Westwood Holdings Group Inc (WHG) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Second Quarter 2023 Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, John Ehinger, Head of Legal.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人、法律主管 John Ehinger。

Thank you, and welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call.

謝謝，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。

The following discussion will include forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements.

以下討論將包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到已知和未知風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述預期的結果存在重大差異。

Additional information concerning the factors that could cause such a difference is included in our press release issued earlier today, as well as in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

有關可能導致這種差異的因素的更多信息包含在我們今天早些時候發布的新聞稿中，以及我們將向美國證券交易委員會提交的截至2023 年6 月30 日的季度的10-Q 表格中。我們不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新信息、未來事件還是其他原因。請您注意不要過分依賴前瞻性陳述。

In addition, in accordance with SEC rules concerning non-GAAP financial measures, the reconciliation of our economic earnings and economic earnings per share to the most comparable GAAP measures is included at the end of our press release issued earlier today.

此外，根據美國證券交易委員會有關非公認會計原則財務指標的規則，我們的經濟收益和每股經濟收益與最具可比性的公認會計原則指標的調節表包含在我們今天早些時候發布的新聞稿的末尾。

On the call today, we have Brian Casey, our Chief Executive Officer; and Terry Forbes, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天的電話會議由我們的首席執行官布萊恩·凱西 (Brian Casey) 主持。和我們的首席財務官特里·福布斯。

I will now turn the call over to Brian Casey.

我現在將把電話轉給布萊恩·凱西。

Good afternoon, and thank you for listening to our quarterly earnings call.

下午好，感謝您收聽我們的季度收益電話會議。

As of July 1, Westwood has been a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol WHG for 21 years. Throughout our entire 40-year history, Westwood has remained focused on helping our clients achieve their objectives by executing our disciplined investment processes to generate portfolio alpha without taking excessive risk, and this has delivered excellent compound rates of return for our clients.

截至 7 月 1 日，Westwood 已在紐約證券交易所上市 21 年，代碼為 WHG。在我們整個40 年的歷史中，Westwood 始終致力於通過執行嚴格的投資流程來幫助我們的客戶實現其目標，在不承擔過多風險的情況下產生投資組合阿爾法，這為我們的客戶帶來了卓越的複合回報率。

John Wooden's pyramid of success has been an essential road map for us since our firm's inception, and his principles formed the foundation of our firm's culture. Our culture has enabled us to innovate and grow over time in a principled way. We've shared our long-held values and principles with our new team members at Salient as we think about new ways to serve clients using the broader spectrum of strategies that are now available to us.

自我們公司成立以來，約翰·伍登的成功金字塔一直是我們重要的路線圖，他的原則構成了我們公司文化的基礎。我們的文化使我們能夠以有原則的方式不斷創新和成長。當我們思考使用我們現在可用的更廣泛的策略來服務客戶的新方法時，我們與 Salient 的新團隊成員分享了我們長期堅持的價值觀和原則。

We will continue to embrace our values as we tackle the substantial changes confronting our industry, including the continued speed of innovation and related demands for technology, consolidation among many asset managers, the rise of alternative investments and shifting demographics that have influenced buyer behavior, and I didn't even mention AI.

在應對行業面臨的重大變化時，我們將繼續秉承我們的價值觀，包括持續的創新速度和對技術的相關需求、許多資產管理公司之間的整合、另類投資的興起以及影響買家行為的人口結構變化，以及我什至沒有提到人工智能。

Looking back, over the first half of the year, I'm pleased to share several positive items with you. LargeCap and SMidCap experienced positive net inflows in the institutional channel during the second quarter. Despite significant outflows affecting our industry, Westwood retained all of its institutional clients and maintained its consultant ratings.

回顧上半年，我很高興與大家分享一些積極的事情。第二季度，大型股和中小型股在機構渠道中經歷了正淨流入。儘管資金外流嚴重影響了我們的行業，但 Westwood 保留了所有機構客戶並維持了其顧問評級。

Just as an example, the month of May saw the largest outflows in the LargeCap value category for 15 years, while Westwood's LargeCap value flows were positive for the second quarter. The broad market, particularly in the last 2 months of the quarter, gained a surprising amount of bullish momentum despite many potential risks, including continued tightening of an already restricted monetary policy. The S&P 500 Index gained 8.74% for the quarter, but these returns were skewed by a handful of growth in tech names, which pushed the index higher.

舉個例子，5 月份大盤股價值類別出現 15 年來最大的流出，而 Westwood 的大盤股價值流在第二季度為正值。儘管存在許多潛在風險，包括繼續收緊本已受限的貨幣政策，但大盤，特別是在本季度最後兩個月，仍獲得了令人驚訝的看漲勢頭。標準普爾 500 指數本季度上漲 8.74%，但這些回報受到少數科技股增長的影響，從而推高了該指數。

The stock market has become very top heavy recently with performance driven by the largest market cap names in the index. However, we have also been seeing increasingly broad participation with more risk-on stocks across the market cap spectrum. Growth stocks were the clear standout overall for the quarter, outperforming value stocks by more than 3:1 in the LargeCap market indices.

最近，股票市場變得非常頭重腳輕，其表現是由指數中最大市值的股票推動的。然而，我們也看到了越來越廣泛的參與，整個市值範圍內的風險股票也越來越多。本季度成長型股票總體表現最為突出，在大盤股市場指數中，其表現優於價值型股票 3:1 以上。

Against this backdrop of continued market volatility and uncertainty, 60% of our U.S. value strategies outperformed their benchmarks in the second quarter, and 80% of them remain ahead for the trailing 1 year ending in June, adding to their solid long-term track records. Over the trailing 5-year period, all of our U.S. value strategies, with track records extending into those periods, are ahead of their benchmarks.

在市場持續波動和不確定性的背景下，我們的美國價值策略中有60% 在第二季度跑贏了基準，其中80% 在截至6 月的過去一年中保持領先，進一步鞏固了其穩固的長期業績記錄。在過去的五年裡，我們所有的美國價值策略（其跟踪記錄一直延續到這些時期）都領先於基準。

Within our multi-asset team, our broader asset allocation strategies bumped up against the largest and most expensive names in the high-flying S&P 500. On the fixed income side, bond prices declined and yields rose as investors priced in additional interest rate increases. Interestingly, funds with more exposure to lower-quality bonds, such as leveraged loans and high-yield corporate bonds, fared better than higher quality bonds showing that investors are prepared to take on risk. All of June, all three of our multi-asset strategies ranked in the top 3rd of their Morningstar peer categories for trailing 3 and 7 years and scored top 20% ratings for trailing 5 years.

在我們的多資產團隊中，我們更廣泛的資產配置策略與飛速發展的標準普爾500 指數中規模最大、最昂貴的股票相媲美。在固定收益方面，隨著投資者消化額外的利率上漲，債券價格下跌，收益率上升。有趣的是，更多接觸槓桿貸款和高收益公司債券等低質量債券的基金表現好於高質量債券，這表明投資者已準備好承擔風險。整個 6 月，我們的所有三種多資產策略在過去 3 年和 7 年中均在晨星同行類別中排名前 3，並且在過去 5 年中獲得了前 20% 的評級。

Our newest strategies coming from the acquisition of Salient Partners Asset Management business performed well, with 2/3 of them adding to their solid performance records against benchmarks, while Westwood Broadmark Tactical Growth and Tactical Plus, both posted positive absolute returns. Our Tactical Growth and Tactical Plus funds are designed to help investors sidestep market downturns. Equity valuations remain above historical averages, and we remain vigilant as the road ahead is likely to be bumpy. If global economies enter a somewhat synchronized recession and markets correct, we expect these strategies to shine as investor capital is protected.

我們收購 Salient Partners 資產管理業務的最新策略表現良好，其中 2/3 的策略與基準相比增加了穩健的業績記錄，而 Westwood Broadmark Tactical Growth 和 Tactical Plus 均實現了正的絕對回報。我們的 Tactical Growth 和 Tactical Plus 基金旨在幫助投資者規避市場低迷。股票估值仍高於歷史平均水平，我們仍保持警惕，因為未來的道路可能會崎嶇不平。如果全球經濟進入同步衰退且市場出現調整，我們預計這些策略將大放異彩，因為投資者資本受到保護。

Our MLP and Energy Infrastructure mutual fund underperformed its benchmark amid the risk on rally, but the strategy's fundamentals remain strong, which should support future expansion in the midstream energy space. In the short run, asset outflows are continuing here as investors take profits following strong performance from the 2020's pandemic-driven lows.

在上漲的風險中，我們的 MLP 和能源基礎設施共同基金的表現遜於基準，但該策略的基本面仍然強勁，這應該會支持中游能源領域的未來擴張。短期來看，隨著投資者在 2020 年疫情造成的低點表現強勁後獲利了結，資產外流仍在繼續。

I'm pleased to report that the MLP and Energy Infrastructure, SMLPX mutual fund, ranked in the 26th percentile for the quarter and rose to claim 4 stars among its Morningstar peers. Our Global Real Estate and Select Income strategies delivered another quarter of positive returns for our investors as both funds remained ahead of their benchmarks year-to-date. These funds are performing well as designed to deliver consistent income in the form of robust dividends on both their common and preferred shares.

我很高興地報告，MLP 和能源基礎設施、SMLPX 共同基金在本季度排名第 26 位，並在晨星同行中上升至 4 星。我們的全球房地產和精選收入策略為我們的投資者帶來了又一個季度的正回報，因為這兩隻基金今年迄今仍領先於基準。這些基金表現良好，旨在通過普通股和優先股的強勁股息形式提供持續的收入。

For the quarter, Global Real Estate and Select Income ranked in the top 10% versus Morningstar peers, and Global Real Estate scored a top 1% among its eVestment non-U.S. diversified REIT peers. Over the trailing 1-year period, ending in June, both strategies landed in the top third. And over the trailing 3 years, they made it into the top 15th percentile bracket in Morningstar universes.

本季度，全球房地產和精選收入與晨星同行相比排名前 10%，全球房地產在其 eVestment 非美國多元化 REIT 同行中排名前 1%。在截至 6 月的過去一年中，這兩種策略均位居前三分之一。在過去的 3 年裡，他們進入了晨星宇宙中前 15 個百分點。

Looking forward, these strategies can provide investors with alternative sources of income, inflation protection be exposure to real assets, low correlations to traditional asset classes and market volatility mitigation.

展望未來，這些策略可以為投資者提供替代收入來源、實物資產的通脹保護、與傳統資產類別的低相關性以及緩解市場波動。

For Wealth Management, our strategy's performance was mixed. Our newer high office strategy rebounded strongly with a top ranking among its eVestment peers. Our more seasoned, Select Equity and Dividend Select strategies, lagged in a market driven higher by the price the S&P 500 stocks, However, they provide broad exposure to large blue-chip equities, consistent with the investment objectives of our high net worth client base.

對於財富管理，我們的策略表現好壞參半。我們新的高層辦公策略強勁反彈，在 eVestment 同行中名列前茅。我們經驗更豐富的精選股票和股息精選策略，在標準普爾500 指數股票價格推高的市場中落後，但是，它們提供了對大型藍籌股的廣泛投資，這與我們高淨值客戶群的投資目標一致。

One of our newest strategies for high net worth clients, our regional banking strategy, just finished its first full quarter by outperforming by more than 400 basis points. The RBS strategy leverages our strong fundamental research and allowed clients to take advantage of the market dislocation experienced by the banking industry earlier this year.

我們針對高淨值客戶的最新戰略之一，即我們的區域銀行戰略，剛剛結束了第一個完整季度，表現優於 400 個基點。蘇格蘭皇家銀行的策略利用了我們強大的基礎研究，使客戶能夠利用今年早些時候銀行業經歷的市場混亂。

Expectations for continued volatility underscore the importance of active risk management. Our wealth strategies are positioned to preserve capital with strong down capture and benefit investors in a flight to safety. As I mentioned last quarter, Vista Bancshares completed the acquisition of Charis Holdings. As a result of our ownership stake in Charis, we are now a stakeholder in Vista Bank, which is known as an entrepreneur's bank serving North, Central and West Texas through its 14 banking locations. We plan to expand our relationship with Vista as our wealth clients want competitive deposit yields and friction-free loans, and we began to earn referrals from Vista's 15,000-plus customer base.

對持續波動的預期凸顯了主動風險管理的重要性。我們的財富策略旨在通過強大的下跌捕獲來保護資本，並使投資者受益於安全。正如我上季度提到的，Vista Bancshares 完成了對 Charis Holdings 的收購。由於我們擁有 Charis 的股權，我們現在是 Vista Bank 的股東，該銀行被稱為企業家銀行，通過其 14 個銀行網點為德克薩斯州北部、中部和西部提供服務。我們計劃擴大與 Vista 的關係，因為我們的財富客戶需要有競爭力的存款收益率和無摩擦的貸款，並且我們開始從 Vista 的 15,000 多名客戶群中獲得推薦。

Shifting now to distribution. Persistent inflation, Central Bank rate increases, including the latest just last week, economic uncertainty and stretched equity valuations have weakened sales activity generally within the industry. In our institutional channel, outflows and income opportunity in LargeCap were the largest drivers of flows in the quarter, as inflows of $163 million were offset by outflows -- for net outflows of $275 million. 60% of the outflows reflected one income opportunity account loss. However, that client remains a long-term partner with Westwood, investing in our LargeCap value strategy since the year 2000.

現在轉向分發。持續的通貨膨脹、央行加息（包括上週的最新加息）、經濟不確定性和股票估值過高，普遍削弱了行業內的銷售活動。在我們的機構渠道中，大盤股的資金流出和收入機會是本季度資金流的最大驅動因素，1.63 億美元的流入被流出所抵消，淨流出為 2.75 億美元。 60% 的資金流出反映了一個收入機會賬戶的損失。然而，該客戶仍然是 Westwood 的長期合作夥伴，自 2000 年以來就投資於我們的大盤價值策略。

In terms of client retention, other outflows were driven by client rebalances, and we had no client losses in the quarter. Our industry continues to experience an extremely challenging sales environment due to fears of a recession and a risk-free rate of return of more than 5%. Bright spots include the retention of our consultant ratings in several key categories and one large consulting firm upgraded its rating for income opportunity.

在客戶保留方面，其他資金流出是由客戶再平衡驅動的，本季度我們沒有客戶流失。由於擔心經濟衰退和超過 5% 的無風險回報率，我們的行業繼續經歷著極具挑戰性的銷售環境。亮點包括保留了我們在幾個關鍵類別中的顧問評級，以及一家大型諮詢公司提高了其收入機會評級。

The technology enhancements we implemented earlier this year have led to greater than 50% increase in outsourced CIO meetings, and our RFP activity this year has outpaced activity for all of 2022. These factors underpin our optimism for the second half and into 2024.

我們今年早些時候實施的技術增強使外包 CIO 會議數量增加了 50% 以上，而且我們今年的 RFP 活動超過了 2022 年全年的活動。這些因素支撐了我們對下半年和 2024 年的樂觀態度。

Within our intermediary channel, gross inflows of $179 million were fully offset by outflows, resulting in net outflows of $195 million for the quarter. Outflows were centered in our MLP and Tactical Growth strategies. Energy sector flows continue to be negative industry-wide as investors take profits following 2 years of strong performance, coupled with a decline in crude oil from a peak of 130 early last year to below $70 at the end of June.

在我們的中介渠道內，1.79 億美元的總流入被流出完全抵消，導致本季度淨流出 1.95 億美元。資金外流主要集中在我們的 MLP 和戰術增長戰略上。由於投資者在經歷了兩年的強勁表現後獲利了結，加上原油價格從去年初的 130 美元峰值跌至 6 月底的 70 美元以下，整個行業的能源行業資金流繼續為負。

Tactical Growth outflows resulted from one client loss and a shift by investors towards risk on categories rather than asset preservation. In a market correction, we expect our Tactical Growth and Tactical Plus strategies will provide investors with downside protection. The highest net positive intermediary flows occurred in Alternative Income and Select Income, with the addition of new client assets.

戰術增長資金流出是由於一名客戶流失以及投資者轉向風險類別而不是資產保全造成的。在市場調整中，我們預計我們的戰術增長和戰術加策略將為投資者提供下行保護。隨著新客戶資產的增加，另類收入和精選收入的淨正中介流量最高。

Looking at intermediary flows nationally, across all product categories, we've seen the largest year-over-year dispersion in well over a decade. So far this year, 14 of the top 20 categories for net inflows focused on fixed income, particularly short and intermediate-term investment-grade securities, as cash yields now exceed 5%.

縱觀全國所有產品類別的中間流動，我們看到了十多年來最大的同比離散度。今年到目前為止，淨流入前 20 個類別中，有 14 個類別集中在固定收益，特別是短期和中期投資級證券，因為現金收益率目前超過 5%。

Equity products experiencing net inflows, aside from the S&P 500 Index funds, are mostly international equity funds. This scenario contrasts dramatically with 2022 when the top 20 categories for net inflows featured strong representation from U.S. equities.

出現淨流入的股票產品，除標普500指數基金外，大多是國際股票基金。這種情況與 2022 年形成鮮明對比，當時淨流入前 20 個類別中美國股市的代表性很強。

The pendulum has swung very far in terms of industry asset flows, but we anticipate that markets will find a middle ground as we move into 2024 and beyond. Considering the addressable market for categories in which we compete, our share remains stable or is actually growing.

就行業資產流動而言，鐘擺已經擺動得很遠，但我們預計，隨著我們進入 2024 年及以後，市場將找到一個中間立場。考慮到我們競爭的類別的潛在市場，我們的份額保持穩定或實際上正在增長。

For example, our alternative income strategy, which competes in the relative value arbitrage category. And Select Income, which competes in the preferred stock category, have both enjoyed net inflows this year despite large category outflows.

例如，我們的另類收入策略，它在相對價值套利類別中競爭。儘管類別資金大量流出，但在優先股類別中競爭的精選收益今年仍實現了淨流入。

Westwood is broadly outperforming its U.S. value and multi-asset peers in terms of asset retention in these challenging times. The reception to Westwood's new products, added via the Salient transaction, has been very positive, and we believe they will provide meaningful benefits to our distribution efforts over the longer term.

在這個充滿挑戰的時期，韋斯特伍德在資產保留方面的表現普遍優於其美國價值和多資產同行。通過 Salient 交易添加的 Westwood 新產品受到了非常積極的歡迎，我們相信從長遠來看，它們將為我們的分銷工作帶來有意義的好處。

As part of growing our alternatives business, this year, we completed successful asset raises for three funds from highly regarded fund sponsors, including an energy fund, a real estate fund and a Marina fund. We don't have final numbers until we've received all subscription documents, but early indications are that we raised nearly $60 million across these three private funds, bringing our private alternatives to nearly $250 million. Expect to hear more as we expand into the alternative space, an asset class with strong secular growth trends and better fee yields.

作為發展另類業務的一部分，今年，我們從備受推崇的基金發起人那裡成功完成了三隻基金的資產籌集，其中包括一隻能源基金、一隻房地產基金和一隻濱海基金。在收到所有認購文件之前，我們還沒有最終數字，但早期跡象表明，我們通過這三隻私募基金籌集了近 6000 萬美元，使我們的私募替代方案達到近 2.5 億美元。當我們擴展到另類領域時，預計會聽到更多消息，這是一種具有強勁的長期增長趨勢和更好的費用收益率的資產類別。

Moving to our Wealth Management business. Overall, flows were negative due to tax payments and client distributions, but we're pleased that client losses were few. Our client retention rate remains above 95%, as the group experienced inflows of $67 million, offset by outflows of $132 million for the quarter.

轉向我們的財富管理業務。總體而言，由於納稅和客戶分配，流量為負，但我們很高興客戶損失很少。我們的客戶保留率保持在 95% 以上，該集團的資金流入量為 6700 萬美元，被本季度 1.32 億美元的流出量所抵消。

Our strategic projects are beginning to bear fruit. We've been carefully assessing how to best serve each of our clients, marrying their unique investment needs with our wealth capabilities. Realigning clients along channels that best serve their needs will produce a better experience for all our clients. In addition, our relationship with Vista Bank has been well received by clients, and we expect our adviser client web portal to be fully operational by year-end.

我們的戰略項目已開始取得成果。我們一直在仔細評估如何最好地服務每一位客戶，將他們獨特的投資需求與我們的財富能力結合起來。將客戶重新調整到最能滿足其需求的渠道將為我們所有的客戶帶來更好的體驗。此外，我們與 Vista 銀行的關係受到了客戶的好評，我們預計我們的顧問客戶門戶網站將在年底前全面運營。

Summing up, stock market has become very top heavy this year, with performance mostly driven by the largest market cap names generally growth-oriented technology stocks. As the quarter ended, we were pleased to see increasingly broad participation, including more risk-on stocks across the market cap spectrum.

綜上所述，今年股市已經變得非常頭重腳輕，表現主要由市值最大的股票（通常是成長型科技股）推動。截至本季度末，我們很高興看到越來越廣泛的參與，包括整個市值範圍內更多的風險股票。

Given the economic risk, it remains to be seen whether we're at an inflection point in terms of performance drivers. Regardless, we remain focused on high-quality businesses trading at an attractive price. These basic tenants form Westwood's strong investment foundation. Our investment teams continue to deploy their disciplined investment processes, and our business units are working hard to bring our message to prospects, retain clients and provide excellent client service.

考慮到經濟風險，我們是否正處於業績驅動因素的拐點還有待觀察。無論如何，我們仍然專注於以有吸引力的價格交易的高質量企業。這些基本租戶構成了Westwood強大的投資基礎。我們的投資團隊繼續部署嚴格的投資流程，我們的業務部門正在努力向潛在客戶傳達我們的信息，留住客戶並提供卓越的客戶服務。

We are serious about capitalizing on our energy expertise with the expansion of several funds, including several now in the incubation stage. We're getting closer to finding a seed investor for our sustainable energy fund, and we just launched an energy secondaries fund last week.

我們非常認真地利用我們的能源專業知識，擴大了多個基金的規模，其中包括幾個目前處於孵化階段的基金。我們越來越接近為我們的可持續能源基金尋找種子投資者，我們上周剛剛推出了能源二級基金。

We are noting a shortage of available capital in the traditional energy space, and many investors are selling for nonfundamental reasons. To us, energy fundamentals look strong, and we're happy to buy LP interest at discounts of 25% to 50%, especially since oil and gas demand should grow more than 20% annually over the next 2 decades.

我們注意到傳統能源領域可用資金短缺，許多投資者出於非基本面原因拋售。對我們來說，能源基本面看起來很強勁，我們很樂意以 25% 至 50% 的折扣購買有限合夥人權益，特別是考慮到未來 20 年石油和天然氣需求每年將增長 20% 以上。

And the world will need to invest $12 trillion in capital by 2050 just to keep up with the demand. I'd like to close with one observation. In my 31 years at Westwood, I've never seen our sales team busier than they are today. Our sales team completed 995 meetings during the quarter, which set an all-time record. Near-term flows may not reflect our team's schedules of heavy travel and extensive meetings, but we strongly believe that they will in time.

到 2050 年，世界將需要投資 12 萬億美元才能滿足需求。我想以一項觀察作為結束。在 Westwood 的 31 年裡，我從未見過我們的銷售團隊像今天這樣忙碌。我們的銷售團隊在本季度完成了 995 次會議，創下了歷史記錄。近期流量可能無法反映我們團隊繁重的旅行和大量會議的日程安排，但我們堅信它們會及時反映。

Meanwhile, we're focused on things we know can deliver results. The first is attitude, the second is activity and the third is breadth of product knowledge to inform and help advisers best serve their clients. I believe that Westwood has these characteristics in abundance. And when the tide comes back in, the spade work we're doing now will lead to much better flows ahead.

與此同時，我們專注於我們知道可以帶來成果的事情。第一個是態度，第二個是活動，第三個是產品知識的廣度，以告知和幫助顧問最好地為客戶服務。我相信韋斯特伍德充分具備這些特徵。當潮水回來時，我們現在所做的剷除工作將帶來更好的流量。

I'll now turn the call over to Terry Forbes, our CFO.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Terry Forbes。

Thanks, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, we reported total revenues of $21.9 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $22.7 million in the first quarter and $15.6 million in the prior year second quarter. Revenues were lower than the first quarter on lower performance-based fees. Revenues were higher than last year's second quarter, reflecting higher average AUM following the acquisition of Salient Partners Asset Management business during the fourth quarter of last year.

謝謝布萊恩，大家下午好。今天，我們報告 2023 年第二季度的總收入為 2190 萬美元，而第一季度的總收入為 2270 萬美元，去年第二季度的總收入為 1560 萬美元。由於基於績效的費用較低，收入低於第一季度。收入高於去年第二季度，反映出去年第四季度收購 Salient Partners 資產管理業務後平均資產管理規模較高。

Second quarter net income of $2.9 million, or $0.36 per share, compared favorably with $0.7 million or $0.09 per share in the first quarter due to changes in the fair value of contingent consideration, offset by lower revenues and higher income taxes. Non-GAAP economic earnings were $5.7 million or $0.70 per share in the current quarter versus $3.6 million or $0.45 per share in the first quarter.

第二季度淨利潤為290 萬美元，即每股0.36 美元，好於第一季度的70 萬美元，即每股0.09 美元，原因是或有對價公允價值的變化，但被較低的收入和較高的所得稅所抵消。本季度非 GAAP 經濟收益為 570 萬美元，即每股 0.70 美元，而第一季度為 360 萬美元，即每股 0.45 美元。

Second quarter net income of $2.9 million, or $0.36 per share, compared favorably with last year's second quarter net loss of $0.4 million, or $0.05 per share, primarily due to changes in the fair value of contingent consideration and higher revenues, partially offset by higher expenses, primarily employee compensation and benefits expenses following the acquisition of Salient Partners Asset Management Business in 2022.

第二季度淨利潤為290 萬美元，即每股0.36 美元，好於去年第二季度淨虧損40 萬美元，即每股0.05 美元，這主要是由於或有對價公允價值的變化和較高的收入，部分被較高的收入所抵消費用，主要是 2022 年收購 Salient Partners 資產管理業務後的員工薪酬和福利費用。

Economic earnings for the quarter were $5.7 million, or $0.70 per share, compared with $1.6 million or $0.20 per share in the second quarter of 2022. Firm-wide assets under management and advisement totaled $16.2 billion at quarter end, consisting of assets under management of $15 billion and assets under advisement of $1.2 billion. Assets under management consisted of institutional assets of $7 billion or 46% of the total, wealth management assets of $3.9 billion or 26% of the total, and mutual fund assets of $4.2 billion or 28% of the total.

本季度的經濟收益為570 萬美元，即每股0.70 美元，而2022 年第二季度的經濟收益為160 萬美元，即每股0.20 美元。截至季度末，全公司管理和諮詢資產總額為162 億美元，其中包括150 億美元，顧問資產 12 億美元。管理資產中，機構資產70億美元，佔總資產的46%；理財資產39億美元，佔總資產的26%；共同基金資產42億美元，佔總資產的28%。

Over the quarter, our assets under management experienced market appreciation of $0.5 billion and net outflows of $482 million and our assets under advisement experienced market appreciation of $46 million and net outflows of $56 million. Our financial position continues to be very solid with cash and short-term investments at quarter end totaling $38.1 million and a debt-free balance sheet.

本季度，我們管理的資產經歷了 5 億美元的市場升值和淨流出 4.82 億美元，我們的顧問資產經歷了 4600 萬美元的市場升值和 5600 萬美元的淨流出。我們的財務狀況仍然非常穩健，季度末的現金和短期投資總額為 3810 萬美元，資產負債表無債務。

I'm happy to announce that our Board of Directors approved a regular cash dividend of $0.15 per common share, payable on October 2, 2023, to stockholders of record on September 1, 2023.

我很高興地宣布，我們的董事會批准了每股普通股 0.15 美元的定期現金股息，將於 2023 年 10 月 2 日支付給 2023 年 9 月 1 日登記在冊的股東。

That brings our prepared comments to a close. We encourage you to review our investor presentation posted on our website, reflecting quarterly highlights as well as a discussion of our business, product development and longer-term trends in revenues and earnings.

我們準備好的評論到此結束。我們鼓勵您查看我們網站上發布的投資者演示文稿，其中反映了季度亮點以及對我們的業務、產品開發以及收入和收益的長期趨勢的討論。

We thank you for your interest in our company, and we'll open the line to questions.

感謝您對我們公司的關注，我們將開通提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Macrae Sykes with GAMCO.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 GAMCO 的 Macrae Sykes。

I had just two questions. The first was, given where we've moved away now from the closing date of this merger, do you think there's any attrition or churn that sometimes occurs with mergers? Do you think that is affecting any of the flows at this point?

我只有兩個問題。第一個問題是，考慮到我們現在距離合併截止日期已經很遠了，您認為合併有時會出現任何人員流失或流失嗎？您認為這會影響目前的任何流量嗎？

I think we've done a really good job of hanging on to our clients. I think the -- any deterioration in AUM has come from really -- primarily the energy sector, and that has been more due to a big decline in price from 130 last year to under 70 in June.

我認為我們在留住客戶方面做得非常好。我認為，資產管理規模的任何惡化實際上主要來自能源行業，而這更多是由於價格從去年的 130 大幅下跌至 6 月份的 70 以下。

And simply just a real bias towards not owning energy, I mean, I've been in this business a long time, and I can remember when energy was north of 20% of the S&P, and it's less than 5% now. And yet, it's something that we all use every single day. So it is interesting what's going on. We're value investors at heart, and we like to see opportunities, and we think there's a lot of opportunity in the energy space.

只是對不擁有能源的真正偏見，我的意思是，我從事這個行業很長時間了，我還記得能源在標準普爾指數 20% 以上的時候，現在不到 5%。然而，它是我們每天都在使用的東西。所以發生的事情很有趣。我們本質上是價值投資者，我們喜歡看到機會，我們認為能源領域有很多機會。

Great. And I wonder if you could go a little bit deeper kind of on the wealth management effort. I mean you've done a good job putting the Salient and Westwood together, and wealth is been some outflows. And it seems like you have the brand, you have the tech at this point, you have the local scale. What's sort of missing there to get to healthier trends?

偉大的。我想知道您是否可以更深入地談談財富管理工作。我的意思是，你們在將顯著區和韋斯特伍德區整合在一起方面做得很好，財富也出現了一些外流。看起來你現在擁有品牌、技術、本地規模。為了獲得更健康的趨勢，還缺少什麼？

I don't know that anything is missing. I think we've worked really hard to put all the pieces together. I think there's clearly a lot of competition in the wealth space. Everybody's got a little different mousetrap. We've spent a lot of time in the last few years building on the planning side of our business, which is in much slower sales cycle when you start with a financial plan.

我不知道缺少什麼。我認為我們非常努力地將所有部分整合在一起。我認為財富領域顯然存在很多競爭。每個人都有不同的捕鼠器。在過去的幾年裡，我們花了很多時間在業務的規劃方面進行建設，當你開始製定財務計劃時，銷售週期要慢得多。

Sometimes it takes many months, many quarters to get somebody across the line. And I'm always reminded that when we're prospecting for new business, in our high net worth business, you're talking to somebody who may have had a relationship with an adviser for decades. And so we've got to show them that we have a much better offering, and we have to disrupt the relationship that they have. So it's not easy to bring in new business into the wealth channel.

有時需要好幾個月、好幾個季度才能讓某人越過界限。我總是被提醒，當我們在高淨值業務中尋找新業務時，您正在與可能與顧問有數十年關係的人交談。因此，我們必須向他們展示我們有更好的產品，並且我們必須破壞他們之間的關係。因此，將新業務引入財富通道並不容易。

But when you do, if you do a good job for them over time, they tend to stick with you. And we've had, across the board, pretty good performance in our wealth products. They're designed to protect capital on the downside and participate on the upside. We've also done some unique and interesting things that are more opportunistic.

但當你這樣做時，如果你隨著時間的推移為他們做得很好，他們往往會堅持你。我們的財富產品總體上表現良好。它們的目的是在下行時保護資本並在上行時參與。我們還做了一些獨特而有趣的事情，這些事情更具機會主義色彩。

We did a bank fund here in the -- a couple of months ago. We've done an electric vehicle fund. We've done a High Alpha fund, that is very much a growth-oriented strategy. So we have a lot of entrepreneurs that are clients, and they like for us to give them an opportunity to show the expertise that we have. And we're entrepreneurs, too. So it's fun to respond to that with a product offering that they're excited about and that we have fun managing.

幾個月前，我們在這裡設立了一個銀行基金。我們做了一個電動汽車基金。我們已經建立了一個高阿爾法基金，這在很大程度上是一個以增長為導向的策略。因此，我們有很多企業家是我們的客戶，他們希望我們給他們一個機會來展示我們所擁有的專業知識。我們也是企業家。因此，用他們感興趣的產品來回應這一點是很有趣的，而且我們管理起來也很有趣。

No more further questions. And I can turn it back to Brian Casey for any closing remarks.

沒有更多的問題了。如果有任何結束語，我可以轉回給布萊恩·凱西。

Great. Well, thanks very much for taking time to listen to our call today. We appreciate you being interested in Westwood and being a shareholder. Please visit our website, westwoodgroup.com. Call me directly or Terry Forbes, our CFO, if you have any additional questions. Have a great afternoon.

偉大的。好的，非常感謝您今天抽出時間來聽我們的電話。我們感謝您對 Westwood 感興趣並成為股東。請訪問我們的網站 westwoodgroup.com。如果您有任何其他問題，請直接致電我或我們的首席財務官 Terry Forbes。祝你有個愉快的下午。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。