Monroe Capital - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 results missed Street: NII/share was $0.19 vs $0.27 consensus*, and total investment income (“revenue”) was $11.64M vs $13.76M consensus*, as lower effective yields, base rate declines, and a smaller average portfolio reduced income.
• NAV/share fell 2.5% sequentially to $8.63 on net unrealized losses in select legacy names and the SLF JV; leverage improved to 1.45x from 1.53x as repayments funded revolver paydown.
• Dividend held at $0.25/share; management acknowledged NII is currently below the dividend and is being supported by $0.53/share of spillover income, while fee limitations/waivers and balance sheet capacity provide near‑term flexibility.
• Strategic context/catalysts: new US$1.7B middle‑market lending JV with SMBC and MA Financial could enhance origination and future deployment as spreads widen, while SLF remains in de‑risk/rundown mode for now.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Balance sheet de‑risking: debt-to-equity declined to 1.45x (from 1.53x) on $22.7M lower debt outstanding, preserving dry powder.
  • Credit quality stabilizing: non‑accruals held at 3.4% of fair value with favorable internal rating migration; several watch‑list exits executed.
  • Platform tailwinds: management highlighted an attractive prospective vintage (widening spreads, lender‑friendly terms) and a focus on incumbency lending to reduce underwriting risk.
  • Quote: “We remain confident in the resilience of our portfolio… and our ability to navigate near‑term income volatility with a strong balance sheet, ample spillover income and a conservative credit posture”.

• What Went Wrong

  • Income pressure: total investment income fell to $11.64M from $14.02M QoQ on a lower effective yield (9.2% vs 10.2%) and smaller average assets as base rates and spreads declined in late 2024/early 2025.
  • Valuation/mixed marks: net loss on investments of $(3.55)M; avg portfolio mark declined 110 bps to 91.1% of cost on idiosyncratic legacy names and SLF marks.
  • Dividend coverage: management said NII is “shy” of the dividend currently; ~$0.06/share of spillover was used to support the Q1 payout.
  • Analyst concern: share repurchases not prioritized versus portfolio support and leverage objectives despite stock trading below NAV.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to Monroe Capital Corporation's First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Before we begin, I would like to take a moment to remind our listeners that remarks made during this call today may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our goals, strategies, beliefs, future potential, operating results, and cash flows. Although we believe these statements are reasonable based on management's estimates, assumptions, and projections as of today, May 8, 2025, these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Further, time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay or listening. Actual results may differ materially as a result of risk, uncertainty, or other factors, including but not limited to, the risk factors described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. Monroe Capital takes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements.

I will now turn the conference call over to Ted Koenig, Chief Executive Officer of Monroe Capital.

Ted Koenig (CEO)

Good morning, and thank you to everyone who has joined us today. Welcome to our first quarter 2025 earnings call. I am here with Mick Solimene, our CFO and Chief Investment Officer, and Alex Parmacek, our Deputy Portfolio Manager. Last evening, we filed our 10-Q with the SEC and issued our first quarter 2025 earnings press release. On today's call, I'll begin by providing an overview of our financial results and then share some relevant thoughts around our current positioning in this uncertain and volatile market environment. I am pleased to report that we declared and paid a $0.25 per share dividend in the first quarter of 2025, representing an annualized dividend yield of 14.3% based on our May 6, 2025, closing share price.

Our first quarter dividend of $0.25 per share was supported in part by our accumulated spillover income, which we've intentionally preserved from prior strong performance to provide stability during quarters of lower investment income. As of March 31st, 2025, we retain approximately $0.53 per share of undistributed spillover income, which continues to offer a cushion for future distributions. This disciplined approach allows us to manage through income variability while continuing to deliver consistent returns to our shareholders. In the face of a constantly evolving market environment, our approach remains centered on prioritizing asset quality and positioning the portfolio for long-term performance. In the first quarter of 2025, our adjusted net investment income was $4.2 million, or $0.19 per share. At March 31st, 2025, we reported NAV of $186.9 million, or $8.63 per share, and MRCC's leverage was 1.45x debt to equity.

We ended the quarter with reduced balance sheet leverage and continue to focus on managing the investment portfolio while remaining selective with new investment opportunities. During the quarter, our portfolio companies reported solid revenue and EBITDA growth, which, with a lower interest rate environment, continued to support the portfolio's interest coverage ratio. Our portfolio management team continues to focus on maintaining the asset quality of the portfolio, which has demonstrated stability over the last several quarters. We rely on an active portfolio management approach to work through underperforming investments. This ultimately allows us to proactively assess and mitigate potential risks for our borrowers so that we can successfully drive outcomes. Over the last several quarters, we have successfully exited several investments that were previously on our credit watch list.

Going forward, we will look to utilize proceeds from portfolio exits to strategically redeploy into an increasingly attractive vintage where credit conditions are tightening and risk-adjusted returns are compelling. Amid the recent market volatility, we believe MRCC's lower-middle market direct lending approach with a focus on U.S.-centric asset-light businesses is well-positioned. Our senior-secured positioning with lower leverage attachment points, conservative structuring, and covenant protections, and hands-on engagement with our borrowers are several features that drive downside protection and the ability to actively manage outcomes. We have spoken with every borrower and sponsor within the portfolio regarding their direct exposure to potential tariffs. Through those discussions, we have found that our portfolio, which was designed defensively, is relatively insulated from potential tariff impacts, and its composition more heavily weighted to services-oriented companies and minimal exposure to consumer goods and manufacturing.

While trade policies and their economic effects remain highly dynamic, we only have a small number of borrowers in the portfolio that we believe are directly exposed to potential tariffs. In volatile markets, with uncertain macroeconomic backdrops, it is important for us to be thoughtful and selective with our investment activity rather than to reach for risk. Thus, we will lean into incumbency lending opportunities with high-performing existing portfolio companies that have demonstrated resiliency during challenging operating environments. The companies that we have recently invested in, both new portfolio companies and existing portfolio companies, operate in recession-resistant industries and are well-insulated from the uncertain tariff environment. We also believe that supporting existing portfolio companies will be an important strategy to employ in light of a slower-than-expected M&A environment in the near term.

Deploying capital into existing portfolio companies that we know well has proven to reduce underwriting risk and has historically generated some of our most attractive risk-adjusted returns. Consistent with the past several quarters, incremental and follow-on investments made to our existing portfolio companies have accounted for a majority of MRCC's capital deployment, a trend we anticipate continuing throughout the first half of 2025. Finally, Monroe Capital, the owner of MRCC's external advisor, completed its partnership with Wendel Group, a French investment company and one of Europe's leading listed investment firms, on March 31, 2025. Monroe, and by extension our advisor, continues to operate autonomously and independently, and its investment process, strategy, and operations will remain the exact same. We believe that this was an important step in driving value for our shareholders and are excited to move forward under this new partnership.

With that, I am now going to turn the call over to Mick, who is going to walk you through MRCC's financial results in greater detail.

Mick Solimene (CFO and CIO)

Thank you, Ted. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, our investment portfolio totaled $430.6 million, a $26.4 million decrease from $457 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024. Our investment portfolio consisted of debt and equity investments in 85 portfolio companies compared to 91 portfolio companies at the end of the prior quarter. Middle-market LBO and M&A activity has slowed down from the highly active fourth quarter of 2024 and January of 2025. According to LSEG LPC's first quarter 2025 middle-market analysis, middle-market direct lending volume in the first quarter of 2025 was down 22% from the fourth quarter of 2024, but was up 16% year-over-year. LSEG's report also indicated that add-ons and recapitalizations accounted for a greater share of direct lending volume relative to LBO transactions in the first quarter.

As such, delayed draw term loan funding is often used to support existing investments, accounting for a greater percentage of overall loan draw volumes, and have continued to increase meaningfully so far in early 2025. With M&A activity slower than originally anticipated, many companies have continued to focus on executing strategic growth initiatives to drive enterprise value and ultimately position themselves for an exit during a more attractive M&A environment. Investment activity across our platform and at MRCC continues to be consistent with those industry dynamics. Over the last several quarters, incremental investments in the form of add-ons or delayed draw term loan fundings made to our existing portfolio companies have accounted for a majority of our investment activity. During the first quarter of 2025, we invested $7.6 million in one new portfolio company, while we invested $8.8 million in delayed draw fundings and add-ons to existing portfolio companies.

While M&A activity has been slower than expected, MRCC still rotated out of seven legacy assets that amounted to $37.6 million of payouts during the quarter. Several of those portfolio companies that were successfully exited were at one point in line on our credit watch list. Additionally, these successful exits allowed us to end the quarter with more conservative balance sheet leverage, providing us with additional dry power to redeploy into assets as well as into existing portfolio company relationships. Although we will continue to be selective with our investment approach, we believe that this lending environment, where spreads have begun to widen and lender firms remain favorable, is a particularly compelling opportunity for direct lending. During this quarter, our debt outstanding decreased by $22.7 million.

At March 31st, 2025, we had total borrowings of $271.2 million, including $141.2 million outstanding under our floating rate revolving credit facility and $130 million of our 4.75% fixed rate 2026 notes. At quarter end, our leverage was 1.45x debt to equity compared to 1.53x debt to equity at the end of 2024. At March 31, 2025, the revolving credit facility had $113.8 million of availability subject to borrowing-based capacity. Now turning to our financial results, adjusted net investment income, a non-GAAP measure, was $4.2 million, or $0.19 per share this quarter, compared to $6.2 million, or $0.29 per share in the prior quarter.

Excluding the impact of incentive fee limitations of $252,000 and $1.2 million for the quarters ended March 31st, 2025, and December 31st, 2024, respectively, adjusted net investment income would have totaled $3.9 million, or $0.18 per share this quarter, and $5 million, or $0.23 per share in the prior quarter. The decrease of $1.1 million, or $0.05 per share, in adjusted net investment income after removing the impact of incentive fee limitations, was driven by a lower average effective yield reflecting a lower interest rate environment, select asset-specific performance, and a decrease in the average size of the portfolio. These impacts are consistent with the market dynamics that we've seen across the private credit space and are not indicative of any structural change in portfolio quality.

In addition, as a result of the shareholder-friendly total return requirement within MRCC's incentive fee calculation, we currently expect at least partial limitations on our incentive fees to persist throughout the next quarter. The weighted average effective yield on the portfolio's debt and equity investments was 9.2% at March 31st, 2025, compared to 10.2% at December 31st, 2024. The decline in effective yield was largely due to lower spreads on certain assets and declining interest rates. As of March 31st, 2025, our NAV was $186.9 million, down from $191.8 million as of December 31st, 2024. Our corresponding NAV per share decreased by $0.22 from $8.85 per share to $8.63 per share. The decline in NAV this quarter was primarily the result of net unrealized losses associated with certain portfolio companies and the first quarter dividend being in excess of MRCC's net investment income for the quarter.

As of March 31st, 2025, MRCC has an estimated $11.5 million, or $0.53 per share, of undistributed spillover income. I will now turn it over to Alex, who will provide more details on our first quarter operating performance.

Alex Parmacek (Deputy Portfolio Manager)

Thank you, Mick. Now looking to our statement of operations, investment income totaled $11.6 million during the first quarter of 2025, down from $14 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The $2.4 million decline this quarter was due to a lower effective yield on the portfolio and a decrease in average invested assets. Throughout most of 2024, the middle market saw loan spreads compressed, while a series of Fed cuts amounted to nearly 120 basis point base rate declines. Although spreads have slowly shown signs of widening in early 2025, the declining interest rate dynamic has put pressure on interest yields for direct lenders. While these factors have contributed to a modest short-term headwind, we view this as transitory. The portfolio continues to demonstrate solid underlying fundamentals, and we are actively positioning for attractive deployment opportunities as credit spreads and lender terms improve.

As Ted mentioned earlier, credit quality was generally stable in the quarter. There were no new investments placed on non-accrual status, and our total investments on non-accrual represented 3.4% of the portfolio fair market value, consistent with our non-accrual rate at the end of last quarter. Further, we experienced favorable portfolio quality migration within our internal risk rating distribution during the quarter. The strength of our platform, including the depth and experience of our portfolio management team, is especially critical for successful exits in the current market environment. Rating upgrades of our internal risk rating system, such as those that occurred during the first quarter of 2025, are indications that we are seeing improved performance in some of our underperforming portfolio companies.

It is important to note that the challenges we have seen in the portfolio so far have been mostly due to idiosyncratic factors of specific borrowers and are not indicative of a broader pattern or stress within the portfolio. Now shifting over to the expense side, total expenses for the quarter ending March 31st, 2025, were $7.6 million compared to $8 million of total expenses for the fourth quarter of 2024, excluding the impact of incentive fee limitations of $252,000 and $1.2 million in this quarter and in the prior quarter, respectively. Total expenses decreased by $1.3 million. The decrease in expenses was primarily due to a decline in our interest expense resulting from a lower interest rate environment and a decrease in our average debt outstanding, as well as a decline in our incentive fees resulting from the lower net investment income during the quarter.

The net loss on the portfolio for the quarter was $3.6 million compared to a net loss of $7.7 million for the prior quarter. These net losses for the quarter ending March 31st, 2025, were driven primarily by unrealized mark-to-market losses from a few specific legacy portfolio companies that continue to be impacted by macroeconomic and idiosyncratic challenges, as well as the company's investment in MRCC Senior Loan Fund 1, SLF. The decrease in value at SLF was driven by unrealized mark-to-market net losses on SLF investments, which are loans to traditional upper middle market borrowers. The average mark on the portfolio decreased by approximately 1.1% from 92.2% of costs at December 31st, 2024, to 91.1% of costs at March 31st, 2025.

Despite the slight increase in the overall average mark, portfolio companies rated 2 on our internal risk rating scale accounted for over 81% of the fair value, consistent with the last several quarters and in line with our trailing eight-quarter average. Turning back now to SLF, as of March 31st, 2025, SLF had total assets of $86 million, including investments in 30 different borrowers aggregating $78.4 million of fair value. SLF's underlying investments are loans to middle market borrowers that are generally larger and more sensitive to market spread movements than the rest of MRCC's portfolio, which is focused on lower middle market companies. In the quarter, the average mark on the SLF portfolio decreased from 86.8% of amortized costs as of December 31st, 2024, to 82.8% of amortized costs as of March 31st, 2025. Consistent with the prior quarter, MRCC received income distributions from SLF of $900,000.

As of March 31, 2025, SLF had borrowings under its non-recourse credit facility of $21.8 million. At this point, I will turn the call back to Ted for some closing remarks before we open up the line for a question.

Ted Koenig (CEO)

Thank you, Alex. As we look to the future, we remain committed to delivering long-term value for our stockholders by leveraging our deep credit expertise, rigorous underwriting standards, and time-tested portfolio management playbook. Our predominantly first-lien portfolio continues to produce strong risk-adjusted returns, resulting in a 14.3% annualized dividend yield. MRCC enjoys a strong strategic advantage in being affiliated with an award-winning best-in-class middle market private credit manager, with over $20 billion in assets under management, supported by a team consisting of over 280 employees, including more than 120 dedicated investment professionals as of April 1st, 2025. We remain confident in the resilience of our portfolio and our ability to navigate near-term income volatility. With a strong balance sheet, ample spillover income, and a conservative credit posture, we believe that we are well-positioned to continue delivering long-term value to our shareholders.

Thank you all for your time today, and this concludes our prepared remarks. I'm going to ask the operator to open the call now for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask the question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Christopher Nolan with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please go ahead.

Christopher Nolan (SVP of Equity Research)

Hey, guys. My question sort of centers on sustainability of the dividend. And, you know, quite to your credit, you've stood by the $0.25 quarterly dividend for a long time, but the portfolio continues to contract in size, and thus generating less income to support the dividend. Should we expect some sort of change in that contraction trajectory? Otherwise, should we assume at some point the dividend will be cut?

Mick Solimene (CFO and CIO)

Hi, Chris. Thank you for that question. You know, we are continuing to evaluate our dividend in light of kind of today's earnings level. As you know, we don't provide a question on future dividends, but based on kind of the current rate environment and our current portfolio composition, you know, at least in the short run, we anticipate that, you know, the NII will be, you know, just shy of our current dividend levels. You know, based on that, we've decided to support the dividend through previously accumulated spillover income, which today totals about $0.53 per share, or $11.5 million. We used around $0.06 of spillover income this quarter to support our dividend and would anticipate, you know, having access to that spillover income in the near term for sure.

Christopher Nolan (SVP of Equity Research)

Okay. As a follow-up, given where the stock is trading right now and the dividend yield where it is, why aren't you buying back more stock?

Mick Solimene (CFO and CIO)

That's another fair question, Chris. We historically have not, you know, been in the market to support our stock. Our focus, you know, given especially where our leverage is, has been, you know, to use our capital to support portfolio companies and maintain our leverage, you know, at kind of current levels. You know, we, given where the stock is trading, are certainly cognizant of all strategic options, including where the stock is trading relative to NAV.

Christopher Nolan (SVP of Equity Research)

Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Dodd with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Robert Dodd (Director of Specialty Finance)

Hi, guys. Just first one, semi-follow-on to Chris's. I mean, in the past, the manager has been very supportive of the BDC in terms of waiving fees in order to allow NII to meet the dividend, even if, you know, while we were going through some transition periods before. So I take it from the commentary here that we should know, or investors should no longer expect the manager to waive fees to make that, and it's just going to be the spillover issue and no fee waivers to be expected in, yeah, voluntary fee waivers. Obviously, there's look-backs and there's catch-ups and there's various other things, but is that a reasonable conclusion to your comments?

Ted Koenig (CEO)

Good question, Robert. I do not think that is a good, reasonable conclusion. We have done it in the past. We have done it. We continue to do that. You look, we have waived, you know, any incentive fees this quarter, and we have done it in the prior quarters. You know, the manager has consistently supported MRCC, and we will continue to support MRCC in the future. This time, we made the decision this quarter to use some of the spillover income from prior periods. You know, I think that was a quarter decision. I think as we continue here, you know, I am very committed from a manager standpoint to maintaining and supporting MRCC.

Robert Dodd (Director of Specialty Finance)

Got it. Thank you. I mean, then just another question. I mean, when I look at the SLF, you know, it's kind of the amount of assets in it, the borrowing of that vehicle have been trending down fairly significantly over the last, you know, call it, you know, 18 months and more pronounced kind of this quarter. Is the SLF type structures, are those expected to be a continued go-forward part of the model, or is that vehicle effectively in rundown at this point?

Mick Solimene (CFO and CIO)

Yeah, Robert, thank you. Thank you for that question. You know, as we talked about in previous quarters, we've not been constructive around, you know, this end of the market. You know, this was a portfolio that was mostly consistent of upper middle market names that have kind of lower spreads, lower recovery rates. And I've not been very constructive on it. As you point out, we have allowed this portfolio to decline over the course of the last several quarters to the point where today we have around 30 borrowers in our portfolio, down pretty significantly from peak. We are certainly evaluating today whether we're going to continue to, you know, allow continuing run-off of the portfolio or, you know, possibly re-lever of the portfolio.

At the present time, we are not constructive around, you know, kind of this end of the asset class and if you're comfortable in, you know, in allowing the portfolio to effectively de-lever.

Robert Dodd (Director of Specialty Finance)

Got it. Got it. Thank you. I mean, so and then putting in all of kind of those questions, I mean, the deal with Wendel, as you said, closed on March 31st. I mean, Monroe still runs it, is still independent, operates autonomously, I guess is the right way to put it. I mean, have there, given the new partnership and the expanded, you know, potential expanded reach of the whole platform as a whole, has there been any thought about, is the strategy, beyond the things we've already talked about, is the strategy of the BDC likely, the public BDC, likely to evolve over the next couple of years, or is it, is what we see what's likely to stay with the caveat that we talked about the SLF, etc.?

Ted Koenig (CEO)

Good question, Robert. I think, you know, Christopher probably was going in this direction as well. We've got a very dynamic platform. Our firm has grown significantly. We have today probably over $5.5 billion, close to $6 billion in kind of, I'll call it the wealth high net worth channel, which I include the BDC, MRCC in. We're going to continue to evolve strategically and, you know, do everything we can to create value for our shareholders. You know, we're looking at, you know, we're constantly looking at ways to do this. You can assume, I think, that, you know, we're going to continue to find strategic ways to create value for our shareholders across the board, including MRCC.

Robert Dodd (Director of Specialty Finance)

Understood. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Ted Koenig for closing remarks.

Ted Koenig (CEO)

Yeah. Thank you for your time today. We appreciate, you know, our analysts, our shareholders. We are working very, very hard to maximize value for our stockholders and MRCC. And, you know, more to come. We look forward to talking to you again next quarter. Obviously, if there's anything that you would like or any questions you have, please feel free to speak with Mick or Alex intra-quarter. We welcome those discussions. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining Monroe now at this time.