Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Our results under the equity method for the 3 months ended September 30, 2023, resulted in a $0.4 million of equity income as compared to a $1 million equity loss for the comparable period of 2022. This change is predominantly the result of several companies reaching 0 carrying value during late 2022 or ’23. At that point, we generally ceased recording losses from those entities. I’d also like to remind everyone that we report our share of the losses, from the equity method company on a one quarter lag. So this quarter’s share of losses reflects the second quarter of 2023. Also with respect to our ownership interest, this quarter’s third-party debt for the remaining 6 companies was approximately $88 million versus $135 million last quarter.

This decrease is due primarily to the recapitalization transaction at InfoBionic. Cash at the same group of 6 companies was down to approximately $41 million. In terms of revenue performance, we reported a 10.3% increase at this group of 6 companies for the trailing 12-month period ended June 30, 2023, due to the one quarter lag. This increase was most favorably impacted by Clutch, which was largely offset by decreases at progress. Also, we noted in our filing that our share count as of today, the filing date was approximately 16.6 million shares. Looking forward, we expect that share count to increase as we continue to settle director fees using shares. An exact number will depend on the share price when those shares are issued early next year, but we are estimating that the share count will grow to approximately 16.7 million to 16.8 million shares by the time we file the final 10-K we referred to earlier.

Finally, I’d like to reiterate some points made by Eric and answer questions already received from shareholders who have had questions about the preliminary proxy that definitive that was filed earlier today about how this will impact them and address the mechanics of what will happen in their shares. The proposed stock split will not have an impact on any shareholders whose shares equal to or above the stock split number. For example, if the final ratio is based on the highest amount of the proposed range, 100 shares, any shareholder holding 100 shares or more will not be impacted by the share split. Shareholders who own less than that amount would be cashed out if they hold their shares directly as a registered shareholder. On the other hand, shareholders who hold less in that amount in Street name may or may not be cashed out.

Street name shareholders should contact their bank or brokerage for more information. We also encourage shareholders to review the Q&A portion of the proxy, which provides further details and examples of the impact you should expect as a result of the proposed stock splits. As we addressed in the proxy document, cash requirement is expected to repurchase the fraction of shares that may result from the stock split was estimated to be only about $10,000. As a result, most shareholders will not experience any significant impact of the split and should continue to be able to hold their shares in their brokerage account as we continue to wait for portfolio exits to fund future distributions. Now we will turn to the Q&A segment. Operator, I ask you to [technical difficulty].

And I do see that we’ve had a couple that have come in on the web to address those similar as well. I’ll let you give those instructions first.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions]

Mark Herndon: Yes. And [indiscernible] accumulating questions here, Eric, why don’t we address the couple that we know already. So the first question was [technical difficulty] this will be the last earnings call before the plan delisting. And I would say, yes, we continue to — we will make ourselves available as necessary for questions and comments as we try to be on a regular basis. So this is the last planned conference call before then. I think we’ve talked about a timing at the special meeting would occur in the middle of December and then a delisting if that ends up being the case as a result of the votes would be shortly thereafter. Do you want to add or Matt, do you want to add anything to that?