Moelis & Company

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 gap 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.moles.com. I will now turn the call over to Chris to discuss our results.

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon, everyone. On today's call, I will go through our financial results, and then Ken will comment further on the business. We achieved revenues of $307 million in the first quarter, representing an increase of 41% over the prior year period. The revenue increase is attributable to growth in M&A and capital markets versus the prior year period. Moving to expenses, our first quarter compensation expense ratio was 69%. As the year progresses, our compensation ratio will depend on the trajectory of revenues and the pace and magnitude of hiring throughout the year. Our first quarter non-comp ratio was 19%. The quarterly year-over-year growth in non-compensation dollars is primarily attributable to increased costs associated with our investment and client conferences, many of which occurred during the first quarter. As indicated previously, we currently anticipate the full-year growth of non-compensation expense to be approximately 15%. Moving to taxes, our underlying corporate tax rate was 29.5% for the quarter before the discrete tax benefit related to the vesting of equity awards. Adding in this discrete benefit resulted in an overall net tax benefit for the quarter. Regarding capital allocation, the Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share. And lastly, we continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with no funded debt. I will now turn the call over to Ken.

Thanks, Chris, and welcome to your first earnings call as CFO. As we finished the first quarter, we had record new business origination and a record pipeline. Our go-to-market, including the maturation of our investments in tech and energy, are extremely strong, and we finished the quarter with a very bullish point of view for 2025. However, The new wave of volatility introduced into the capital markets post-April 2nd has definitely slowed M&A transaction activity. Although the scale and timeframe is hard to predict, we believe this is a temporary phenomenon and we are planning our business accordingly. The silver lining is that no matter the outcome, our clients will need strategic advice and will turn to our team to help them better understand their capital needs and how they can adapt or transform their business models. We continue to invest in the growth of our private funds advisory business. Following the announcement earlier this year of a senior banker to lead the team, we have a robust pipeline of additional senior talent and expect to have more news on that in the coming weeks. Private capital solutions and continuation vehicles will continue to be an important liquidity tool for sponsors, and our goal is to be the market leader in the space. We also remain focused on adding talent to fill other areas of strategic importance to the firm. Technology-focused managing director based in Europe recently joined the firm, and one focused on business services in Europe will also join shortly. We're optimistic about the road ahead and are well positioned. Remember, there are no tariffs on relationships and the world-class advice we deliver to our clients every day. We have no debt and a strong cash position. And our talent, breadth of experience, and culture of collaboration are stronger than ever before. And with that, I'll open it up for questions.