Sprott Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to SPROT, Inc.' 's 2021 Annual Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listening mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for your questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star followed by the zero for operator assistance at any time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, February 25th, 2022. On behalf of the speakers that follow, listeners are cautioned that today's presentation and the responses to questions may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Canadian Provincial Securities Law. Forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are implied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. For additional information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements, please consult the MDNA for the quarter and SPARTS other filings with the Canadian and U.S. security regulators. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Peter Groskopf. Please go ahead, Mr. Groskopf. Peter Groskopf Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. On the call with me today is Whitney George, the president of Sprott, our CFO, Kevin Hibbert, and John Champaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management. Our 2021 annual results were released this morning and are available on our website, where you can also find our financial statements and MD&A. I'll start on slide four. It was a great year for Sprott overall in 2021, despite the lackluster performance of gold and silver. Every division performed well and exceeded their objectives. This was reflected in our asset base, which continued to grow and hit new record levels of approximately 20 billion US. Our financial metrics improved and grew across the board as well. Our managed equity segment did well in 2021. Relative performance is strong over the past few years, and we believe it recently turned the corner on net sales. Sprott is well positioned for a resurgence of investor interest in metals, now supplemented by the rapid expansion of interest in carbon transition minerals, which will become a new area of focus for the firm. To that end, in July, we acquired Uranium Participation Corp. and launched the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, which quickly established us as the leaders in physical uranium management. The growth of SPUT has been truly impressive and is now a $2 billion fund. Also, we recently expanded our lending platform with a successful $700 million close of the Sprott Private Streaming and Lending Fund. Our Canadian and U.S. brokerages also delivered meaningful contributions in 2021. Sprott is well positioned for this current environment. and we continue to be focused on delivering outstanding performance. With that, I'll pass it over to Kevin for a look at our financial results for the quarter.

Thanks, Peter, and good morning, everyone. I'll start on slide five, which provides a summary of our AUM as at December 31st, 2021. AUM this quarter was $20.4 billion, up $1.4 billion, or 8%, from September 30, 2021, and was up $3.1 billion, or 18%, from December 31, 2020. Throughout the year, we benefited from strong inflows to our physical trusts and lending strategies. Notably, we added more than $1.7 billion of AUM to our physical silver trust, primarily in the first half of the year, and nearly $1 billion to our newly formed physical uranium trust in the second half of the year. Importantly, these inflows, along with increased commitments in our lending segment, more than offset market value depreciation encountered across our fund products as gold and silver struggle to keep pace with other asset classes in the year. Slide 6 provides a brief look into our 3- and 12-month earnings. Despite the tough global precious metals and equities market in 2021 that Peter alluded to earlier, adjusted base EBITDA in the quarter was $17.7 million, up $3 million, or 20%, from the three months ended December 31, 2020. And on a full-year basis, adjusted base EBITDA hit a record $64.1 million, up $19.9 million, or 45% from last year. This year's financial results truly demonstrate the strength and resolve of our business model, as well as our ability to provide sustained value for our shareholders through various market cycles. Throughout the year, for example, we benefited from not just the strong inflows into our physical trust and lending products I described a few moments ago, but also from very robust mining equity origination activity in the first half of the year in our Canadian brokerage, strong ongoing AUM development in our U.S. brokerage and even managed to produce a higher year-over-year result in our managed equities division, despite a tough year for mining equities overall. For more information on our revenues, expenses, and EBITDA, you can refer to the supplemental information section of this presentation, as well as our fourth quarter 2021 MD&A filed earlier this morning. So with that said, I'll pass things over to John.