ASE Technology Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 4, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to B. Riley Financial's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. B. Riley today issued a press release and presentation detailing its financial results for the Q2 of 2022. Copies are available in the Investors section of the company's website at ir.brileyfin.com.

Operator

As a reminder, this call is being recorded. An audio replay will be available on the company's Investor Relations website later today. Joining us today from B. Riley are Bryant Riley, Chairman, Co Founder and Co CEO Tom Kelleher, Co Founder and Co CEO and Philip Ahn, CFO and COO. After management's remarks, we will open the line for questions.

Operator

And before we conclude today's call, I will provide the necessary cautions regarding forward looking statements. I will now turn the call to Mr. Brian Traile. Mr. Relli, please proceed.

Speaker 1

Welcome everyone and thank you for joining our call. Our results demonstrated relative strength in our platform, once again highlighting the ability of our non cyclical businesses to steadily perform despite a challenging market. In lending perspective to how we view the markdowns on our investments, it's important to understand that we've also experienced meaningful gains in our investments over the course of the past 3 years. On a cumulative 3 year basis from January 2019 to June 2022, securities in our portfolio generated returns of more than 90% to B. Riley.

Speaker 1

Despite current valuations, our securities portfolio has consistently outperformed the Russell 2,000 Index in both full and bare markets. And while we've given back some of those gains during 2022, the losses are mostly unrealized and correlate to market contraction. Over the last year, we augmented our investments by increasing credit with our bad cash receivable book from which we are already realizing benefits as that book converts into cash. The remaining portion of our portfolio consists of public and private small companies, including several long duration positions that we hold with high conviction and have no intention to sell. As we explained on prior calls, strategic investing has become a larger and more integral part of our business to create value for our partners and shareholders and a strategy that we believe truly differentiates the B.

Speaker 1

Riley platform from our peers. Oftentimes, the companies we invest in are companies that we provide services to, be it investment banking, financial consulting or real estate advisory services. At the same time, we have made concerted efforts over the last 5 years to expand sources of steady and recurring income to balance the more cyclical episodic business, which are currently slow. To put this in perspective, over the last 10 quarters, we have earned approximately $17 per share for our shareholders including the 1st 2 quarters of 2022. We believe that we are delivering on our objective of increasing our recurring EBITDA.

Speaker 1

The relative contribution from our less cyclical and less episodic businesses have meaningfully grown with the entire Riley platform generating 3 $66,000,000 of operating EBITDA over the trailing 12 months compared to $114,000,000 of operating EBITDA in 2019. With increasing contributions from less cyclical and less episodic businesses exceeding the capital needed to support our dividend, we continue to have flexibility to invest across our businesses. To that end, we are pleased to deliver our shareholders a $1 dividend for the quarter. Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the opportunity to increase that dividend as capital markets return And become more normalized and they will normalize. We have seen cycles like this many times over the course of B.

Speaker 1

Riley's 25 year history And each time we have come out on the other side stronger than before. Recognizing we are in a highly variable and volatile business, We will maintain focus on diligent expense control, while utilizing our cash flows to continue to invest and enhance our businesses. Disruptive markets have historically presented some of our most attractive opportunities to differentiate ourselves with clients, attract top talent and to generate sustainable share gains across key business lines and we believe the current environment is no exception. In short, we are extremely encouraged by where we are today. Being able to generate the operating results that we did during another quarter without Capital Markets is extremely gratifying for us.

Speaker 1

And since quarter end, we have recovered some of the investment losses that we reported as the market has come back a bit. With over $200,000,000 of cash and equivalents on the balance sheet, A significant receivables book converting into cash and debt maturities years away, we believe we have the flexibility to be able to capitalize on the many opportunities we see ahead. Now I'll turn the call over to Phil Ahn, our CFO and COO, to discuss financial metrics for the quarter and then Tom Kelleher, our Co CEO, We'll discuss our individual operating units before opening the line for questions. Over to you, Phil.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bryant. On a consolidated basis, total revenues were $42,700,000 for the 2nd quarter and $248,300,000 year to date. Net loss available to common shareholders was $142,200,000 for the 2nd quarter it was driven by an investment loss of $223,900,000 related to a decline in the capital markets, which impacted the value of the company's investment portfolio. Year to date investment loss of $292,300,000 compared to investment gains of $299,600,000 in the same prior year period. In contrast with the decline in our investment book, our operating businesses generated strong performance in the 2nd quarter.

Speaker 2

Excluding investments, operating revenues were $266,600,000 for the 2nd quarter with operating adjusted EBITDA of $74,200,000 Year to date, operating revenues were $540,600,000 with operating EBITDA of 158,400,000 In our reportable segments, Capital Markets includes results from our investments in addition to operating results from our Investment Banking, Institutional Brokerage and Capital Management Businesses. Excluding investment losses for the 2nd quarter, segment operating revenues were 129,800,000 with segment operating income of $53,300,000 Our performance was impacted by a decrease in Investment Banking and institutional brokerage activities that was consistent with the industry wide decline in due activity. Wealth Management revenues were $62,400,000 for the 2nd quarter with a segment loss of $7,300,000 The loss in this segment primarily related to the settlement of legacy regulatory matters for National Holdings that predated our acquisition in 2021, in addition to the overall decline in markets and its impact on client activity. Option and liquidation revenues were $3,900,000 with segment income of $5,000,000 for the Q2. As we have stated on previous calls, results from this segment are variable due to the episodic impact of large retail liquidation engagements.

Speaker 2

Financial Consulting revenues were $24,300,000 with segment income of $4,300,000 driven primarily by bankruptcy restructurings, Forensic litigation consulting matters in addition to appraisal engagements and real estate dispositions completed during the Q2. Principal Investments, our Communications and Other segment revenues increased to $42,500,000 for the 2nd quarter, up from $19,600,000 in the prior year period, primarily due to the addition of the Lingo Communications and Marconi Wireless businesses. And segment income was $7,600,000 for the quarter. Our companies in our Communications segment, Magu Jack United Online, Marconi Wireless and LINGO Continued to provide steady cash flows to our platform. Revenues in our brand segment increased to $5,200,000 for the 2nd quarter, up from $4,400,000 in the prior year period.

Speaker 2

Segment income increased to $3,800,000 up from $3,000,000 in the prior year period. Results in this segment relate to the licensing of trademarks for our 6 Brands portfolio. As well, our investments in Hurley and Justice Brands, which are recognized as Capital Markets segment, contributed income of $7,400,000 for the quarter. As a reminder, adjusted EBITDA and our metrics for operating investment results are non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release for a definition of these terms and for a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP measures.

Speaker 2

Investors can also find additional details relating to these metrics and related reconciliations in the financial supplement on our Investor Relations website. Now turning to some highlights from our balance sheet. At June 30, B. Riley Financial had approximately $216,100,000 in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, $1,100,000,000 in net securities and other investments owned and $770,800,000 in loans receivable. At quarter end, we had total cash and investments balance of approximately $2,200,000,000 which includes approximately $49,000,000 of other investments reported in our prepaid and other assets.

Speaker 2

Net of debt, B. Riley Financial's cash and investments totaled approximately $61,500,000 at June 30. Finally, we declared a 2nd quarter dividend of $1 per common share. Our quarterly dividend will be paid on or about August 23 to common stockholders of record as of August 11. That completes my financial summary.

Speaker 2

Now I'll turn the call over to our Co CEO, Tom Kelleher, to provide an overview of our operating units. Tom?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Phil. While not immune to the market deceleration, we continue to be pleased with the overall As Brian mentioned, we remain confident in the firm's ability to not only withstand periods of market austerity, but to find opportunities for growth. With core capabilities in restructuring, asset disposition and distressed financing, we are confident in our ability to support our clients amid disruptive markets. Despite the current environment, our teams have made meaningful progress in both expanding existing portions of our business as well as Consolidating recent acquisitions. With the addition of Focal Point, National Holdings, 272 Capital and Lingo, as well as our recent investment to expand 2022 has become a transformative year for B.

Speaker 3

Riley Financial. With substantive integration activities behind us, We have started to realize synergies in these businesses and are looking ahead to other opportunities to accelerate growth. Now I will walk through some of our highlights of our various divisions. With B. Riley Securities having gained meaningful share in capital markets over the last few years, We saw opportunities to broaden our capabilities in M and A advisory and fixed income.

Speaker 3

Earlier this year, we acquired Los Angeles based investment bank, Focal Point Partners. Focal Point's command of sponsor backed mid market M and A provides our platform with additional scale, sector expertise and Since completing the acquisition in January, we have consolidated FINRA licenses, which enables us to jointly market or combine services As a unified broker dealer while realizing cost synergies, operating together allows us to leverage the relationships and execution resources of the combined groups To bring to bear the full breadth of capabilities to our clients, during the quarter, we closed multiple 7 figure advisory mandates, Including Apex Innovative Sciences, Certified Collision Group and Econalyte Group. Notably, we were also retained on a number of new restructuring mandates And based on the current level of market activity we are seeing, we expect this business to accelerate over the coming quarters. With respect to Capital Markets, opportunities remain selective. We completed several financings during the quarter, including multiple debt raises, In addition, we served as lead book runner on Applied Blockchain's April IPO.

Speaker 3

We also continue to actively engage and execute on behalf of a number of ATM and committed equity facility clients. In our newly expanded fixed income division, Tim Sullivan and team are working alongside our Banking and Capital Markets Group to help clients address issues including yield enhancement, Cash flow optimization, market risk and interest rate volatility. We are pleased to have the ability to provide our clients with an additional set of solutions and are encouraged with this division's growth in a relatively short period of time amid a difficult market. In Wealth Management, This past week, we formally completed the integration of National Holdings into our legacy B. Riley Wealth Business.

Speaker 3

This is a significant milestone and represents the culmination of Challenging integration activities that began 18 months ago. Under the leadership of our Wealth division's co CEOs, Chuck Hastings and Mike Mullen, our teams have worked tirelessly to create a stronger foundation from which to build upon, while at the same time enhancing compliance posture and removing risk from the platform to position us for future growth. Operating under a single brand, we believe the newly combined B. Riley Wealth Business Well positioned as we continue to invest in building out the best in class wealth management platform for both our advisors and our customers. Turning to B.

Speaker 3

Riley Advisory Services, our restructuring and turnaround management and forensic accounting litigation support practices Continue to perform exceptionally well, providing stable revenues and profits to our platform. In addition to strong performance, B. Riley Continues to earn recognition for industry leadership, having recently won several awards for our team's exceptional execution in complex matters concerning turnaround management and specialty finance. Among recent high profile matters, we served as Chief Restructuring Officer to Limetree based services in a complex Chapter 11 and related sales process, which resulted in the preservation of thousands of jobs. We also participated as expert witness in the high profile trial of Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard, providing testimony on financial damages for Mr.

Speaker 3

Depp. Our pipeline for related projects continues to build for the second half of twenty twenty two. In our Appraisal division, performance remained relatively steady as financial institutions, lenders and borrowers seek valuation services to support transaction Financing and loans. Our legacy appraisal division continues to serve as a stable reoccurring source of income quarter to quarter year to year as well as a hub for referrals to the other parts of the business. We previously stated our to build out asset management, which resulted in our acquisition of 272 Capital led by B.

Speaker 3

Riley alum, Wes Cummins. We are really pleased with the continuing momentum this newly expanded division has had as part of the B. Riley platform. Wes and team continue to deliver great returns for our clients While successfully growing our asset base, the team is currently exploring the addition of new products and is extending our marketing efforts globally. Our B.

Speaker 3

Riley Real Estate division also contributed a strong quarter with several large real estate disposition projects for new and existing clients of our broader platform. Notably, we recently led the sale of a sizable real estate portfolio for Badcock Home Furniture, which included 35 retail store locations and 3 distribution centers located throughout the Southeast United States. Our team sold the properties in approximately 6 months through 2 separate sale leaseback transactions, which resulted in aggregate proceeds of 2 Our Real Estate division is another area of the firm that stands to benefit from the current market headwinds, given our core expertise is in real estate restructuring and disposition. In our retail liquidation and asset disposition division, We recently welcomed Tim Schilling as Executive Vice President of B. Riley Retail Solutions.

Speaker 3

Tim is a veteran Retail advisor who has worked with some of the most prominent retailers across North America and has led thousands of retail assignments over the span of his 20 year career. While current activities remain low by historical standards, rising interest rates and supply chain disruptions are putting pressure on retailers And we expect current headwinds to result in more opportunities in both Europe and domestically in the back half of this year and into next. As I mentioned earlier, we recently added Lingo to our portfolio of communications companies. We formed principal investments through our acquisition of United Online in 20 And since built an expanding portfolio of industry adjacent companies in the telecommunications sector, including Magicjack, United Online, Marconi Wireless And now, Lingo. Today, our communications unit serves as a leading source of stable reoccurring income for our platform, an area we continue to look for opportunities to grow.

Speaker 3

To sum up, despite the near term volatility that current market conditions has created in our investment book, We couldn't be more pleased with our underlying operating business and the opportunities they provide. And as always, we couldn't do any of this without the dedication and hard work of all our Colleagues, we thank 1 and all. With that, we'll now open the line for questions and then turn it back over to Brian for final remarks. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. There are no questions on queue. This concludes Great.

Speaker 1

Sorry, thanks. Thanks, operator. Real quick. Thank you. I just wanted to mention and thank again, as Tom did, all of our new employees that are listening on the call.

Speaker 1

Not getting questions is usually a pretty good sign. People don't care about us. And if history is our guide that after We get some momentum last time we lost money was Q1 2020 in the middle of the in the beginning of the pandemic and since that time I think we paid $14 in dividends and Made a lot of money. So I think a question did come in. So operator, if you want to open it up, that's fine.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from Sean Hayden with Charles Lane Carroll. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hey guys, sorry, I got in here late, but congrats on the quarter. Had a question about Just capital allocation here. It's great seeing the dividends as usual, but maybe you can Provide some numbers around this. Going forward, do you have any sort of a preference for Be it buybacks or kind of more M and A given the press valuations in addition to the dividend?

Speaker 1

Hey, Sean. Look, that's obviously we live in this world of investments and we think about that all the time. I think as we look at all the things that didn't happen this quarter, I mean underwriting business was $9,000,000 In the quarter versus $385,000,000 last year. And to think that and to see that we still were profitable in our broker dealer, We haven't closed we closed LINGO in the middle of the quarter. We have not closed Bullseye, which we think once it kind of gets going, we'll add With synergies $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 of EBITDA.

Speaker 1

We just got National and B. Riley together. So that we think we'll run a little bit more efficiently. Focal Point, which was very profitable last year, but is building up their backlog. While we're proud of the operating EBITDA that we had for this quarter, there is a lot of things that can meaningfully enhance that.

Speaker 1

And so I don't know that we're going to have to pick one thing. We feel really good about our cash flows to pay our dividends. We have no net debt For business that generates this kind of operating EBITDA, you can obviously leverage your balance sheet to buy stock And we feel good about making acquisitions. So I don't feel like we're hampered in any way. I feel like We will be able to have a lot of opportunities.

Speaker 1

If you look at the accounts receivable book, for example, just to put some This might have been a luckier, if you could. We took a chunk of money out of equities and bought a $400,000,000 receivable book that's Returning roughly $30,000,000 $35,000,000 a month. It's declining as the book gets lower, but what a good place to Hide some money while the markets were down and collect. I think our most recent estimate is kind of a 30% IRR. So that money comes back to us.

Speaker 1

So I don't think that we're sitting here going, boy, we just let's just pay a dividend and not think about a buyback. I think all of those things are on the table.

Speaker 4

No, that's great to hear. And then on Focal Point, without Quantifying it, just what does the restructuring business look like there? Is it half the business or Because that could pick up substantially in the coming months.

Speaker 1

So Yes. So let's so it's not quite half, it's less than half, what's Maybe 20%, 25%, but don't forget that the old GlassRatner business does a is a big part of their business is restructuring. And then we have our own restructuring business that Perry Mandarin has been running for a few years and we're seeing activity pickup there. The fixed income group benefits from a little bit of distress. We think we're going to see some opportunities there.

Speaker 1

So I don't think I think Underwriting means a lot more to us from a size perspective than the opportunity to restructuring, but that's not to say that we're We don't we're really well positioned to get some mandates and pick up from where we left off in Early 2020, we were really starting to see momentum there.

Speaker 4

Got it. Okay. And just finally on National, I know I asked this last time, but As far as the payment for prior litigation, Is that going to like roll through eventually? Or is that just something that's going to kind of Exist here.

Speaker 1

Are you saying do we feel like the litigation is behind us from National?

Speaker 4

Yes, yes. Like any liability there.

Speaker 1

Well, look, here, let's we would We just merged the broker dealer. So I think that speaks to our confidence and we've made a lot of changes. I mean, we've We think we have a high really high quality group of wealth managers, and we made decisions to, in our opinion, upgrade that meaningfully And that resulted in, TK probably knows this better than me, but I would say 180 wealth managers moving on to Other spots. So I think we're we feel good about where we are. And one benefit, Sean, that we've had more recently is interest rates helped that business.

Speaker 1

You get money on your cash at the clearing firm. So while there's not been a lot of activity In the underwriting side, it's been kind of challenging. I would estimate there's $8 ish million a year in incremental Cash on cash that we're getting versus last year. So if we can get a little bit of more of an active market and build on those Cash on cash dollars we're getting, I could see it being really nicely profitable with a smaller but better core.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. That's all I got. Thanks guys and congrats.

Speaker 1

Thanks. Thanks, Sean. Appreciate it.

Operator

The next question is from Brett Hendrickson with Nokomis Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hey, Brian. Hey, Brent. Sorry, I have just a couple of clarification questions. Did I hear right $7,100,000 from Hurley and Justice?

Speaker 1

Are you asking about what the dividends were?

Speaker 5

Well, yes, what you had coming back to you and then I want Make sure the geography hadn't changed. I think that goes

Speaker 1

in Yes. I mean, if you look at the brands Hurley and Justice, we're talking about 40 low 40 kind of run rate with Hurley and Justice at $7,400,000 for the quarter.

Speaker 5

Okay. 7.4 and where did that 7.4 go on the When

Speaker 1

you say where did it go, it's just we get a dividend. So

Speaker 5

Yes. So it doesn't go in the brand segment. It goes in interest and other. I don't have your P and L in front of me right now.

Speaker 2

Yes. We recognize that in our capital markets.

Speaker 5

Okay. And has that been consistent? Is that how it's been in capital markets?

Speaker 2

Yes. It's an investment held there, correct.

Speaker 5

Okay, good. And I only had one question. I Hit star 1, Brian, but you generated 2 more for me. Did I hear with the last investor, did you say underwriting went from $385,000,000 to $9,000,000 What was that, Scott?

Speaker 1

$385,000,000 for the year to $9,000,000 for the quarter. So an average of $95,000,000 and Brett, that's a 50 plus type of margin business that would pretty much be all incremental. So $85,000,000 less, dollars 42,500,000 at $50,000,000 I mean it's maybe a little bit higher. So I was just pointing out that I feel pretty good about Our results when we're dealing with these inputs that we have very little control of it, we lost market share, The market just stopped. I think there's a lot of preparation that goes into that way ahead of time.

Speaker 1

And I feel like that came back to us as a benefit here This quarter.

Speaker 5

Great. And then last clarification. Are you saying that in the with the cash you have with the clearing firms Related to wealth management, did you say interest this year is on an $8,000,000 higher run rate than last year just on the Fed funds move so far?

Speaker 1

So it's, I would say, as of right now. So I think the last you hit certain hurdles and then you pick up and TK, you comment if you want, if I get this wrong, but it's the last Fed funds, the last rate increase It was a meaningful one. We just got another one and that's the measurement. So I think on an annualized basis, we're about $8,000,000 of 100% margin better Than we were this time last year. Tom, does that sound about right?

Speaker 6

Yes, that's right. Not to get too in the weeds, but we 2 principal clearing arrangements, 1 with Fidelity and 1 with Wells Fargo and there are separate agreements, Different covenants whatnot. So the Wells Fargo one kicked in earlier at lower levels And that's the one that's referring to going from a $1,000,000 run rate to about $8,000,000 run rate. Rates have A little bit more for the other one to kick in, but once it kicks in much more Quickly and numbers will

Speaker 1

accumulate much faster. So either way, I guess That's been the same as wealth management where A lot of firms just lost a piece of income for years and it was always kind of a free call on interest rates that we viewed it as a little bit of a free call and we're finally after years and years seeing a little bit of a benefit from that.

Speaker 5

That's great. And I just want to clarify, is that $8,000,000 before the 75 bps that the Fed did Today or is that after?

Speaker 1

No, that's a run rate. So it might pick up a little bit, but I gave you sorry if I wasn't more specific. I gave you kind of like we look at it every day. And I think the number as of right now is in and around $8,000,000 maybe a little bit higher, better than last year.

Speaker 5

Okay. So that would be before I don't think the Fed funds has kicked in yet from yesterday. So that would be before the 75 bps

Speaker 1

No, I mean we know I think we all knew that funds we're going to raise. So we did that math. 5 days ago, I asked for an update and included The 3 quarter basis point raise.

Speaker 5

Perfect. Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Keep up the good work.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Brett.

Operator

This concludes our question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Riley for his closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Well, I

Speaker 1

think I prematurely did that. So I won't do it again. I do we're really thankful for all our partners and our new partners and think that we're going to Come out of this market softness really, really well and we're really excited to do that. So thank you. We'll talk next quarter and we look forward to it.

Speaker 1

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Before we conclude today's call, I will provide B. Riley's Financial Safe Harbor statement, which includes important cautions regarding forward looking statements made during this call. Statements made during this call about B. Riley's financial future expectations, plans and prospects and any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Operator

Investors should be aware that any forward looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here today. These risk factors include the unpredictable and ongoing impact of the COVID-nineteen pandemic as well as the other risk factors explained in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to these filings for a more detailed discussion of forward looking statements and the risks and uncertainties of such statements. All forward looking statements are made as of today and except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Thank you for joining us today for B.

Operator

Riley Financial's 2nd Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect.

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