Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 15, 2024 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Michael Hara - MD of IR

Scott Bluestein - CEO & CIO

Seth Meyer - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Brian McKenna - Citizen JMP

Crispin Love - Piper Sandler

Christopher Nolan - Ladenburg Thalmann

Ryan Lynch - KBW

John Hecht - Jefferies

Operator

Thank you for standing by and welcome to Hercules Capital Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results Conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentations, there'll be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instruction] Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I will now return the conference to your host, Mr. Michael Hara, Managing Director of Investor relations. Please go ahead.

Michael Hara

Thank you, Valerie. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Hercules conference call for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. With us on the call today from Hercules are Scott Bluestein, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, and Seth Meyer, CFO. Hercules financial results were released just after today's market close and can be accessed from Hercules' Investor Relations section at investor.htgc.com. An archive webcast replay will be available on the investor relations webpage for at least 30 days following the conference call.

During this call, we may make forward-looking statements based on our own assumptions and current expectations. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and should not be relied upon in making any investment decision. Actual financial results may differ from the forward-looking statements made during this call for a number of reasons, including but not limited to, the risks identified in our annual report on Form 10-K and other filings that are publicly available on the SEC's website. Any forward-looking statements made during this call are made only as of today's date and Hercules assumes no obligation to update any such statements in the future.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Scott.

Scott Bluestein

Thank you, Michael and thank you all for joining the Hercules Capital Q4 and full year 2023 earnings call. Following our record operating performance in 2022, Hercules Capital once again raised the bar higher and delivered record performance in 2023. 2023 was a banner year for Hercules Capital, where we set several new financial and performance records and I am incredibly proud of what our talented and growing team accomplished. Our record-setting performance in 2023 culminated with the strongest total and net investment income quarter in the company's history and the recent declaration of a new supplemental distribution program for our shareholders. Our performance in 2023 reflects the benefits of being able to operate an institutional venture and growth stage lending platform at scale, maintain robust liquidity and a strong balance sheet, and working with a best-in-class team with significant experience in this asset class. Thanks to the growth of both the BDC and our private credit funds business, Hercules Capital is now managing approximately $4.2 billion of assets, an increase of over 15% from where we were at year-end 2022.