Fidus Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:FDUS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Robert Dodd: Yes, right. I mean, well, unless €“ let me ask you a different way. The interest income volume was obviously extremely strong, though the portfolio didn’t move much quarter-to-quarter. So I mean, obviously, there’s late, et cetera. But it does look to me like there was some one-time income, for the lack of a better term, the accelerated amortization happens every quarter. But was there an unusual contribution from anything in interest income this quarter?

Shelby Sherard: Not that’s coming to mind, I’ll take it closer at that and get back to you, but I don’t €“ that’s not coming to mind as being a primary driver in terms of the increase quarter-over-quarter. We really do have a significant increase in just the underlying rates going from 12.9% to 13.8%. So I think I would probably attribute that as a bigger driver.

Robert Dodd: Got it. Thank you. And then on…

Ed Ross: The only thing I’d say is maybe timing of investments. We had some late in Q3 and then a few in Q4 as well. So that would be the only other thing I can think of. I’m unaware of anything that’s kind of one-off, if you will.

Robert Dodd: Got it. Got it. Thank you. On the €“ during your prepared remarks, you mentioned that there are €“ obviously, given the size of portfolio, there are some portfolio companies that are having some incremental problems but you said that those are all manageable so far. Just some more color on that, if you can. I mean when you say manageable, is that the sponsors have put more money in already? Or is the company so far have all been managing the more difficult environment just organically internally with cost-cutting or other initiatives?

Ed Ross: Sure. I think it’s a great question. What we’re seeing from portfolio €“ I mean, first off, I think the quality of our portfolio is very high. We feel very good about its ability to withstand kind of the uncertainties of today and €“ but what we are seeing is portfolio companies doing all of the above, raising prices, cutting costs and doing what they need to perform. And €“ some are doing it better than others, and that’s reality. And so if you look at our portfolio, we have some write-downs, but we feel good about the portfolio overall and the portfolio companies’ ability to manage those situations. Hopefully, that’s helpful.

Robert Dodd: Yes. Yes. Yes, it is. And then just on the overall environment, you gave a lot of color already. I mean, we’ve €“ you’ve said there’s been spread widening somewhat in the marketplace. Have you seen that start to turn in terms of your €“ the activity levels are down. There’s still a lot of capital. So is competition starting to squeeze spreads a little from the highest that they may have reached in Q4 maybe?

Ed Ross: I don’t know if I’ve seen it really tightened yet. But I will say there still is real competition out there. I think the level of competition vis-à-vis a year ago, or 18 months ago, is quite different. People are being less aggressive. And we all know there’s more uncertainty today than there was 18 months ago, and €“ that’s reflected in the pricing, the structures, quite frankly, the leverage that everyone is putting on different transactions and different portfolio companies. So €“ but there is real competition to the point I think we have lost a couple of deals over the last 30 days that we wanted to win and someone came in at a lower number. But everyone’s being what I would say, pretty rational. And I don’t think €“ I could see it tightening a little bit from here, but I don’t see people getting overly aggressive at this point in time.

Robert Dodd: Got it. Thank you.

Shelby Sherard: And Robert, just circling back to your original question. In Q4, the accelerated OID, if you will, from repayments, was only about $216,000.