Earnings Labs

Rand Capital Corporation (RAND)

Q4 2020 Earnings Call· Mon, Mar 8, 2021

$10.89

+0.90%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+2.34%

1 Week

+0.32%

1 Month

+13.21%

vs S&P

+6.18%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to Rand Capital Corporation Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Results. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Deborah Pawlowski, Rand Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Deborah Pawlowski

Analyst

Thank you, Doug, and good afternoon, everyone. We certainly appreciate your time today and your interest in Rand Capital. As we discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results, I will have Pete Grum, our Chief Executive Officer and Dan Penberthy, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, provide you some formal remarks and then we will open it for Q&A. You should have a copy of the release that crossed the wires this morning as well as the slides that will accompany our conversation. If not, they are available on our website at www.randcapital.com. If you are following along on the slide deck and would turn to Slide 2, I would like to point out some important information. As you are likely aware, we may make some forward-looking statements during this presentation and during the question-and-answer session. These statements apply to future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties as well as other factors that could cause actual results to differ from where we are today. You can find a summary of these risks and uncertainties and other factors in the earnings release as well as in other documents filed by the company with Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents can be found on our website or at sec.gov. With that, please turn to Slide 3, and I will hand the discussion over to Pete to begin. Pete?

Pete Grum

Analyst

Thank you, Deb. Thank you, and good morning or actually afternoon everyone and thanks for your time today. 2020 marked another important year in our transformation into an income-producing, dividend-paying BDC. Importantly, I believe we ended the year on a strong note. For the quarter, net investment income per share was up nearly 4x to $0.29 per share. For the full-year, net investment income was $1.8 million, or $0.77 per share. We began this transformation process in 2019 with the sale of shares to East Asset Management that raised $25 million in equity. Concurrent with the sale, we externalized our management to Rand Capital Management. 2020, there were several additional achievements that were part of that path of transformation to increase shareholder value. Let me just outline them. Because we are electing for IRS purposes to become a regulated investment company or RIC, as we refer to it, in May last year, we distributed all of our accumulated earnings and profits since inception with a special dividend. Total dividend was $23.7 million, or $1.62 per share and was paid out with a combination of cash and stock. Later that month, we executed a 1:9 reverse tax split, which was approved by our shareholders in December 2019. In May, our Board authorized a new $1.5 million share repurchase program, furthering our ability to provide return of capital to our shareholders. In September, we implemented a 10b5-1 trading plan. To assess our capital deployment in a manner that provides the best returns for our shareholders. This plan helped to enable us to repurchase 6,631 shares in 2020. To finish it at the year, we announced our 2020 dividend of $1.33 per share, which was payable to shareholders in January 2021, and we’ve announced our ongoing dividend plan. We accomplished this all during…

Dan Penberthy

Analyst

Thanks, Pete, and good afternoon, everyone. Slides 9 and 10 provide an overview of our financial summary and operational highlights. Total investment income in 2020 was $3.1 million, a 14% increase over last year and does reflect the shift in our portfolio profile to more debt investments. This increased debt portfolio resulted in $941,000 or a 62% increase in portfolio interest income. The externalization of the administration and management of the Rand portfolio through the Rand Capital Management external manager did reduce our operating cost by $796,000 compared with 2019. As a result of the higher investment income, coupled with the reduced operating expenses, net assets from operations measurably improved $744,000, or $0.33 per share. If we turn to Slides 11 and 12, you will see a waterfall graph for the changes in NAV for the quarter as well as for the full 2020 period. The fourth quarter change reflects net realized loss on the sales and disposition of investments of $8.4 million. It is important to recognize that in excess of $8 million of this loss was simply recording a realized loss for portfolio investments that had been previously deemed worthless and had valuations carried at zero. This is why you will also see a large offsetting valuation adjustment to net unrealized depreciation. Effectively, we have moved unrealized depreciation to a realized loss position. The slide also illustrates a $3.4 million of the cash dividends that were declared during the quarter. That dividend equated to $1.33 per share. I should point out that the dividend was comprised of $0.39 per share from operating income and $0.94 per share from capital gains. For the full-year period, cash dividends totaled $8.2 million and we have recognized a $6 million net loss, again on the sales and disposition of investments, many of…

Operator

Operator

Than you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] We have a question from the line of [Lance Gad] [ph], private investor. You may proceed with your question.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Yes, thank you. It looks like ACV auctions you did – it’s carried at what the last raise was. So it’s up from $6.2 million. Is that correct?

Pete Grum

Analyst

I think we put in there when we reflected a raise and I don’t believe it was their last raise.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

So, it’s undervalued versus the last raise, correct? Because I believe the last raise was higher than the one before. I had understood our value was $6.2 million based on the last raise. So, I see the $6.5 million. I just assume that, that was up. And my question about it is do you have any indication where it might come in the S-1?

Pete Grum

Analyst

No, we don’t. Your guess is as good as mine.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. Okay, thank you.

Pete Grum

Analyst

Thanks, Lance.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no other questions in the queue. I’d like to hand the call back to Mr. Grum for closing remarks.

Pete Grum

Analyst

I want to thank all of you for joining us this afternoon and for your interest in Rand Capital. We look forward to updating all of you on our first quarter 2021 results in May, and have a great day.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today’s teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.