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

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Federated Hermes, Inc. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Chris Donahue, Chairman, President and CEO of Federated Hermes, Inc. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much. I am Chris Donahue, President of Federated Hermes, Inc., and I would like to welcome you to our Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The program today will consist of a brief business meeting to be followed by some comments on the company and then a brief question-and-answer session for shareholders of the company. Before we begin the business portion of the meeting, I would like to introduce certain individuals joining me. Joining me in the room here, Joseph Bartolacci, Director of Federated Hermes, Inc., President, Chief Executive Officer of Matthews International Corporation; Michael J. Farrell, Director of Federated Hermes, Inc., President of Farrell & Co.; Karen Hanlon, Director Nominee for Federated Hermes, Inc., Chief Operating Officer at Highmark Health; Marie Milie Jones, Director of Federated Hermes, Founding Partner, JonesPassodelis, PLLC, which is a law firm; Tom Donahue, Director, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Federated Hermes, Inc.; John Fisher, Director, Federated Hermes, Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federated Advisory Companies; Peter Germain, Executive Vice President, Secretary and Chief Legal Officer of Federated Hermes, Inc.; Dolores Dudiak, Vice President and Director of Human Resources at Federated Hermes, Inc.; and Bob Ostrowski, Chief Investment Officer for Taxable Fixed Income at Federated Hermes, Inc. On the line is Debbie Cunningham, who's our Chief Executive -- Investment Officer for Global Liquidity Markets. I would also like to acknowledge that Mike Haver, Dan Quirk and Leah Oakes, representatives from Ernst & Young, independent auditors for the firm, are on the line. In accordance with the amended bylaws of Federated Hermes, Inc., I'll 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 Irrevocable Trust as the holder of Class A common stock of the corporation is entitled to vote at this meeting, and the trustees of the Voting Shares Irrevocable Trust are represented and present on the line.

The secretary's report indicates that a quorum is present for the company, and the meeting is now lawfully convened and ready to transact business. The item of business for today's meeting is the election of directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and election and qualification of their successors. Mr. Secretary, will 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 company 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, Karen L. Hanlon and Marie Milie Jones.

Mr. Secretary, the Voting Shares Irrevocable Trust hereby votes to elect each of the nominees for director. As inspector of election, 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 the shares entitled to vote, have voted affirmatively for each of the nominees for director.

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

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

If there is no objection, I declare the meeting dutifully adjourned. Now at this point, I would like to comment on our business results, after which I will be happy to entertain questions from shareholders. Before beginning my comments, it's my pleasure to announce that the Board of Directors at a meeting immediately prior to this meeting declared a dividend of $1.31 a share. The dividend, which will be paid from Federated Hermes existing cash balance, is considered an ordinary dividend for tax purposes and consists of a $0.31 quarterly dividend and a $1 special dividend. The quarterly dividend has been increased by $0.03 or 10.7%. The dividend is payable on May 15, 2024, to Federated Hermes Class A and Class B common stockholders as of record on May 8, 2024. If you'd like more information on the recent quarter, our news release announcing the final results for the quarter is being released this afternoon and will be available on the SEC website and our own website at federatedhermes.com. You are also welcome to listen to our quarterly earnings call, which -- call will occur tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Shareholders interested in listening to the call should dial, I'm going to give you the number, (888) 506-0062 domestic or (973) 528-0011 international or visit federatedhermes.com for real-time Internet communication. To listen online, you can go to the About section of federatedhermesinc.com about 15 minutes before in order to register and then join the call. Now I'll begin with some comments about our Q1 of '24 before moving to discuss the year 2023 results. In terms of the first quarter -- the end of the first quarter, Federated Hermes total managed assets reached a record $779 billion. The record assets were driven by significant increases in money market assets, which also reached a record of $579 billion. Federated Hermes is seeing the flows into our money market strategies since the Federal Reserve began its current interest rate hike cycle in March of 2022. Our money market flows continued to be particularly strong in the first quarter as investors embrace the benefits of money market funds, high credit quality, short duration, diversification, transparency, daily liquidity and yields currently exceeding 5%. Our record money market assets under management were accompanied by increases across equity, fixed income, multi-asset and total long-term asset classes from the previous quarter, demonstrating once again the success of our diversified business mix, yes, as we call it, a franchise for all seasons. In Q1, we also had record assets for money market funds, total funds, fixed income separate accounts, long-term separate accounts, short-term separate accounts and total separate accounts. Now let's talk about the full year of 2023, even though it's a bit of ancient history. As inflation and volatility presented challenges, investors continued to value our investment perspective, and Federated Hermes strategic business mix proved to be quite valuable. Overall, assets under management achieved a then record high of $758 billion at year-end, up 13% from the previous year. Basic and diluted earnings per share, $3.40 on net income of $299 million in 2023. Our performance enabled us to maintain our commitment to delivering shareholder value. In 2023, we paid shareholders 4 quarterly dividends: 1 of $0.27, 3 of $0.28, including our 104th consecutive dividend in the fourth quarter, bringing total 2023 dividends to $1.11 per share. Asset growth was driven by increases in money market fund and separate account assets, where the 2023 investing climate made the elevated yields of our liquidity offerings an appealing haven for investors. Many other diversified offerings also helped us to continue to serve client needs and present solutions. We had strong net sales in our flagship Core Plus offering Federated Hermes Total Return Bond Fund and its related fixed income separate account. We also saw continued demand from our popular MDT equity strategies, which utilize our proprietary alpha-generating Quant model. Among other 2023 highlights for the firm: we increased money market assets by $83 billion in -- from over '22; achieved record growth and net sales in fixed income SMA; announced the successful closure of the fifth vintage of our private equity co-investment fund, PEC V, raising $486 million; increased fixed income assets by 9% over the end of '22; launched the short-term Euro Prime Fund, the Sustainable Global Investment Grade Credit Fund, and the GPE Innovation II Fund for distribution in Europe; reached a record $250 billion in separate account assets under management; and grew our global presence with the opening of an office in Milan, Italy. Private markets also represent an important diversification strategy and growth opportunity for the company. And our alternative private market strategies had approximately $20.6 billion in assets under management at year-end. Private markets include private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private credit. Federated Hermes continues to be a respected voice in the regulatory environment. We actively participate in the debate surrounding potential regulatory reform, ensuring that investors continue to have the benefits of professional management diversification and access to capital markets to help them meet their financial goals. In July '23, the SEC finalized new reform amendments for money market funds. We anticipate minimal impact to retail and government money fund, while institutional prime and institutional tax-exempt money funds will be subject to some new or adjusted requirement. Federated Hermes appreciates that the SEC read our and the industry's letters on the proposals, ultimately referencing Federated Hermes comments nearly 200x in the final rule. Looking ahead, we will invest in areas for growth at a competitive environment, committing to a series of projects that we expect will deliver a business built for our global client base. None of our accomplishments, of course, would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our more than 2,000 employees. I thank them for their tireless effort to build a strong, vibrant, resilient company. I'm confident that we are in a strong position for 2024 as our first quarter results have already indicated, and we will continue to have opportunities for growth. In closing, I thank you, our shareholders, for the trust and continued confidence you place in Federated Hermes, Inc. Now prior to taking questions, I would like to ask Peter Germain to explain the guidelines we will follow.

Mr. Chairman, 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. First, 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 conditions or business plans are appropriate. Questions regarding personal matters, including those related to employment, are not permitted at the annual meeting, and therefore, will not be answered. Unfortunately, not all questions may be answered.

So the operator will now take questions from shareholders.

[Operator Instructions] Okay. Sir, we have no questions on the line at this time.

Thank you very much. That concludes our question-and-answer period. We appreciate your participation. The teleconference will now end.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.