Stellus Capital Investment Corporation

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Stella's Capital Investment Corporation's conference call to report financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter ended December 31st, 2024. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. This conference is being recorded today, March 5th, 2025. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Robert Ladd, Chief Executive Officer of Stellis Capital Investment Corporation. Mr. Ladd, you may begin your conference.

Yes, thank you, Ali. And good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call. Welcome to our conference call covering the quarter and the year ended December 31st, 2024. Joining me as usual this morning is Todd Huskinson, our Chief Financial Officer, who will cover important information about forward-looking statements and then start off our discussion.

Thank you, Rob. I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is being recorded. Please note that this call is the property of Stellis Capital Investment Corporation and that any unauthorized broadcast of this call in any form is strictly prohibited. Audio replay of the call will be available by using the telephone number and pen provided in our press release announcing this call. I'd also like to call your attention to the customary safe harbor disclosure in our press release regarding forward-looking information. Today's conference call may also include forward-looking statements and projections, and we ask that you refer to our most recent filing with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these projections. We will not update any forward-looking statements unless required by law. To obtain copies of our latest SEC filings, please visit our website at www.stalliscapital.com under the Public Investors link or call us at 713-292-5400. Now we'll cover our operating results for the quarter. We would like to start off with our life-to-date activity. Since our IPO in November 2012, we've invested approximately $2.6 billion in over 200 companies and received approximately $1.6 billion of repayments while maintaining stable asset quality. We've paid over $288 million of dividends to our investors, which represents $16.69 per share to an investor in our IPO in November 2012, which was offered at $15 per share. Turning to our current operating results, in the fourth quarter, we generated 35 cents per share of GAAP net investment income and core net investment income of 37 cents per share, which excludes estimated excise taxes. Net asset value per share decreased 9 cents during the quarter due to net unrealized depreciation on our investment portfolio and reduction of spillover income, offset by net realized gains on our investment portfolio, primarily related to one equity investment. Our ATM program was active during the quarter, and we issued 441,754 shares for $6.1 million in shares at an average gross price of $13.86 per share.