Saratoga Investment Corp (NYSE:SAR) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 3, 2023 12:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Christian Oberbeck - Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

Henri Steenkamp - Chief Financial and Compliance Officer

Michael Grisius - Chief Investment Officer

Conference Call Participants

Bryce Rowe - B. Riley

Mickey Schleien - Ladenburg

Casey Alexander - Compass Point Research & Trading

Robert Dodd - Raymond James

Erik Zwick - Hovde Group

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s 2023 Fiscal Year End and Fourth Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions.

At this time, I’d like to turn the call over to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s Chief Financial and Compliance Officer, Mr. Henri Steenkamp. Sir, please go ahead.

Henri Steenkamp

Thank you. I would like to welcome everyone to Saratoga Investment Corp.'s 2023 fiscal year end and fourth quarter earnings conference call. Today's conference call includes forward-looking statements and projections. We ask you to refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required to do so by law.

Today, we will be referencing a presentation during our call. You can find our fiscal year-end and fourth quarter 2023 shareholder presentation in the Events and Presentations section of our Investor Relations website. A link to our IR page is in the earnings press release distributed last night. A replay of this conference call will also be available. Please refer to our earnings press release for details.

I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christian Oberbeck, who will be making a few introductory remarks.

Christian Oberbeck

Thank you, Henri, and welcome everyone. Saratoga’s 27% and 85% increases in adjusted net investment income per share as compared to last year and last year's fourth quarter respectively, outpaced our recent and significant dividend increases and reflects the positive effects of rising rates on the 99% of our credit assets that are floating rates, which are 89% of total assets under management, the balance being equity.

In contrast to the largely fixed interest rates paid on financing liabilities. Higher and rising interest rates and a general contraction of available credit are producing higher margins on our portfolio and importantly, an abundant flow of attractive investment opportunities from high-quality sponsors at increasingly improving pricing, terms and absolute rates.