Abacus Global Management, Inc.

Greetings, and welcome to the Advocates Life first quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Garrett Edson, Managing Director at ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Abacus Life refers participants on this call to the investor webpage www.abacuslife.com slash investors for the press release, the investor information, and filings with the SEC for a discussion of the risks that can affect the business. Abacus Life specifically refers participants to the presentation furnished today on Form 8K with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to remind listeners that some of the comments today may contain forward-looking statements and as such will be subject to risks and uncertainties which, if they materialize, could materially affect results. Reference is made to the section titled Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Earnings Press Release for the First Quarter of 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference. We note forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, include, but are not limited to, abacus life's expectation or prediction of financial and business performance and conditions, as well as its competitive and industry outlook. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including the risk factors set forth in Item 1A of our most recent 10 , which, if they materialize, could materially affect results and such forward-looking statements do not guarantee performance, and Abacus Life gives no such assurances. Abacus Life is under no obligation, expressly disclaims any obligation to update, alter, or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, historical data pertaining to the operating results and other performance indicators applicable to Abacus Life are not necessarily indicative of results to be achieved in succeeding periods. I will now turn the call over to Jay Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Abacus Life.

Thank you to everyone listening today for your interest in Abacus, and welcome to our 2024 First Quarter Earnings Call. With me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Bill McCauley, and after our remarks, we'll open it up to your questions. We kept the momentum rolling in the first quarter of 2024, delivering another strong quarter of positive results and profitable growth, while further strengthening our balance sheet. Our relentless execution continues to validate our differentiated business model as a leading market maker and alternative asset manager. For the first quarter of 2024, more than doubling total revenues year over year to $21.5 million and delivered another quarter of strong earnings, growing adjusted EBITDA by 38% to $11.6 million and generating adjusted net income of $6.7 million. Bill will be along shortly to discuss more of our first quarter financial performance in further detail. On prior calls, we've highlighted our more enhanced sales and marketing spend, as we saw clear opportunities to expand our share of the market and noted that we would begin to see the results approximately one quarter later. That's exactly what happened in the first quarter, as our investments in marketing helped drive a 59% year-over-year increase in direct-to-consumer originations. As part of our strategy, we intend to continue investing thoughtfully in our marketing, which we believe is an excellent use of capital to drive our growth over the long term. We are also particularly pleased with our adjusted EBITDA performance, which was driven by higher originations along with an increase in our carrier buyback program. As we've noted on prior calls, Our continued growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA is a testament to the partnerships we've cultivated with our carriers and reinsurers over the years. Also in the quarter, we successfully raised an additional $25 million of capital via our 9.75% notes and repurchased over $11 million of our shares since the stock repurchase program's inception in December 2023. Since the end of the first quarter, we also significantly strengthened our senior management team with two key additions. First, we are thrilled to bring on board Elena Plesko as our new chief capital officer. Elena brings to Abacus a wealth of investment experience and joins us after serving as the co-head of specialty finance at KKR, where she invested throughout multiple asset classes. At Abacus, she will oversee our capital management initiatives, further optimize our financial structure, and help facilitate our national and ultimately international expansion. We've known Elena for years, and she is a perfect complementary fit for Abacus as we progress in enhancing our investment management services. Welcome, Elena. And a few weeks ago, we are excited to add Fei Shui as Vice President of ABL Wealth. Faye comes to us from Dynasty Financial Partners, where she served as a strategic advisor to some of the largest and most successful registered investment advisors in the country, particularly with respect to alternative assets. With nearly two decades of experience in asset and wealth management, she is the ideal person to oversee the ongoing build-out at ABL Wealth and to bring our unique, customized offerings, including lifespan-based financial solutions to our clients and the broader RIA community. Faye has already hit the ground running, and we couldn't be happier to have her on board. We also continue to make strides in enhancing ABL tech in recent months, as the use of our proprietary technology and wealth of longevity data to create bespoke solutions for the pension fund and financial services industries is finding an audience. We continue to expect to see top-line contributions from both ABL Wealth and ABL Tech later this year. Before turning the call over to Bill, I wanted to highlight our upcoming Investor Day and Longevity Summit, taking place on June 13th. The summit is a one-day event focused on how lifespan data can be applied to financial products, and we will also take investors on a deeper dive into our business model, our products, and the exciting future of Abacus. We are thrilled to have gathered some of the top professionals in the field of longevity and lifespan, and they will be at the summit to share their outlook on lifespan and how it will impact the future of financial planning. Our panelists include Dr. Peter Attia, author of the number one New York Best Times seller, Outlive, The Science and Art of Longevity. Tina Al-Rasad, a professor at Northeastern University and an expert in lifespan-based data science and AI. Dr. Joseph Coughlin. He's the head of the MIT Age Lab. Steve Grasso, CNBC market analyst. James Morrow, the CEO of Caledon Capital. And Cheryl Penny, president and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. If you are interested in attending or joining the live stream, please email our investor relations department at investors at abacuslife.com to receive an invitation. To sum up, We remain confident in our business, the opportunities within our 230 billion plus total addressable core market, and in the incredible stability of our asset class. We are continuing to educate policyholders about the value of their policies through our network of over 30,000 financial professionals and through television and digital campaigns for our growing direct-to-consumer channel. Meanwhile, Our expanded verticals and deep data and technology advantages are helping us grow our vertically integrated alternative asset manager with multiple revenue and profit streams. With our proven business model, first-class expert team, and our trove of proprietary data and technology, we remain well positioned for sustainable and profitable growth and ultimately create long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I will now hand it over to our CFO, Bill McCauley, to discuss the specifics on our Q1 results and financials.