PJT Partners Inc.

Good day and welcome to the PJT Partners third quarter 2020 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Sharon Pearson, head of investor relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you very much, Jake. Good morning and welcome to the PJT Partners third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. I'm Sharon Pearson, head of investor relations at PJT Partners. And joining me today is Paul Taubman, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Helen Mates, our Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Paul, I want to point out that during the course of this conference call, we may make a number of forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those in these statements. We believe that these factors are described in the risk factors section contained in PJT Partners 2019 Form 10-K, which is available on our website at pjtpartners.com. I want to remind you that the company assumes no duty to update any forward-looking statements and that the presentation we make today contains non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are meaningful in evaluating the company's performance. For detailed disclosures on the long gap metrics and their gap reconciliations, you should refer to the financial data contained within the press release we issued this morning, also available on our website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Sharon. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. We're pleased to report record results for the quarter and for the nine months. In the third quarter, firm-wide revenues increased 71%, from year-ago levels to $298 million, while adjusted pre-tax income grew 127% compared to a year ago. Each of restructuring, PJT Park Hill, and strategic advisory delivered strong performance in the quarter, with revenues in each business higher than a year ago. For the nine months, firm-wide revenues grew 56%, to $730 million, exceeding our full year 2019 revenues. Adjusted pre-tax income increased by 122% from year-ago levels to $171 million. These results reflect the unique depth and breadth of our franchise and highlight our differentiated ability to navigate challenging market environments. When we reported our first quarter results, we were appropriately cautious about the remainder of the year. Since then, we have grown ever more optimistic about the full year. Our strong momentum and strategic advisory heading into the year, combined with a balanced business model with leading pillars in restructuring, capital markets advisory, and shareholder engagement, has enabled us to gain market share in these turbulent times. Increasingly, clients are gravitating to our demonstrated track record of delivering superior advice. Our extraordinarily talented team combined with our distinctively collaborative culture has enabled us to serve clients in a superior manner and produce exceptional results. Now, turning to each of our businesses in greater detail. Beginning with restructuring. Revenues in our global restructuring business were up sharply for the quarter and for the nine months compared to comparable periods a year ago. The ever-increasing collaboration between restructuring and the rest of our firm enables us to leverage our collective expertise, consistently delivering exceptional results for our clients. During a market backdrop characterized by economic contraction dislocations and disruptions, our team has excelled. While the pace of new restructuring activity is likely to slow in the near term, we expect it to remain elevated relative to historical levels. There are a significant number of companies and industries whose businesses have been meaningfully and in some cases permanently compromised by dislocations caused by the pandemic. Accordingly, we expect to see an active restructuring environment for the foreseeable future. Turning to PJT Park Hill. While this business was significantly impacted at the onset of the global pandemic, it has rebounded more quickly than expected. The fundraising environment continues to normalize, as market volatility has subsided and investors have become increasingly acclimated to virtual rather than physical due diligence. With respect to PJT Park Hill, our ability to bring to market in-demand fund managers has been a competitive advantage in what can best be described as a flight to quality environment. In PJT Park Hill, third quarter revenues increased significantly versus year ago levels, and nine month revenues are essentially unchanged relative to last year's levels. We expect sequential growth in revenues in the fourth quarter, although we anticipate PJT Park Hill's full year results to fall short of last year's results. Turning to strategic advisory. In strategic advisory, we enjoyed another strong quarter. Year-to-date strategic advisory and restructuring have been the firm's growth drivers. Despite the global pandemic and corresponding economic shutdown, our announced transaction count increased by 25% in the six months ended September 30 versus year-ago levels. However, The aggregate value of these transactions was down significantly compared to year-ago levels. Beginning in the third quarter, we started to see a significant uptick in strategic dialogues and number of new mandates. Our pre-announced backlog continues to build and now is above year-ago levels. We remain committed to investing in our strategic advisory franchise. Year to date, we have hired five new partners to our strategic advisory team in activist defense, technology, real estate, and energy. And has been the case since we started our firm, we continue to be an employer of choice for talented individuals at all levels. Now, over to Helen to review our financial results in greater detail.