Federated Hermes, Inc. (FHI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Greetings. Welcome to the Federated Hermes Incorporated Annual Shareholder Meeting. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the meeting over to your host, Chris Donahue, President, CEO and Chairman. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am Chris Donahue, Chief Executive Officer of Federated Hermes, Inc., and I would like to welcome you to Federated Hermes Annual Meeting of Shareholders. As we all confront the unprecedented effects of the coronavirus and the challenges it presents to our families, communities, businesses and financial markets, and in the interest of our shareholders, directors, officers and employees of the company, the Board of Directors decided it was prudent to change the format of this meeting to a telephonic meeting. The program today will consist of a brief business meeting, to be followed by some comments on the company by me, and then a brief question-and-answer period for shareholders of the company. Now before we begin the business portion of the meeting, I would like to introduce certain individuals joining me on the conference line. Peter Germain, who is Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Federated Hermes; Joe Bartolacci, who is a Director of the company. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Matthews International; Mike Farrell is a Director of the company, and he's President of Farrell & Company; Marie Milie Jones, Director of our company and Founding Partner in JonesPassodelis law firm; Tom Donahue, who is a Director and Chief Financial Officer of our company; John Fisher, Director of our company and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Adviser of the Federated Advisory Companies; Gordy Ceresino, Vice Chairman of our company and President of Federated International Management Limited; Paul Uhlman is Vice President of our company and President of Federated Securities Company; Debbie Cunningham is the Chief Investment Officer for global money markets; Steve Auth is the Chief Investment Officer for Global Equity; Bob Ostrowski is the Chief Investment Officer for Taxable Fixed Income; Ray Hanley is the President of Federated Investors Management Company; and Mike Granito is the Chief Risk Officer for the company. I would also like to mention that Mike Haver, Steve Klemish, [ Arbor Okamada ] and Leah Oakes, representatives from Ernst & Young LLP, our independent auditors for the company. Now to commence the business portion of the meeting. In accordance with the bylaws of Federated Hermes Inc., I will act as Chairman of the meeting, and Mr. Germain will act as Secretary of the meeting and inspector of elections. Mr. Secretary, is there a quorum present?

Mr. Chairman, only the voting shares -- only the voting share irrevocable trust as holder of the Class A common stock of the corporation is entitled to vote at this meeting, and the trustees of the voting share irrevocable trust are present -- or represented, excuse me, and are present on the line.

The Secretary's report indicates that the quorum is present for the corporation and the meeting is now lawfully convened and ready to transact business. The items for business for today's meeting are: the election of directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and the election and qualification of their successors. Mr. Secretary, would you please report on the nominations for Director?

Mr. Chairman, the Board of Directors has nominated the following individuals for election as directors of the corporation to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and the election and qualification of their successors: Joseph C. Bartolacci, J. Christopher Donahue, Thomas R. Donahue, Michael J. Farrell, John B. Fisher and Marie Milie Jones.

Mr. Secretary, the voting shares irrevocable trust hereby votes to elect each of the nominees for director. As inspector of elections, would you please report on the votes cast for the election of directors?

Mr. Chairman, in the matter of the election of directors, all of the shares of Class A common stock which constitute all of the shares entitled to vote, have been voted affirmatively for each of the nominees for director.

Thank you. As all of the shares entitled to vote have voted in favor of the nominees standing for election as directors, the nominees are duly directed -- elected.

Mr. Chairman, I move that the meeting be adjourned.

If there is no objection, I declare the meeting duly adjourned. And at this point, I would like to comment on the past year, after which I will be happy to entertain questions from shareholders during a brief question-and-answer session. Before beginning my comments, it's my pleasure to announce that the Board of Directors at the meeting immediately prior to this meeting declared a dividend of $0.27 per share to be paid on May 15, 2020, to shareholders of record as of May 8, 2020. Now if you'd like more information on the most recent quarter, our news release announcing the financial results for the quarter is being released this afternoon and will be available on the SEC website and will be available on our website at www.federatedhermes.com. You are also welcome to listen to our quarterly earnings call, during which we will report financial and operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The earnings call will be held tomorrow, Friday, May 1, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Shareholders interested in listening to the conference call should dial (877) 407-0782 domestic or (201) 689-8567 international or visit the federatedhermes.com for real-time Internet access. To listen online, you can go to Investor Relations section of the website and the Analyst Information tab at least 15 minutes prior to register and join the call. Now as I mentioned at the outset of the Annual Shareholders Meeting, we, like people and businesses around the world, are confronting the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 virus. In the interest of shareholders and directors and employees, the company's Board decided it was prudent to change our meeting from in-person to teleconference in order to help everyone maintain social distance. So we have all joined on the phone today. I would like to add a sincere thank you to all the frontline workers helping us keep safe, healthy and supplied. We appreciate your tremendous efforts. With stay-at-home orders in place in many regions around the world, where we do business, Federated Hermes has dedicated itself to providing the uninterrupted delivery of our investment products and services to our clients. With the vast majority of our 1,900-person workforce working remotely, the company has remained fully functional. I want to acknowledge the dedication and ingenuity of the company's employees during these unprecedented times and thank them for their perseverance. Before the recent market turmoil, we took a very exciting step, Federated Investors, Inc. became Federated Hermes Inc., and we changed our ticker symbol to FHI. On February 3, 2020, Federated Hermes launched its new brand by ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. We also launched a branding campaign that included advertising, signage and a new micro site. The new brand reflects the combining of the names of 2 leading active management firms, Federated Investors, Inc. and Hermes Investment Management. Federated Hermes offers world-class active investment management and engagement services across a wide range of asset classes for investors around the world. We are guided by our conviction that responsible investing is the best way to create wealth over the long term. Federated Hermes believes that the inclusion of environmental, social and governance, ESG, factors in the investment research process improves the potential to create long-term value. We pursue sustainable growth by offering financial intermediaries and institutions strategies that include active equities, fixed income, liquidity, real estate, infrastructure, private equity and private debt. Integral to our firm's commitment to active ownership, Federated Hermes provides stewardship services, engagement with equity and bond issuers, proxy voting and policy advocacy through EOS at Federated Hermes. Now our EOS is a key differentiator for us. Launched by Hermes in 2004, it celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2019 and now represents more than $1 trillion of active assets under advice. In 2019, EOS completed more than 1,000 company engagements in that year. This was the first time this was accomplished, and it is a clear signal of the importance being placed on stewardship and engagement today. EOS' leading industry position allows it to offer material engagement strategies that are company-specific and access and engage with executives and Board members because of our size and our reputation. We are progressing on the expansion of the EOS stewardship and engagement team in the United States as well. As 2019 came to a close, the combination of fading recession fears and easing trade tensions helped push equity markets and Federated Hermes' overall managed assets to $575.9 billion at year-end. The first 6 weeks of 2020 saw markets behaving similarly, but market conditions quickly changed. COVID-19, which, late in 2019, seemed to be contained to an inland region of China, morphed into a global pandemic that closed schools, businesses and caused much of the economy to grind to a halt. Equity markets declined and were volatile for weeks. Federated Hermes' overall equity assets were $68 billion at the end of the first quarter, down 23% from the end of 2019, due mainly to declines in the market value of investments after peaking at $91 billion in mid-February. Federated Hermes continued to see strong interest in our Kaufmann growth funds as these funds invest in innovative companies, and we saw growing interest in our new ESG strategies. At the same time, treasuries rallied as investors sought safety. The Federal Reserve, the White House, Congress reacted in rapid and unprecedented fashion, with the Fed lowering rates, restarting quantitative easing and unveiling programs that helped stabilize the market functions. The White House and Congress quickly passed a massive $2 trillion relief bill to help support small businesses, those who had lost their jobs because of COVID-19, state and local governments and health care providers who are being harmed as the virus spread. By the end of the quarter, the S&P had begun to bounce back off its lows. Equity markets have improved since the end of the quarter despite the continuing threat of COVID-19. The challenges of the first quarter showcased the robustness of the liquidity markets during a crisis. In fact, our cash business emerged from the extraordinary period even stronger. All of our money market funds and pools have liquidity in excess of regulatory requirements. We have never closed a money fund to investors and did not do so even in the peak of the recent turmoil. Our focus continues to be on the regular provision of liquidity. Several of our government funds received large inflows during the quarter, increasing total liquidity in assets to a little over $451 billion, up almost $133 billion from the end of the first quarter of 2019. Also, the unexpected nature of COVID-19 crisis impact on market volatility has heightened the importance of liquidity products to Federated Hermes' diverse product mix. Federated Hermes continued to show resilience in a variety of market environments. During 2019, Federated Hermes had a number of highlights. The company reached record equity assets of $89 billion, buoyed by a 45% increase in gross equity sales. On the fixed income side, we reached a record $69 billion. We had record liquidity assets at the end of 2019 and continued to grow in the first quarter of 2020 as investors sought havens from volatile markets. Federated Hermes launched 4 new mutual funds for U.S. investors modeled after successful strategies originated by Hermes Investment Management. We added a responsible investing office in our Pittsburgh headquarters to provide the infrastructure for integrating ESG factors into the investment process across asset classes and to guide responsible investing initiatives within the firm and the broader investment community. The company also completed the acquisition of the $13.9 billion in assets from PNC Capital Advisors, including a 5-person Cleveland-based international equity team managing about $1.6 billion. This acquisition adds 3 funds to complement our existing international equity products. In closing, I want to thank you, our shareholders. I appreciate your continued support as Federated Hermes grows and pursues a future in which responsible investing is the way to create wealth over the long term. So prior to taking questions, I'd like to ask Mr. Germain to explain the guidelines that we'll follow.

We will conduct a brief question-and-answer period for only shareholders of the company. In order to allow for an orderly shareholder question-and-answer period and to allow time to ask questions within the time allotted, we have established the following guidelines. Questions will only be taken from shareholders of the company. Please indicate to the operator that you are a shareholder of Federated Hermes, Inc. and let the operator know what your question is. Shareholders' questions should not ask for information that has already been discussed. Questions related to the corporation and its business, results of operations, financial condition or business plans are appropriate. Unfortunately, not all questions may be answered. I would now like to ask the operator to give specific instructions for shareholders to ask questions.

[Operator Instructions]

So the operator is now taking questions from shareholders.

Do we have any questions?

At this time, there's no questions in the queue.

Okay. Well, thank you once again. Stay safe and stay healthy. This is it from Federated Hermes Annual Shareholder Meeting. Good day.

This concludes today's telephonic meeting, and you may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.