Sprott Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Sprouts, Inc.' 's 2023 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only 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 questions. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, August 9th, 2023. 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 Provisional Security Law. Forward-looking statements involve risks 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 MD&A for the quarter and sprouts other filings with the Canadian and US security regulators. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Whitney George. Please go ahead, Mr. George.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. On the call with me today is our CFO, Kevin Hibbert, and John Cipaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management. Our 2023 second quarter results were released this morning and are available on our website where you can also find the financial statements and MD&A. I'll start on slide four. Our assets under management declined slightly during the second quarter due largely to weaker precious metal prices. However, on a six month basis, our AUM has increased by 1.7 billion and currently stands at 25.1 billion. We continue to deliver net sales. We continue to deliver net sales during the quarter, despite the headwinds. In our private strategy segment, both our private lending team and our streaming and royalty team recently closed new partnerships with support from both new and existing LPs. While on the surface, it was a relatively quiet quarter, much hard work was occurring beneath the surface. Our marketing team continues its high level of output, producing upwards of 30 thought leadership pieces during the quarter. We also recently welcomed Judith O'Connell to the board of directors. Judy is a founding partner and CEO of Champlain Investment Partners, a significant Vermont-based employee-owned asset. We look forward to adding her expertise to the board, particularly in areas like operations, compliance, and technology. And with that, I'll pass it over to Kevin for a look at our financial results. Kevin?

Thanks, Whitney, and good morning, everyone. I'll start on slide five, which provides the usual summary of our historical AUM. uh as whitney alluded to earlier aum finished the quarter at 25.1 billion dollars down 235 million dollars or one percent from march 31st of this year but is actually up 1.7 billion dollars or seven percent since the end of last year on a three month ended basis our aum was negatively impacted by market value depreciation across the majority of our fund products that was only partially offset by new capital raises and inflows to our private strategies and exchange listed products. However, on a six-month ended basis, we did benefit from the full effects of this year's capital raise and inflows to our private strategies funds, as well as good at the market activity levels in our exchange listed products, and a strong first quarter of market value appreciation across the majority of our funds. Slide six provides a brief look at our three and six month earnings. Adjusted base EBITDA was $18 million in the quarter, up slightly from the same three month period ended last year. The increase in the quarter was due to higher average AUM in our exchange-listed products and private strategies funds, more than offsetting lower commission income in the quarter due to the sale of our former Canadian broker dealer. Adjusted base EBITDA was $35.3 million on a year-to-date basis, down $808,000, or 2%, from the same six-month period ended last year. that decrease was due to lower commission income on the sale of the canadian dealer as i mentioned earlier as well as slower at the market activity in our uranium trust the lower commission income on a year-to-date basis was nearly offset by growth in net fees on improved aum and we expect net fee levels to increase even further in the second half of the year leading to the eventual replacement of low margin commission income from our broker dealer with higher margin fees from our exchange-specific products and private strategy segments. So all told, we have grown annual adjusted base EBITDA consistently over the last five years, and we anticipate more of the same for 2023, although at a much lower trajectory than previous years given the challenging 2023 operating environment. Lastly, as you can see on slide seven, as part of our ongoing treasury and balance sheet management program, During the quarter, we paid down $20 million or 37% of our outstanding debt facility. We expect a total debt outstanding down by another 13% or so in the second half of the year, such that our total outstanding debt coming out of 2022 will be lower, sorry, out of 2023 will be lower than where it was coming out of 2022. Subsequent to quarter end, We completed a review of our current and near-term funding and borrowing needs and determined that we no longer require a $120 million credit facility. Consequently, management decided to lower the maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility by $45 million to $75 million. Offsetting the reduction in borrowing capacity is the release of capital restrictions on the sale of our former Canadian broker dealer that closed earlier this quarter. as well as the eventual monetization of shares that we received on the realization of a previously unrecorded contingent asset from a historical acquisition. For more information on our revenues, expenses, EBITDA, and balance sheet metrics, you can refer to the supplemental information collection of this presentation, as well as our second quarter MD&A that we filed earlier this morning. With that said, I'll pass things over to John.