Horizon Technology Finance Corporation

greetings and welcome to the horizon technology finance corporation first quarter 2021 earnings call at this time all participants are on a listen-only mode a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation if you would like to ask a question during today's event please press star 1 on your telephone keypad if anyone should require operator assistance during the conference please press star 0 on your telephone keypad as a reminder this conference is being recorded it is now my pleasure to introduce your host ms Megan Bacon. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to the Horizon Technology Finance first quarter 2021 conference call. Representing the company today are Rob Pomeroy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Michaud, President, and Dan Trollio, Chief Financial Officer. I would like to point out that the Q1 earnings press release and Form 10Q are available on the company's website at horizontechfinance.com. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that during this conference call, Verizon Technology Finance will make certain forward-looking statements, including statements with regard to the future performance of the company. Words such as believes, expects, anticipates, intends, or similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ on a material basis from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and some of these factors are detailed in the risk factor discussion in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Rob Pomeroy.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us and for your continued interest in Horizon. Today, I will provide an overall perspective on Horizon's performance and its current operating environment. Jerry will then discuss our business development efforts and our market. Dan will detail our operating performance and financial condition, and then we will take some questions. We had an excellent and very active start to 2021 in all facets of our operations. We grew our portfolio to $380 million, an 8% increase from the end of 2020. We generated net investment income of 31 cents per share in excess of our distribution level. Based on our outlook, we are maintaining our monthly distribution through September marking 57 consecutive months at $0.10 per share. We achieved an industry-leading portfolio yield on our debt investments of 15.2%. We further improved our portfolio credit profile and ended the quarter with no one-rated loans or loans on non-accrual, what one considers where the venture industry and overall economy stood a year ago. We are particularly proud of our accomplishments and our team's ability to successfully navigate through the pandemic. We ended the quarter with NAV of $11.07 per share, a $0.05 increase from the end of 2020. And at the end of the quarter, we successfully lowered our cost of capital and further strengthened our balance sheet, completing an offering of four and seven-eighths notes due 2026 and used the proceeds to fully redeem Our six and a quarter notes due 2022. In addition to our strong results for the quarter, I also want to highlight our advisors, Verizon Technology Finance Management's recent platform expansion, which provides the capacity to originate and manage a $100 million venture debt portfolio for waterfall asset management. The platform has the potential to expand to $300 million over time. With the addition of this new investment vehicle, which will invest side by side with Horizon, Horizon now has the ability to access larger and more investment opportunities, while at the same time further improving its portfolio diversity and reducing concentration risk. The new vehicle has invested $21 million of venture debt today, and we expect that it will be an important factor in Horizon's future portfolio and net investment income growth. Looking ahead, we believe we remain well-positioned to continue growing our portfolio and generating strong NII due to the following. Demand for venture debt within our targeted industries continues to be high. Our committed backlog and pipeline for investments are at record level. Our advisor's new investment vehicle will help us better compete for new loan opportunities. and we maintain ample capacity on our balance sheet to execute on our backlog of commitment and pipeline of new opportunities, as well as the new opportunities we originate. Our strategic balance sheet management, strong marketing, disciplined underwriting, and proactive management of our portfolio has enabled us to successfully navigate through the pandemic and placed us in a prime position to further expand and diversify our portfolio and ultimately generate net investment income and additional long-term value for our shareholders. I want to thank our entire team for all their hard work and for another strong quarter. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Jerry.