Sprott Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to SPRAS Incorporated's 2024 Fourth Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a 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, February 26, 2025. 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 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 action 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 other filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities regulators. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Whitney George. Please go ahead, Mr. George.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. On the call with me today is our CFO, Kevin Hibbert, and John Champaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management. Our 2024 fourth quarter and year-end 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 with a review of 2024 highlights. We will discuss in more detail later in the call, but a lot has happened since we last spoke, and we hope you are all managing well in this rapidly evolving environment. It's very difficult to give you a current outlook because the letter I wrote two weeks ago has already become dated with things moving so quickly. Turning now to our results, I'm pleased to report that in 2024 was Sprott's seventh consecutive year of double-digit AUM growth. Despite a pullback in the fourth quarter, our AUM increased by $2.8 billion during the year to $31.5 billion as of December 31, 2024. Importantly, we have carried that momentum into 2025, with assets increasing by $2 billion year-to-date to $33.5 billion. Our AUM growth in 2024 was driven by rising precious metal prices as well as almost $700 million in net sales mostly in our exchange-listed products. Our managed equity strategies also performed well in 2024 with certain funds generating performance fees. During the year, we continued to expand our critical materials offerings with the launch of two new ETFs and one physical trust. At the corporate level, we paid down our line of credit during the fourth quarter, resulting in a debt-free balance sheet. In November, we increased our quarterly dividend by 20%. We were also in the market at the end of the year for modest repurchases of our shares through our normal course issuer bid. 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 a summary of our historical AUM. AUM finished the year at $31.5 billion, down 6% from $33.4 billion last quarter. but was up 10% from $28.7 billion at the end of 2023. To Whitney's point, although fourth quarter AUM was negatively impacted by market value depreciation across most of our funds and the termination of certain sub-advised fund contracts, 2024 was nevertheless our seventh consecutive year of double-digit AUM growth. as we benefited from strong full-year market value appreciation in our precious metals physical trusts and net inflows to our exchange-listed products more broadly. Subsequent to year-end, on February 21st, our AUM increased by $2 billion to $33.5 billion. Slide 6 provides a brief look at our 3- and 12-month earnings. Net income this quarter was $11.7 million, up 21% from $9.7 million for the same three-month period last year. On a full-year basis, net income was $49.3 million, up 18% from $41.8 million last year. Our three- and 12-month ended results benefited from higher average AUM on strong market value appreciation in our precious metals physical trusts, and inflows to the majority of our exchange-listed products. We also benefited from carried interest and performance fee crystallization in certain funds in our managed equities and private strategies segments. Adjusted base EBITDA was $22.4 million in the quarter, up 19% from $18.8 million earned over the same three-month period last year and was $85.2 million on a full year basis, up 18% from $71.9 million earned last year. Similar to our net income performance, our three and 12 month ended results benefited from a higher average AUM on both strong market value appreciation and flows to our Precious Metals Physical Trust. Finally, slide seven provides a few treasury and balance sheet management highlights. And as you can see, due to our improved earnings, our cash and liquidity profile strengthened this year. We raised our dividend by 20% in November to Whitney's point and became debt-free in the fourth quarter. For more information on our revenues, expenses, net income, EBITDA, and balance sheet metrics, you can refer to the supplemental information section of this presentation, as well as our annual MD&A and financial statements filed earlier this morning. With that said, I'll pass things over to John.