Lester Brafman - Chief Executive Officer Joe Pooler - Chief Financial Officer

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to Cohen & Company’s Third Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. My name is Krystal and I will be your operator for today. Before we begin, Cohen & Company would like to remind everyone that some of the statements the Company makes during this call may contain forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. These statements may involve risk and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made during this call are made only as of the date of this call, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Cohen & Company advises you to read the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements in its earnings release and in its most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Lester Brafman, Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Company.

Thank you, Krystal. And thank you everybody for joining us for our third quarter 2018 earnings call. With me on the call is Joe Pooler, our CFO. Although, we were disappointed with results of the quarter, we continue to make progress in several of our strategic initiatives. This is exemplified by our growth in the GCF Repo business, which have reached over -- balances, which have reached over $4 billion. In the third quarter, we have also launched our U.S. insurances and SPAC equity business with capital commitments for investors totaling approximately $79 million. These businesses will help us diversify our Company by growing our asset management segment. We remain committed to enhancing stockholder value and in the third quarter, we continued to pay our quarterly dividend. Now, I will turn the call over to Joe to walk through this quarter’s financial highlights in more detail.

Thank you, Lester. Starting with our statement of operations, our operating income was $356,000 for the quarter compared to $1.4 million for the prior quarter, and $1 million for the prior year quarter. Our loss before income taxes was $1.8 million for the current quarter compared to $826,000 for the prior quarter and $617,000 for the prior year quarter. During the third quarter, our income tax benefit was $595,000. We expect to have additional net operating loss carry-forwards available to offset a portion of our deferred tax liability in the future years. The related reduction of the deferred tax liability is recorded as an income tax benefit. The net loss attributable to Cohen & Company was $651,000 or $0.57 per diluted share for the current quarter compared to net income of $80,000 or $0.07 per diluted share for the prior quarter, and net loss of $547,000 or $0.45 per diluted share for the prior year quarter. Net trading revenue came in at $6.8 million in the third quarter, down $370,000 from the second quarter and up $820,000 from the third quarter of '17. Our asset management revenue totaled $2.8 million in the quarter, down $387,000 from the prior quarter and up $1 million from the year ago quarter. In the current and prior quarters, but not the year ago quarter, there were one-time performance fees related to our European separate accounts. In addition, the second quarter of '18 included auction fees and previously unpaid subordinated management fees related to the successful auction and liquidation of the Dekania Europe I CDO. There was no new issue on advisory revenue in the current quarter. Our new issue and advisory revenue has been volatile and we expect that trend to continue. We are in revenue from a limited number of engagements, and a…

Thank you, Joe. Please direct any investor questions to Joe Pooler at 215-701-8952. His contact information is at the bottom of our earnings release or via email to investorrelations@cohenandcompany.com. Thank you for joining us today. Operator, we can now end the call.

This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.