Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 25, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Alexandra Deignan - Head of Investor Relations, Treasury & Corporate Sustainability
Peter Orszag - Chief Executive Officer
Mary Ann Betsch - Chief Financial Officer
Evan Russo - Chief Executive Officer, Asset Management

Conference Call Participants

Ryan Kenny - Morgan Stanley
Jim Mitchell - Seaport Global
Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research
Devin Ryan - JMP Securities
James Yaro - Goldman Sachs
Brennan Hawken - UBS
Aidan Hall - KBW

Operator

Good morning and welcome to Lazard's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. This call is being recorded. Currently all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I will turn the call over to Alexandra Deignan, Lazard's Head of Investor Relations, Treasury and Corporate Sustainability. Please go ahead.

Alexandra Deignan

Thank you, Ashley. Good morning and welcome to Lazard's earnings call for the second quarter and first half of 2024. I'm Alexandra Deignan, Head of Investor Relations, Treasury and Corporate Sustainability. In addition to today's audio comments, we have posted our earnings release on our website. A replay of this call will also be available on our website later today.

Before we begin, let me remind you that we may make forward-looking statements about our business and performance. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance, achievements or other events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not to those factors discussed in the company's SEC filings which you can access on our website. Lazard assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these forward-looking statements and assumes no duty to update them. Today's discussion also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are meaningful when evaluating the company's performance. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP measures is provided in our Earnings Release and Investor Presentation.

Hosting our call today are Peter Orszag, Lazard's Chief Executive Officer; and Mary Ann Betsch, Lazard's Chief Financial Officer. After our prepared remarks, Peter and Mary Ann will be joined by Evan Russo, Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management as they open the call for questions.

I'll now turn the call over to Peter.

Peter Orszag

Thank you, Ale and good morning to everyone on today's call. We are pleased to report another quarter of strong results as we continue to pursue a long-term growth strategy. For the first half of the year, total firm-wide adjusted net revenue was $1.4 billion, up 25% from the prior year. Financial Advisory adjusted net revenue set a record for the first half of the year at $855 million. This growth reflects our expanding traction with clients and ongoing improvements in market conditions along with momentum behind our vision for Lazard's future and success in executing our long-term plan.