents; $54.9 million due from clearing brokers; approximately $200 million in net securities, loans and other investments owned at fair value; $21.4 million in advances against customer contracts; and $457.5 million in total debt. I would like to note that our debt related to Bon Ton liquidation, which was approximately $155 million as of June 30, was repaid in full during the quarter.

Our total stockholders' equity was $268 million as of September 30. Our shares outstanding at the end of the quarter were approximately $26.5 million.

Lastly, as Bryant previously mentioned, our Board of Directors approved a special dividend of $0.08 per share, in addition to our regular quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, which will be paid on or about November 30 to stockholders of record as of November 16, 2018. That completes my financial summary, and now I'll turn the call back over to Bryant. Bryant?

Thanks, Phil. I will now get into a little more granularity on each of our business units, and we'll start with the B. Riley FBR Brokerage business. As Phil mentioned, we saw a strong quarter with increased revenues from investment banking and securities lending. During the quarter, we successfully completed several notable banking assignments, including a sale for Clearwater Paper, a secondary offering for Amyris, Inc. and a $97 million cap rate to support an acquisition for Industrea Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company we have previously raised money for early in the year.

Our SPAC business remains strong and continues to serve as a differentiator for us in the market, and we believe our clients recognize our superior execution capabilities in the space.

In Q3, B. Riley FBR also held its first health care conference and its Annual Consumer & Media Conference in New York. Both events were very successful and well attended, and have helped raise visibility for our brand among the hundreds of companies and investor attendees who joined.

In July, we added a team from Hunting Dog Capital in our San Francisco office focused on alternative financing. We've also added a number of senior professionals to our corporate restructuring division in New York. Our expanded restructuring team will help us capitalize on some of the synergies that exist with other core parts of our business, and particularly with the services offered by our new GlassRatner colleagues.

The addition of GlassRatner does not only deepen our bankruptcy and restructuring and corporate finance and valuation capabilities, but also has provided us with new service offerings and litigation support and investigations to enhance the suite of services and capabilities our platform already offers.

Turning to our GA Capital direct lending business. Since starting this business in 2015, I have continuously cited my enthusiasm for this product and excitement over the opportunities that they have.

As you may recall, GACP closed Fund II earlier in the year. And today, it has invested over $250 million this year in GACP Fund II and related co-investment. GA Capital has rapidly developed a reputation as a creative solution provider for middle market companies. We continue to see a number of attractive opportunities in this unique marketplace and expect GA Capital to continue its growth in 2019.

Now to B. Riley Wealth Management. Since completing the rebrand of B. Riley Wealth Management this past summer, we've seen an improvement in our operations and greater alignment with the broader platform. In addition, we have been focused on recruiting talent across country to expand our presence in markets where we are located and have recently hired advisors from places such as Edward Jones and Morgan Stanley. Over the last year, combined assets under administration have climbed to approximately $9.8 billion.

We believe a major industry disruption has taken place in the wirehouse channel. And as a national boutique, we believe B. Riley Wealth Management provides a competitive alternative for financial advisors seeking to opt out of that channel.

Our comprehensive platform serves as a differentiator to other smaller firms and independent RIA practices, which provide us with another catalyst for growth in this division.

Moving to Valuation and Appraisal side of our Great American business, which generated its second highest-ever revenue quarter. This division has maintained steady growth quarter-after-quarter, with revenue driven by an increase in Appraisal engagements. We continue to focus on applying a cross-platform approach to leverage our relationships and expertise in industry verticals beyond our core Appraisal customer.

To that end, we've made a few strategic hires in the group and have launched a new real estate valuation practice.

Now to our Auction and Liquidation business. While the third quarter is relatively muted, we had a strong year-to-date overall. During Q3, our Great American retail liquidation group completed the sale of Bon Ton Stores inventory and has continued to work to sell other assets, including real estate assets, which we expect will continue over the next 6 months. We expect to recognize a meaningful portion of returns based on the completion of those sales in Q4 and in early 2019.

In addition to the regular [way of] liquidation business, the retail group has actively taken advantage to expand the breadth of its business by utilizing all aspects of the firm to create opportunity. In addition to the aforementioned Bon Ton transaction, which is notable in that GA team with bondholders by the whole company and not just the inventory, we've also expanded our previously announced investment in bebe. Through this partnership, we recently formed a joint venture between our GA Europe division and bebe to acquire the assets of European fashion retailer, Charles Vögele.

This brand is one of the largest and well-known fashion retailers in Europe with presence in Austria, Hungary and Slovenia. GA Europe is currently in a restructuring process that includes a limited store closure program. And after completing the restructuring plan, we believe that the business can be continued on a profitable basis.

bebe also recently announced its partnership with Bluestar Alliance and its acquisition of Brookstone out of bankruptcy. This was a deal that we developed and brought to bebe and is an investment we believe will create a strong platform for future growth and cash flow. And we'll benefit from bebe's large tax assets.

Our pipeline for the liquidation business remains strong with the headwinds in the retail industry expected to continue to accelerate, and we believe our ability to develop unique retail liquidation deal structures is a differentiator for us and provides us with an edge over our competitors.

Last but not least is our Principal Investments segment. We continue to be pleased with the cash flow contributions of our United Online business. Since the acquisition in July 2016, results from United Online have exceeded our initial investment and ahead of our acquisition plans. This business continues to serve as a significant source of steady income for us and expect the company to generate meaningful cash flow over the next several years. And as Phil mentioned earlier, we look forward to discussing magicJack's contributions to our Principal Investments in future quarters. We've been actively working toward obtaining regulatory approval to complete the deal. That process has taken longer than we originally anticipated. However, we anticipate a closing date sometime in the fourth quarter, and we intend to close the deal once we complete the regulatory approval process. We will share any additional updates on the deal as soon as more information is available.

Taken together, we are extremely pleased with the continued momentum of our franchise and the opportunities ahead of us. We recognize much of our success is due to the collective efforts of our colleagues across all of our business units and our continued drive -- continued focus on driving shareholder value.

Now with that, we're ready to open the call for your questions. Operator?

(Operator Instructions) Now your first question comes from Sean Haydon, THC.

I had a question about the newly authorized share repurchase. Will any of that be coming from insiders or management?

So I can't speak for everyone for management. You may know that in March, I repurchased a couple hundred thousand shares. Those decisions are independent. This is a corporate buyback. So I would say that I can't speak to all the expectations of all the insiders.

So it's generally just an open market repurchase?

Yes.

Okay. And then given that it's kind of topic du jour, can you just speak about how higher interest rates will affect your businesses, especially Great American and kind of the direct loan business?

So we were pretty aggressive about raising some longer-term capitals in the form of baby bonds. So we've raised mid-$400 million at rates that we think are attractive relative to the returns that we get from our business model. So we think that if we see a higher rate environment, that will create -- many of our loans are priced off of LIBOR. LIBOR has gone up meaningfully. Bank's in a higher interest rate environment, I think we'll continue the trend of really kind of doing down the middle fairway loans. And anything that -- where we can take advantage of that through thinking a little bit differently about the asset and the collateral makes sense to us. So I think that a higher interest rate environment, we'll also realize that in our wealth management business. We do generate revenue through the cash balances. And that's been a part of our business that has been really, really underwhelming for the last few years. And as we see interest rates climb there, it has a meaningful impact. So look, I think that a little bit of volatility and maybe a little bit of activity around the high-yield side, we just -- we long for activity and being able to utilize our differential services.

Our next question comes from Wes Cummins, Nokomis Capital.

Just first question is on the Capital Markets business, nice quarter year-over-year there. I know at one point, the goal, and I think that still is the goal, is that you would start seeing larger and larger deals. And it seems like that started to happen. Do you still see that progression? And kind of your -- looking forward in your pipeline, just the type of deal you're seeing now versus what you used to see in the past?

Yes. I would say, obviously, the backstop of the Rent-A-Center transaction created some attention. And we are -- we said -- and we will be aggressive with our balance sheet to differentiate ourselves. And we think there's a real gap between the Jefferies and the bulge brackets of the world, where they have been -- done a great job of utilizing the balance sheet, and then kind of the next level down. And that's -- we hope to fill that gap, and we think there's a lot of room there. So I would say that we have seen bigger deals. We're obviously -- this is not -- we're going to be careful about the deals we see. Obviously, the markets are volatile, and we're going to make sure that we're prudent around the opportunities. But that, to me, I think, as I look at the brokerage business, is the single biggest opportunity we have.

Okay. And then moving on liquidations. Do you see any large deals? I mean, there's kind of an obvious large deal out there potentially in the next 6 months or so, but do you see that business more as a big, large one-off deal? Or is there just kind of more, I guess, I would call it smaller like blocking-and-tackling type business for the next 12 months?

Look, there's going to be some big deals, and there's a lot going on internationally as well that maybe not be -- may not be in the market as much or as high profile. What excites me is when we find an opportunity where we can utilize more than just the regular liquidation services. And I think there is where we have -- I mean, I said it, but it's really true. Our competitors who are smart, and they've been doing liquidations for a long time, I think we have a little bit of an advantage as it relates to our ability to package some investment banking services or a loan, JCP or distribution among our institutional clients and a capital raise. And so I think the market's really robust right now. There are some really large ones, but there's some small ones, too. And the transactions like the Bon Ton, where we bought the whole company as opposed to just buying the inventory, that's what excites me. And we see a lot of that. So we'll be incredibly active and aggressive.

Okay. And last one for me. I don't know how much you can comment on this, but just on magicJack, is there anything, I guess, kind of odd or that's been like extra difficult with that as far as getting approvals? Or is it just what you would view as kind of standard course of government approvals?

I would say it's taking longer than we expected, and it's standard course of government approvals.

Our next question comes from Eric Landry, BML Capital.

I have a quick question about your equity income of $828,000. Is that all bebe or is there something else in there?

Phil?

Yes. We've got some smaller interest. But generally, you have income related to bebe, which is comprising a significant portion of that.

Okay because last quarter, I know you had -- you had bebe in there. You had the losses from something else that wasn't disclosed, correct?

I guess, I mean, I wouldn't -- there are some minority interest that we do have related to some very small investments that...

But basically most of it is bebe?

That's correct.

Okay, great. So, I guess, you guys sourced the Brookstone acquisition to them. And of course, bebe doesn't say much. Is there -- is this pretty much the strategy going forward between you and bebe? Or is it more of a commercial real estate strategy? I guess, I'm asking you guys because, as I said before, they just don't say much about anything.

So we are absolutely not utilizing a commercial real estate strategy. I can tell you that. So bebe has an unimpaired tax asset that is -- and things like licensing, where you do not have a ton of overhead, and you have kind of almost like a high-yield type of return and maybe enhanced by different things. And hopefully, we -- when we do these types of investments, we'll do them opportunistically. Those types of assets lend themselves to vehicles with large NOLs. So I would say that between the bebe license, the Brookstone license, the deal with Charles Vögele that they've done, it's becoming a more meaningful business. But I think the goal there is to do whatever they can to enhance value through taking advantage of that NOL. That is the asset that they have, is the ability to not have to pay taxes. Does that answer your question?

It does. It does. I have one unrelated question. So the Clearwater deal that you guys did, well, when was it, 1.5 months ago, was that an option?

I can't speak to the specific investment banking deals and the processes that they went through.

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Paul Dwyer, Punch & Associates.

Bryant, a quick question for you on Bon Ton or just the general liquidation business. So you guys, it looked like in Q2, you laid out over $400 million to Bon Ton. And I heard Phil, right, you guys maybe have around $20 million or so left on the -- getting that capital returned to you. Can you just talk about how that transaction works and kind of your return thresholds and timing to when you could start showing profit [terms], something like that?

Sure. And I'm going to speak kind of generally, and then maybe Phil can follow up more specifically. But realize that much of that debt, we will borrow from our asset lender, Wells Fargo. And so the first recovery will go to pay down Wells Fargo, and then the second recovery will go to pay us. And typically, based on how we look at those returns and how big it is, will be dependent on whether we will borrow from Wells Fargo. And that's one of the complicating parts of our business is that our balance sheet needs to be pretty flush because these opportunities can be meaningful, but our return requirements are pretty high. I think we did an analysis, and, Phil, maybe you can speak to it, but typically, our ROIs and the liquidation have been 30%, 40%-plus. So we go in with a hope to make a very meaningful return. As it relates to Bon Ton specifically, that deal was not us just buying the inventory and selling the inventory that way and augmenting the inventory. That was us buying the whole estate. So there is everything from the lots of the owned real estate that has been out there in the market, and then also, obviously, the inventory, and then all the associated assets that we will, as an estate, go after. And what we said in our call is we would expect to recognize -- I will tell you that I expect to recognize the vast majority of that in Q4. We also said in -- next year. But the way that it's laid out right now in the real estate sales, I would expect that we would recognize a meaningful portion of that in Q4. Phil, anything you wanted to add?

Yes. No. I would just comment generally the way that the liquidation recognition on the profit on the liquidation deals works is that once we eclipse effectively the guarantee that we've established with the bankrupt entity or, in this instance, the purchase price, once we've eclipsed that and we enter into the profit zone, then, generally, we recognize the profit. So as you see, we do have some capital balance that's remaining in terms of our equity investment that's on the balance sheet as of 9/30. But we do anticipate, obviously, the real estate sales and some other asset sales to basically continue over the next 6 months. And that's what Bryant's referring to.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Bryant Riley for closing remarks.

Thank you, everybody. We appreciate your interest and support, and we look forward to talking to you in roughly 90 days. Thank you.

Before we conclude today's call, I would like to provide B. Riley Financial's safe harbor statement that includes important caution regarding the forward-looking statements made during this call. During today's call, there were forward-looking statements that are not based on historical facts, including, without limitation, statements containing the words, will, can, continue, expect, believe, anticipate, could and intend, and similar expressions and statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, expressed or implied statements regarding anticipated earnings, plans for future dividends, future financial performance, our ability to increase our leverage and add value for shareholders, the effects of our business model, expectations regarding future growth opportunities and initiatives, the effects of our balance sheet, the effects and anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, our pending acquisition of magicJack and related actions, our investment in bebe stores and the related opportunity for future growth and cash flow, expectations regarding future transactions and the financial impact, size and consistency of returns and timing thereof as well as statements regarding our enthusiasm and the effect of investments in our business segments. Because these forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results, events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Such factors include risks associated with our ability to achieve expected cost savings or other benefits with respect to our pending and completed acquisitions in each case within expected time frames or at all; our ability to consummate anticipated transactions and the expected financial impact thereof in each case within the expected time frame or at all; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions, including the acquisition of GlassRatner; loss of key personnel; our ability to manage growth; the potential loss of financial institution clients; and the timing of completion of significant engagements. The risks included here are not exhaustive. Other risks and uncertainties are described in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, our periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and subsequent filings with the SEC that we make from time to time. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. All information discussed on this call is as of today, Monday, November 5. And B. Riley Financial does not intend and undertakes no duty to update such information based on future events or circumstances. Further, this conference call included a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures as that term is defined in Regulation G. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and information reconciling these non-GAAP financial measures to the company's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP are included in the earnings release. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that a recording of today's call will be available for replay via a link available in the Investors section of the company's website.

Thank you for joining us today for B. Riley Financial's Third Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect.