Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| And so, the acquisition environment impacts it, but we have the benefit of having a great business that throws off a lot of free cash flow and we have the benefit of having a lot of choices and being able to really to balance all of that and to do all of it |
| Our history shows that we've done a really good job balancing that out |
| And we feel like we've done a pretty good job of balancing all that to really drive that shareholder return and we'll continue to do that going forward |
| During the year's final quarter, we achieved the best level of gross sales as well as net long-term flows in more than a year |
| This helped us end 2023 with $166.6 billion in assets under management, providing a strong jump off point for 2024 |
| And when that change happens, I think we will be in a position to capture those assets as we've built the distribution channels over a number of years and we have really good investment performance and very competitive products |
| And getting placed on platforms with our CITs, getting placed on platforms with the various mutual fund share classes that we have as well as our ETF offerings really provides us a tremendous opportunity across different investor bases to capture assets, to capture the opportunities set from different financial advisors and retirement platforms |
| We think CITs are a great opportunity to penetrate the retirement platform network and have had success there really over the last several years as that more and more of an increasing opportunity from a vehicle perspective |
| This was slightly higher than the average rate realized in the prior quarter, which helped produce a very solid revenue number for the quarter |
| If you look at our gross sales, you'll get our net sales definitely have improved and has consistently improved |
| Our margins were strong for the quarter and for the full year |
| For the quarter, adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 52.3%, and for the full year it grew to 50.9% compared with 49.6% in 2022 |
| The consistency of our margins quarter to quarter, year-to-year, and during one of the tougher cycles for our industry validates the strength and resiliency of our business platform and our team's ability to execute |
| And at the same time, we accumulated additional excess cash in our balance sheet to enhance our future financial flexibility |
| And then we have, I would say, a few capacity constrained asset classes where we have great investment performance with integrity in US small cap, RS Value in US small cap, and we think that those will be areas that will see some growth as well |
| And longer term, what our vision is, is to have our existing client base have a really, really good experience, to have a wide set of products that go in addition to just Victory products, which was the thinking behind the brokerage launch |
| Then generally speaking from a channel perspective, you know, our institutional distribution channel was net flow positive in the fourth quarter and we think that that's an area where we'll have momentum as well from a distribution perspective |
| We've also increased their product set by launching their first ETF, MODL, which has been successful and allows advisors to access the WestEnd platform not just through the model delivery accounts |
| This is encouraging as we anticipate investors will be pivoting their portfolios into longer duration fixed income products as the outlook for interest rates changes |
| RS Global is an area where we have a long-term track record |
| This is a key feature of our platform that results in our consistently strong margins |
| So we're pretty well experienced |
| As I said earlier WestEnd has a really good product set, very competitive investment performance, and some industry tailwinds and good distribution |
| This fortifies an already strong foundation of advisors who tend to increase their clients' allocations to WestEnd products over time |
| For 2023, we returned a record amount of capital to shareholders and at the same time, we're able to strengthen the balance sheet |
| So building out our product set through the launch of the brokerage platform, ensuring that our service is of the highest standard, and also making sure that we work through all of the technology to make it a really good experience for clients when they sign up and our ability to service them |
| And I think that's the best vehicle for shareholder return over the long term |
| RS Global has excellent investment performance and has made some headway in the institutional channel |
| And we feel really good about the lineup we have |
| So nothing materially has changed in the first quarter from the fourth quarter, but when we look out in 2024 and going into 2025, we're quite optimistic about assets coming into asset classes where we have exposure and we think there's a lot of money sitting in cash as everybody knows |
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| Average AUM, which is how our fees are primarily determined, declined quarter over quarter |
| The biggest headwind for us is the macro environment where investors are sitting in cash and not allocating to risk type investments |
| However, the general sentiment of most clients is still cautious |
| This cautious approach and the ability to earn a substantial yield in cash and cash equivalent type investments has continued to produce record levels of investor assets in the cash asset class |
| Compared against benchmarks, our one-year performance at the end of December dips slightly from above 70% at the end of November |
| Distribution and other asset-based expenses declined $1.7 million, in line with lower average AUM for the quarter |
| Please refer to our SEC filings for a list of some of the risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed on today's call |
| The second question, the follow-up is just on, you always have the four platforms, RS, WestEnd, they always seem to be sort of the outperformers the last two quarters |
| Our depreciation and amortization declined $4.3 million from the third quarter |
| So, it did sound a little more bullish than prior calls |
| Certain non-cash expenses, such as depreciation and amortization declined from Q3 and the change in value of contingent consideration realized in the quarter declined compared with the prior quarter |
| As far as the first quarter of 2024, we have seen some reallocations to the positive and we've seen some clients pull back as well |
| Cash compensation expenses were down slightly, in line with lower revenue quarter-over-quarter and represented 22.8% of revenue |
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