Sprott Inc. (SII) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Please wait. The conference will begin shortly. Please wait. The conference will begin shortly. Please wait. The conference will begin shortly. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you for standing by. Welcome to Sprott Inc. 2026 Third Quarter Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, November 4, 2026. On behalf of the speakers that follow, listeners are cautioned that today's presentation, and the responses to questions may contain forward looking information, and forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U. S. Securities laws. Forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are implied in making forward looking statements and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. For additional information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. From expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward looking statements please consult the MD&A for the quarter and spot other filings with the Canadian and U. S. Securities regulators. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Whitney George, Please go ahead, Mr. George.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. Must be an especially busy day for everyone as they digest the results of last night's elections here in The States. On the call with me today is our CFO and Co-COO, Kevin Lloyd Hibbert. And John Ciampaglia, CEO, Sprott Asset Management. Our 26 third quarter results were released this morning and are available on our website where you can review the third quarter year to date highlights, can also find the financial statements and MD&A. I will start on slide 4. It may seem obvious today, but there are currently a lot of external factors distracting investors from market fundamentals. These external factors were the story of the third quarter. The world is engulfed in 2 major conflicts without a clear path to closure in either of them. During the third quarter, the war in Ukraine reescalated into a broader Middle Eastern conflict. Energy and other commodity prices continued to climb, and reserve stockpiles are rapidly depleting. The resultant inflationary expectations drove fixed income markets to their worst quarterly performance in decades. U.S. 10-year treasuries declined by nearly 8% in the quarter, with yields at levels not seen in 2 decades. This despite the best efforts of the U. S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to convince markets they could control inflation and force rates back down. Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Worsch delivered a hawkish speech in August in Jackson Hole. Then in September, the Federal Reserve raised rates 25 basis points more to preserve credibility than to have an economic impact. For his part, Treasury Secretary Yellen directed an intervention in the currency markets to prevent Japan from selling US treasuries to defend its own currency. Next, Yellen raised the Treasury's commitment to buy back long dated issues. And finally, he declared, I am the house in an effort to scare short term traders into covering their short positions. None of these moves had more than a monetary impact on halting the rise in rates. All of this activity contributed to a highly volatile quarter for our core investment themes of precious metals and critical materials. Our assets under management increased by $1.8 billion during the quarter, to $57.3 billion and we reported $200 million in net redemptions due largely to redemptions in our physical trust. We continue to benefit on the other hand from the expansion of our critical materials strategies. Which performed well during the period, delivering $200 million in net sales. Our financial results were strong, despite the choppy markets, Adjusted EBITDA was $46 million up from $31.9 million in the third quarter of 2025. And finally, as Kevin will discuss further in a moment, yesterday, our Board of Directors announced a 25% increase in our regular quarterly dividend With that, I will pass it over to Kevin for a review of our financial results. Kevin?

Thanks, Whitney, and good morning, everyone. I will start on Slide 5, which provides a summary of our historical AUM. AUM finished the quarter at $57.3 billion up 3% from $55.6 billion as of June 30, and was down 4% from $59.6 billion as at 09/30/2025. On a 3 month ended basis, our AUM was positively impacted by market value appreciation across the majority of our fund products. On a 9-month ended basis, our AUM was negatively impacted by market value depreciation and net outflows from our precious metals products. Partially offset by positive net inflows to our critical materials products. Importantly, average AUM for the quarter was $58.8 billion up $16.5 billion or 39% from $42.3 billion this time last year. On a year to date basis, average AUM was $64 billion up $26.3 billion or 70% from $37.7 billion this time last year. Our average AUM performance was positively impacted by a combination of net inflows and market value appreciation across the majority of our fund products since the third quarter of last year, which more than offset the impact of year to date pullbacks in precious metals valuations. Slide 6 provides a brief look at our 3- and 9-month earnings. Net income this quarter was $22 million up $8.8 million or 67% from $13.2 million over the same 3-month period last year. On a year to date basis, net income was $85.5 million up $46.9 million from $38.6 million this time last year. Our 3 and 9 months ended results were primarily due to higher average AUM in our exchange listed products and managed equity segment with our 9-months-ended results in particular also benefiting from carried interest crystallization in our Private Strategy segment in the first quarter of the year. Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes quarterly volatility from items like cash settled stock based compensation, and intermittent carried interest and performance fee crystallizations was $46 million for the quarter up $14.1 million or 44% from $31.9 million over the same 3-month period last year. And it was $154.7 million on a year to date basis. Up $75.4 million or 95% from $79.3 million this time last year. Adjusted EBITDA increased in the quarter and on a 9-months-ended basis due to higher average AUM attributable to a combination of net inflows and market value appreciation across a majority of our fund products since the third quarter of last year, which again more than offset the impact of year to date pullbacks in precious metals valuations. Turning now to Slide 7. Over the past 5 years, we have generated meaningful operating leverage with AUM growing by 180% adjusted EBITDA margin expanding from 53% to 71%, and cash and equivalents surpassing $200 million as at September 30 of this year. And no debt on the balance sheet. And finally, on Slide 8, you will see here we closed the quarter with a strong cash position announcing a 25% dividend increase making this our third consecutive year of double digit dividend growth. We also continue to repurchase shares opportunistically with total year to date buybacks approaching 1% of total outstanding shares. Moving forward, we continue to pursue opportunities to reinvest in the business both organically and where prudent inorganically to further support earnings, and free cash flow growth for our shareholders. For more information on our revenues, expenses, net income adjusted EBITDA and balance sheet metrics, you can refer to the supplemental information section of this presentation as well as our quarterly MD&A and financial statements filed earlier this morning. With that said, I will pass things over to John.

Thanks, Kevin, and good morning to everybody. On Slide 9, assets under management in our physical trust increased slightly in Q3, helped by a stronger gold price. Uranium and copper have been less volatile. As both of these strategic energy metals are experiencing tight physical market conditions. The uranium market continues to be in a structural supply deficit while supply disruptions at a growing number of copper mines have taken about 5% of global production offline. In contrast, precious metals were under pressure due to liquidity inflation and interest rate related selling. Silver has been the hardest hit as import restrictions and an increase in the import duty rate in India has removed a significant physical buyer from the market. These measures implemented in May were designed to protect the value of the rupee, and it is unclear as to when these will be relaxed. Moving to slide 10. The weakness in silver translated into redemptions for physical silver trust, which weighed on our overall quarterly results of $421 million of outflows. Despite the redemptions in PSLV, we continue to fare better than our North American competitors, increasing our market share of AUM on a year to date basis. Our physical gold trust was a bright spot with $380 million in net flows for the quarter. Moving to Slide 11. AUM was up slightly in the quarter during a very volatile period of shifting market sentiment and market noise. AUM ended the quarter at $5.6 billion On Slide 12, Flows fared better in the quarter with $23 million in net additions. Investors took advantage of market weakness in uranium stocks to add to their positions. We also continue to experience positive flows in our rare earths ex China ETFs, Despite the market noise, investors are focusing on the longer term fundamentals for critical materials and the need to re-shore. China dominates the rare earth supply chain and has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to weaponize their position against rivals during disputes. Uranium demand is expected to increase meaningfully over the coming years with 79 reactors under construction and over 100 being planned. This would be in addition to the 39 reactors currently operating which are increasingly planning for life extensions, and upgrades. On the uranium supply side, capital is flowing to build new greenfield projects but they are still several years away from first production which will keep the market in the supply deficit until the early 2030s. My final comments will focus on the diversification results we have achieved in our business over the past few years. Diversification by metal type, product wrapper, geography and investor type This was not accidental. This was our strategy and is paying huge dividends. In my almost 17 years at Sprott, our business has never been as metal and product diverse global in reach, and institutional in nature. 5.5 years ago, we had no exposure to uranium. We now have $10 billion under management. While our assets and other critical materials continue to scale. Each metal has its own drivers and is positioned at a different point in its respective life cycle. Having multiple metals in our product suite across various geographies has strengthened our business, enhanced our resiliency and positioned us to capitalize on the renewed and growing interest in metals and mining. And I will now pass it over to Whitney.

Thank you, John. We will move now to slide 13 for a look at our managed equities segment. Our Managed Equities AUM rose modestly in the third quarter, so supported by strong market gains in August before a sharp sell off in September. Slide 14 you can see that we reported net redemptions during the quarter as flows to our actively managed ETFs slowed and our flagship mutual fund continues to experience small redemptions, as long term investors take profits. I will now turn to private strategies on slide 15. Our private strategies AUM was flat for the quarter at $2 billion as of 09/30/2026, Our private strategies are well positioned for future growth supported by favorable market tailwinds and a strong track record. We are also seeing increased demand from both borrowers and investors as market-- the market evolves towards less dilutive financing solutions designed to preserve-- preserve shareholder value and reduce long term impact on capital structures. I will now turn to Slide 16 for some closing remarks. As I wrote in my quarterly letter, amid all the noise, we continue to do all we can to create value for our clients and shareholders. Our marketing team produces a tremendous volume of best in class thought leadership material our client facing teams are seeing increased activity from institutions and family offices. Our key accounts team's efforts to forge relationships and gain shelf space for our products on increasingly larger platforms are paying off. We are beginning to see the impacts of our technology investments on productivity, and we are evaluating new ways to become more efficient through the use of artificial intelligence. Our efforts are being recognized. In October, SPROT was named 1 of Fortune magazine's 100 fastest-growing companies. Now it is interesting to note that we have a lot of company in the mining industry. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our positioning and the long term outlook for precious metals and critical materials. In The US and internationally, there is little political will to rein in governments spending or take the difficult steps required to bring fiscal deficits under control. Ultimately, this will benefit gold and silver and the related equities. We expect geopolitical tensions to persist creating increased competition for access to critical materials, and renewed focus on incentivizing domestic production. Our financial position remains strong and free cash flow generation is accelerating. Our disciplined capital allocation framework is focused on growing the business through seeding new funds, and strategic acquisitions. And we will also continue to return capital to shareholders through incremental dividend increases and share buybacks. That concludes our remarks for today's call, and I will now turn it over to the operator for some Q and A. Operator?

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the 1 on your touch tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the 2. If you are using a speaker phone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Your first question comes from a Etienne with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Okay. Thank you, and good morning, team. In the shareholder letter, Whitney, you note the potential to expand the ETF product suite in critical materials. Now you have already been quite active on this front over the past year. So I am curious. What are some best practices that you have learned during time, and what do you look for in a new ETF launch?

Well, whatever we do will stay within the critical materials suite of products. There are a couple of gaps that would give investors solutions Again, more recently, we have launched some actively managed ETFs. that is a growing part of the market. We will always be thinking about that. Additionally, I think we have a really interesting idea with our rare earth ex China, the ex China part being the novel part, And so, we are always-- nothing is imminent, but we are always thinking about new ways to, you know, deliver the best possible product suite for our investors.

Okay. And switching to capital allocation. So the cash position continues to build. And even with the increase in the dividend, the payout ratio remains quite conservative here. So Whitney, where do you see the best use of capital going forward given the firm is quite selective. On acquisitions.

Well, there is still some things, legacy things out there. On 1 hand. On the other hand, we are in the marketing process for our fourth lending fund, where we will make a co investment. You know, a 25% dividend increase, with the declining AUM is, I think, fairly strong. it is not the 30% that we did or 33% last year, but clearly, board is confident, you know, in the resilience of our business. And again, we have bought more stock back in actually to the end of the quarter than we have, I think, in our history. So markets, we expect, will continue to be volatile. You know, we are not immune from swings in the market, and we will continue to be opportunistic on that front. Have you seen more inbounds from, third parties on potential partnerships on the distribution side of things? Everything has gone very quiet. In the last, you know, 3 months. Again, you know, people really are kind of frozen a little bit with this Ukraine conflict going on. Maybe the election being behind us will be able to clear some up. We are exploring some modest distribution partnerships in Asia. But, you know, nothing that is particularly major. We are making very good progress in Europe with our partnership with HAN ETF, and we continue to be open, whether it is through distribution partnerships or local listings, all those things are kind of, you know, up in the air and, you know, up in the air and on the table. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Unidentified Analyst with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks for taking the question. Good morning, everyone. Whitney, you talked about the free cash flow generation is actually accelerating, which is pretty positive statement just given the choppy you know, macro kind of environment we have had this year. So could you unpack that comment a little bit in terms of what is driving that free cash flow acceleration? Given the backdrop?

Well, first of all, we are getting operating leverage on our fixed cost. Secondly, we have a highly variable compensation system that is tied to delivering cash flow torque So you will see that our net revenues are rising, but compensation is not keeping pace. So we are obviously getting. And that is really in part because every Sprott employee is a shareholder. And so it is not as if they are losing out or we have to compensate them, it is. They are aligned. So I think those are the big factors. is our biggest expense. And to the extent that we can get some leverage, you know, you know, we will continue to do that. On the flip side, we would not expect compensation. We would expect compensation to not decline as much, sorry, decline as much as net revenue. So I mean, I think we are going to both deliver operating leverage as we grow, but we will defend that in the rough spots.

Great. Thanks.

And then, maybe to add to that. I think Whitney summarized that well, but also just sort of keep in mind that a big another big driver of our earnings as well as our free cash flow is the fact that, obviously, we get paid on the average AUM. And so notwithstanding the tougher environment we have been seeing of late, it is really the averages that kind of really drive our free cash flow build in the. You know, secondarily, obviously, to the operating leverage that Whitney touched on, but it is also another very important factor just because it is not as if, you know, the average moves in lockstep with the spot. So we are able to capture the daily pricing of the vast majority of our products when they are higher and continue, as a result, to be able to outperform on earnings and free cash flow even as you start seeing the pullbacks in the pricing. So it is really the ability to harvest that cash flow historically as we move forward in times like this that enables us to continue to still have the free cash flow kind of outlooks that we that we have internally.

Got it. that is very helpful. Thanks, guys. And then just a follow-up I guess, related as well. You mentioned the impact of technology investments on productivity and the use of AI. So maybe could you give us a bit of examples or is it translating to, you know, dollar saves, etcetera, just how you are leveraging that component, within the business. Thanks.

I would not say we are in the savings you know, mode at this stage. You know, again, things are moving rapidly. 1 has to be a little bit cautious. To not get out over their skis. So, we are not going to be on the cutting edge. But we are certainly gonna be a fast follower. You know, again, it is more on the productivity side. You know, same number of people getting a lot more done. Whether it is our CRM system, you know, we hired a full time professional, to organize and run that. In terms of efficiency with client facing, also reaching new clients, to a lot of back office functions which I would let Kevin speak to.

Yeah. So, yeah, to Whitney's point, you know, it. Again, it is not about cost savings for us at this stage. it is more so at least from a global shared services perspective, getting our people, our processes and our technology to a point of enhancement sort of such that the quality of what we are doing and the speed of that execution is enhanced. The cost savings will probably, you know, come further down the road. But again, to Whitney's point, you know, we. When it comes to technology, in particular AI, we do not believe in first mover advantage per se. We like to kinda slow play it a little bit. So, as they say, kind of be quick but do not rush. So we are using it right now for efficiency gains, quality of analysis. Processing, lowering times to complete tasks, things of that sort. But as far as, you know, meaningful cost savings, that is not something that we would see now, and that is actually not the goal at this stage. But eventually, we will get there like everyone else will.

Got it. Thanks. that is very helpful.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Graham with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning. Whitney, maybe I can just start with you. Can you describe perhaps the ideal conditions for precious metals prices to expand?

Well, certainly, we saw that this time last year. If people start to get concerned about the debasement trade again, that clearly I think would be supportive of precious metals. I think the fundamentals and critical materials are already baked in. I mean, it-- you know, there is supply deficits and things like silver even maybe copper now, certainly uranium. So basic supply and demand are all working in our favor The physical world is very much cooperating and is ideal. it is really just a function of when investors decide to participate or change their allocations or we saw some of that with an explosive start to the year. So we certainly know it can happen. But you just-- you cannot tie markets and you cannot predict commodity prices for sure. We have proven that over and over. You can just be prepared because in this world today, it is everything happening all at once, you know, when it occurs. Whether it is an individual stock or whether it is a commodity or, you know, whether it is a whole market.

Understood. And, obviously, recently, the sort of the move higher and Q3 and then early part of Q4 with interest rates has put some pressure on precious metal sentiment. Do you view that as more of a temporary dynamic and not structural?

I view it as a liquidity issue. You know, when liquidity gets tight, people sell what they can, not necessarily what they want. We are living in a world with huge, highly levered algorithmic trading shops using massive leverage And when you get a risk off event, the risk officer walks over and the margin calls go out. So we have seen this, you know, since I have been following Gold. You know, when you have a liquidity crisis or event or squeeze it is the first thing that goes down. Now also, because it is insurance, but once the crisis is over and the Fed or the Treasury responds, the first thing people go back to is gold, and then shortly thereafter, silver. So I think that is the world we are living in. I think that is. Has more to do with price performance in the third and since the third quarter. And again, but the long term direction, in our view, is very much up. Clearly, the world wants to use gold increasingly as part of their reserves. it is not just the people who are unfriendly. it is our best friends. Korea started buying. South Korea started buying gold back in the summer, Germany has announced they are going to start reaccumulating for the first time, I think, in 27 years. it is just sovereign debt is starting to worry people, and gold is the obvious outlet and has been for centuries.

Okay. Great. And my last question, if I could, Kevin, just share-based comp was up quarter-over-quarter. What were the factors driving the increase? Sure.

So the biggest driver is the fact that the stock price this quarter recovered a bit by 6%. But in the previous quarter, from March to June, the stock was off 16%. Perfect.

that is it for me. Thank you.

Thank you. Your next question comes from Unidentified Analyst with CIBC. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. I wanted to ask a question on flows. There was a bit of a divergence between the physical gold and the physical silver, maybe more than the price action in the commodities would have suggested. Is there anything specific to call out in silver trust other than sort of the commentary you had earlier?

Yes. Hi, it is John. Yes, I mean, silver obviously has had a wild ride in the last 12 months and it is obviously corrected very meaningfully. Silver has always been more volatile and more quirky. And we have clearly seen, outflows in the category. The much larger iShares competitor has lost quite a bit in inflows year to date. And we have actually increased our market share as a result. So I would say it is nothing specific. The group of ETFs, which we track every day, has been under selling pressure. As I mentioned, we have had a large buyer of physical silver over the last couple of years. Basically, pulled back because of the new import restrictions and higher duties in India. We have no idea around how temporary that will be. Usually, things tend to be temporary. They cannot go on forever in terms of preventing citizens from owning precious metals So nothing specific other than silver has had a very large correction and people have pulled money out of all of the funds.

I would add to that our trusts are different than ETFs. So if somebody redeems, you know, an ETF, the-- you know, the silver--. You know, the shares go away instantly. In our case, the redemption feature is a monthly 1. And there is no reason why an arb would need to do it in any given month. So in part, what you saw was just a delayed reaction to the dislocations that happened in the spring. And so the timing does not line up, match up perfectly. Thanks. that is really helpful color. And then I just wanted to ask another question on a comment you had earlier just on the you are that you are seeing impacts of your efforts to gain shelf space on larger platforms. Just wondering if you give us a sense of where you have made the most progress and where you are seeing really play out as you look at the larger platforms. Well, larger size begets size in the ETF business. To be on the largest platforms, that would be Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, UBS, I mean, you have to, you know, be over a $1 billion ETF. You have to have history. You have to have certain liquidity requirements. And so we have seen a lot of progress, particularly in our uranium ETF, you know, in that sense. And a lot of these other ETFs that we have, they are fairly new. They are initially bought by either individuals or maybe independent advisors, small advisors. Where those are not concerns. But as they grow, they become eligible we have a whole team that works on this. So where we are seeing the biggest progress right now would be on regional advisers. You know, the Raymond James, Janney Montgomery's LPL, would be a few, maybe, you know, Stifel They are regional, but they manage trillions of dollars. So as those platforms open up to us, the addressable audience obviously increases fairly dramatically. it is a very slow process. It requires a lot of time and effort and it requires your ETFs growing to a certain scale. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you have a question, please press the star followed by the 1. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's Q&A session. I will turn the call back over to Mr. Whitney George.

Thank you, everyone, for participating in this call. We appreciate your interest in Sprott. And look forward to speaking to you again after our year end results. And until then, we will remain contrarian innovative, and aligned. Thank you.