Q3 2025 Trinity Capital Inc Earnings Call
Speaker #3: Good morning. My name is Angela, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Trinity Capital's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call.
Speaker #3: All participants have been placed in a listen only mode , and the floor will be open for questions following the presentation . If you would like to ask a question at that time , please press star One on your telephone keypad .
Speaker #3: If at any point your question has been answered , you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star two . It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Ben Malcolmson , Trinity Capital's Head of Investor Relations .
Speaker #4: Thank you and welcome to Trinity Capital's third quarter 2020 earnings conference call . Speaking on today's call are Kyle Brown Chief Executive Officer Michael Chief Financial Officer and Gerald Harder Chief Operating Officer .
Speaker #4: Joining us for the Q&A portion of the call are Ron Cundick, Chief Credit Officer, and Sarah Stanton, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer.
Speaker #4: Earlier today , we released our financial results , which are available on our website at Trinity Capital Inc. . Before we begin , please note that certain statements made during this call may be considered forward looking under federal securities laws .
Speaker #4: Please review our most recent SEC filings for further information on the risks and uncertainties related to these statements. With that, please allow me to turn the call over to Trinity Capital CEO Kyle Brown.
Speaker #4: Thanks , Ben , and thanks , everyone for joining us today . To start off , we're pleased .
Speaker #5: To highlight several key achievements from a strong Q3 for Trinity Capital as we continue to mature as best in class alternative asset manager focused on the private credit space .
Speaker #5: We delivered $37 million in net investment income, a 29% increase compared to Q3 of last year. Our net asset value grew 8% quarter over quarter to a record $998 million.
Speaker #5: Platform AUM increased to more than $2.6 billion , up 28% year over year . We maintained strong credit quality with Non-accruals at 1% of the portfolio at fair value , and we distributed a third quarter cash dividend of $0.51 per share , marking the 23rd consecutive quarter of a consistent dividend for our shareholders .
Speaker #5: Trinity capital continues to outperform across key metrics . Our return on equity and effective yield rank among the best in the BDC space .
Speaker #5: Our Nav has grown 32% year over year , while our credit metrics have remained consistent since our IPO nearly five years ago , trend stock has delivered a cumulative return of 114% , far outpacing both the peer average of 63% and S&P 578% over the same time period .
Speaker #5: And looking forward , we have a growing asset management business generating new income , as well as 210 warrant positions in 133 portfolio companies , which have the potential to provide incremental upside to our shareholders as IPO and M&A activity continue to rebound , we enter the fourth quarter with excellent momentum , and in Q3 , we funded $471 million , bringing year to date investments to $1.1 billion , nearly matching all of 2024 total .
Speaker #5: Our investment pipeline remains robust, with $773 million of new commitments in Q3 and $1.2 billion in total unfunded commitments as of quarter end.
Speaker #5: Important to note that 94% of our unfunded commitments remain subject to rigorous, ongoing diligence and investment committee approval. While only 6% of these commitments are unconditional, our originations activity reflects consistent growth in all our verticals across the Trinity platform.
Speaker #5: It's a powerful flywheel fueled by our elite team of originators , and we own the pipeline . We do not depend on syndicated deals and have immaterial overlap with other BDCs , all of which give our investors access to a highly differentiated portfolio of investments through our five business verticals .
Speaker #5: All the while , we remain deeply committed to disciplined underwriting and a credit performance , which are the bedrock of our long term success .
Speaker #5: I would like to touch on two noteworthy topics concerning the private credit space. First, let's talk about rate cuts. To date, rate cuts have had a limited impact on our business.
Speaker #5: Unlike most BDCs, the majority of our loans include interest rate floors at or near the original closing levels. This means that when rates decline, our income does not decline proportionately.
Speaker #5: Looking ahead , additional rate cuts are expected to have a muted impact on our returns , partially due to a majority of our portfolio having already hit their floor rates , which could drive some early repayments .
Speaker #5: And the capturing of prepayment fees and restructuring fees. Further rate cuts would also lower our borrowing costs by reducing the interest expense on our floating rate credit facility.
Speaker #5: And secondly , Pik is a nominal portion of our income with less than 2% of our income based on Pik . We continue to strategically raise equity , debt and off balance sheet vehicles to fuel our growth .
Speaker #5: In Q3, we raised $83 million of equity through our ATM program at a 19% average premium to NAV. We closed a new joint venture with a large asset manager to provide new liquidity and earnings.
Speaker #5: We converted a separate vehicle into a private BDC , which is now actively raising money . In addition , we're in the process of raising outside capital for our third Sbic fund , which provides low cost leverage and is expected to add over $260 million of capacity to our platform .
Speaker #5: Together , these initiatives underscore our ability to scale the platform and expand investment capacity . The funds I just discussed are managed by our wholly owned Ria , Trinity Capital Advisors , which manages third party capital and generates new income above and beyond the interest and equity returns from our BDC investment portfolio .
Speaker #5: As shareholders of Trinity Capital, investors benefit from the fees collected by our managed fund business. I'm going to be a broken record on this point in every call going forward.
Speaker #5: What we are building is not your typical BDC . We are building a platform that can scale while driving up earnings and Nav .
Speaker #5: We believe our consistent performance is driven by our differentiated structure , disciplined underwriting and world class team . Our five complementary business verticals sponsor finance , equipment , finance , tech , lending , asset based lending and life sciences .
Speaker #5: Position us to maintain a diversified portfolio while staying closely aligned with our core competencies . Each vertical supported by a dedicated originations team , underwriters , portfolio managers together forming a highly effective and scalable operating model .
Speaker #5: Structurally , as an internally managed BDC , our employees management and board hold the same shares as our investors , promoting complete alignment of interest and a shared commitment to delivering consistent dividends and long term value .
Speaker #5: This structure also supports a premium valuation . A shareholders benefit from ownership of both the management company and the underlying assets . In addition , the management and incentive fees generated through our managed Funds business flow directly into the BDC , creating incremental income streams , enhancing valuation and fueling platform growth , all for the benefit of our shareholders from a talent perspective , we're passionate about fostering a vibrant culture rooted in humility , trust , integrity , uncommon care and continuous learning with an entrepreneurial spirit .
Speaker #5: Our unique culture enables us to attract and retain the best people in the industry and fuels our continued growth trajectory. From the onset, our goal has been clear: to consistently outearn our dividend while growing the BDC. We continue to deliver on that mission.
Speaker #5: Trinity capital , strategically positioned within the private credit market , supported by a differentiated pipeline , disciplined underwriting and growing platform , and on the capitalization front , we're laying the foundation for a managed funds business that will expand our direct lending strategy and create additional income streams for trend .
Speaker #5: Overall , we remain very bullish about the opportunities before us . We're committed to building a company that aims to deliver outsized returns for our investors .
Speaker #5: While demonstrating uncommon care for our people and partners . And with that , I'll turn the call over to our CFO , Michael Testa , to discuss our financial results in more detail .
Speaker #5: Michael .
Speaker #4: Thanks , Kyle .
Speaker #5: Our operational and financial performance.
Speaker #4: Remain strong in the third quarter. We generated $75.6 million in total investment.
Speaker #5: Income .
Speaker #4: A 22% year over year increase and $37 million in net investment income , or $0.52 per basic share , representing 102% coverage of our quarterly distribution .
Speaker #4: Estimated undistributed taxable income is approximately $63 million, or $0.84 per share, which we continue to reinvest for the benefit of our investors.
Speaker #4: While maintaining a consistent and meaningful distribution . Our platform continues to deliver top tier performance , generating 15.3% return on average equity , among the highest in the BDC space and our weighted average effective portfolio yield remains strong at 15% for the quarter , despite the declining rate environment .
Speaker #4: Net asset value per share increased from $13.27 at the end of Q2 to $13.31 at the end of Q3, reflecting accretive capital raises.
Speaker #4: Total Nav rose 8% to $998 million , up from $924 million at the end of Q2 . We further strengthened our capital base by raising $83 million through our equity ATM program during the quarter , at an average premium to Nav of 19% , with no debt maturities until August 2026 .
Speaker #4: Our balance sheet and capital structure remain strong and are positioned to scale earnings per share while maintaining moderate leverage. Our co-investment vehicles continue to enhance returns, contributing approximately $3.3 million, or $0.05 per share, of incremental net investment income in Q3.
Speaker #4: We syndicated $120 million to these vehicles during the quarter, and as of September 30th, we managed $409 million in assets across our private vehicles.
Speaker #4: Our net leverage ratio increased slightly to 1.18 times at quarter end , with strong liquidity , diversified capital sources and capacity across the Trinity platform will well positioned to underwrite a robust pipeline , maintain strong credit discipline and deploy capital into high conviction opportunities to discuss our portfolio performance in more detail .
Speaker #4: I'll now pass the call over to our COO , Jerry harder . Jerry . Thank you . Michael . Our portfolio continues to demonstrate exceptional strength driven by broad diversification across 21 industries , with no single borrower representing more than 3.4% of total exposure .
Speaker #4: Our largest industry concentration , finance and insurance accounts for 15% of the portfolio at cost , diversified across 20 borrowers . Credit quality remained consistent quarter over quarter , with 99% of investments performing at fair value on our 1 to 5 scale , where five indicates very strong performance .
Speaker #4: The average internal credit rating was 2.9 , consistent with prior quarters and reflecting the addition of high quality originations , and continued strong portfolio management quarter over quarter .
Speaker #4: The number of portfolio companies on Non-accrual remained steady at four during Q3 , one new company was added to Nonaccrual status , while one prior nonaccrual investment was realized and rolled off .
Speaker #4: As of September 30th, non-accruals totaled $20.7 million at fair value, representing 1% of the total debt portfolio at quarter end. Eighty-four percent of total principal was secured by first position liens on enterprise value equipment, or both.
Speaker #4: For enterprise backed loans , the weighted average loan to value stood at 18% during Q3 portfolio , companies collectively raised $2.3 billion in equity capital , underscoring both the strength of our borrowers and their continued access to capital .
Speaker #4: In the current environment . Looking ahead , our momentum disciplined underwriting and diversified platform position us to continue delivering consistent dividends and Nav growth with a shareholder first mindset , our team remains focused on building a top performing BDC that generates sustained long term value for our investors .
Speaker #4: Before we conclude our call , we'd like to open the line for questions . Operator .
Speaker #3: At this time , if you would like to ask a question , please press Star one on your telephone keypad . You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two .
Speaker #3: Once again , that is star one . To ask a question . Our first question comes from Casey Alexander with Compass Point . Please go ahead .
Speaker #6: Hi . Good afternoon . Thanks for taking my questions . Probably . Good morning . There in Phoenix .
Speaker #4: Hey , Casey .
Speaker #6: You know , you noted that you have $409 million off balance sheet assets and a new JV . I'm just curious how much current capacity do you have in the off balance sheet vehicles at this point in time ?
Speaker #6: I know that number can grow because you can always create more of them . But I'm curious how much capacity you have there at this time .
Speaker #4: Yeah , Casey , I think what the question looking at on our liquidity and our and our ability to allocate investments each quarter , it grew this quarter .
Speaker #4: You saw that I think you'll continue to see that in our allocation policy. We look at which vehicles have more liquidity than others.
Speaker #4: And those are going to get more share a higher share . But we're consistently allocating based off of the liquidity . So I don't think in any period one vehicle like the BDC that has more liquidity would be under allocated investments .
Speaker #4: We're going .
Speaker #5: To try to grow it as much as we can . I mean , that's the like the strategy though , Casey , is the more capital we can raise via the Ras and the various funds we're setting up , that's just new income , right ?
Speaker #5: And above and beyond what our loans generate . And it has a huge impact on our earnings . Long , long term . So our goal is to grow it as fast as possible .
Speaker #5: We've got a you know , our new BDC that we manage and we're out there raising money through the kind of wealth channel .
Speaker #5: And then we have a couple larger partnerships with large credit funds that we're now managing . And we're going to try to funnel as much as we can there .
Speaker #5: And so as long as we stay really active and grow , kind of the manufacturing side and deployment side of the business , it gives us new earnings potential going forward .
Speaker #6: Yeah, I get all that. But how much capacity do you have at the moment?
Speaker #4: Yeah. So currently, the new vehicle is just ramping up. So there's, you know, $200 million or so of current capacity there.
Speaker #4: We'll look to increase that by setting up a debt facility . There . And then the other two vehicles , they're probably 75% or so funded to date .
Speaker #4: And those , you know , have the benefit of increasing capacity as we deploy our raise . Additional equity as well as leverage in each of those two .
Speaker #6: Okay. Thank you for taking my question.
Speaker #4: Sure .
Speaker #5: Thanks , Casey .
Speaker #3: We'll go next to John Hecht with Jefferies . Please go ahead .
Speaker #7: Hey , guys . Congrats on another good quarter . You know , a little bit of a related question to the last question is , you know , you got you guys are in five verticals .
Speaker #7: You have multiple funds . You run I guess . But you are focused on scaling the enterprise . How do we think about the capacity of the team right now ?
Speaker #7: How much can that originate . And manage in a period ? And what are kind of the thresholds where you would need to bring in new resources in any of those verticals ?
Speaker #5: Yeah . So we have continued over the last five years to be about a year ahead from a employment standpoint . We are , you know , we're planning out one , three , five year plans , and we've hired an advance of that .
Speaker #5: And so we're reaching some interesting , you know , points right now where we have some efficiencies of scale and a lot of our deployment growth and AUM growth doesn't necessarily correlate , you to employment additions , at least in the same way .
Speaker #5: But we are , you know , we we have a we have a with our five verticals right now . We have a road and a path towards continued growth with the team that we have .
Speaker #5: And , you know , we're still hiring and we're still recruiting great talent . But , you know , we we've already hired for what we think is a very achievable 2026 plan right now .
Speaker #4: Yeah , I guess this is Jerry . I would add to that . Right . The the current managed accounts are co-investment vehicles .
Speaker #4: Right . So , you know , they're taking rateable portions of , you know , the investments in the five verticals where , you know , we're we're already performing .
Speaker #4: And so , you know , we don't need to add any additional types of capability . You know , the businesses we've been doing for a longer period of time , tech lending , equipment financing , life sciences lending are at or very close to scale , right ?
Speaker #4: So, we're continuing to scale in some of the newer verticals: the sponsor finance and asset-based lending (ABL). So, you might see some headcount growth there in 2026.
Speaker #4: But the other businesses are pretty well scaled.
Speaker #7: Okay. And then another question is, you know, you noted that you're giving your unique footprint and the unique and the verticals.
Speaker #7: There's limited overlap with other BDCs. So I guess a couple of questions on that are, one is: Who do you perceive as your competition in the various verticals?
Speaker #7: And second , is given , I guess given a lower amount of overall competition , how are kind of new Deal spreads relative to where they were , say , six months ago ?
Speaker #5: Yeah , I mean , to answer your last question there , we just we don't see the same rate compression or spread compression and difficulties that the middle market and upper middle market are experiencing right now for , for a handful of reasons , right .
Speaker #5: Our verticals are more niche in nature. They're still big markets, and we can really scale them in a unique way.
Speaker #5: But in our world , you know , we're dealing directly with the company . The CEO , the CFO , the team . We are underwriting , the transaction .
Speaker #5: We're not out there buying syndicated deals and doing some of the things that private credit companies in the middle market and upper middle market are doing because of that .
Speaker #5: It's a very , you know , relationship driven business . And in our space where we write 20 to $100 million checks , there's just less competition .
Speaker #5: And and so we just we have not seen that spread compression . We're still delivering great returns well above , you know , your typical BDC or private credit company in the middle market when it comes to competition .
Speaker #5: It's going to vary in a really unique way depending on the vertical . And so I could I could sit here and list out , you know , multiple competitors for each individual vertical .
Speaker #5: But you know , we are tracking ourselves to other bdc's from a competition standpoint . And performance standpoint . And we're trying to be what we're building and and what we're trying to perform to here is a best in class BDC on the KPIs that matter .
Speaker #5: There . Nav growth , a consistent dividend right . Earnings per share , keeping it consistent , growing , having our non-accruals stay incredibly low and being a very , very consistent , you know , yielding BDC for investors .
Speaker #5: And so . I hope that answers your question . I guess I can spend a lot of time going through and trying to figure out the the top competitors in each individual vertical , but we're really tracking towards being a best and best in class BDC .
Speaker #7: No , I appreciate the context . Thank you very much .
Speaker #8: Yeah .
Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Doug Harter with UBS. Please go ahead.
Speaker #9: Hi, this is Corey Johnson on for Doug. I noticed that the compensation expense over the last couple of quarters has been going up quite a bit.
Speaker #9: Can you talk about a little bit about why why that's the case . Is that just , you know , is that more hiring ?
Speaker #9: Are there are other possible like one timers in there . And do you expect that to to sort of continue to grow over the next coming quarters .
Speaker #5: Yeah . That's that's us ramping up . I mean that's that's hiring . We've added to the team had added some incredible talent to the team and we're growing .
Speaker #5: And we also we also launched a , a team in the UK in an office there to replicate the success we've had here in in the US .
Speaker #5: And so not one time , you know , expenses but just further team growth and additions to the team . You know we're we're still in growth mode and as far as you know , the way we compare ourselves to our larger peers , we're very small .
Speaker #5: And we have a lot of growth potential and opportunity in front of us. And we're going to keep growing.
Speaker #9: Thanks . And then and just also , it looks like we're able to make , you know , good progress on your watch credits .
Speaker #9: Can you just talk a little bit about , you know , what what exactly occurred there . And then you know , how were your portfolio companies in general ?
Speaker #9: Just so you know, how are they doing in regards to being able to raise additional investor capital?
Speaker #4: Yeah . This is Jerry . I can I can take that one . Corey . So yeah , the you know , watch watch decrease significantly from , from Q3 that , you know , so we're pleased with that .
Speaker #4: You know , one of the particular companies landed on the watch list in the prior quarter as they were trying to close some some financing .
Speaker #4: You know, they've got both the term sheet for financing and an offer for M&A. So we're feeling much more secure about that position.
Speaker #4: You know , one of the companies on watch prior quarter became partially realized . And so you know , the loan portion that remains you know , went on Non-accrual .
Speaker #4: So , you know , it went from from watch downward . But you know , overall portfolio health is good . We continue to monitor closely .
Speaker #4: You know , you'll hear us say all of our verticals , you know , include their own originations underwriting and portfolio management . And you know overall portfolio health .
Speaker #4: We're happy with, at this point in time.
Speaker #9: Thank you .
Speaker #3: And as a reminder , ladies and gentlemen , if you'd like to ask a question , you may do so by pressing star one .
Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Paul Johnson with KBW. Please go ahead.
Speaker #10: Hey . Good afternoon . Thanks for taking my questions . Can you just maybe if you can take us a little bit further through what I guess , occurred with kind of nomad health during the quarter ?
Speaker #10: It looks like you chose to write off a pretty significant portion of that prior to that investment going on—non-accrual. So, I'd be curious to hear kind of what transpired there.
Speaker #4: Yeah , it's a little this is Jerry again . Thanks for the question . A little bit complicated . So , you know , the investment as I mentioned in the prior question , was partially realized .
Speaker #4: So what ended up happening about two thirds of that debt position was converted to equity . So that's realized from the accounting perspective .
Speaker #4: That's a realized transaction . And this is where you see , you know , the impact to Nav from that investment . The remaining one third remains debt .
Speaker #4: You know , out of an abundance of caution , we're keeping that on Non-accrual as this plays out . You know . And it's interesting situation because , you know , the equity portion of the transaction is realized .
Speaker #4: But you know , the story is far from over , right ? The company continues to exist . And , you know , we're optimistic that that can accrete some value .
Speaker #4: And be a good story . At the end of the day . But Mark , to market , this is where it is right now .
Speaker #4: And that's what you're seeing reflected in the soy and the realized results .
Speaker #10: Got it . I appreciate that . I mean , why would you choose to take a more approach to that ? I guess , you know , and basically realize or charge off so much of the investment and a relatively kind of accelerated fashion ?
Speaker #10: I mean , was there anything sort of atypical here in the outcome of the situation that was just , you know , different from what you expected ?
Speaker #10: And this was kind of the best path forward.
Speaker #4: Yeah . This , you know , Michael and I were talking about that
Speaker #4: just yesterday . Right . So accelerated not really atypical in terms of how the investment was handled . And , you know , the realized portion is realized from an accounting perspective .
Speaker #4: Right . And that's , you know , GAAP accounting , how we have to do it . And so , you know , it wasn't really an election that , you know , we elected to do it that way .
Speaker #4: You know , the the debt portion that was converted to equity is realization . And , you know , and so we marked that equity position to market , which , you know , you could argue is pessimistic or optimistic .
Speaker #4: But , you know , the company remains there operating . And , you know , I would say from the equity standpoint , there's far more upside and downside at this point .
Speaker #10: Got it. So, as a result of the restructuring, are you in control of the equity at this point, or where do you, I guess, fall in terms of your ownership and what you kind of have in the residual?
Speaker #4: It's it's not a control position , but you know , we have a significant stake and , you know , a seat at the table as the company moves forward .
Speaker #10: Got it . And one last thing for me , I was just wondering , just kind of broadly , if you could touch on if any , if there's sort of any underlying exposure within the portfolio to consumer receivables , either via any of the fintech investments , any of those companies that relied on any sort of any one of those receivables structures , that's all for me .
Speaker #4: No .
Speaker #5: The answer is no . The portfolio's incredibly granular and diversified . Very little exposure to anything . Consumer whatsoever . And anything that is consumer has is very sticky , has strong retention of customers .
Speaker #5: And we have a very high mark for for any kind of consumer deal to get to the finish line here . And so , no , I mean , the portfolios remains incredibly stable with , you know , 99% of it performing .
Speaker #5: And then , you know , you know , we focused on one individual credit out of over 100 here . But historically , our loss rate has remained very low with our realized gains offsetting all losses and providing some incremental upside to investors .
Speaker #5: And so we don't see any trends that would reflect any change from our historical performance over nearly 20 years on that loss rate.
Speaker #4: Yeah . And specifically on two items that you called out our asset based lending is focused on B2B receivables . And those , you know , frankly , are some of the highest performing financings in the portfolio .
Speaker #4: And with respect to consumer, you know, on our Soi 2, 4% at fair value of our portfolio is what we would classify as consumer products and services.
Speaker #4: So, very low exposure to consumer.
Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Finian O'Shea with Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.
Speaker #11: Hey everyone . Good afternoon . Kyle . It sounded like we're still pretty upbeat on growth . Can you talk about the split between the BDC issuing in the market ?
Speaker #11: Secondary ATM and so forth versus the RIA, and then should we expect that the BDC had a pretty good bit this past quarter.
Speaker #11: Share prices across the industry are also lower, so seeing if you think that it's as attractive in the context of what you're seeing in the origination pipeline.
Speaker #5: Yeah , I'll start at the end there . The pipeline is exploding where we deal , which is late stage VC backed companies heading towards an IPO or liquidity events into the lower middle market .
Speaker #5: You know , 3 to 15 million of EBITDA sponsored , backed like this market is robust . It's it's it's growing private credit companies who have raised too much money , who have to deploy too much money .
Speaker #5: They're focused on middle market , upper middle market . It's just wide open . And we are seeing kind of really robust pipeline right now in our where we deal as far as capital raising goes , everything comes down to earnings per share , EPs and when we talk about and we meet twice a week , our executive team and Fpna group on how we're going to capitalize , how we're going to raise capital to meet the deployment needs that our our business has .
Speaker #5: And it all comes down to EPs and making sure we don't dilute shareholders , right ? I mean , I'm one of our largest shareholders of Trinity , our executive team .
Speaker #5: And every single person in our company owns trend shares. We have no incentive to dilute shareholders. And so it's always a combination of equity issuances.
Speaker #5: You know , at the BDC level , Downstreaming assets into our new funds that we've set up . And with a with a huge emphasis on raising third party capital , which we can generate new management fees , incentive fees , and then the more permanent capital vehicles or permanent light that we set up our Ria has nav growth and nav accretion because we can value those long term income streams .
Speaker #5: And it's just icing on the cake for our shareholders . And so we're we're hyper focused on EPs , making sure it's consistent .
Speaker #5: And we have been working for a couple of years now on building that foundation to where we can see it grow with our managed fund business.
Speaker #5: And we're there and we're we're scaling and executing on that plan right now . So it's a it's a it's a really exciting time for us .
Speaker #11: Appreciate that . And just a follow up on , you know , the sort of exploding pipeline , you know , managers across the space .
Speaker #11: They're they're sort of mixed . Some are , you know , more optimistic that it'll come back . But no one else is really saying that .
Speaker #11: No one's that excited . Now , to be fair , we haven't heard all of the venture peers yet , so maybe that'll transpire in the more life sci or tech front .
Speaker #11: But seeing if there's any concentration there , are you seeing a lot more in , say , late stage ? Late stage growth or equipment finance vis a vis like an ABL or a sponsor finance ?
Speaker #5: So we've got five different verticals, and it's becoming more and more balanced across those verticals. You know, people still think of us as a venture debt business.
Speaker #5: You're not a venture debt business . That's about 25% of our deployment thereabouts . And we have a , you know , huge emphasis on equipment right now , we're seeing more and more CapEx needs for us based companies who are manufacturing their goods here .
Speaker #5: We're seeing more and more needs for asset backed lending for companies that have that are disrupting the kind of legacy financial sector . You know , we are seeing more and more of these lower middle market companies get picked up and bought , and there's a need for financing there .
Speaker #5: And so we are and we've been doing this for years now , but we have been diversifying into complementary segments of the market .
Speaker #5: And and so no , there's there's no concentration in any one of our verticals right now . It's pretty you know , it's pretty spread out .
Speaker #5: And the portfolio is looking more and more spread out each quarter.
Speaker #11: Very good. All for me. Thanks so much.
Speaker #5: Thanks , Ben .
Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Sean Paul Adams with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.
Speaker #12: Yes . Good afternoon . It looks like Non-accruals were relatively flat quarter over quarter . But the overall rankings for the watch and defaults within the portfolio went down by approximately half .
Speaker #12: Can you share a little bit more color about any changes in the portfolio? What is the health of those companies?
Speaker #4: Yeah , I mean , thanks . That was noted on an earlier question . So yeah , Non-accruals was pretty consistent watch list credits dropped significantly compared to prior quarter .
Speaker #4: And you know , we saw movement both up and down . Right ? So , you know , the current Nonaccrual includes an investment that was prior on watch .
Speaker #4: And then two other investments were promoted out of watch list . As you know , they raised capital and continued to improve their performance .
Speaker #4: So , you know , overall , we think the health of the portfolio , you know , is as strong as ever . You know , the you know , the credits on the watch list are the ones that were obviously working most actively .
Speaker #4: But , you know , seeing fewer members in that club is definitely a good thing .
Speaker #12: Got it . I appreciate it .
Speaker #3: And we'll go next to Christopher Nolan with Ladenburg Thalmann .
Speaker #13: Hey guys, what's the plan on the leverage ratio going forward—up or down?
Speaker #5: The plan is down for a variety of reasons, right? Right now, we utilize it and kind of scale it up as we load up on deals.
Speaker #5: And then downstream them into our new funds that we're setting up . But long term , you know , our ability to generate new income via the Ras gives us the ability and have liquidity there , gives us the ability to lower that leverage ratio .
Speaker #5: We're not trying to maximize returns . I mean , we could we could ratchet that thing up and generate better earnings per share .
Speaker #5: But that's not the plan. The plan is to lower the leverage, create ample liquidity so we can be opportunistic at the right time, and get the proper ratings.
Speaker #5: That will give us the ability to to lower our cost of debt , capital . And so our off balance sheet growth and activity really gives us that ability to lower that leverage ratio over time .
Speaker #13: Now , the off balance sheet vehicles and you guys are not the only ones that do this , but things such as an SLF , I mean , isn't that just sort of like second lean type of risk ?
Speaker #13: There? I mean, because you're.
Speaker #4: Right now .
Speaker #13: You're an equity in a levered vehicle inside a levered vehicle.
Speaker #5: No , I get that . That's how some bdc's do JVs to ramp up leverage . That's not what we're doing . We're raising third party capital that we can utilize and co-invest alongside of the loans we're funding .
Speaker #5: And then charge management fees and incentive fees . And we have very little equity in any of those , those deals , some we don't have any .
Speaker #5: And so we're doing it very differently. It's a fund management business where we can offer to investors who can't hold a public security.
Speaker #5: It gives us the ability to offer up, you know, our manufacturing to a different subset of investors and generate income by doing so.
Speaker #13: Okay . And final questions for these off balance sheet vehicles . Are they set up like a fund where investors can call their investment at some point .
Speaker #5: Right now , no . Right now we have a a couple separately managed accounts . And then we have a perpetual BDC , private BDC that investors can .
Speaker #5: And it's focused on the the wealth management segment . Those are the three funds we have currently . But what this gives us the ability to do is , is raise funds in whatever way we need to .
Speaker #5: And so , you know , we are exploring a larger institutional co-investment fund . And then we are in the middle of fundraising and closing out our third Sbic fund , which is focused primarily on banks and investors that have , had success with us in our previous two Sbic funds .
Speaker #5: So it's going to come in multiple forms so that we can meet investors where they are.
Speaker #13: Okay. Thanks, Kyle.
Speaker #8: Yep .
Speaker #3: It appears we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the program back to Kyle Brown for any additional or closing remarks.
Speaker #5: Great. On behalf of the Trinity Capital team, thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your continued interest and investment in Trinity Capital.
Speaker #5: We look forward to sharing our fourth-quarter and 2025 results on our next earnings call in February. Have a great day. Thanks.