Invesco Ltd

Welcome to Invesco's first quarter earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session. At that time, to ask a question, press star 1. This call will last one hour. To allow more participants to ask questions, one question and a follow-up can be submitted per participant. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Greg Ketron, Invesco's head of investor relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thanks, operator, and all of you joining us on the call today. In addition to the press release, we've provided a presentation that covers the topics we plan to address today. Press release and presentation are available on our website, Invesco.com. This information can be found by going to the investor relations section of the website. Our presentation today will include forward-looking statements and certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please review the disclosures on slide two of the presentation regarding these statements and measures, as well as the appendix for the appropriate reconciliations to GAAP. Finally, Invesco is not responsible for and does not edit nor guarantee the accuracy of our earnings call transcripts provided by third parties. The only authorized webcasts are located on our website. Marty Flanagan, President and CEO. Andrew Schlossberg, Invesco's Head of Americas and who will become President and CEO upon Marty's retirement on June 30th of this year. And Allison Dukes, Chief Financial Officer, will present our results this morning. After we complete the presentation, we will open up the call for questions. Now I'll turn the call over to Marty.

Thank you, Craig. I'm going to start on page three, which is the highlights for the first quarter, if you want to follow along. The early part of 2023 provided investors and money managers reason for modest optimism as most major financial markets came to ground in that period, partially offsetting the significant declines we saw last year. Inflationary pressures showed some sign of easing and the COVID-19 pandemic at long last looks behind us. That said, heightened level of volatility persists and the financial markets reacted with caution in March as we experienced several bank failures during that period. Investors once again saw safety and risk off assets and net flows across the industry were pressured again. Although organic growth remains lower across our industry, net inflows in the first quarter, marking a return to organic growth. This progress is especially significant considering the mixed flow picture for the industry overall during the quarter. Growth this quarter is driven by areas in which we've invested for years and have been intentional in cultivating deep client relationships. Fixed income capabilities, the institutional channel, ETFs, all experienced strong net inflows during the quarter. Each of these areas has demonstrated an escrow's ability to sustain growth throughout the full market cycle. Fixed income delivered net flows for the 17th straight quarter, while the institutional channel has now been in net flows for 14 straight quarters. As we'll discuss later, our pipeline remains strong, pretending well for future growth. Our solutions business helped drive the institutional business to net long-term inflows of $6.6 billion in the quarter, Meanwhile, net long-term flows in ETF vehicles have now been a positive 10 out of 11 in the last quarters. Growth in the ETF business is broad-based with net inflows this quarter in both equity and fixed income strategies. I'm confident that when investor appetite returns to risk assets, we will see significant growth in this area. Net flows in active equities remain a headwind, but improved meaningfully compared to our experience in 2022. Net long-term outflows and global equities were $2.5 billion in the first quarter, including $1.2 billion from our developing markets fund. While still challenging environment, this was the best flow performance quarter in the asset class since 2021, with net outflows being less than half the net outflows in the fourth quarter. As we discussed on our last earnings call, the Chinese markets have continued to be unsteady for several months as the country is in the midst of transition Despite the near-term challenges, we remain extremely bullish on the opportunity in China over the long term. We rank 12th out of 160 mutual fund companies operating in China, and we remain the largest foreign-owned asset manager and the fastest-growing market owner in our industry. We expect to be in the market with new product launches during the second quarter, and we are optimistic for recovery and flows in the balance of 2023. Let me briefly touch on the private from three new COOs launched in that period. Real estate transactions slowed across the industry as markets of the turmoil in the banking sector and the higher interest rates made financing more difficult. However, our direct real estate portfolio has performed well and is diversified across geography, sectors, and investment styles. Alison will get into greater detail in just a few minutes. While we expect the growth may be more challenging, investing in, growing our business, maintaining a strong balance sheet, and providing a steady return of capital to our shareholders is a top priority. I'm pleased to know that our Throughout his more than 20-year career at Invesco, Andrew has successfully led several large businesses and earned the respect of clients, employees, the board of directors, and executive leadership team. Andrew and our highly experienced executive leadership team are well-placed to lead Invesco into the next chapter. I'm excited for the future of the firm as we build on our market-leading position to further accelerate growth under Andrew's leadership and that of the executive leadership team. This is the most talented, experienced leadership team and the team as Chairman Emeritus from June 30th through the end of 2024. Before we turn over the call to Allison, I'd like to introduce Andrew and invite him to say a few words. Andrew.