Dwayne Louis Hyzak
Analyst · Raymond James
Thanks, Vince. We are pleased to report that our operations in the second quarter generated continued growth in our recurring investment income, distributable net investment income per share, which significantly exceeded our regular monthly dividends paid for the quarter, and continued appreciation of our net asset value per share. For the second quarter, our total investment income increased by 25% over the same period in 2013 to a total of $34.9 million. This increase was primarily driven by increased amounts of interest income associated with higher levels of portfolio debt investments and increased dividend income from portfolio equity investments. Second quarter operating expenses, excluding noncash share-based compensation expense, increased by $900,000 over the same period in 2013 to a total of $10.3 million. This increase was primarily the result of a $1.1 million increase in compensation-related expenses and a $300,000 increase in other general and administrative expenses, with these increases partially offset by $400,000 of operating expenses charged to our external Investment Manager. The ratio of our total operating expenses excluding interest expense as a percentage of our average total assets was 1.6% on an annualized basis for the second quarter of 2014 compared to 1.6% for the second quarter of 2013 and 1.8% for the full year in 2013. We believe that this ratio compares very favorably to other BDCs and continues to illustrate the significant benefits associated with our efficient internally managed operating structure. Our internally managed operating structure allows us to deliver a greater portion of our gross portfolio returns to our shareholders, and we believe that it provides for greater alignment of the interest of our management with the interest of our shareholders. Our increased total investment income and the continued leverage of our efficient operating structure resulted in a 33% increase in distributable net investment income for the second quarter to a total of $24.6 million or $0.56 per share, which exceeded our monthly dividend paid -- dividends paid for the quarter by over $0.06 per share or over 12%. We recorded net unrealized appreciation of $16.5 million in the second quarter, which primarily consisted of net appreciation on the investment portfolio of $11.5 million, as Vince previously discussed, and accounting reversals of net unrealized appreciation from prior periods of $5.4 million related to portfolio exits and repayments, partially offset by $800,000 of depreciation on the SBIC debentures held by one of our wholly owned SBIC subsidiaries. Additional details for the net unrealized appreciation can be found on our earnings release. Our operating results for the second quarter resulted in a net increase in net assets from operations of $30 million or $0.68 per share. Our investment activity in the second quarter included total investments on our lower middle market portfolio of approximately $23 million, primarily as a result of our investments in 1 new portfolio company, a net increase in our middle market portfolio of approximately $75 million as we deploy the proceeds of our April follow-on equity offering and a net increase in our private loan portfolio of approximately $29 million. On the capital resources front, we improved our already-strong liquidity position and overall capitalization during the second quarter through our successful follow-on equity offering in April which generated net proceeds of approximately $140 million and a $57.5 million expansion of the commitments under our revolving credit facility in June. At quarter end, we had over $30 million of cash, $9 million of marketable securities and $250 million of unused capacity under our credit facility, providing us significant liquidity for future growth. As we discussed in our prior conference calls, during 2014, our external Investment Manager began accruing management fees related to its investment sub-advisory relationship with HMS Income Fund. And during the second quarter, this relationship generated approximately $460,000 of contribution to our net investment income. We currently project that this relationship will contribute $0.03 to $0.04 per share of net investment income in the second half of 2014. Based upon HMS Income Fund's current fund raising efforts and activities, we expect that this amount should increase over the next 12 months. As we look forward to the third quarter of 2014 and consider our current investment portfolio and our third quarter investment activity to date, we currently expect that we will generate third quarter of 2014 distributable net investment income per share in a range of approximately $0.55 to $0.57 per share, or $0.05 or $0.07 above our previously announced regular monthly dividends for the third quarter of $0.495 per share, which is consistent with our previously discussed policy of setting our regular monthly dividends at 90% to 95% of our distributable net investment income. Now let me finish with a few portfolio statistics, all as of June 30. Our investment portfolio continues to be extremely diversified with investments in 174 companies across our lower middle market, middle market and private loan portfolios. These companies are well diversified across over 50 different industries and our portfolio continues to be well diversified by end market, geography, and vintage. We believe that this diversification adds significant protections to our investment portfolio, our recurring investment income and cash flows and provides significant benefits to our shareholders. In our lower middle market portfolio, we had 62 investments representing approximately $670 million of fair value, which is approximately 27% above the cost basis of approximately $530 million. Consistent with our investment strategy, approximately 73% of our lower middle market portfolio investments at cost were in the form of secured debt investments, and approximately 85% of those debt investments held a first lien security position. The weighted average effective yield on our lower middle market portfolio debt investments was approximately 14.9%. As Vince mentioned, we continue to hold equity positions in 95% of our lower middle market portfolio companies with an average fully diluted equity ownership position of approximately 34%. We believe that these equity ownership positions provide significant value to our shareholders, and they are the primary driver behind our significant net unrealized appreciation of over $3 per share and our growing levels of dividend income. At the lower middle market portfolio level, the portfolio's median net senior debt-to-EBITDA ratio, which includes all debt through Main Street's debt position was 2.1:1. Based upon our internal investment rating system, with a rating of 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest and with all new investments entering the rating system with an initial 3 rating, the weighted average investment rating for our lower middle market investment portfolio was 2.2 on June 30, which is unchanged from the prior quarter and prior year end. In our middle market portfolio, we had investments in 93 companies representing approximately $566 million of fair value that were generating a weighted average yield of approximately 7.5%. Our middle market portfolio investments are primarily in the form of debt investments, and approximately 92% of our middle market portfolio debt investments at cost held the first lien security position. The weighted average EBITDA for the companies in the middle market portfolio was approximately $69 million. In our private loan portfolio, we had investments in 19 companies, collectively totaling approximately $145 million in fair value. The weighted average EBITDA for the companies in the private loan portfolio was approximately $12 million. Approximately 96% of our private loan portfolio investments are in the form of debt investments, and 82% of such debt investments held the first lien security position. The weighted average annual effective yield on our private loan portfolio debt investments was approximately 11.3%. The total investment portfolio fair value at June 30 was approximately 111% of the related cost basis and we had 2 portfolio investments on nonaccrual status, which comprised approximately 1.2% of the total investment portfolio at fair value and 3.5% at cost. With that, I will now turn the call back to the operator so that we may take any questions.