Franklin Resources, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to Franklin Resources Earnings Conference Call for the quarter-ended March 31, 2019. Statements made in this conference call regarding Franklin Resources, Inc., which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These and other risks, uncertainties, and other important factors are described in more detail in Franklin's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the Risk Factors and MD&A sections of Franklin's most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings.

Good morning. My name is Jessie, and I'll be your call operator today. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. The confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. 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. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Franklin Resources Chairman and CEO, Mr. Greg Johnson. Mr. Johnson, you may begin.

Good morning, and welcome to our second quarter earnings conference call. Joining me for his final earnings call as CFO is Ken Lewis. We also have Jenny Johnson, our President and Chief Operating Officer, with us today. Importantly, strong investment performance translated to better flows for many of our flagship funds. Retail sales and redemptions improved significantly, particularly for global fixed income that once again attracted inflows, as did Franklin income. Earnings per share improved to 72 cents, a 33% increase from last quarter. Higher investment income more than offset the initial impact of the cost structure optimization initiatives intended to increase operational efficiencies and streamline the organization. We'd now like to open the line for your questions.