Stellus Capital Investment Corporation (NYSE:SCM) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Robert Ladd: Sure, sure. So a few thoughts. One, because of our capital base, we kind of reach a top portfolio around $900 million or so. So we’re operating within the range. We have liquidity right now to get us to that point. So that’s about where we tap out. So I think in terms of activity that we’re seeing and continue to see a number of opportunities throughout the country, that’s why we’d be comfortable being in that range. And then what of course is helpful that as we get repayments, we’ll get the benefit of the fee acceleration. And so repayments are helpful to us as we stay in the range. In terms of activity, a little bit slower in the first quarter as a platform, certainly expect it to pick up in the second and then short of a significant recession in the country likely to be picking up more in the third and fourth quarters. The real point I wanted to make though is that it doesn’t take a lot of activity for our investment portfolio to be full here.

Operator: Our next question is coming from Ryan Lynch with KBW.

Ryan Lynch: First one I had was just what percentage of your portfolio is sponsor backed versus nonsponsored?

Robert Ladd: Yes. So the — in terms of number of companies, as I said earlier, is at 83 out of 85. So 95% plus.

Ryan Lynch: Okay. Sorry, I missed that if you said that earlier.

Robert Ladd: No worries.

Ryan Lynch: Yes. The other question I had was, obviously, there was a very big jump in NII quarter-over-quarter, which was expected given you guys positioning for rising rates. I’m just curious as we turn the page and look at Q1, I’m trying to get a sense of should we expect a similar jump in NII from Q4 to Q1 or a lesser jump. Or there’s a couple of different ways to also think about it, have you guys run what fourth quarter NII would have been if base rates at 12/31 were in fact that whole quarter and/or could you provide the average base rate that your portfolio had for the duration of the fourth quarter. There’s a couple of different questions in there, but I’m just trying to get a sense of the potential growth in Q1. I think there’s just a couple of different ways to think or look at it or disclose it.

Robert Ladd: Sure. So let me take a shot at it first and see if Todd wants to add. So the fourth quarter was a little bit unusual in that we had some fee acceleration. And then also, if you look at just NII, it was affected by, as Todd said earlier, the reversal of some capital gains incentive fee. So I’d say that we would expect in the first quarter to be less than the $0.50 of GAAP NII, but still a number that would exceed the dividend. And then in terms of core NII, likely we will be up over the quarter, reflecting the higher rate. So if it’s helpful, yes, we expect kind of as all things being equal to have greater earnings in the first quarter frankly and in the second quarter more because rates have moved up again. And then in terms of rates to think about, we ended the fourth quarter where LIBOR was about 3.75.

We ended the first quarter where LIBOR was closer to 4.75. And we’re likely to enter the second quarter where LIBOR is over 5. So think of it as — and then we have repricing during the quarter because some are on monthly pay and reprice monthly. But again, you kind of have to take out some quarter-over-quarter changes in other items. But I’ll just start over again to say that we expect earnings to be higher, all things being equal in the first over the fourth and the second over the first.