Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 7, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

John Stilmar – Partner, Co-Head of Public Markets Investor Relations

Kipp DeVeer – Chief Executive Officer

Penni Roll – Chief Financial Officer

Kort Schnabel – Co-President, Los Angeles

Conference Call Participants

John Hecht – Jefferies

Finian O'Shea – Wells Fargo Securities

Melissa Wedel – JPMorgan

Ryan Lynch – KBW

Robert Dodd – Raymond James

Mark Hughes – Truist

Erik Zwick – Hovde Group

Casey Alexander – Compass Point

Operator

Good morning. Welcome to the Ares Capital Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, February 07, 2024.

I'll now turn the call over to John Stilmar, Partner of Ares Public Markets Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

John Stilmar

Thank you. Let me start with some important reminders. Comments made during the course of this conference call and webcast as well as the accompanying documents contain forward-looking statements, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements for any reason, including those listed in its SEC filings. Ares Capital Corporation assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Please also note that past performance or market information is not a guarantee of future results.

During this conference call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. such as core earnings per share or core EPS. The company believes that core EPS provides useful information to investors regarding financial performance because it is one method the company uses to measure its financial condition and results of operation. A reconciliation of GAAP net income per share, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to core EPS can be found on the accompanying slide presentation for this call. In addition, the reconciliation of these measures may also be found in our earnings presentation filed this morning with the SEC on Form 8-K. Certain information discussed in this conference call and the accompanying slide presentation, including information relating to portfolio companies, was derived from third-party sources and has not been independently verified. And accordingly, the company makes no representations or warranties with respect to this information. The company's fourth quarter December 31, 2023, earnings presentation can be found on the company's website at www.arescapitalcorp.com by clicking on the fourth quarter 2023 earnings presentation link on the homepage of the Investor Resources section. Ares Capital Corporation's earnings release and Form 10-K are also available on this website.