Saratoga Investment Corp (SAR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s 2024 Fiscal Second Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

早安，女士們，先生們。謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加薩拉託加投資公司 2024 財年第二季財務業績電話會議。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s Chief Financial and Chief Compliance Officer, Mr. Henri Steenkamp. Sir, please go ahead.

現在，我想將電話轉給薩拉託加投資公司的財務長兼首席合規官 Henri Steenkamp 先生。先生，請繼續。

Thank you. I would like to welcome everyone to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s 2024 Fiscal Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

謝謝。我歡迎大家參加薩拉託加投資公司 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。

Today's conference call includes forward-looking statements and projections. We ask you to refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required to do so by law.

今天的電話會議包括前瞻性陳述和預測。我們要求您參考我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述和預測有重大差異的重要因素。除非法律要求，否則我們不承諾更新我們的前瞻性陳述。

Today, we will be referencing a presentation during our call. You can find our fiscal second quarter 2024 shareholder presentation in the Events & Presentations section of our Investor Relations website. A link to our IR page is in the earnings press release distributed last night. A replay of this conference call will also be available. Please refer to our earnings press release for details.

今天，我們將在電話會議中引用一份簡報。您可以在我們投資者關係網站的活動和演示部分找到我們 2024 年第二財季的股東演示。我們的投資者關係頁面的連結位於昨晚發布的收益新聞稿中。也將提供本次電話會議的重播。詳情請參閱我們的收益新聞稿。

I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christian Oberbeck, who will be making a few introductory remarks.

我現在想將電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長克里斯蒂安·奧伯貝克 (Christian Oberbeck)，他將做一些介紹性發言。

Thank you, Henri, and welcome, everyone. Saratoga's adjusted net investment income per share increased 86% as compared to last year and remained unchanged as compared to last quarter. This performance outpaced our recent and significant dividend increases and reflected growth in AUM and margin improvement from rising rates on our largely floating rate assets in contrast to largely fixed interest rates paid on financing liabilities.

謝謝亨利，歡迎大家。薩拉託加調整後每股淨投資收益較去年成長86%，較上季持平。這一業績超過了我們最近的大幅股息成長，反映了資產管理規模的成長以及我們主要浮動利率資產的利率上升（與融資負債主要支付的固定利率相比）帶來的利潤率改善。

Higher and rising interest rates and a general contraction of available credit are producing higher margins on our portfolio, and importantly, an abundant flow of attractive investment opportunities from high-quality sponsors at increasingly improving pricing, terms and absolute rates. We believe Saratoga continues to be well positioned for potential future economic opportunities and challenges.

不斷上升的利率以及可用信貸的普遍收縮正在為我們的投資組合帶來更高的利潤，更重要的是，高品質的贊助商以日益改善的定價、條款和絕對利率帶來了大量有吸引力的投資機會。我們相信薩拉託加將繼續處於有利地位，以應對未來潛在的經濟機會和挑戰。

Saratoga's credit structure with largely interest-only, covenant-free, long-duration debt incorporating maturities primarily 2 to 10 years out positions us particularly well for the rising and potentially higher-for-longer interest rate environment, coupled with market volatility. Most importantly, at the foundation of our performance is the high-quality nature and resilience of our approximately $1.1 billion portfolio, which has been marked down 1.4% overall versus cost in this challenging environment.

薩拉託加的信貸結構主要為只付息、無契約、長期債務，到期日主要為2 至10 年，這使我們在不斷上升、可能長期走高的利率環境以及市場波動的情況下處於特別有利的地位。最重要的是，我們業績的基礎是我們約 11 億美元投資組合的高品質和彈性，在這個充滿挑戰的環境中，與成本相比，該投資組合總體下降了 1.4%。

Our core BDC portfolio, excluding our CLO and JV, is up 0.2% versus cost, reflecting the strength of our underwriting and our solid growing portfolio of companies and sponsors in well-selected industry segments. This quarter's unrealized depreciation of $5.7 million reflects $15.4 million net unrealized depreciation related to our Pepper Palace investment, significantly offset by a broad appreciation across the rest of our core and broadly syndicated portfolios.

我們的核心 BDC 投資組合（不包括我們的 CLO 和合資企業）相對於成本上漲了 0.2%，反映了我們承保的實力以及我們在精心挑選的行業領域中不斷增長的公司和贊助商組合。本季未實現折舊 570 萬美元反映了與我們的 Pepper Palace 投資相關的 1,540 萬美元未實現淨折舊，該折舊被我們其他核心和廣泛銀團投資組合的廣泛升值所抵消。

Consistent with Q2 and since quarter-end, we continue to see improvements in pricing in the broadly syndicated loan market that would increase that portfolio at fair value if marked as of today. Importantly, we raised $34 million of equity since last quarter-end, increasing our NAV from $338 million as of May 31, 2023, to approximately $372 million on a pro forma basis as of today using our August 31, 2023, NAV as a basis. This equity provides additional balance sheet strength and reduces our regulatory leverage and supports our strong originations.

與第二季和季末以來的情況一致，我們繼續看到廣泛的銀團貸款市場的定價有所改善，如果截至今天標記，這將增加該投資組合的公允價值。重要的是，自上季末以來，我們籌集了3,400 萬美元的股本，以2023 年8 月31 日的資產淨值為基礎，將我們的資產淨值從截至2023 年5 月31 日的3.3​​8 億美元增加到截至今天的約3.72 億美元。這種股權提供了額外的資產負債表實力，降低了我們的監管槓桿，並支持我們強大的起源。

Our portfolio strength is further manifested in our many key performance indicators this past quarter outlined on Slide 2, including, first, following sequential quarterly adjusted NII per share increases of 33% in Q3, 27% in Q4 and 10% in Q1, adjusted NII remained unchanged from Q1 at $1.08 per share, including a $0.03 dilution from the increased share count resulting from our ATM equity issuances. These earnings reflect an 86% increase from 58% -- $0.58 last year.

我們的投資組合實力進一步體現在投影片2 中列出的上一季的許多關鍵績效指標中，包括首先，調整後的每股NII 連續季度調整後的NII 在第三季度增長33%，在第第四季成長27%，在第一季成長10%與第一季每股 1.08 美元保持不變，其中包括因 ATM 股票發行而增加的股數導致的 0.03 美元稀釋。這些收益比去年的 58%（0.58 美元）增加了 86%。

Second, current assets under management grew to approximately $1.1 billion, a record level. And third, our dividend increased to $0.71 per share, our largest dividend yet, up 31% from $0.54 per share in Q2 last year; up 1.4% from $0.70 per share last quarter; and overearned by 52% as compared to this quarter's $1.08 per share adjusted NII.

其次，管理的流動資產增至約 11 億美元，創歷史新高。第三，我們的股息增加至每股 0.71 美元，這是我們迄今為止最大的股息，比去年第二季的每股 0.54 美元增加了 31%；較上季每股 0.70 美元上漲 1.4%；與本季調整後每股 1.08 美元的 NII 相比，超額收益達 52%。

We continue our prudence and discernment in terms of new commitments in the current environment. Our originations this quarter demonstrate that despite an overall robust pipeline, there are periods like the current one where many of the investments we review do not meet our high-quality credit standards. We originated 1 new portfolio company investment this fiscal quarter and had 17 smaller follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies we know well with strong business models and balance sheets.

在當前環境下，我們對新的承諾繼續保持謹慎和洞察力。我們本季的啟動表明，儘管整體管道強勁，但在像當前這樣的時期，我們審查的許多投資不符合我們的高品質信用標準。本財季，我們發起了 1 項新的投資組合公司投資，並對我們熟悉的現有投資組合公司進行了 17 項較小的後續投資，這些公司擁有強大的業務模式和資產負債表。

Originations this quarter totaled $28 million with $6 million of repayments and amortization. Our credit quality for this quarter remained high at 98.2% of credits rated in our highest credit category, adding 1 additional credit to nonaccrual with 2 now on nonaccrual in total. With 85% of our investments at quarter-end in first lien debt and generally supported by strong enterprise values and balance sheets in industries that have historically performed well in stressed situations, we believe our portfolio and leverage is well structured for a challenging economic conditions and uncertainty.

本季的發起總額為 2,800 萬美元，其中還款和攤銷額為 600 萬美元。本季我們的信貸品質仍然很高，在我們最高信貸類別中評級的信貸佔 98.2%，在非應計信貸中增加了 1 個額外信貸，目前總共有 2 個非應計信貸。截至季末，我們85% 的投資是第一留置權債務，並且通常受到歷史上在壓力情況下表現良好的行業的強大企業價值和資產負債表的支持，我們相信我們的投資組合和槓桿結構良好，可以應對充滿挑戰的經濟條件，並且不確定。

Saratoga's annualized second quarter dividend of $0.71 per share and adjusted net investment income of $1.08 per share imply an 11.7% dividend yield and a 17.8% earnings yield based on its recent stock price of $24.24 on October 6, 2023. The overearning of the dividend by $0.37 this quarter, or $1.48 annualized per share, increases NAV, supports the increasing dividend level and growth and provides a cushion against adverse events.

薩拉託加第二季年化股息為每股0.71 美元，調整後淨投資收益為每股1.08 美元，根據其2023 年10 月6 日的最新股價24.24 美元計算，股息殖利率為11.7%，獲利收益率為17.8%。本季 0.37 美元，即每股年化價值 1.48 美元，增加了資產淨值，支持了股息水平的提高和增長，並為不利事件提供了緩衝。

In volatile economic conditions such as we are currently experiencing, balance sheet strength, liquidity and NAV preservation remain paramount for us. Our capital structure at quarter-end was strong, $362 million of mark-to-market equity; supporting $571 million of long-term, covenant-free non-SBIC debt; $189 million of long-term, covenant-free SBIC debentures; and $35 million of long-term revolving borrowings. Our total committed undrawn lending and discretionary funding facilities outstanding to existing portfolio companies are $141 million with $58 million committed and $83 million discretionary.

在我們目前經歷的動盪的經濟環境下，資產負債表實力、流動性和資產淨值保護對我們來說仍然至關重要。季度末我們的資本結構強勁，以市值計算的股本為 3.62 億美元；支持 5.71 億美元的長期、無契約的非 SBIC 債務； 1.89 億美元的長期、無契約的 SBIC 債券；以及3500萬美元的長期循環借款。我們向現有投資組合公司提供的未提取貸款和可自由支配融資總額為 1.41 億美元，其中承諾金額為 5,800 萬美元，可自由支配金額為 8,300 萬美元。

Our debt maturity schedule ranges primarily from 2 to 10 years, providing a solid credit structure at a fixed cost and with favorable terms, positioning us well for both the current rising rate environment or should overall economic challenges arise. And at quarter-end, we had a substantial $239 million of investment capacity available to support our portfolio companies with $161 million available through our newly approved SBIC III fund; $30 million from our expanded revolving credit facility; and $48 million in cash.

我們的債務到期期限主要為 2 至 10 年，以固定成本和優惠條件提供堅實的信貸結構，使我們能夠應對當前利率上升的環境或整體經濟挑戰。截至季末，我們擁有 2.39 億美元的投資能力，可透過新核准的 SBIC III 基金提供 1.61 億美元的投資能力來支持我們的投資組合公司；來自我們擴大的循環信貸額度的 3000 萬美元；以及 4800 萬美元現金。

Saratoga Investment's second quarter demonstrated strong performance within our key performance indicators as compared to the quarters ended August 31, 2022, and May 31, 2023. Our adjusted NII is $13.2 million this quarter, up 89% from last year and up 2% from last quarter. Our adjusted NII per share is $1.08 this quarter, up 86% from $0.58 last year and unchanged from $1.08 last quarter.

Saratoga Investment's second quarter demonstrated strong performance within our key performance indicators as compared to the quarters ended August 31, 2022, and May 31, 2023. Our adjusted NII is $13.2 million this quarter, up 89% from last year and up 2% from last四分之一.本季調整後每股 NII 為 1.08 美元，比去年的 0.58 美元成長 86%，與上季的 1.08 美元持平。

Latest 12 months return on equity is 9.6%, up from 4.8% last year and up from 7.2% last quarter and beating the industry average of 5.1%. Our NAV per share is $28.44 and up 0.6% from $28.27 last year and down 0.1% from $28.48 last quarter and substantially ahead of the latest 12 months industry average that is down 3.5%. And our NAV is up to $372 million from $338 million last quarter, including the $10 million raised in equity since quarter end. Henri will provide more detail later.

最近 12 個月的股本回報率為 9.6%，高於去年的 4.8%，高於上季的 7.2%，超過業界平均 5.1%。我們的每股資產淨值為 28.44 美元，較去年的 28.27 美元上漲 0.6%，較上季度的 28.48 美元下降 0.1%，大幅高於最近 12 個月下降 3.5% 的行業平均水平。我們的資產淨值從上季的 3.38 億美元增至 3.72 億美元，其中包括自季末以來籌集的 1,000 萬美元股本。亨利稍後將提供更多細節。

As you can see on Slide 3, our assets under management has steadily and consistently risen since we took over the BDC 13 years ago and the quality of our credits remains high with only 2 credits on nonaccrual. Our management team is working diligently to continue this positive trend as we deploy our available capital into our growing pipeline while at the same time being appropriately cautious in this volatile and evolving credit environment.

正如您在幻燈片 3 中看到的，自 13 年前接管 BDC 以來，我們管理的資產持續穩定增長，並且我們的信貸品質仍然很高，只有 2 個非應計信貸。我們的管理團隊正在努力工作，以延續這一積極趨勢，將可用資本部署到不斷增長的管道中，同時在這個不穩定和不斷變化的信貸環境中保持適當的謹慎。

With that, I would like to now turn the call back over to Henri to review our financial results as well as the composition and performance of our portfolio.

現在，我想將電話轉回亨利，以審查我們的財務表現以及我們投資組合的組成和績效。

Thank you, Chris. Slide 4 highlights our key performance metrics for the fiscal second quarter ended August 31, 2023, most of which Chris already touched on. Of note, the weighted average common shares outstanding of 12.2 million shares in Q2 increased from 12.0 million last year and 11.9 million last quarter.

謝謝你，克里斯。投影片 4 重點介紹了我們截至 2023 年 8 月 31 日的第二財季的關鍵績效指標，其中大部分指標 Chris 已經談到。值得注意的是，第二季已發行普通股的加權平均數為 1,220 萬股，高於去年的 1,200 萬股和上季的 1,190 萬股。

Adjusted NII increased this quarter, up 89.0% from last year and up 2.4% from last quarter, primarily from: first, the impact of higher interest rates, both base rates and spreads, with a weighted average current coupon on non-CLO BDC investments increasing from 9.9% to 12.6% year-over-year, but down from 12.7% last quarter; second, average non-CLO BDC assets increased by 16.4% year-over-year and by 2.2% since last quarter; and third, other income included a $1.6 million dividend received from the Saratoga Investment joint venture. Adjusted NII yield was 15.0%. This yield is unchanged from last quarter but up from 8.2% last year.

本季調整後NII成長，較去年成長89.0%，較上季成長2.4%，主要來自：一是利率（包括基本利率與利差）上升的影響，以及非CLO BDC投資的加權平均當期息票年比成長9.9%至12.6%，但低於上季的12.7%；其次，平均非 CLO BDC 資產年增 16.4%，較上季成長 2.2%；第三，其他收入包括從薩拉託加投資合資企業收到的 160 萬美元股息。調整後NII收益率為15.0%。該收益率與上季持平，但高於去年的 8.2%。

Total expenses for this Q2, excluding interest and debt financing expenses, base management fees and incentive fees and income and excise taxes, decreased from $2.3 million to $2.1 million as compared to last quarter, an increase from $1.6 million from last year. This represented 0.7% of average total assets on an annualized basis, down from 0.8% at both Q2 last year and last quarter. Also, we have again added the KPI Slides 27 through 30 in the appendix at the end of the presentation that shows our income statement and balance sheet metrics for the past 9 quarters and the upward trends we have maintained, including a 66% increase in net interest margin over the past year.

第二季的總支出（不包括利息和債務融資費用、基本管理費和獎勵費以及所得稅和消費稅）從上季度的 230 萬美元減少到 210 萬美元，比去年的 160 萬美元有所增加。以年化計算，這佔平均總資產的 0.7%，低於去年第二季和上一季的 0.8%。此外，我們在簡報末尾的附錄中再次添加了 KPI 幻燈片 27 至 30，顯示了我們過去 9 個季度的損益表和資產負債表指標以及我們保持的上升趨勢，包括淨值增長 66%過去一年的息差。

Moving on to Slide 5. NAV was $362.1 million as of this quarter-end, a $24.6 million increase from last quarter and a $24.9 million increase from the same quarter last year. This quarter, the main driver of the growth was the $24.3 million of equity issued under the ATM program with $14.0 million of net investment income fully offset by $6.0 million of net realized and unrealized losses and $8.4 million of dividends declared. In addition, during Q2, $0.75 million of stock dividend distributions were made through the company's DRIP plan. No shares were repurchased during this quarter.

轉到投影片 5。截至本季末，資產淨值為 3.621 億美元，比上季增加 2,460 萬美元，比去年同期增加 2,490 萬美元。本季成長的主要推動力是根據 ATM 計劃發行的 2,430 萬美元股本，其中 1,400 萬美元的淨投資收入完全被 600 萬美元的已實現和未實現淨虧損以及 840 萬美元的股息所抵消。此外，第二季度，透過公司的 DRIP 計劃分配了 75 萬美元的股票股息。本季沒有回購股票。

This chart also includes our historical NAV per share, which highlights how this important metric has increased 16 of the past 22 quarters with Q2 slightly down by $0.04. Over the long term, our net asset value has steadily increased since 2011. And this growth has been accretive as demonstrated by the consistent increase in NAV per share. We continue to benefit from our history of consistent realized and unrealized gains.

該圖表還包括我們的歷史每股資產淨值，突顯了這一重要指標如何在過去 22 個季度中的 16 個季度中增長，其中第二季度略有下降 0.04 美元。從長期來看，我們的資產淨值自 2011 年以來一直在穩步增長。每股資產淨值的持續增長就證明了這種增長是增值的。我們繼續受益於我們一貫的已實現和未實現收益的歷史。

On Slide 6, you will see a simple reconciliation of the major changes in adjusted NII and NAV per share on a sequential quarterly basis. Starting at the top, adjusted NII per share was unchanged despite $0.03 of net dilution from the ATM equity offering with a $0.14 increase in non-CLO net interest income from higher AUM and rates offset by a $0.12 decrease in other income from lower originations this quarter and a $0.02 increase in base management fees driven by the higher AUM. On the lower half of the slide, NAV per share decreased by $0.04 primarily due to the $0.47 in unrealized depreciation and $0.70 dividend recognized in the quarter, offsetting the $1.15 in GAAP NII.

在投影片 6 上，您將看到連續季度調整後的 NII 和每股 NAV 的主要變化的簡單調節。從頂部開始，儘管ATM 股票發行帶來了0.03 美元的淨稀釋，但本季度非CLO 淨利息收入因AUM 增加而增加了0.14 美元，且利率被較低來源的其他收入減少了0.12 美元所抵消，調整後的每股NII 保持不變由於資產管理規模增加，基本管理費增加了 0.02 美元。在下滑的下半部分，每股資產淨值下降了 0.04 美元，主要是由於未實現折舊 0.47 美元和本季度確認的 0.70 美元股息，抵消了 GAAP NII 的 1.15 美元。

Slide 7 outlines the dry powder available to us as of quarter-end, which totaled $239.4 million. This was spread between our available cash, undrawn SBA debentures and undrawn secured credit facility. This quarter-end level of available liquidity allows us to grow our assets by an additional 22% without the need for external financing with $48.4 million of quarter-end cash available, and that's fully accretive to NII when deployed, and $161 million of available SBA debentures with its low-cost pricing, also very accretive.

投影片 7 概述了截至季末我們可用的乾粉，總額為 2.394 億美元。這分佈在我們的可用現金、未提取的 SBA 債券和未提取的擔保信貸額度之間。季末的可用流動性水準使我們的資產能夠額外增長 22%，而無需外部融資，季末可用現金為 4,840 萬美元，部署後可充分增加 NII，以及 1.61 億美元的可用 SBA債券以其低廉的定價，也具有很大的增值性。

We remain pleased with our available liquidity and our leverage position, including our access to diverse sources of both public and private liquidity and especially taking into account the overall conservative nature of our balance sheet. The fact that almost all our debt is long term in nature with almost no non-SBIC debt maturing within the next 2 years, and importantly, that almost all our debt is fixed rate in this rising rate environment. Also, our debt is structured in such a way that we have no BDC covenants that can be stressed and with available call options in the next 2 years on the debt with higher coupons, important during such volatile interest rate times.

我們對我們的可用流動性和槓桿狀況仍然感到滿意，包括我們獲得公共和私人流動性的多種來源，特別是考慮到我們資產負債表的整體保守性質。事實上，我們幾乎所有的債務本質上都是長期的，幾乎沒有非SBIC 債務在未來兩年內到期，而且重要的是，在這種利率上升的環境下，我們幾乎所有的債務都是固定利率的。此外，我們的債務結構使得我們沒有可以強調的 BDC 契約，並且在未來 2 年內對票面較高的債務有可用的看漲期權，這在利率波動的時期很重要。

Now I would like to move on to Slides 8 through 12 and review the composition and yield of our investment portfolio. Slide 8 highlights that we now have $1.1 billion of AUM at fair value. And this is invested in 55 portfolio companies, 1 CLO fund and 1 joint venture. Our first lien percentage is 85% of our total investments, of which 30% is in first lien last-out positions.

現在我想轉到投影片 8 到 12，回顧一下我們投資組合的組成和收益率。投影片 8 強調我們現在以公允價值計算的資產管理規模為 11 億美元。其投資了55家投資組合公司、1支CLO基金和1家合資企業。我們的第一留置權比例佔總投資的 85%，其中 30% 位於第一留置權後出位置。

On Slide 9, you can see how the yield on our core BDC assets, excluding our CLO, has changed over time, especially this past year. This quarter, our core BDC yield was down slightly 10 bps to 12.6%. The slight increase in rates during Q1 was more than offset by Pepper Palace going on nonaccrual. The CLO yield decreased slightly from 9.3% to 8.9% last quarter, reflecting the increase in value from improved market performance. The CLO is performing and current.

在投影片 9 上，您可以看到我們核心 BDC 資產（不包括 CLO）的收益率如何隨著時間的推移而變化，尤其是在過去的一年。本季度，我們的核心 BDC 殖利率小幅下降 10 個基點至 12.6%。第一季利率的小幅上漲被 Pepper Palace 的非應計利息所抵銷。 CLO 收益率從上季度的 9.3% 略有下降至 8.9%，反映出市場表現改善帶來的價值增加。 CLO 正在執行且處於目前狀態。

Slide 10 shows how rates have stabilized the past 3 months with the average 3-month SOFR used in our portfolio of 5.24%, close to both the average rates for Q2 of 5.31% and the quarter-end rate of 5.4%, which is also the price of SOFR recently. Despite SOFR not rising recently, with 99% of our interest-earning assets using variable rates, earnings will continue to benefit from these higher rate levels in Q3 and Q4 while all but $55 million of our borrowings is fixed rate and will not be impacted by these increases in base rates. There is uncertainty about the future of rates, but we stand to continue to gain as rates rise or stay elevated.

投影片 10 顯示了過去 3 個月利率如何趨於穩定，我們投資組合中使用的平均 3 個月 SOFR 為 5.24%，接近第二季度的平均利率 5.31% 和季末利率 5.4%，這也是近期SOFR的價格。儘管SOFR 最近沒有上升，但我們99% 的生息資產使用浮動利率，收益將繼續受益於第三季度和第四季度較高的利率水平，而我們的借款中除5500 萬美元外的所有借款均為固定利率，不會受到浮動利率的影響。基本費率的增加。利率的未來存在不確定性，但隨著利率上升或維持在高位，我們將繼續受益。

Slide 11 shows how our investments are diversified throughout the U.S. And on Slide 12, you can see the industry breadth and diversity that our portfolio represents, spread over 43 distinct industries in addition to our investments in the CLO and joint venture, which are included as structured finance securities. Of our total investment portfolio, 9.2% consists currently of equity interest, which remain an important part of our overall investment strategy.

投影片 11 顯示了我們的投資如何在美國多元化。在投影片 12 上，您可以看到我們的投資組合所代表的產業廣度和多樣性，除了我們對 CLO 和合資企業的投資（包括：結構性融資證券。目前，在我們總投資組合中，股權佔9.2%，這仍然是我們整體投資策略的重要組成部分。

Slide 13 shows that for the past 11 fiscal years, we had a combined $81.6 million of net realized gains from the sale of equity interest or sale or early redemption of other investments. This consistent realized gain performance highlights our portfolio credit quality has helped grow our NAV and is reflected in our healthy long-term ROE.

投影片 13 顯示，在過去 11 個財年中，我們透過出售股權或出售或提前贖回其他投資獲得了總計 8,160 萬美元的已實現淨收益。這種一致的已實現收益表現凸顯了我們的投資組合信用品質有助於提高我們的資產淨值，並反映在我們健康的長期淨資產收益率中。

That concludes my financial and portfolio review. I will now turn the call over to Michael Grisius, our Chief Investment Officer, for an overview of the investment market.

我的財務和投資組合審查到此結束。我現在將把電話轉給我們的首席投資長 Michael Grisius，以了解投資市場的概況。

Thank you, Henri. I'll take a few minutes to describe our perspective on the current state of the market and then comment on our current portfolio performance and investment strategy.

謝謝你，亨利。我將花幾分鐘來描述我們對當前市場狀況的看法，然後評論我們當前的投資組合表現和投資策略。

The overall deal market has remained relatively unchanged since our last update as it seems to be in a bit of a holding pattern to see what happens in the broader macro environment. While liquidity among private equity firms remains abundant, an opaque economic outlook, high financing costs and elevated levels of inflation continue to constrain the private equity deal market, which drives much of the demand for new credits.

自從我們上次更新以來，整體交易市場保持相對不變，因為它似乎處於某種持有模式，以觀察更廣泛的宏觀環境中會發生什麼。儘管私募股權公司的流動性仍然充裕，但不透明的經濟前景、高昂的融資成本和通膨水準繼續限制私募股權交易市場，而私募股權交易市場在很大程度上推動了新信貸的需求。

Lenders, especially banks remain more risk-sensitive, backing off historically volatile sectors and taking a harder stance on the use of capital, which creates a lending vacuum for borrowers. Overall, lenders are requiring greater equity capitalizations regardless of the enterprise multiple and, in some cases, have reduced their pace of deployment as well as their hold positions. All of these factors are positive for us as we have been seeing more attractive opportunities come our way as we fill gaps that have arisen in the market. And we have a very actionable deal pipeline.

貸款機構，尤其是銀行，仍然對風險更加敏感，退出歷史上波動較大的行業，並對資本的使用採取更強硬的立場，這給借款人造成了貸款真空。總體而言，無論企業倍數如何，貸方都需要更大的股本資本，並且在某些情況下，貸方已經減少了部署速度以及持有頭寸。所有這些因素對我們來說都是正面的，因為隨著我們填補市場上出現的空白，我們看到了更多有吸引力的機會。我們有一個非常可行的交易管道。

Leverage levels appear to have come down at the margin but remain full for strong credits. Absolute yields continue to grow with absolute SOFR increasing another 11 basis points during our fiscal second quarter and have remained there. The widening spread we had been experiencing in recent quarters appears to have stabilized. With fears of an economic slowdown dampening among some market participants, we have seen some lenders offer tighter spreads to win mandates.

槓桿水平似乎有所下降，但由於信貸強勁，槓桿水平仍然充足。絕對殖利率持續成長，絕對 SOFR 在我們第二財季又增加了 11 個基點，並且一直保持在這一水平。最近幾季我們所經歷的不斷擴大的利差似乎已經穩定下來。隨著一些市場參與者對經濟放緩的擔憂減弱，我們看到一些貸方提供更窄的利差以贏得授權。

And the Saratoga management team has successfully managed through a number of credit cycles. And that experience has made us particularly aware of the importance of, first, being disciplined when making investment decisions; and second, being proactive in managing our portfolio. We're keeping a very watchful eye on how continued inflationary pressures and labor costs, rising rates and the potential economic slowdown could affect both prospective and existing portfolio companies. A natural focus currently remains supporting on existing portfolio companies through follow-ons.

薩拉託加管理團隊已成功度過了多個信貸週期。這次經驗讓我們特別意識到，第一，投資決策時要遵守紀律；其次，積極主動地管理我們的投資組合。我們正在密切關注持續的通膨壓力和勞動力成本、利率上升以及潛在的經濟放緩可能對未來和現有投資組合公司產生的影響。目前的自然焦點仍然是透過後續公司支持現有的投資組合公司。

Our underwriting bar remains high as usual, yet we continue to find opportunities to deploy capital. The first 9 months of calendar year 2023 was very strong deployment environment for us, already exceeding our origination efforts from last year. Follow-on investments in existing borrowers with strong business models and balance sheets continued to be a healthy avenue of capital deployment as demonstrated with 54 follow-ons since the beginning of calendar 2023, including delayed draws. In addition, we have invested in nine new platform investments so far this calendar year.

我們的承保門檻仍然像往常一樣高，但我們繼續尋找部署資本的機會。 2023 年曆年的前 9 個月對我們來說是非常強大的部署環境，已經超過了我們去年的啟動工作。對具有強大業務模式和資產負債表的現有借款人的後續投資仍然是資本配置的健康途徑，自 2023 年初以來的 54 項後續投資（包括延遲提款）證明了這一點。此外，今年到目前為止，我們已經投資了九個新平台。

Portfolio management continues to be critically important. And we remain actively engaged with our portfolio companies and in close contact with our management teams, especially in this uncertain market environment. All of our loans in our portfolio are paying according to their payment terms, except for our Nolan investment that remains on nonaccrual as we have moved to PIK interest for a period of time, and Pepper Palace that we have placed on nonaccrual this quarter after missing its August interest payment.

投資組合管理仍然至關重要。我們仍然積極與我們的投資組合公司合作，並與我們的管理團隊保持密切聯繫，特別是在這個不確定的市場環境下。我們投資組合中的所有貸款均根據其付款條件進行支付，但Nolan 投資仍為非應計利息，因為我們已在一段時間內轉向PIK 利息，而Pepper Palace 則在本季度因缺失而轉為非應計利息。八月的利息支付。

After recognizing the net unrealized depreciation on our overall portfolio this quarter, Saratoga's core BDC portfolio is still 0.2% above cost. And its overall assets, including the CLO and JV, are now 1.4% below cost. Despite the significant write-down of one asset this quarter, we believe our overall strong performance reflects certain attributes of our portfolio that bolster its overall durability.

在認識到本季我們整體投資組合的未實現淨折舊後，薩拉託加的核心 BDC 投資組合仍比成本高出 0.2%。其整體資產（包括 CLO 和 JV）目前比成本低 1.4%。儘管本季一項資產大幅減記，但我們相信我們的整體強勁表現反映了我們投資組合的某些屬性，這些屬性增強了其整體耐久性。

85% of our portfolio is in first lien debt and generally supported by strong enterprise values in industries that have historically performed well in stressed situations. We have no direct energy or commodity exposure. In addition, the majority of our portfolio is comprised of businesses that produce a high degree of recurring revenue and have historically demonstrated strong revenue retention.

我們的投資組合中 85% 屬於第一留置權債務，並且通常受到歷史上在壓力情況下表現良好的行業的強大企業價值的支持。我們沒有直接的能源或商品風險。此外，我們的大部分投資組合由產生大量經常性收入且歷來表現出強勁收入保留的業務組成。

Our approach has always been to stay focused on the quality of our underwriting. And as you can see on Slide 14, this approach has resulted in our portfolio performance being at the top of the BDC space with respect to net realized gains as a percentage of portfolio at cost. We are only 1 of 12 BDCs that have a positive number over the past 3 years, currently fourth overall. Our internal credit quality rating reflects the impact of current market volatility and shows 98.2% of our portfolio at our highest credit rating as of quarter-end.

我們的方法始終是專注於承保品質。正如您在投影片 14 中看到的那樣，就淨實現收益佔投資組合成本的百分比而言，這種方法使我們的投資組合績效處於 BDC 領域的頂部。我們只是過去 3 年實現正值的 12 個 BDC 中的一個，目前總體排名第四。我們的內部信用品質評級反映了當前市場波動的影響，並顯示我們 98.2% 的投資組合處於截至季度末的最高信用評級。

Part of our investment strategy is to selectively co-invest in the equity of our portfolio companies when we're given that opportunity and when we believe in the equity upside potential. This equity co-investment strategy has not only served as yield protection for our portfolio but also meaningfully augmented our overall portfolio returns as demonstrated on this slide and the previous one. And we intend to continue this strategy.

我們投資策略的一部分是，當我們有機會並且相信股票上漲潛力時，有選擇地共同投資我們投資組合公司的股票。這種股權共同投資策略不僅為我們的投資組合提供了收益保護，而且還有意義地提高了我們的整體投資組合回報，如本投影片和上一張投影片所示。我們打算繼續這項戰略。

Now looking at leverage on Slide 15, you can see that industry debt multiples have come down this year from their historically high levels. Total leverage for our overall portfolio was 4.2x, excluding Nolan and Pepper Palace, while the industry is now around 5x leverage. In addition, this slide illustrates the strength of our deal flow and our consistent ability to generate new investments over the long term despite ever-changing and increasingly competitive market dynamics. During the second quarter, we added another new portfolio company and made 15 follow-on investments.

現在看看幻燈片 15 上的槓桿率，您可以看到今年行業債務倍數已從歷史高點回落。我們整體投資組合的總槓桿率為 4.2 倍（不包括 Nolan 和 Pepper Palace），而該行業目前的槓桿率為 5 倍左右。此外，這張投影片還展示了我們交易流的實力以及我們在長期內持續產生新投資的能力，儘管市場動態不斷變化且競爭日益激烈。第二季度，我們又增加了一家新的投資組合公司，並進行了 15 項後續投資。

Despite the success we're having investing in highly attractive businesses and growing our portfolio and the increased deal flow we are seeing, it is important to emphasize, as always, we're not aiming to grow simply for growth's sake, especially in the face of this uncertain macro environment. Our capital deployment bar is always high and is conditioned upon healthy confidence that each incremental investment is in a durable business and will be accretive to our shareholders.

儘管我們在投資極具吸引力的業務、擴大投資組合以及我們所看到的交易量增加方面取得了成功，但重要的是要一如既往地強調，我們的目標並不是僅僅為了增長而增長，特別是在面臨在這種不確定的宏觀環境下。我們的資本部署標準始終很高，並以健康的信心為條件，即每項增量投資都是針對持久的業務，並將為我們的股東帶來增值。

Now Slide 16 provides more data on our deal flow previously discussed, demonstrating how our team's skill set, experience and relationships continue to mature and our significant focus on business development has led to multiple new strategic relationships that have become sources for new deals.

現在，投影片16 提供了有關我們之前討論的交易流程的更多數據，展示了我們團隊的技能、經驗和關係如何不斷成熟，以及我們對業務發展的高度重視如何導致了多種新的策略關係，這些關係已成為新交易的來源。

What is especially pleasing to us is 5 of the 9 new portfolio companies over the past 12 months are from newly formed relationships, reflecting notable progress as we expand our business development efforts. The significant progress we've made in building broader and deeper relationships in the marketplace is noteworthy because it strengthens the dependability of our deal flow and reinforces our ability to remain highly selective as we rigorously screen opportunities to execute on the best investments.

尤其令我們高興的是，過去 12 個月的 9 家新投資組合公司中有 5 家來自新建立的關係，這反映出我們在擴大業務發展努力方面取得了顯著進展。我們在市場上建立更廣泛、更深入的關係方面取得的重大進展值得注意，因為它增強了我們交易流的可靠性，並增強了我們在嚴格篩選執行最佳投資的機會時保持高度選擇性的能力。

As you can see on Slide 17, our overall portfolio credit quality remains solid. The gross unlevered IRR unrealized investments made by the Saratoga Investment management team is 15.6% on $908 million of realizations. On the chart on the right, you can see the total gross unlevered IRR on our $1.1 billion of combined weighted SBIC and BDC unrealized investments is 10.6% since Saratoga took over management.

正如您在投影片 17 中看到的，我們的整體投資組合信用品質仍然穩定。薩拉託加投資管理團隊的無槓桿 IRR 未實現投資總額為 15.6%，已實現投資金額為 9.08 億美元。在右側圖表中，您可以看到自薩拉託加接管管理以來，我們 11 億美元的加權 SBIC 和 BDC 未實現投資的總無槓桿 IRR 為 10.6%。

As of this quarter, we downgraded Pepper Palace from yellow to red. Nolan remains yellow. And these two investments remain our only non-green investments. Nolan has been yellow for a while now since COVID, being more dependent on in-person business interaction and on nonaccrual status since last year. There was no significant change to the mark from Q1. The current unrealized depreciation reflects the current performance of the company but does not change our view of the fundamental long-term prospects for the business.

截至本季度，我們將 Pepper Palace 從黃色下調至紅色。諾蘭仍然是黃色的。這兩項投資仍然是我們唯一的非綠色投資。自從新冠疫情以來，諾蘭已經處於黃色狀態一段時間了，自去年以來，他更加依賴面對面的業務互動和非應計狀態。與第一季相比，標記沒有顯著變化。目前未實現的折舊反映了公司目前的業績，但並沒有改變我們對業務基本長期前景的看法。

Pepper Palace continued to suffer from poor performance. And this quarter's results resulted in a significant write-down to the mark of $15.4 million. This reduced the overall fair value to $7.9 million, which is about 1/4 of its overall cost, leaving the total depreciation at approximately $26.4 million since investment on our first lien term loan and equity investments.

Pepper Palace 繼續遭受業績不佳的困擾。本季的業績導致大幅減記，達到 1540 萬美元。這將整體公允價值降低至 790 萬美元，約為其總成本的 1/4，使自我們第一筆留置權定期貸款和股權投資投資以來的總折舊約為 2,640 萬美元。

This markdown reflects the current performance and cash flow issues the company is experiencing. We are actively engaged with the company and the sponsor to assess future options and execute on significant restructuring plans. The company has brought new resources to the business and is undertaking initiatives aimed at improving performance.

此次降價反映了該公司目前正在經歷的業績和現金流問題。我們積極與公司和保薦人合作，評估未來的選擇並執行重大重組計劃。該公司為業務帶來了新的資源，並正在採取旨在提高業績的措施。

This quarter's $5.7 million net unrealized depreciation primarily reflects the $15.4 million of unrealized depreciation on the company's Pepper Palace investment, offset by approximately $3.9 million of net unrealized appreciation across the remainder of the portfolio, driven relatively evenly by current company performance and market spreads and $5.8 million of unrealized depreciation on the company's CLO and JV equity investments, reflecting the volatility in the broadly syndicated loan market as of quarter-end. Our overall investment approach has yielded exceptional realized returns and recovery of our invested capital.

本季570 萬美元的未實現淨折舊主要反映了公司Pepper Palace 投資的1540 萬美元的未實現折舊，被投資組合其餘部分的約390 萬美元的未實現淨增值所抵消，該增值受到當前公司業績和市場利差相對均勻的推動，5.8 美元該公司的 CLO 和 JV 股權投資存在 100 萬美元的未實現折舊，反映了截至季度末廣泛銀團貸款市場的波動性。我們的整體投資方法產生了卓越的已實現回報和投資資本回收。

Moving on to Slide 18. You can see our first and second SBIC licenses are fully funded and deployed. We are currently ramping up our new SBIC III license with $161 million of lower-cost undrawn debentures available, allowing us to continue to support U.S. small businesses.

轉到投影片 18。您可以看到我們的第一個和第二個 SBIC 許可證已充分資助和部署。我們目前正在擴大新的 SBIC III 許可證，提供 1.61 億美元的低成本未支用債券，使我們能夠繼續支持美國小型企業。

This concludes my review of the market. And I'd like to turn the call back over to our CEO. Chris?

我對市場的回顧到此結束。我想將電話轉回給我們的執行長。克里斯？

Thank you, Mike. As outlined on Slide 19, our latest dividend of $0.71 per share for the quarter ended August 31, 2023, was paid on September 28, 2023.

謝謝你，麥克。如投影片 19 所示，我們於 2023 年 9 月 28 日支付了截至 2023 年 8 月 31 日的季度的最新股息每股 0.71 美元。

This is the largest quarterly dividend in our history and reflects a 37% and 31% increase over the past 2 years and latest 12 months, respectively. The Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the dividend level on at least a quarterly basis, considering both the company and general economic factors, including the near-term impact of rising base rates and increased spreads on our earnings.

這是我們史上最大的季度股息，過去 2 年和最近 12 個月分別成長了 37% 和 31%。董事會將繼續至少每季評估一次股息水平，同時考慮公司和總體經濟因素，包括基本利率上升和利差擴大對我們收益的近期影響。

Recognizing the divergence of opinions on the future direction of interest rate levels and overall economic performance, Saratoga's Q2 overearning of its dividend by 52% or $1.08 versus $0.71 per share this quarter provides substantial cushion in any circumstance, should economic conditions deteriorate or base rates decline.

由於意識到對利率水準和整體經濟表現的未來方向存在意見分歧，薩拉託加第二季度的股息超額增長52%，即1.08 美元，本季度每股0.71 美元，在任何情況下，如果經濟狀況惡化或基本利率下降，都可以提供巨大的緩衝。

Moving to Slide 20. Our total return for the last 12 months, which includes both capital appreciation and dividends, has generated total returns of 16%, outperforming the BDC index of 12% for the same period.

轉向投影片 20。過去 12 個月的總回報率（包括資本增值和股息）產生了 16% 的總回報率，優於同期 BDC 指數 12% 的回報率。

Our longer-term performance is outlined on our next slide, 21. Our 3- and 5-year returns place us in the top quartile of all BDCs for both time horizons. Over the past 3 years, our 102% return exceeded the average index return of 70%, while over the past 5 years, our 66% return exceeded the index' average of 34%. Since Saratoga took over the management of the BDC in 2010, our total return has been 688% versus the industry's 224%.

我們的長期業績在下一張投影片 21 中概述。我們的 3 年和 5 年回報率使我們在這兩個時間範圍內都處於所有 BDC 的前四分之一。過去3年，我們102%的回報率超過了指數70%的平均回報率，而過去5年，我們66%的回報率超過了指數34%的平均回報率。自 Saratoga 於 2010 年接管 BDC 的管理以來，我們的總回報率為 688%，而行業的總回報率為 224%。

On Slide 22, you can further see our performance placed in the context of the broader industry and specific to certain key performance metrics. We continue to focus on long-term metrics, such as return on equity, NAV per share, NII yield and dividend growth, all of which reflects the growing value our shareholders are receiving.

在投影片 22 上，您可以進一步看到我們在更廣泛的產業背景下的績效以及特定於某些關鍵績效指標的績效。我們繼續關注長期指標，例如股本回報率、每股資產淨值、NII 收益率和股息成長，所有這些都反映了我們的股東所獲得的不斷增長的價值。

While NAV per share decreased 0.1% this quarter, we are only down 0.6% year-over-year, while the BDC industry is down 3.5%. We continue to be one of the few BDCs to have grown NAV over the long term. And we have done it accretively. And despite the Pepper Palace and CLO markdowns this year, our latest 12 months return on equity of 9.6% is almost double the industry's 5.1% average.

雖然本季每股資產淨值下降了 0.1%，但年比僅下降了 0.6%，而 BDC 產業則下降了 3.5%。我們仍然是資產淨值長期成長的少數 BDC 之一。我們已經逐步做到了這一點。儘管 Pepper Palace 和 CLO 今年都進行了降價，但我們最近 12 個月的股本回報率為 9.6%，幾乎是行業平均 5.1% 的兩倍。

Moving on to Slide 23. All of our initiatives discussed on this call are designed to make Saratoga Investment a leading BDC that is attractive to the capital markets community. We believe that our differentiated performance characteristics outlined on this slide will help drive the size and quality of our investor base, including adding more institutions. These differentiating characteristics, many previously discussed, include maintaining one of the highest levels of management ownership in the industry at 13%, ensuring we are aligned with our shareholders.

前往投影片 23。我們在本次電話會議上討論的所有舉措都是為了使 Saratoga Investment 成為對資本市場界有吸引力的領先 BDC。我們相信，這張投影片中概述的差異化業績特徵將有助於提高我們投資者基礎的規模和質量，包括增加更多機構。這些差異化特徵（許多先前已討論過）包括將管理層持股比例維持在行業最高水平之一（13%），以確保我們與股東保持一致。

Looking ahead on Slide 24. We remain confident that our reputation, experienced management team, historically strong underwriting standards and time- and market-tested investment strategy will serve us well in navigating through the challenges and uncovering opportunities in the current and future environment and that our balance sheet, capital structure and liquidity will benefit Saratoga's shareholders in the near and long term.

展望投影片 24。我們仍然相信，我們的聲譽、經驗豐富的管理團隊、歷來強大的承保標準以及經過時間和市場考驗的投資策略將幫助我們在當前和未來的環境中應對挑戰並發現機遇，並且我們的資產負債表、資本結構和流動性將使薩拉託加的股東在短期和長期內受益。

In closing, I would again like to thank all of our shareholders for their ongoing support. And I would like to now open the call for questions.

最後，我要再次感謝所有股東的持續支持。我現在想開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question, coming from the line of Bryce Rowe with B. Riley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Bryce Rowe 和 B. Riley 的線路。

I wanted to maybe ask about the use of the equity ATM since the end of the last quarter. Can you speak to maybe the decision to go ahead and use that equity ATM, especially with the stock still trading slightly below NAV? And then wanted to kind of get a sense for, I guess, the level at which the manager will continue to subsidize those equity raises at NAV.

我想問一下自上季末以來股票ATM的使用情況。您能否談談繼續使用股票 ATM 的決定，特別是在股票交易價格仍略低於資產淨值的情況下？然後我想了解經理將繼續以資產淨值補貼這些股權融資的水平。

Sure. Well, thank you for that question. I think in our view, looking at our overall business, we are really turning away a lot of tremendous opportunities, given what we see out there. And so the key to -- for the growth is -- one of the keys is more equity. And so we thought it was a very good investment from the point of view of our shareholders to issue such equity to help support, I think, what we've described as a very robust new issuance opportunity set for the company.

當然。嗯，謝謝你提出這個問題。我認為，在我們看來，考慮到我們的整體業務，考慮到我們所看到的情況，我們確實正在放棄許多巨大的機會。因此，對於成長來說，關鍵之一是更多的公平。因此，從股東的角度來看，我們認為發行此類股權是一項非常好的投資，我認為這有助於支持我們所謂的為公司提供的非常強勁的新發行機會。

And so we saw the opportunity. We saw the opportunity in significant size. $34 million in a quarter is a very substantial amount. And with that opportunity, our judgment was that it was a good idea. And from the manager standpoint, we were happy to support and subsidize what was a slight discount to NAV, which we covered from the manager's pocket, if you will. Whether those opportunities arise and how often they arise in the future is something we can't predict. But we saw some interesting interest in demand, and we decided to meet it.

所以我們看到了機會。我們看到了巨大的機會。一個季度 3400 萬美元是一個非常大的數字。有了這個機會，我們的判斷是這是一個好主意。從經理的角度來看，我們很樂意支持和補貼資產淨值的小幅折扣，如果你願意的話，我們會從經理的口袋裡支付這筆費用。這些機會是否會出現以及未來出現的頻率是我們無法預測的。但我們看到了一些有趣的需求，我們決定滿足它。

That's helpful, Chris. And maybe a follow-up there. It sounds like there's clearly a healthy pipeline and a discerning eye at Saratoga. You've seen -- you saw balance sheet leverage kind of come down here in the quarter with the ATM usage. Is there a particular target? Do you think we'll see leverage kind of creep back up again as you put money to work? Or do you feel more comfortable operating with, I guess, a lower level of leverage than we saw maybe the last -- over the last couple of quarters?

這很有幫助，克里斯。也許還有後續行動。聽起來薩拉託加顯然有一條健康的管道和敏銳的眼睛。您已經看到，隨著 ATM 的使用，本季的資產負債表槓桿有所下降。有特定目標嗎？您認為當您投入資金時，我們會看到槓桿再次回升嗎？或者，我猜，您是否覺得使用比我們在過去幾個季度看到的槓桿水平更低的槓桿水平進行操作更舒服？

Well, I think that, that is kind of a dynamic situation. I think as we've said in past quarters, we have to balance a lot of things. And we have balanced our opportunities. And as you correctly pointed out, our leverage did increase a fair amount over the past year really to address what we saw as some greater opportunities. Clearly, over time, we want to balance the magnitude of our leverage with our opportunity set. And when we have opportunities to raise equity, we do. And we really haven't had many opportunities in the last period of time.

嗯，我認為，這是一種動態的情況。我認為正如我們在過去幾個季度所說的那樣，我們必須平衡很多事情。我們已經平衡了我們的機會。正如您正確指出的那樣，我們的槓桿率在過去一年中確實增加了相當多的金額，確實是為了應對我們認為的一些更大的機會。顯然，隨著時間的推移，我們希望平衡槓桿的大小和機會集。當我們有機會籌集股本時，我們就會這樣做。而且最近一段時間我們確實沒有太多機會。

And just recently, we did. And so we decided to take advantage of that. And we obviously remain balanced in terms of how much leverage we're going to absolutely put on versus how much equity we're able to raise. And again, it's a dynamic situation that we can't -- there are two different markets, right, the market for our equity is one thing and the market for our new originations as something else. And we're not necessarily able to precisely match them in time. But over time, we want to keep ourselves in a very solid balance sheet position.

就在最近，我們做到了。所以我們決定利用這一點。顯然，我們在絕對要投入多少槓桿與我們能夠籌集多少股本方面保持平衡。再說一次，這是我們不能做的動態情況——有兩個不同的市場，對吧，我們的股權市場是一回事，而我們的新產品市場是另一回事。而且我們不一定能夠及時精確地匹配它們。但隨著時間的推移，我們希望保持自己的資產負債表處於非常穩健的狀態。

And our next question, coming from the line of Casey Alexander with Compass Point Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Compass Point Research 的 Casey Alexander。

Yes. Your gross leverage is still around 2x. Your net leverage is around 1.5x. So to a certain extent, one could argue that, at least right now, without repayments, you're sort of loaned to the limit. What is the outlook for repayments for the balance of the year?

是的。您的總槓桿率仍約為 2 倍。您的淨槓桿約為 1.5 倍。因此，在某種程度上，有人可能會說，至少現在，在沒有還款的情況下，你的貸款已經達到了極限。今年剩餘時間的還款前景如何？

Because we're going into a period that traditionally, the end of the year is generally a fairly robust period of time for originations. So are you going to be able to participate in that? What is the outlook for repayments? And also, what is the remaining capacity in the JV for you to be able to originate investments and put investments there as well?

因為我們正進入一個傳統上的時期，年底通常是一個相當活躍的時期。那麼你能參與其中嗎？還款前景如何？另外，合資企業還有多少能力可以發起投資並在那裡進行投資？

Maybe I'll start with that. Again, I think as I just mentioned to Bryce's question, we don't 100% determine the flow of origination opportunities. And we have a group of sponsors that we've been working with, sponsors that we want to work with. And the exact flows that come off of those opportunities are things that we want to manage to keep growing and keep supporting, as we have been, our base.

也許我會從那裡開始。再說一遍，我認為正如我剛才提到的布萊斯的問題，我們並不能 100% 確定發起機會的流動。我們有一群我們一直在合作的贊助商，我們希望與他們合作。這些機會帶來的確切流量是我們希望能夠保持成長並繼續支持我們的基礎的東西。

So that's not necessarily something that we can predict in this fourth quarter precisely. In terms of leverage, we do have a -- what we feel is a significant improvement in our leverage position, given the equity issuances. And in terms of repayments, Mike, do you want to...

因此，我們不一定能在第四季準確預測這一點。在槓桿方面，我們認為，考慮到股票發行，我們的槓桿狀況確實有了顯著改善。至於還款，麥克，你想...

Yes, Casey, let me try to take that. The rule of thumb I always apply, I think you've heard me say this before, is that the portfolio of our type should generally turn over about 1/3 a year roughly. But then it never really turns over at that level. That's kind of just a rule of thumb. And in really dynamic markets where everybody is feeling super bullish, it can turn over a lot faster than that.

是的，凱西，讓我試著接受這一點。我總是遵循的經驗法則是，我們這種類型的投資組合每年大約應有 1/3 左右的周轉率，我想您之前已經聽過我這樣說過。但在那個水平上它永遠不會真正轉變。這只是一個經驗法則。在真正充滿活力的市場中，每個人都感到超級樂觀，它的轉變速度可能會比這快得多。

In this market, our shareholders are getting the benefit of us not experiencing as much turnover. And so we've got a really healthy portfolio where the owners are continuing to pay us interest and the companies are performing well. But they're deciding now is not the best time to sell because there's a disconnect between generally in the market, where sellers feel there's value and where it was historically and where buyers are willing to pay for things. And so we are getting the benefit of fewer payoffs.

在這個市場上，我們的股東從我們沒有經歷那麼多的營業額中受益。因此，我們擁有一個非常健康的投資組合，所有者繼續向我們支付利息，而且公司表現良好。但他們認為現在不是出售的最佳時機，因為市場上賣家認為有價值的地方與歷史上的價值以及買家願意支付的價格之間存在脫節。因此，我們得到了更少回報的好處。

Now having said that, we're bound to have payoffs. We certainly are aware of some that are on the horizon that are meaningful. I think the important thing though to also recognize, and I think Chris mentioned this as well, is that we have very significant availability under our SBIC license. And we don't feel that as being a constraint for us at all.

話雖如此，我們一定會得到回報。我們當然知道一些即將出現的有意義的事情。我認為重要的是要認識到，而且我認為 Chris 也提到了這一點，我們在 SBIC 許可下擁有非常重要的可用性。我們並不認為這對我們構成任何限制。

If we see a really good opportunity to invest capital through that vehicle and it's a business that's really strong, we're going to take advantage of that. I think when you get outside of the SBIC license, we're sort of balancing, as Chris mentioned, capital availability, leverage, how much we like the deal, some of those factors. And certainly, the amount of payoffs that we get will be part of that equation as well.

如果我們看到一個透過該工具進行資本投資的好機會，而該業務非常強大，我們就會利用它。我認為，當你獲得 SBIC 許可之外時，正如克里斯所提到的，我們正在平衡資本可用性、槓桿率、我們對這筆交易的喜歡程度以及其中一些因素。當然，我們獲得的回報金額也將成為該等式的一部分。

Yes. And Casey, you probably noticed we repaid $27 million of our SBIC I debentures. And although that doesn't obviously impact the net leverage, that did free up capacity there just from a gross leverage perspective as one sort of thinks about the SBIC III deployment. And you also asked about the joint venture. We have no need or requirement to put additional capital into the joint venture at this point in time.

是的。凱西，您可能注意到我們償還了 2700 萬美元的 SBIC I 債券。儘管這並沒有明顯影響淨槓桿率，但從總槓桿率的角度來看，這確實釋放了那裡的產能，就像對 SBIC III 部署的一種思考一樣。您也詢問了合資企業的情況。目前我們沒有必要或要求向合資企業投入額外資金。

So there's not going to necessarily going to be a drain of liquidity on the joint venture in the near term. It's sort of operating at a steady state now. And obviously, it's subject to the volatility of the broadly syndicated loan market. But you see the dividend income that it's generating at the moment, now 2 quarters in a row. And that's becoming more of a steady-state return, if you will, at this point in time than unusual or nonrecurring.

因此，短期內合資企業的流動性不一定會耗盡。現在它處於穩定狀態。顯然，它受到廣泛銀團貸款市場波動的影響。但你會看到它目前正在產生的股息收入，現在已經連續兩個季度了。如果你願意的話，在這個時間點上，這將變得更像是一種穩態回報，而不是不尋常或一次性的回報。

And just picking up a little bit on what Mike said about the absence of sort of normalized repayments, I mean, in effect, what's happening is that the percentage of prior investments or seasoned credits in our portfolio is growing. And so these are credits that we know, we have a lot of experience with. And so those are very solid credits that we're involved with and are producing what we feel is pretty tremendous earnings. Our earnings yield at 17% is very substantial earnings yield across our portfolio. And while we do have some...

稍微了解一下麥克所說的缺乏正常還款的情況，我的意思是，實際上，我們投資組合中先前投資或經驗豐富的信貸的比例正在增長。所以這些都是我們知道的，我們有很多經驗。因此，我們所參與的這些都是非常可靠的信用，並且正在產生我們認為相當巨大的收入。我們 17% 的收益率在我們的投資組合中是非常可觀的。雖然我們確實有一些...

But which is accompanied with a high level of leverage, Chris, I mean...

但這伴隨著高水準的槓桿作用，克里斯，我的意思是......

Correct, correct.

正確，正確。

I mean, it's -- you're not in a business that investors are necessarily going to be comfortable with an unlimited amount of leverage. I mean, whether the gross leverage is the same as your regulatory leverage, that number can't go to a number that makes investors uncomfortable or it will be counterproductive, right, no matter what your earnings are. I think that you have to keep that in mind.

我的意思是，投資人不一定會對無限量的槓桿感到滿意。我的意思是，無論總槓桿率是否與你的監管槓桿率相同，這個數字都不能達到讓投資者感到不舒服的數字，否則會適得其反，對吧，無論你的收益是多少。我認為你必須牢記這一點。

We understand that. Yes, we absolutely do keep it in mind. And I think as you've heard us on many of our conference calls in these discussions, gross leverage for one BDC is not the same as gross leverage for another. And our gross leverage, given the term structure of our leverage, the duration of our leverage, the absence of covenants, the absence of amortization rates and things like that, we believe makes our leverage quite manageable in the context of our portfolio.

我們明白這一點。是的，我們絕對牢記這一點。我認為正如您在許多電話會議中聽到的那樣，一個 BDC 的總槓桿率與另一個 BDC 的總槓桿率不同。考慮到我們的槓桿期限結構、槓桿期限、不存在契約、不存在攤銷率等因素，我們的總槓桿率使我們的槓桿率在我們的投資組合中相當易於管理。

Yes, okay. Secondly, for Mike, you said that you're looking forward to some type of broad restructuring of Pepper Palace. Do you think you guys are going to end up with the keys here? Or are you just going to be -- continue to be in a supportive role? And should we expect where your mark is at to likely turn into some form of equity here?

是的，好的。其次，邁克，您說您期待對 Pepper Palace 進行某種類型的廣泛重組。你認為你們最終會拿到這裡的鑰匙嗎？或者你只是——繼續扮演支持角色？我們是否應該期望您的分數可能會轉化為某種形式的股權？

Casey, obviously, it's a private company, so I can't get into all the details. But certainly, we are working with the sponsor right now trying to improve performance, recently brought some additional resources to bear to that end. Is it possible that we could end up with the keys? I mean, it's uncertain because it's a challenging situation. I've certainly been -- we've been in this business for a long time. There are a lot of lenders who are perhaps overly fearful of taking ownership position when maybe that's the best thing to do. And so that's certainly something that we would consider under the right circumstances.

凱西，顯然，這是一家私人公司，所以我無法透露所有細節。但當然，我們現在正在與贊助商合作，努力提高績效，最近為此提供了一些額外的資源。我們最終有可能拿到鑰匙嗎？我的意思是，這是不確定的，因為這是一個充滿挑戰的情況。我當然──我們從事這個行業已經很久了。許多貸款人可能過於害怕取得所有權，而這也許是最好的選擇。因此，在適當的情況下，我們肯定會考慮這一點。

For now, we're working with the sponsor, and we're working to improve the performance. I think the thing that's really important to note is that its challenges are unique to it and are not connected to anything that we're seeing in the broader portfolio, and that I'd add additionally that the vast majority of our portfolio is -- experienced performance that's up -- at or up prior quarters. So we're feeling very, very good about our portfolio. This is a unique circumstance that we're working on hard.

目前，我們正在與贊助商合作，努力提高效能。我認為真正需要注意的重要一點是，它的挑戰是獨一無二的，與我們在更廣泛的投資組合中看到的任何東西都沒有聯繫，而且我還想補充一點，我們的投資組合的絕大多數是－業績表現與前幾季持平或上升。所以我們對我們的投資組合感覺非常非常好。這是我們正在努力解決的獨特情況。

Yes, okay. And then lastly, are you guys afraid that investors will misunderstand the ATM equity sales, seeing as that where you're actually executing them is below NAV, you're adding back the difference? And are these investors ought to want to know whether or not these are being bled out into the market or these are single point institutional trades that are not impacting the day-to-day trading of the stock?

是的，好的。最後，你們是否擔心投資人會誤解 ATM 股票銷售，因為你們實際執行的股票低於資產淨值，所以你們要加回差額？這些投資者是否應該想知道這些是否正在流入市場，或者這些是否是不影響股票日常交易的單點機構交易？

I think that's obviously a very astute question and interesting. It's not precisely something I think we can comment on. I think there will be more evidence of what exactly happened when the 13Fs are filed shortly. But it's something that we don't have 100% of visibility on. And we will be reporting and have been reporting on according to the SEC standards on what's happened. But we have different periods of time. We have as of quarter-end and what's happened since and then some of the confidentialities of who's doing it. So it's difficult for us to give you a precise read on exactly what happened in terms of the trading volumes.

我認為這顯然是一個非常精明且有趣的問題。我認為我們不能對此發表評論。我認為很快就會有更多證據證明 13F 提交後到底發生了什麼。但這是我們沒有 100% 可見度的事情。我們將並一直根據 SEC 標準報告所發生的情況。但我們有不同的時期。我們掌握了截至季度末的情況以及此後發生的事情，以及有關誰在做這件事的一些機密資訊。因此，我們很難讓您準確地了解交易量方面到底發生了什麼。

But I mean, I think as you can see, there's quite a few big blocks. And then some of the volume responses after trades were quite good. After the main trades were done, I think the stock price rallied pretty well. Perhaps you can tell us why people aren't valuing our stock at a higher rate than they are right now because you have a better perspective on it. But given all things, improving leverage and 17% earnings yield, dividend yield, portfolio stability and all those type of things, we would think that there would be maybe more interest in the stock than there has been apparently.

但我的意思是，我認為正如你所看到的，有相當多的大塊。然後一些交易後的成交量反應非常好。在主要交易完成後，我認為股價反彈得很好。也許你可以告訴我們為什麼人們沒有以比現在更高的價格評估我們的股票，因為你對此有更好的看法。但考慮到所有因素，槓桿率的提高和 17% 的收益率、股息收益率、投資組合穩定性以及所有這些類型的因素，我們認為對該股的興趣可能會比表面上更高。

Well, I'll reserve my answer to that question for my report. I'm not here to educate the other analysts on the call.

好吧，我會把這個問題的答案保留在我的報告中。我來這裡不是為了教育電話會議上的其他分析師。

And our next question, coming from the line of Mickey Schleien with Ladenburg Thalmann.

我們的下一個問題來自米奇·施萊恩 (Mickey Schleien) 和拉登堡·塔爾曼 (Ladenburg Thalmann)。

Mike, appreciate your comments on Pepper Palace. I just want to understand if the issues that are -- that, that portfolio company is confronting in terms of its exposure to the consumer is also being manifested anywhere else in your portfolio with respect to companies that are retail-oriented?

麥克，感謝您對 Pepper Palace 的評論。我只是想了解，該投資組合公司在面向消費者方面面臨的問題是否也出現在您投資組合中其他零售導向型公司的問題上？

That's a good question, Mickey. As I said, the vast majority of our portfolio is performing exceptionally well and is up -- is certainly at or up prior periods. We don't really have that many companies in our portfolio that are direct to consumers. I'm scratching my head to even think of one. Almost all of our portfolio is B2B generally, so -- and to answer your question directly, no, we're not seeing any evidence of that.

這是個好問題，米奇。正如我所說，我們的投資組合中的絕大多數表現都非常好，而且還在上漲——肯定與前期持平或上漲。我們的投資組合中並沒有那麼多直接面向消費者的公司。我連想都不敢想。一般來說，我們幾乎所有的投資組合都是 B2B，所以——直接回答你的問題，不，我們沒有看到任何這方面的證據。

Okay, that's helpful. How about in the health care sector, Mike, are there further issues developing there at all? Or is that -- or are your investments relatively insulated from the wage inflation and reimbursement risk that we've been seeing developing over the last several quarters?

好的，這很有幫助。麥克，醫療保健領域是否還存在進一步的問題？或者說，您的投資是否相對不受過去幾季我們看到的薪資上漲和報銷風險的影響？

We have not experienced that. I think the areas that we focus on and one of the reasons that we've been attracted to the health care market is that it's been our experience that the persistency of demand for those services is quite strong, so not as affected by any larger macro trends, if you will. We also tend to steer clear of generally health care deals where they're directly dependent on reimbursement rates. Those are generally not the businesses that we focus on if you look at some of the areas that we're investing in health care. So that's not an experience that we've had as well either.

我們還沒有經歷過。我認為我們關注的領域以及我們被醫療保健市場吸引的原因之一是，根據我們的經驗，對這些服務的需求持續性相當強勁，因此不會受到任何更大的宏觀經濟的影響。趨勢，如果你願意的話。我們也傾向於避開直接依賴報銷率的一般醫療保健交易。如果你看看我們在醫療保健領域投資的一些領域，這些通常不是我們關注的業務。所以這也不是我們有過的經驗。

I would say it is a broad challenge that almost any middle market, really any business is experiencing now, which is that the labor markets are difficult. And so labor rates are high. And that certainly is constraining margins to some degree. For our portfolio companies, thankfully, these are high value-add businesses. It's one of the things that we look at very hard in underwriting. So they tend to have a lot of pricing power and they usually can manage through that in a way where they can preserve their margins. And that's certainly what we've seen in the performance of our portfolio.

我想說，幾乎所有中間市場，實際上所有企業現在都在經歷一個廣泛的挑戰，那就是勞動市場很困難。因此勞動力利用率很高。這肯定在某種程度上限制了利潤率。值得慶幸的是，對於我們的投資組合公司來說，這些都是高附加價值業務。這是我們在承保時非常重視的事情之一。因此，他們往往擁有很大的定價權，並且通常可以透過保留利潤的方式來管理這一點。這當然是我們在投資組合的表現中所看到的。

That's helpful, and actually is sort of a segue into my next question, which is interest coverage. Can you give us a sense of where the portfolio's average interest coverage ratio is? And do you have a meaningful amount of portfolio companies with an interest coverage ratio below 1?

這很有幫助，實際上是我的下一個問題的延續，即利息覆蓋範圍。您能否讓我們了解一下投資組合的平均利息覆蓋率在哪裡？您是否有大量利息保障倍數低於 1 的投資組合公司？

No, no. And we look at that in underwriting. I can't give you the total portfolio number. That's certainly something that we can look at. But we feel very comfortable that the interest coverage across the portfolio is quite strong.

不，不。我們在承保中關注這一點。我無法給你投資組合的總數。這當然是我們可以關注的事情。但我們感到非常放心的是，整個投資組合的利息覆蓋率相當高。

Yes, Mickey, no, it's just sort of looking at some -- just very high level, I mean, the impact of the interest rate change has probably resulted in like 0.5 turn of interest rate coverage change. It's not as significant, I think, as one -- as some people perhaps think it might be because of the change in rates over the last year or in our portfolio.

是的，米基，不，這只是在關註一些——只是非常高的水平，我的意思是，利率變化的影響可能導致利率覆蓋範圍變化約 0.5 倍。我認為，這並不像某些人認為的那麼重要，這可能是由於去年利率或我們的投資組合的變化所致。

Okay, that's interesting. And just lastly, sort of a housekeeping question, there was a modest decline in portfolio weighed on average. And I suspect it's due to Pepper Palace. But I just want to confirm if that's the case.

好吧，這很有趣。最後，這是一個整理問題，投資組合的平均權重略有下降。我懷疑這是因為胡椒宮。但我只是想確認一下是否是這樣。

Yes, that's right. Yes, that's why I highlighted in my comments as well, Mickey. You had a slight decrease from the rate change. But obviously, a lot of the change happened really Q1-ish. But then that was offset by Pepper Palace, the impact of putting that on 0%, obviously, which drives the overall yield down to like 20 bps or so.

恩，那就對了。是的，這就是我在評論中強調的原因，米奇。您的利率變化略有下降。但顯然，很多變化確實發生在第一季左右。但隨後，這被 Pepper Palace 所抵消，顯然，將其設定為 0% 的影響，這將整體收益率降至 20 個基點左右。

And our next question, coming from the line of Sean-Paul Adams with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自肖恩·保羅·亞當斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

One quick question back to Pepper Palace. It looks like it's been a troubled asset for a while. But was the major markdown at all the result of any sponsor support relationship deteriorating? Or was it just a continued company-specific problem?

回到 Pepper Palace 有一個簡單的問題。看起來它已經成為問題資產一段時間了。但大幅降價到底是贊助商支持關係惡化的結果嗎？或者這只是一個持續存在的公司特有問題？

There's been no change in the relationship with the sponsor. We're working together to try to improve the performance. What did happen though is that the performance declined significantly enough that the sponsor stopped paying our interest in August. And so it needed to go on nonaccrual as a result. But the write-down in valuation was reflective of the continued challenges that the business is having.

與贊助商的關係沒有改變。我們正在共同努力提高性能。但實際發生的情況是，業績大幅下降，以至於贊助商在八月停止支付我們的利息。因此，它需要繼續非應計制。但估值減記反映了該業務持續面臨的挑戰。

Okay. And regarding the spillover, do you guys have any idea of a special dividend or declaration sometime in 2024 because it is going to be quite high by the end of this year?

好的。關於外溢效應，你們是否有在 2024 年某個時候派發特別股息或宣派特別股息的想法，因為到今年年底股息將會相當高？

Yes. I mean, I think the spillover is increasing. I think as we've mentioned in prior calls, we've been conservative in our spillover management. And so we don't have any spillover owed this November. And the next time to reconcile spillover will be by November of 2024. And we haven't fully determined our plans relative to managing that. But clearly, there's BDC and RIC rules determining what one does with one's earnings and spillover.

是的。我的意思是，我認為溢出效應正在增加。我認為正如我們在之前的電話會議中提到的，我們在溢出管理方面一直保守。因此，今年 11 月我們沒有任何外溢效應。下一次協調外溢效應的時間是 2024 年 11 月。我們尚未完全確定與管理該問題相關的計劃。但顯然，BDC 和 RIC 規則決定了人們如何處理自己的收入和外溢效應。

And our next question, coming from the line of Erik Zwick with Hovde Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Hovde Group 的 Erik Zwick。

Wanted to just start out with the commentary that the origination volume in was kind of slower than it had been in prior quarters, primarily due to a number of the opportunities you've reviewed not meeting credit standards. So maybe kind of two questions there.

首先想評論一下，發起量比前幾季要慢，主要是因為您審查的許多機會不符合信用標準。也許有兩個問題。

One, were there any commonalities between kind of the shortcomings versus your criteria and what you're reviewing? Or was it kind of diverse across the company? And two, has that improved so far this quarter? Are you seeing more opportunities that would potentially meet your criteria to add to the portfolio?

第一，缺點與您的標準以及您正在審查的內容之間是否有任何共同點？或者整個公司的情況是多樣化的嗎？第二，本季到目前為止，情況有改善嗎？您是否看到更多可能符合您加入投資組合標準的機會？

I would say that, that the experience with one new platform company was more reflective of just the nature of the business that we're in, where it's not something where you can look at trends in 1 quarter and assign too much to that. I think we overall feel very good about the quality of the pipeline that we have and expect that we'll continue to deploy capital in new portfolio companies kind of at a consistent pace with what we've done in the past. While deal flow in general is down in the market for all the reasons that we've outlined, we're certainly benefiting from the fact that banks have retreated in a pretty significant way.

我想說的是，一家新平台公司的經驗更多地反映了我們所處業務的性質，這不是你可以看到一個季度的趨勢並對其分配太多的東西。我認為我們總體上對我們現有的管道品質感到非常滿意，並期望我們將繼續以與我們過去所做的一致的速度在新的投資組合公司中部署資本。儘管由於我們概述的所有原因，市場上的交易流量總體下降，但我們肯定受益於銀行大幅撤退的事實。

And so we have people even reaching out to us unsolicited, trying to form a relationship with us. And that certainly increased our pipeline in a meaningful way. And so that plus all of the efforts that we've made on the business development side have kept our pipeline pretty full. So there's not really anything that I could point to that would say, "Oh, thematically, we're seeing x in the marketplace, and we're not comfortable with that." We're taking the same approach to underwriting that we have historically.

因此，有人甚至主動聯繫我們，試圖與我們建立關係。這無疑以一種有意義的方式增加了我們的管道。因此，再加上我們在業務開發方面所做的所有努力，使我們的管道保持相當完整。因此，我實際上沒有什麼可以指出的，“哦，從主題上講，我們在市場上看到了 x，但我們對此並不滿意。”我們採用與歷史上相同的承保方法。

That's helpful. And then the only other question I had, a little bit kind of going back to the debt service coverage ratio discussion from a couple of questions ago, curious kind of looking at it from the other perspective or kind of other side of the coin, curious if you could just give any color or characteristics in terms of recent EBITDA growth for your portfolio companies or average or other kind of KPIs that you look at that have helped these companies maybe offset higher interest burden as well as inflationary pressures.

這很有幫助。然後我唯一的另一個問題，有點像回到幾個問題之前的償債覆蓋率討論，好奇從另一個角度或硬幣的另一面看它，好奇如果你能給出你的投資組合公司近期EBITDA 增長的任何顏色或特徵，或你所看到的平均或其他類型的關鍵績效指標，這些指標可能有助於這些公司抵消更高的利息負擔和通膨壓力。

If there's one theme I would say that is common across our portfolio is that we look for businesses that have differentiated business models and often benefit from secular growth trends, i.e., they have a better mousetrap and they're performing well. And therefore, even if the macro environment is a bit challenged -- now this isn't 100% the case across every portfolio of the company, but thematically, in general, those businesses that we gravitate toward are ones that are going to perform pretty well even in a challenging environment. And that's what we're seeing in our portfolio.

如果有一個主題，我想說的是，我們的投資組合中共有一個主題，那就是我們尋找具有差異化商業模式並經常受益於長期增長趨勢的企業，即它們有更好的捕鼠器並且表現良好。因此，即使宏觀環境有點挑戰——現在公司的每個投資組合並不是 100% 都是這種情況，但從主題上講，總的來說，我們傾向於那些表現良好的業務即使在充滿挑戰的環境中也能表現出色。這就是我們在我們的產品組合中看到的。

So it's safe to assume that you are seeing kind of growth across the portfolio in terms of EBITDA and other metrics?

因此，可以肯定地假設您看到整個投資組合在 EBITDA 和其他指標方面有所增長？

Yes, I think as I've said, the vast majority of our portfolio is up -- at or above where they were than prior periods.

是的，我認為正如我所說，我們的投資組合絕大多數都上漲了——達到或高於之前的水平。

And I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Oberbeck for any closing remarks.

目前我在隊列中沒有顯示任何其他問題。我現在想將電話轉回給奧伯貝克先生，請他發表結束語。

Well, we want to thank everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter. Thank you.

好吧，我們要感謝大家今天加入我們，我們期待下個季度與您交談。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。