PJT Partners Inc.

Good day and welcome to the PJT Partners first quarter 2023 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. Good morning and welcome to the PJT Partners first quarter 2023 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 indicated in these statements. We believe that these factors are described in the risk factors section contained in PJT Partners 2020 Terms 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 these non-GAAP metrics and their GAAP 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 our first quarter report. The current market environment can best be described as treacherous, as the unprecedented magnitude of Fed rate hikes, continues to take their toll. This historic monetary tightening campaign has caught numerous financial institutions wrong-footed, creating deposit funding vulnerabilities and causing significant financial institutions to come undone. The deposit migrations resulting from these bank failures, coupled with rising funding costs, will inevitably trigger a more restrictive credit environment. slow economic growth, and increase the odds of a recession. It is not surprising that worldwide M&A activity has fallen to levels not seen in nearly 15 years, given that credit conditions have not been this challenging in nearly 15 years. In this difficult market environment, our firm performed well on a relative basis with revenues and strategic advisory and restructuring combined down only 5%. Firm-wide revenues, which also include the PJT Park Hill business and reflect a nearly $40 million step down in PJT Park Hill revenues, declined 19% year on year. Since our firm's beginnings, our investment priorities have always been about attracting and developing best-in-class talent at all levels. Notwithstanding today's subdued M&A activity, our commitment to that investment strategy and our confidence in the returns from that investment have not waned. In this stressed environment, we are seeing an unprecedented number of extraordinarily talented people who want to explore a career at PJT. We fully expect that 2023 will be a record recruiting year for our firm. After Helen takes you through our financial results, I will review our business performance, strategic priorities, and outlook in greater detail. Helen?