Sprott Inc. (NYSE/TSX: SII) ('Sprott' or the 'Company') today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Management commentary
Sprott's Assets Under Management closed at a record high of $25.4 billion as of March 31, 2023,' said Whitney George, CEO of Sprott. 'During the quarter, we benefited from approximately $1 billion in net sales in our private strategies and exchange listed products, as well as strong market value appreciation across the majority of our fund products. Looking ahead, we are confident that our positioning in precious metals and energy transition investments will continue to serve our clients and shareholders well as a global realignment of supply chains and critical mineral production unfolds over the coming years.'
Financial highlights1
Key Assets Under Management ('AUM') highlights
AUM was $25.4 billion as at March 31, 2023, up $1.9 billion (8%) from December 31, 2022. On a three months ended basis, we benefited from strong market value appreciation across the majority of our fund products and strong inflows to our private strategies and exchange listed products.
Key revenue highlights
Management fees were $31.4 million in the quarter, up $4.3 million (16%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Carried interest and performance fees were $Nil in the quarter, down $2 million from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Net fees were $28.7 million in the quarter, up $3.2 million (13%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Our revenue performance was primarily due to higher average AUM given market value appreciation and inflows in our exchange listed products and private strategies segments. These increases were partially offset by lower average AUM in our managed equities segment and the lack of carried interest crystallization in our private strategies segment.
Commission revenues were $4.8 million in the quarter, down $8.3 million (63%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Net commissions were $2.4 million in the quarter, down $4.2 million (64%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Lower commissions were due to weaker mining equity origination activity in our former brokerage segment and slower at-the-market ('ATM') activity in our physical uranium trust.
Finance income was $1.2 million in the quarter, down $0.3 million (18%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. We experienced lower income generation in co-investment positions we hold in LPs managed in our private strategies segment.
Key expense highlights
Net compensation expense was $14.9 million in the quarter, down $0.8 million (5%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. The decrease was due to lower long-term incentive plan ('LTIP') amortization, lower salaries and lower incentive compensation.
SG&A was $4.3 million in the quarter, up $0.8 million (24%) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. The increase was mainly due to higher technology and marketing costs.
Earnings summary
Net income was $7.6 million ($0.30 per share) in the quarter, up 18% or $1.2 million ($0.04 per share) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. Net income benefited from higher net management fees on improved average AUM of exchange listed and private strategies products and good market value appreciation of our co-investments.
Adjusted base EBITDA was $17.3 million ($0.68 per share) in the quarter, down 5%, or $0.9 million ($0.05 per share) from the quarter ended March 31, 2022. First quarter adjusted base EBITDA was negatively impacted by lower commission income on a combination of weaker mining equity origination activity in our former brokerage segment and slower ATM activity in our physical uranium trust. However, net fee growth from our core AUM was strong during the quarter. We anticipate this trend continuing throughout the remainder of the year, eventually leading to net fee growth more than offsetting the loss of transaction-based income from our former brokerage segment.
Subsequent events
On May 4, 2023, the Sprott Board of Directors announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.
Subsequent to quarter end, on April 28, 2023, we completed the sale of our Canadian broker-dealer operations to its management team as we continue to focus on our core asset management businesses (however, we will migrate our charity flow-through operations into our managed equities segment). The impact of this change will be immaterial to our future earnings and cash flows but moderately positive to our consolidated operating margin as a greater proportion of our consolidated earnings will now arise from our core precious metals and energy transition materials product and service offerings. These core offerings have materially larger and more predictable revenue streams and also yield higher operating margins than our Canadian broker-dealer. In 2022, the Canadian broker-dealer contributed less than 5% and 4% to our consolidated net income and adjusted base EBITDA, respectively, and yielded an operating margin of less than 39% compared to our consolidated total operating margin of 57% over the same time period. The transition away from transaction-based businesses will also free up more capital to reinvest into our core precious metals and energy transition materials product and service offerings.
Supplemental financial information
Please refer to the March 31, 2023 interim financial statements of the Company and the related management discussion and analysis filed earlier this morning for further details into the Company's financial position as at March 31, 2023 and the company's financial performance for the three months ended March 31, 2023.
Termination of Dividend Reinvestment Plan
The Corporation also announced today that its board of directors has authorized the termination of the Corporation's Dividend Reinvestment Plan (the 'DRIP') effective June 1, 2023, being the day following the payment date of the Corporation's first quarter 2023 dividend, as a result of nominal DRIP participation over the past number of years. The administrator of the DRIP will forward a notice and related documentation to all current DRIP participants in the coming days. As a result of its termination, the DRIP will not be available in connection with any dividend payable after May 31, 2023. All participants will be issued a share certificate or DRS advice for any whole common shares held for a participant's account under the DRIP and a payment by cheque for any fraction of a common share (based on the closing price per common share on the Toronto Stock Exchange), all in accordance with the terms of the DRIP.
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
This press release includes financial terms (including AUM, net revenues, net commissions, net fees, expenses, adjusted base EBITDA, operating margins and net compensation) that the Company utilizes to assess the financial performance of its business that are not measures recognized under International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS'). These non-IFRS measures should not be considered alternatives to performance measures determined in accordance with IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Non-IFRS financial measures do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Our key performance indicators and non-IFRS and other financial measures are discussed below.
Net fees Management fees, net of trailer, sub-advisor, fund expenses and direct payouts, and carried interest and performance fees, net of carried interest and performance fee payouts (internal and external), are key revenue indicators as they represent the net revenue contribution after directly associated costs that we generate from our AUM.
Net commissions Commissions, net of commission expenses (internal and external), arise primarily from purchases and sales of uranium in our exchange listed products segment and transaction-based service offerings by our broker dealers.
Net compensation
Net compensation excludes commission expenses paid to employees, other direct payouts to employees, carried interest and performance fee payouts to employees, which are all presented net of their related revenues in the MD&A, and severance, new hire accruals and other which are non-recurring.
EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted base EBITDA and operating margins
EBITDA in its most basic form is defined as earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA (or adjustments thereto) is a measure commonly used in the investment industry by management, investors and investment analysts in understanding and comparing results by factoring out the impact of different financing methods, capital structures, amortization techniques and income tax rates between companies in the same industry. While other companies, investors or investment analysts may not utilize the same method of calculating EBITDA (or adjustments thereto), the Company believes its adjusted base EBITDA metric, in particular, results in a better comparison of the Company's underlying operations against its peers and a better indicator of recurring results from operations as compared to other non-IFRS financial measures. Operating margins are a key indicator of a company's profitability on a per dollar of revenue basis, and as such, is commonly used in the financial services sector by analysts, investors and management.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively referred to herein as the 'Forward-Looking Statements') within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. The use of any of the words 'expect', 'anticipate', 'continue', 'estimate', 'may', 'will', 'project', 'should', 'believe', 'plans', 'intends' and similar expressions are intended to identify Forward-Looking Statements. In particular, but without limiting the forgoing, this press release contains Forward-Looking Statements pertaining to: (i) our confidence that our positioning in precious metals and energy transition investments will continue to serve our clients and shareholders well; (ii) that net fee growth from our core AUM was strong during the quarter and we anticipate this trend continuing throughout the remainder of the year, eventually leading to net fee growth more than offsetting the loss of transaction-based income from our former brokerage segment; (iii) that the transition away from transaction-based businesses will also free up more capital to reinvest into our core precious metals and energy transition materials product and service offerings and (iv) the declaration, payment and designation of dividends and confidence that our business will support the dividend level without impacting our ability to fund future growth initiatives.
Although the Company believes that the Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, they are not guarantees of future results, performance or achievements. A number of factors or assumptions have been used to develop the Forward-Looking Statements, including: (i) the impact of increasing competition in each business in which the Company operates will not be material; (ii) quality management will be available; (iii) the effects of regulation and tax laws of governmental agencies will be consistent with the current environment; (iv) the impact of COVID-19 and (v) those assumptions disclosed under the heading 'Critical Accounting Estimates, Judgments and Changes in Accounting Policies' in the Company's MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2023. Actual results, performance or achievements could vary materially from those expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Statements should assumptions underlying the Forward-Looking Statements prove incorrect or should one or more risks or other factors materialize, including: (i) difficult market conditions; (ii) poor investment performance; (iii) failure to continue to retain and attract quality staff; (iv) employee errors or misconduct resulting in regulatory sanctions or reputational harm; (v) performance fee fluctuations; (vi) a business segment or another counterparty failing to pay its financial obligation; (vii) failure of the Company to meet its demand for cash or fund obligations as they come due; (viii) changes in the investment management industry; (ix) failure to implement effective information security policies, procedures and capabilities; (x) lack of investment opportunities; (xi) risks related to regulatory compliance; (xii) failure to manage risks appropriately; (xiii) failure to deal appropriately with conflicts of interest; (xiv) competitive pressures; (xv) corporate growth which may be difficult to sustain and may place significant demands on existing administrative, operational and financial resources; (xvi) failure to comply with privacy laws; (xvii) failure to successfully implement succession planning; (xviii) foreign exchange risk relating to the relative value of the U.S. dollar; (xix) litigation risk; (xx) failure to develop effective business resiliency plans; (xxi) failure to obtain or maintain sufficient insurance coverage on favorable economic terms; (xxii) historical financial information being not necessarily indicative of future performance; (xxiii) the market price of common shares of the Company may fluctuate widely and rapidly; (xxiv) risks relating to the Company's investment products; (xxv) risks relating to the Company's proprietary investments; (xxvi) risks relating to the Company's lending business; (xxvii) those risks described under the heading 'Risk Factors' in the Company's annual information form dated February 23, 2023 and (xxviii) those risks described under the headings 'Managing Financial Risks' and 'Managing Non-Financial Risks' in the Company's MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2023. In addition, the payment of dividends is not guaranteed and the amount and timing of any dividends payable by the Company will be at the discretion of the Board of Directors of the Company and will be established on the basis of the Company's earnings, the satisfaction of solvency tests imposed by applicable corporate law for the declaration and payment of dividends, and other relevant factors. The Forward-Looking Statements speak only as of the date hereof, unless otherwise specifically noted, and the Company does not assume any obligation to publicly update any Forward-Looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws.
About Sprott
Sprott is a global leader in precious metal and energy transition investments. We are specialists. Our in-depth knowledge, experience and relationships separate us from the generalists. Our investment strategies include Exchange Listed Products, Managed Equities and Private Strategies. Sprott has offices in Toronto, New York and Connecticut and the company's common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol (SII).
Contact:
Glen Williams
Tel: (416) 943-4394
Email: gwilliams@sprott.com
SPROTT INC. 
