Fidus Investment Corporation

Good day and welcome to the FIDUS Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jody Berfening. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Bailey, and good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us for FIDUS Investment Corporation's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. With me this morning are Ed Ross, FIDUS Investment Corporation's chairman and chief executive officer, and Shelby Sherrod, chief financial officer. Binance Investment Corporation issued a press release yesterday afternoon with the details of the company's quarterly financial results. A copy of the press release is available on the investor relations page of the company's website at FDUS.com. I'd also like to call your attention to the customary safe harbor disclosure regarding forward-looking information included on today's call. The conference call today will contain forward-looking statements including statements regarding the goals, strategies, beliefs, future potential, operating results, and cash flows of Finest Investment Corporation. Although management believes these statements are reasonable, based on estimates, assumptions, and projections as of today, November 7, 2025, these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of any telephonic or webcast replay. Actual results may differ materially as a result of risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including but not limited to the factors set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BIDIS undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Ed. Good morning, Ed.

Good morning, Jody, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Today's call, I'll start with a review of our third quarter performance and our portfolio at quarter end, and then share with you our outlook for the last quarter of 2025. Shelby will cover the third quarter financial results and our liquidity position. After we have completed our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to take your questions. For the third quarter, VITAS's debt portfolio continued to perform well, and we extended our track record of generating adjusted NII well in excess of the base dividend. Overall, the portfolio remains healthy from a credit quality perspective, reflecting our strategy of investing in high-quality, lower-middle-market companies with resilient business models that generate recurring revenue and cash flow. and have attractive prospects for growth. Our portfolio also remains well diversified by industry and structure to produce both high levels of recurring income and capital gains from monetizing equity investments. In terms of market conditions, M&A activity did pick up in the third quarter relative to the first half of the year, as expected. Although deal closings were back-end loaded and some deals were pushed into October, we continued to build our portfolio primarily by supporting our portfolio companies with growth capital, leveraging our longstanding relationships with deal sponsors. On a per share basis, adjusted NII was 50 cents compared to 61 cents for Q3 2024. covering our base dividend of 43 cents with ample cushion. Total dividends paid for the quarter amounted to 57 cents per share, including a supplemental dividend of 14 cents per share. For the fourth quarter of 2025, the Board of Directors declared a total dividend of 50 cents per share, which consists of a base dividend of 43 cents per share and a supplemental dividend of $0.07 per share, equal to 100% of the surplus in adjusted NII over the base dividend from the prior quarter, which will be payable on December 29, 2025, to stockholders of record as of December 19, 2025. Net asset value grew 2.7% to $711 million at quarter end. compared to $692.3 million as of June 30, 2025, reflecting modest portfolio appreciation and accretive share issuances under the ATM program. On a per-share basis, net asset value was $19.56 per share as of September 30, 2025, compared to $19.57 per share as of June 30, 2025. Originations consisted of $69.7 million in first lien securities and $4.7 million in equity investments for a total of $74.5 million for the third quarter. Investments were heavily weighted toward add-on investments, primarily in support of M&A transactions we also invested $12.8 million in one new portfolio company. Subsequent to quarter end, we have invested an additional $40.2 million in two new portfolio companies, plus numerous add-on investments in existing companies. Proceeds from repayments and realizations totaled $36.7 million for the third quarter, resulting from a mix of M&A and refinancing activity. With net originations of $37.8 million, our portfolio grew to $1.2 billion on a fair value basis as of September 30th, 2025, equal to 102% of cost. First lien investments comprised 82% of our debt portfolio as the migration of our debt portfolio toward first lien securities continued, and our equity portfolio stood at $143.4 million, or 12% of the total portfolio at quarter end. Portfolio credit quality remained sound, with companies on non-accrual unchanged at less than 1% of the total portfolio on a fair value basis, and 2.8 percent of the total portfolio on a cost basis. As we enter the home stretch for 2025, market activity is shaping up to be relatively decent in the fourth quarter, and we are working hard to convert opportunities from our pipeline of potential investments in both new and existing portfolio companies while continuing to add to our overall investment pipeline. As Shelby will detail, we have enhanced our flexibility from a capitalization and liquidity perspective, continuing to position FIDUS for the future as we execute our proven investment strategy, methodically building the portfolio and growing that asset value over time. In doing so, we will stay focused on our goals of preserving capital and generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Now I'll turn the call over to Shelby to provide some details on our financial and operating results. Shelby?