Moelis & Company

Good afternoon and welcome to the Mollis and Company earnings conference call for the second quarter of 2023. To begin, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Matt Suckroff. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for Mollis and Company's second quarter 2023 financial results conference call. On the phone today are Ken Mollis, Chairman and CEO, and Joe Simon, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to note that the remarks made on this call They contain certain forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those identified from time to time in the risk factors section of Molson Company's filings with the SEC. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. The firm undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Our comments today include references to certain adjusted financial measures. We believe these measures, when presented together with comparable gap measures, are useful to investors to compare our results across several periods and to better understand our operating results. The reconciliation of these adjusted financial measures with the relevant GAAP financial information and other information required by Reg G is provided in the firm's earnings release, which can be found on our investor relations website at investors.mullis.com. I'll now turn the call over to Joe.

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, everyone. On today's call, I'll go through our financial results, and then Ken will comment further on the business. We reported $182 million of revenues in the second quarter, a decrease of 23% versus the prior year. Our first half revenues of $368 million were down 31% from the prior year period, which is primarily attributed to decrease in M&A transaction completions. This compares to a 40% decline in global M&A announcements and a 50% decline in sponsor-backed M&A during the first half of 2023. Moving to expenses, our compensation expense was accrued at 80%, consistent with the prior quarter. Our second quarter adjusted non-comp expenses were $43 million. including approximately 2 million of transaction-related expense. I believe that the run rate for adjusted non-comp before transaction-related expenses is closer to 41 to 42 million per quarter on a prospective basis. Separately, we entered into an agreement to split certain fee amounts with SVB Securities in connection with our large tech hiring earlier this year. Fees owed will show up in non-compensation expenses only if designated transactions close. Nothing occurred this quarter, but I will call out any material expenses if and when they do. Regarding capital allocation, the Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, consistent with the prior period. And lastly, we continue to maintain a strong balance sheet of $194.8 million of cash and no debt. I'll now turn the call over to Ken.