WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WHF) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Stuart Aronson: Well, I wouldn’t say it’s cap, but I would tell you that the size that we have it at currently with the recent increase at the moment is probably as large as we plan to go. We don’t want to get too heavy into the 30% bucket of concentration. And we’ve grown the JV nicely. It’s generating very positive returns for our investors. And with the deployment of the remaining 25, 15 from us and 10 from our Ohio STRS partner, the JV should be at its target levels.

Erik Zwick: That’s helpful. And then just looking at Slide 12 and the improvement in the net investment spread certainly took a nice leg up in the middle to second part of ’22 and it seems to have flattened out here a little bit in Q1. If the Fed transitions from its hiking cycle to a holding it at higher for longer strategy, which, I guess as you referenced or maybe that Robert referenced before, the future curve is actually pointing towards down, but if the Fed were to hold higher for longer, what are your expectations for your ability to hold or potentially even improve the net investment spread at this point?

Stuart Aronson: If rates stay where they are, as we rotate into new deals that have higher spreads from deals that were sourced in 2019 or 2021 that had lower spreads, we will get a gentle upward movement in our earnings capability. But again, I think everyone knows, a lot of the increase in the income has come from the higher base rates, as I shared in the prepared remarks. And our expectation is that most of that benefit is showing up in the numbers that you saw this quarter might get a little bit better just because people choose SOFR periods that often run 3 months. So we convert quarter-to-quarter into new SOFR periods. So there should be some upward momentum next quarter. But I think you’ve seen most of it already roll into the numbers. Joyson, if you disagree with that, please share your thinking.

Joyson Thomas: No, I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing.

Erik Zwick: That makes sense. And last one for me. I think you have some 2023 notes coming due. I’m just curious about your thoughts on that and the source of funds to redeem those and potentially replace that capital or if you would just use the revolver. Curious, any thoughts there?

Stuart Aronson: We’ve spoken to firms in the marketplace. Treasury rates themselves are not that unattractive right now, at least in our opinion if go out the curve. But spreads are very high right now. And frankly, we can do a lot better by drawing down on our JPMorgan facility than we can by issuing unsecured. So we will keep an eye on the unsecured market. And as that market moderates back to more normalized spreads, we will consider issuing a new round of unsecured, but at the moment, given market conditions, we’re more inclined to fund that $30 million under our JPMorgan line.

Erik Zwick: Great.

Stuart Aronson: Thank you, Erik.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from Bryce Rowe with B. Riley.

Bryce Rowe: Stuart, I wanted to ask about the kind of the internal performance ratings, not too terribly surprised to see some shift with some of the dynamics you discussed in your prepared remarks. But I just wanted to get a sense from you. What’s driving some of the movements into the 3 rated credits. And then you also saw some movement into the 1 rating there, which may or may not be surprising given the macro backdrop?