Greetings, and welcome to Rand Capital Corporation's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Craig Mychajluk. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Rand Capital and for joining us today for our first quarter 2024 financial results conference call. On the line with me are Dan Penberthy, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Margaret Brechtel, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A copy of the release and slides that accompany our conversation is available at randcapital.com. If you're following along in the slide deck, please turn to Slide 2, where I'd like to point out some important information. As you are likely aware, we may make some forward-looking statements during this presentation. 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 and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents can be found on our website or at sec.gov. During today's call, we'll also discuss some non-GAAP financial measures. We believe these will be useful in evaluating our performance. You should not consider the presentation of this additional information in isolation or as a substitute for results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. We have provided reconciliations of non-GAAP measures with comparable GAAP measures in the tables that accompany today's earnings release. With that, please turn to Slide 3, and I'll hand the discussion over to Dan. Dan?

Thank you, Craig, and good afternoon, everyone. We kicked off the year with solid momentum, fueled by the strategic deployment of capital, particularly into new and follow-on debt investments. This approach has consistently delivered results over the past years and evidences our strong performance in the first quarter of 2024. The initial 3 months were dynamic within our portfolio characterized by these new and follow-on investments, certain equity sales and portfolio repayments. This activity does underscore the strength and agility of our investment approach. Moreover, seizing upon favorable marketing conditions -- rather market conditions, we realized $3.5 million from the sale of our ACV Auction stock. This strategic exit in conjunction with the prudent utilization of our credit facility has enabled us to deploy over $10 million during the quarter, fortifying the potential yield in the future of our portfolio and the strengthening dividends. Noteworthy is the evolution of our debt portfolio, which now represents 70% of our total mix, up from 64% at the close of 2023 and 56% at the end of 2022. This strategic shift has driven the 12% growth in total investment income for the quarter. This strong performance translated into tangible benefits for our shareholders as evidenced on Slide 4. Year-to-date, we have declared total dividends of $0.54 per share. This includes a cash dividend of $0.25 per share for the first quarter. And just last week, on May 8, we increased our regularly quarterly cash dividend for the second quarter by $0.04 per share, marking a 16% increase and is now at $0.29 per share. This dividend increase reflects not only the strength and stability of our business operations and its portfolio but our consistent and confident abilities to execute in the future trajectory of the company. We firmly believe that our deal flow…

Thank you, Dan, and good afternoon, everybody. I will start on Slide 10, which provides an overview of our financial summary for the first quarter of 2024. Total investment income for the quarter was $2.1 million, up 12% over last year's first quarter, driven by a 40% increase in interest income. Overall, the number of portfolio companies contributing to investment income during the first quarter of 2024 was 24 companies compared to 23 in the first quarter of 2023. Total expenses were approximately $1.2 million during the first quarter compared with $1 million in the prior year's first quarter. The change reflects a $232,000 increase in interest expense on borrowings under our senior revolving credit facility, partially offset by a decrease in capital gain incentive fees to the company's external investment adviser. Adjusted expenses, which includes accrued capital gains incentive fees and is a non-GAAP financial measure, were $1.1 million compared with $757,000 in the first quarter of 2023. First quarter net investment income increased 17% to $840,000 or $0.33 per share compared with $715,000 or $0.28 per share in the prior year first quarter. On an adjusted basis, which is a non-GAAP financial measure and excludes the capital gains incentive fee accrual expense, net investment income was $0.37 per share compared with $0.39 per share in the first quarter of 2023. I'm going to move on to Slide 11, which provides a waterfall graph for the change in net asset value for the quarter. Net assets at March 31, 2024, were $61.6 million, up 1% from the end of 2023. The change reflects our net investment income and realized gains from the ACV Auction sale coupled with a $2.9 million net change in unrealized depreciation and the $645,000 dividend distribution to shareholders during the quarter. As a result, the…

Thanks, Margaret. We do remain focused on our commitment to maximizing shareholder value through the sustained rather growth of dividends. We continue our strategic focus on bolstering our investment portfolio, particularly through prudent and strategic investments of income-generating debt instruments. By capitalizing on these targeted opportunities, our aim is to cultivate a consistent and robust stream of income, thus fortifying our ability to not only maintain but targeting an increase in dividends over the long term. We are confident in our ability to execute this strategy, which is supported by a blend of existing capital resources and the potential influx of funds from the portfolio divestments and future investment yields as well as future portfolio equity churn. Moreover, in alignment with our strategic vision, we recently opted to liquidate approximately $3 million worth of our BDC stocks subsequent to the end of the quarter. This decision is driven by our commitment to safeguarding accrued gains and proactively managing our financial leverage. Looking forward, we are poised to replicate our historical achievements, and we are hopeful to deliver compelling returns for our shareholders. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued interest in Rand Capital. We look forward to updating all of you on our second quarter 2024 results, which will be reported in August. We hope you have a great day.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.