Acadian Asset Management Inc.

initial performance. Each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and certainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Additional information regarding these risks and certainties appears in our FEC filing, including the form 8-K filed today containing the earnings review. our 2024 Form 10-K and our Form 10-Q for the first, second, and third quarters of 2025. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them as a result of new information of future events. We may also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. information about any non-GAAP measures referenced, including the reconciliation of those measures to GAAP measures, can be found on our website, along with the slide that we will use as part of today's discussion. Finally, nothing herein shall be deemed to be an offer or solicitation to buy any investment product. Kelly Yang, Our President and Chief Executive Officer will leave the call. And now, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Kelly.

Thanks, Melody. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I'm delighted to share our Q4 25 and full-year 2025 results with you. I'm pleased to highlight that we delivered breakout results across assets under management and profitability. We ended Q4 2025 on another high note. Our US GAAP net income attributable to controlling interests was down 18% and EPS was down 14% compared to the year prior due to increased non-cash expenses representing changes in the valuation of Acadian LLC equity and profits interest. Our ENI diluted EPS of $1.32 was up 2% driven by share repurchases the highest level of quarterly ENI EPS in the firm's history. Our adjusted EBITDA was up 1%. We realized $5.4 billion of positive net client cash flows in Q4-25, 3% of beginning period AUM, driven by enhanced extensions as well as emerging markets equity. And finally, AUM surged to $177.5 billion as of December 31st, 2025, making another record high for Acadian. Moving to slide three, full year 2025 strong outperformance. Our U.S. gap net income attributable to controlling interest was down 6%, and EPS down 0.5% compared to the prior year, driven by increased non-cash expenses, representing changes in the value of Acadian LLC equity and profits interests. We will discuss the four-year ENI EPS and net flows on the following slide. Our adjusted EBITDA was up 9% compared to 2024, driven by significant growth in reoccurring management fees. Focusing on slide four, this slide captures the exceptional and historic year 2025 was for Acadian. We generated $29 billion in net client cash flows. That organic growth, combined with robust equity markets, drove our AUM to an all-time high of nearly 178 billion as of December 31st, 2025. At the same time, our 2025 ENI total revenue grew to nearly 549 million, up 9% from 2024. We also expanded our ENI margin more than two percentage points to 35.5% and reduced our gross leverage to one times as of year-end 2025. down from 1.5 times at year-end 24. Finally, we delivered record annual 2025 ENI EPS of $3.25, up 18% year-over-year, supported by greater ENI earnings and the efficient return of capital to our shareholders in the form of share repurchases. These milestones and financial results reflect our team's discipline and dedication in executing the organic growth plan we articulated when I assumed the CEO role at the beginning of 2025. As we enter Acadian's 40th year in business, I believe we're better positioned than ever. We remain focused on delivering solutions and generating alpha for our clients, as well as expanding targeted product and distribution initiatives that promise to deliver long-term growth and value for our shareholders. Turning to slide five, Acadian's investment performance track record remains strong despite a challenging 2025. We have five major implementations which comprise the majority of our assets. As of December 31st, 2025, global equity, emerging markets equity, non-US equity, small cap equity, and enhanced equity have 100% of assets outperforming benchmarks, across three, five, and 10-year periods. Global equity markets delivered strong returns in Q4 2025 to close out 2025. However, crowding and lesser quality high beta stocks created a more challenging environment for the fundamentally driven signals, such as quality, that drive Acadian's approach, particularly in the second half of the year. Towards the end of the year, value and quality-orientated stocks performed better a welcome change after their struggles in Q3 and our performance improved in Q4-25. As we enter a new year, we remain confident in our disciplined, systematic approach and believe we're well positioned as markets begin to refocus on company fundamentals. Slide six details how our investment process has weathered various market cycles and generated meaningful long-term alpha for our clients. Our revenue-weighted five-year annualized return in excessive benchmark was 4.7% as of the end of the quarter on a consolidated firm-wide basis. Our asset-weighted five-year annualized return in excessive benchmark was 3.8% as of the end of the quarter. By revenue weight, 95% of Acadian strategies outperformed their respective benchmarks across three, five, and 10-year periods as of December 31, 2025. And by asset weight, 91% of Acadian strategies outperform their respective benchmarks across three, five, and 10-year periods. The next slide highlights our sustained momentum in net flows. We realized positive net flows of $5.4 billion in the fourth quarter, representing 3% of beginning period AUM. The quarter's net flows were again diverse across products and client types. Enhanced extension and emerging markets equities all generated strong net client cash flows. As I referenced earlier, for the full year of 2025, we generated net flows of $29 billion. And with positive flows of $2 billion in 2024, we've now generated eight consecutive quarters of positive net flows. Our current pipeline remains robust and active after the funding of a number of significant client wins in 2025. and we expect continued positive momentum in the year ahead. I'm now going to turn the call over to our CFO, Scott Hines, to provide you with more detail on our financial performance this quarter and an update on capital allocation.

Thanks, Kelly. Turning to slide nine, our key gap in E&I performance metrics are summarized here on both a quarterly and full-year basis. As previously noted, we manage the business using E&I metrics, which better reflect our underlying operating performance. We can find complete gap to E&I reconciliations in the appendix. Let me now turn to our core business results. Starting on slide 10, Q425 management fees of $146 million increased 32% from Q424, reflecting a 43% increase in average AUM, driven by strong positive net flows and market appreciation. Total E&I revenue of $170 million increased from Q424 by 2%. primarily due to recurring base management fee growth, partially offset by a decline in performance fees. We have now delivered nearly 8% or higher quarter-on-quarter management fee growth for three consecutive quarters. And with fourth quarter end of period AUM of $178 billion, we enter 226 with a significantly stronger recurring revenue base. This stronger entry point enhances our confidence in our ability to deliver earnings, generate free cash flow, self-fund organic investments, and return capital to shareholders. Moving to slide 11, Q4-25 E&I operating expenses increased 5%, primarily driven by higher sales-based compensation, as well as general and administrative costs, including continued investments in IT and infrastructure. Our E&I operating margin expanded 338 basis points to 45.7% from 42.3% in Q4-24, driven by increased E&I management fees, while our Q4-25 operating expense ratio fell 10 percentage points year-over-year to 40.9%, reflecting the impact of improved operating leverage. Q4-25 variable compensation decreased 18% year-on-year primarily driven by reduced performance fee-related compensation, as well as increased non-cash compensation. In Sympathy, our Q4-25 variable compensation ratio decreased to 29.4% in Q4-25 from 35.7% in Q4-24, while our full-year 2025 variable comp ratio decreased to 39.4% from 42.3% in 2024. Assuming revenue mix and levels similar to 2025, contractual allocations would imply a 2026 variable compensation ratio of approximately 40 to 43%. Turning to slide 12 on capital resources, as of December 31st, 2025, we had 101 million of cash and 97 million of seed investments on the balance sheet. With a $200 million balance on our new term loan credit facility, and zero balance on our revolving credit facility. We completed the previously announced refinancing of our 275 million senior notes in Q4-25, reducing our gross debt by 75 million and helping lower our gross leverage ratio from the prior year by half a turn to one times and our net leverage ratio to 0.5 times. This refinancing has left our balance sheet stronger and more durable, better positioning us to navigate various market environments and to continue to return excess capital going forward. As a reminder, Acadian's leverage typically peaks in the first quarter of each year as we draw down on our revolver to fund annual compensation, but then declines through the year as we generate cash and pay down the revolver. We expect this dynamic to continue in 2026. Moving to slide 13, we have a track record of creating significant value through share buybacks in recent years. Outstanding diluted shares have decreased 58% from 86 million in Q4-19 to 35.8 million shares in Q4-25. Over the same period, $1.4 billion in excess capital was returned to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends. Share repurchases were suspended in Q4-25, with balance sheet cash supported the previously discussed deleveraging. We repurchased 1.8 million shares of common stock in 2025, 5% reduction in our total shares outstanding from the end of 2024 for an aggregate total of $48 million. Acadian's board has declared an interim dividend of $0.10 per share, an increase from the prior penny per share level to be paid on March 27, 2026 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 13, 2026. This increased dividend level reflects the Board's confidence in our recurring revenue base and continued strong free cash flow generation. Going forward, we expect to continue generating strong free cash flow and returning excess capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. I'll now turn the call back over to Kelly.