B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:RILY) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2023 4:30 PM ET
Company Participants
Bryant Riley - Chairman, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Tom Kelleher - Co-Founder and Co- Chief Executive Officer
Phillip Ahn - Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Conference Call Participants
Paul Dwyer - Punch & Associates
Thompson Clark - Mauldin Economics
Operator
Good afternoon and welcome to B. Riley Financial’s First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Harry and I will be your call coordinator. Earlier this afternoon, B. Riley issued its first quarter earnings release and financial supplement. Copies can be found on B. Riley’s Investor Relations website at ir.brileyfin.com or on the right side of your screen if you are joining us today via web. Today’s call includes prepared remarks from the company to be followed by a question-and-answer session with company management.
Joining us today from B. Riley are Bryant Riley, Chairman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO; Tom Kelleher, Co-Founder and Co-CEO; and Phillip Ahn, CFO and COO. After management’s remarks, we will open the line for questions. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded and an audio replay will be available on the company’s Investor Relations website later today. Finally, before we conclude today’s call, I will provide the necessary cautions regarding forward-looking statements.
Now, I will turn the call over to Mr. Bryant Riley. Mr. Riley, you may proceed.
Bryant Riley
Thanks, operator and welcome everyone. Our first quarter results again demonstrate the versatility and resiliency of our platform. During the first quarter, we generated total revenues of $432 million, including operating revenues of $380 million and $80 million of operating EBITDA. To deliver these results in a period with minimal contribution from our episodic businesses, which historically served as our largest profit drivers, only validates our strategy. This was not by accident. We appreciate the markets we serve are volatile.
Over the past 5 years, we undertook several initiatives to further enhance and diversify our platform and generate an excessive amount of cash to fund our business model. We made a series of strategic acquisitions and expanded our sources of steady and recurring earnings to further insulate our business from any downturn in capital markets like the one we are seeing today. The benefits of this strategy were highlighted by a quarter and by the fact despite the lack of large banking and retail liquidation deals during the quarter, we continue to generate enough free operating cash flow to cover our dividend, our overhead, our tax and our interest requirements.