Logan Ridge Finance - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 total investment income was $4.6M, down from $5.4M in Q4 2024 and $5.0M in Q1 2024; NII was $0.9M ($0.35/share), down from $1.5M ($0.56/share) in Q4 2024 but flat year over year.
• NAV per share fell to $29.66 from $32.04 in Q4 2024, largely due to a $4.4M write-down on the legacy Sequoia Healthcare term loan; non‑accrual fair value exposure improved to 2.2% from 4.6% in Q4 2024.
• The company executed $15.1M of investments against $12.4M of repayments/sales (net deployment +$2.7M), continued rotating out of non‑yielding equity (equity at 10.8% of portfolio fair value), and declared a Q2 2025 dividend of $0.36/share; management urged a FOR vote on the Portman Ridge merger.
• Key “why”: lower nonrecurring paydown/fee income, lower base rates, and timing of deployment vs repayments reduced investment income per share Q/Q; NAV pressure driven by Sequoia write‑down.
• Near‑term catalysts: shareholder votes and merger terms (1.500 PTMN shares per LRFC share), dividend continuity, and continued equity portfolio monetization.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Portfolio rotation and monetization: “successful exit of [the] second largest non‑yielding equity investment in GA Communications,” reducing equity to 10.8% of fair value (from 13.8% in Q4 and 18.2% in Q1 2024).
  “This exit stands as another important achievement in our long-term strategy of rotating out of the legacy equity portfolio…”.
• Net deployment of capital: $15.1M invested vs $12.4M repaid/sold, net +$2.7M in Q1, supporting earning power as equity mix declines.
• Operating discipline: total operating expenses fell to $3.7M vs $4.1M in Q1 2024; CFO highlighted lower interest/financing, base management fees, and G&A vs Q4.

What Went Wrong

• Investment income down Q/Q: $4.6M vs $5.4M in Q4; per-share decline driven by lower nonrecurring paydown/fee income ($0.17/share), lower base rates ($0.05), deployment timing ($0.05), and lower CLO income ($0.02).
• NAV decline: NAV/share fell to $29.66 from $32.04, with CFO citing a $4.4M write-down on legacy Sequoia term loan (on non‑accrual since before 2021).
• Non‑accruals persist: three portfolio companies on non‑accrual (cost $17.2M; fair value $3.7M), and management does not expect meaningful recovery from Sequoia; Lucky Bucks remains non‑accrual.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, and welcome to Logan Ridge Finance Corporation's first quarter-ended, March 31, 2025, earnings conference call. An earnings press release was distributed yesterday, May 8, 2025, after the close of the market. A copy of the release, along with the supplemental earnings presentation, is available on the company's website at www.loganridgefinance.com in the Investor Resources section and should be reviewed in conjunction with the company's Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. Please note that today's conference call may contain forward-looking statements which are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As for results, they may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described in the company's filings with the SEC.

Speaking on today's call will be Ted Goldthorpe, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Logan Ridge Finance Corporation, Brandon Satoren, Chief Financial Officer, and Patrick Schafer, Chief Investment Officer. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Ted Goldthorpe, Chief Executive Officer of Logan Ridge Finance Corporation. Please go ahead, Ted.

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Good morning. Welcome to our first quarter 2025 earnings call. As mentioned, I am joined today by our Chief Financial Officer, Brandon Satoren, and our Chief Investment Officer, Patrick Schafer. Following my opening remarks, Patrick will provide additional details on our investment activity to date, and Brandon will walk through the financials. Following record results in 2024, Logan Ridge continued to make significant strides in strengthening its portfolio despite the large write-down on the company's legacy term loan, the Sequoia Healthcare. Notably, during the quarter, the company grew its portfolio with net deployment, and as previously announced, Logan Ridge continued rotating out of the legacy equity portfolio with the successful exit of its second-largest non-yielding equity investment, GA Communications.

This exit stands as another important achievement in our long-term strategy to rotate out of the legacy equity portfolio, which has now been reduced to just 10.8% of our portfolio at fair value, down from 13.8% as of the prior quarter and 18.2% in the first quarter of 2024. Looking forward, with the continued monetization of the legacy equity portfolio, we believe the company is well-positioned to continue to grow earnings and increase long-term shareholder value as we navigate this dynamic market shaped by renewed uncertainty, increased market volatility, and shifting geopolitical dynamics. Finally, we remain very excited about the opportunities that the combination with Portman Ridge presents. This action offers the potential for increased scale, improved liquidity, and enhanced operational efficiencies, all of which will strengthen our ability to deliver greater value to shareholders.

The combination of these companies represents a significant milestone and is a culmination of years of work repositioning the portfolio that BC Partners Credit has executed since taking over as the external manager in 2021. We encourage all shareholders to attend the meeting and vote for the proposed merger as recommended by the board of directors of both companies. We are excited about the road ahead and look forward to sharing more updates soon. With that, I will turn the call over to Patrick Schafer to discuss our portfolio and investment activity.

Patrick Schafer (Chief Investment Officer)

Thanks, Ted. Hello, everyone. As of March 31st, 2025, the fair value of Logan's portfolio was approximately $169.6 million, with exposure to 59 portfolio companies. This compares to 59 portfolio companies with a fair value of approximately $172.3 million as of the prior quarter. As Ted mentioned, during the quarter-ended March 31st, 2025, we continue to be selective in our investment strategy. We deployed approximately $15.1 million into new and existing investments and had approximately $12.5 million in repayments and sales, resulting in net deployment of approximately $2.7 million for the quarter. On portfolio composition, as of March 31st, 2025, 71.8% of the company's investment portfolio at fair value was invested in assets originated by the BC Partners Credit platform, up from 66.7% at the end of last quarter.

Also, as of March 31st, 2025, our debt investment portfolio represented 86.6% of the total portfolio at fair value, with a weighted average annualized yield of approximately 10.7%, excluding income from non-accruals and collateralized loan obligations, and 90.7% of our debt investment portfolio at fair value with bearing interest at a floating rate. Additionally, as of March 31st, 2025, first lien debt represented 66.7% and 67.6% of our total portfolio on cost and fair value basis, respectively, while the equity portfolio was reduced to 12% from 10.8% of the portfolio on a cost and fair value basis, respectively. The reduction in the equity portfolio on a fair value basis during the first quarter of 2025, as compared to the previous quarter, was due to the exit of our second-largest non-yielding equity position in GA Communications, marking another milestone for our long-term strategy to rotate out of the legacy equity portfolio.

Onto non-accrual status. As of March 31st, 2025, the company had four debt investments across three portfolio companies on non-accrual status, with an aggregate amortized cost and fair value of $17.2 million and $3.7 million, respectively, or 8.7% and 2.2% of the investment portfolio at cost and fair value, respectively. This has remained consistent with the fourth quarter of 2024, with the same four debt investments in three portfolio companies, with a cost and fair value of $17.2 million and $7.9 million, respectively, or 9.0% and 4.6% of the investment portfolio's cost and fair value, respectively. I'll now turn the call over to Brandon.

Brandon Satoren (CFO)

Thanks, Patrick. For the quarter-ended March 31st, 2025, Logan Ridge generated $4.6 million of investment income, which represents a $0.8 million decrease, or $0.29 per share, as compared to $5.4 million reported for the quarter-ended December 31st, 2024. The decrease in investment income on a per-share basis from the prior quarter was primarily driven by: one, a decrease of $0.17 per share as a result of lower non-recurring paydown and fee income; a decrease of $0.05 per share from lower base rates; a decrease of $0.05 per share as a result of the majority of the current quarter's deployment occurring in the second half of the quarter relative to the timing of repayments and sales; and five, a decrease of $0.02 per share in CLO income.

For the quarter ended March 31st, 2025, Logan Ridge reported $3.7 million of operating expenses, which represents a decrease of $0.2 million, or $0.08 per share, from the prior quarter. The decrease is primarily due to a decrease in interest and financing expenses, in addition to lower base management fees and general and administrative expenses compared to the prior quarter. Accordingly, net investment income for the first quarter of 2025 was $0.9 million, or $0.35 per share, which represents a decrease of $0.6 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to $1.5 million, or $0.50 per share, that Logan Ridge earned in the fourth quarter of 2024. As of March 31st, 2025, our net asset value was $78.8 million, representing a decrease of $6.3 million, or 7.4%, as compared to the prior quarter net asset value of $85.1 million as of December 31st, 2024.

On a per-share basis, the company's net asset value was $29.66 as of March 31, 2025, representing a $2.38 per share decrease, or 7.5%, as compared to $32.04 per share in the prior quarter. The decrease in net asset value from the prior quarter was largely due to the $4.4 million write-down on the company's legacy investment in Sequoia, which has been on non-accrual since we began managing the portfolio in 2021. Finally, as of March 31st, 2025, the company had $5.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, as well as $31.5 million of unused borrowing capacity available for deployment in new investments. With that, I will turn the call back over to Ted.

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Thank you, Brandon. For shareholders, thank you for your continued support. This concludes our prepared remarks, and I'll now turn over the call to the operator for questions.

Operator (participant)

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Our first question comes from Christopher Nolan with Landenburg Thalmann. Christopher, please go ahead.

Christopher Nolan (Senior VP)

Hey, guys. With the pending merger with Portman, assuming it goes through, does that entail a full valuation review of Logan's investments?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Yeah. Similar to any of the M&A deals that we've done, you have to strike a new NAV for both Portman and Logan within 48 hours of share issuance. So the short answer is yes.

Christopher Nolan (Senior VP)

Okay. So the entire portfolio for both companies is basically reevaluated. Is that done by an outsider, outside organization with the board, or how's that done?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

It's generally done consistent with our practices. So to an extent, depending on the timing, we'll have third-party marks for certain of the names. We'll do all the liquid pricing. We'll do our own internal models. I would think of it as kind of a regular way process for us.

Christopher Nolan (Senior VP)

Okay. The only reason I ask all this is just because of all the uncertainty in the economy. Is this one of these things where the discount rate can be increased more than otherwise, things like that?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

I mean, the short answer is it's linked to liquid benchmarks, usually, which, quite frankly, have been relatively muted, right? So credit really hasn't widened that much since the last quarter. So we don't think there'll be a huge impact. If it impacts Logan, it'll impact Portman as well.

Christopher Nolan (Senior VP)

Okay. That's it for me. Thanks, guys.

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Good question, though.

Operator (participant)

Again, if you would like to ask a question, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Steven Martin with Slater Capital. Stephen, please go ahead.

Steven Martin (President)

All right. Thanks a lot. I'll ask the same question here. Can you talk about the non-accruals and what the prospect is for recovering some of that, and what's left in the portfolio that has that kind of risk? Because you talked about what you inherited when you took over the portfolio, but the NAV was about $42 a share then, and it's $30 now.

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Yeah. So Steve, I would say far and away, the biggest asset in the non-accruals has always been Sequoia. I think from that perspective, I don't think we expect sort of meaningful recovery and sort of a turnback on of interest from that one. Again, it's been a non-accrual since even before we took over management. I would think, generally speaking, that I would say there's not a lot of incremental upside from the non-accrual book converting onto accruals.

With respect to the rest of the book, I mean, again, as we kind of in the notes, over 70% of the portfolio is originated, and then you have the 10% of equity portfolio, which is largely sort of legacy relative versus legacy. If you think about it, there's maybe 20, a little bit less than 20% of the portfolio that is sort of legacy capital names, and the vast majority of that is investment in Eastport, which is generally performing pretty well and pretty stable. I would say there's probably not a ton of risk on sort of the legacy capital portfolio from a non-accrual perspective, but acknowledge that they do have sort of one, there is one large position on the debt side, but that is generally performing well.

Steven Martin (President)

Okay. You guys have sourced 75%-80% of the book now, of the debt book.

Are any of the BC loans in non-accrual, and what's the status of the BC loans?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Yeah. So in terms of BC names on non-accrual, so again, there are three. It's MMI, which is a legacy name, Sequoia, a legacy name, and then Lucky Bucks, which has been on non-accrual for close to two years now.

That would be a BC name. Steve, the answer is one of three.

Steven Martin (President)

What about in general? Obviously, you do not have this probably at hand. If you looked at the BC-sourced book, what is the discount to par, or how would you characterize the mark on the BC-sourced book?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Yeah. I mean, the short answer is I have to get back to you with the specific one. The long answer is if you strip out Lucky Bucks, which is kind of on the non-accrual, I think there is maybe one name that I can think of off the top of my head that is marked at something that is less than sort of 90, and that would be Datalink, which is in the high 80s. We do have some liquid names in the book similar to Portman.

Again, I can get back to you, Steve, with the number. I don't have one off the top of my head, though.

Steven Martin (President)

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Operator (participant)

That concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Ted Goldthorpe for closing remarks. Ted?

Ted Goldthorpe (Director, President, and CEO)

Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We'll continue to provide our shareholders with updates about the proposed merger with Portman Ridge as those become available. As always, please reach out to us with any questions, which we're happy to discuss. We look forward to speaking to you guys again soon. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

That concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.