Earnings Labs

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (WHG)

Q4 2011 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 2, 2012

$16.41

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Thank you all for holding and welcome to the Westwood Holdings Group Fourth Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. Today’s call will begin with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Instructions on procedure will be given later in the program. I would now like to turn the call over to your host for today’s call, Sylvia Fry, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer. Ms. Fry, your line is now open.

Sylvia Fry

President

Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to our fourth quarter 2011 earnings conference call. Before we begin, I would like to read our forward-looking statements disclaimer. The following discussion will include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning the factors that could cause such a difference is included in our press release issued earlier today, as well as in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. In addition, in accordance with SEC rules concerning non-GAAP financial measures, the reconciliation of our economic earnings, our economic earnings per share and economic expenses to the most comparable GAAP measures is included at the end of our press release issued earlier today. On the call today, we will have Brian Casey, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bill Hardcastle, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Brian Casey, our CEO.

Brian Casey

President

Thanks, Sylvia, and thanks to all of you for taking a few minutes to listen to our call today. We were pleased with our results for the fourth quarter and especially pleased with the financial results for the calendar year 2011. Despite a turbulent market environment assets under management at the end of 2011 were $13.1 billion, a 5% increase over 2010, which is due primarily to net inflows of client assets. Total revenues for 2011 were up 25% over the prior year and net income increased 30%. As we all know by now the U.S. equities market finished 2011 essentially unchanged for the year capping a five year period of minimal investor returns. Despite this environment our five-year performance was strong. Our assets under management grew at a five year compound average annual growth rate of 17% and asset-based fee revenue grew at 21%. Over the same time period cash and liquid investments on our balance sheet nearly tripled and we delivered an annualized total return to shareholders of 14%. All this is to say, that our conservative disciplined way of doing business has served us well, especially in difficult times like we’ve experienced in the past five years. For the calendar year 2011, most of our investment strategies equaled or outperformed their benchmarks with the exception of LargeCap would slightly under-performed. Last year’s headlines were focused primarily on global macroeconomic concerns, which completely overshadowed individual company fundamentals. Based on our 28 years of investing experience, we firmly believe that positive company fundamentals including strong free cash flow and improving balance sheet and persistent earnings growth that exceeds our expectations will once again drive equity performance in an improving economy. In fact, the month of January has been an excellent month for LargeCap with strong absolute performance in over…

William Hardcastle

Management

Thanks, Brian. Good afternoon, everyone. After I review our financial highlights for this quarter, I will review some slide with you that we have posted on the Investor Relations section of our website under the Events & Webcasts link. For the fourth quarter of 2011, our total revenues were $17 million compared to $15.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. For the full-year of 2011, our total revenues were $68.9 million compared to $55.3 million in 2010. Comparing full-year 2011 revenue versus 2010, advisory fees increased by 31% as a result of increased average assets under management primarily due to net asset inflows as well as the impact of a full-year revenues from our Omaha Office, which we acquired in November 2010. Trust fees increased 12% as a result of increased average assets under management, as well as revenue contribution from new trust assets from our Omaha Office. GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $4.1 million compared to $3.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. And $14.7 million for the full-year 2011 compared to $11.3 million for 2010. GAAP EPS was $0.57 per diluted share for the fourth quarter and $2.04 for the full year 2011 versus $0.46 and $1.58 for the fourth quarter and full year 2010 respectively. Economic earnings for the fourth quarter 2011 were $6.7 million compared to $5.7 million for the fourth quarter 2010. For the full year 2011, economic earnings were $25.3 million compared to $20.8 million for 2010. Non-GAAP performance measures are defined, explained and reconciled with a less comparable GAAP financial measures and tables included at the end of our press release. Total expenses for the fourth quarter and full year 2010 or $10.7 million and $45.8 million, compared to $10.3 million and $37.6 million for the…

Brian Casey

Operator

Great Bill, good job. Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Moderator do we have any questions?

Operator

Operator

We have no questions in queue at this time. It looks like we have one question in queue. And it’s coming from Mario Gabelli of Gamco Investors.

Brian Casey

Operator

Mario?

Sylvia Fry

President

We’re not hearing anything.

Operator

Operator

Okay it seems that he may have muted his line after he pressed one. All right, we have no other questions in queue at this time.

Brian Casey

Operator

Okay, we’ll give just a second in case he wants to get back. Okay well, thanks for your time today, if you have any further questions please feel free to contact myself or Bill Hardcastle our CFO or visit our website westwoodgroup.com. Thanks again for your time, have a great day.

Operator

Operator

That concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect.