Janus Henderson Group plc (JHG) Earnings Call Transcript

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Janus Henderson Group 2023 Annual General Meeting. Thank you for joining us today. My name is John Cassaday, Chair of Janus Henderson Group. And joining me today are the members of your Board of Directors. A quorum is present, so we can open the Annual General Meeting. Certain matters discussed at today's meeting may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors including, but not limited to, those described in the forward-looking statements and risk factors sections of the company's most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC. Janus Henderson assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the meeting. Before we get to the formal items of this meeting, we would like to briefly touch on our company's performance and progress over the past year. 2022 was a year of transition at Janus Henderson. Despite a challenging operating environment triggered by turbulent markets, geopolitical uncertainty and soaring inflation, your company delivered solid financial results in 2022 with an adjusted operating margin of 33.8%. We also maintained a strong balance sheet and generated healthy cash flows from operations of $473 million, enabling us to return nearly $360 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We also made significant progress repositioning the firm for future growth, including refreshing our leadership with exceptional internal and external talent, renewing our strategy, simplifying our operating model and deliberately implementing cost savings to fuel reinvestment in the business. The three-pronged strategy that we articulated in 2022, Protect & Grow, Amplify, and Diversify, is centered on the belief that a combination of relentless focus and disciplined execution across our core business will drive future success as a global active asset manager. We are gaining traction and are pleased to see signs of our progress. Earlier today, we reported our first quarter results, which are a testament to the renewed focus and potential of the firm. We reported solid financial results of $0.53 per share on a GAAP basis or $0.55 on an adjusted basis. Assets under management increased 8% to $310.5 billion, primarily due to favorable market conditions and $5.5 billion in net inflows. We are pleased that the quarterly flow results stem from improvements in all channels, and the meaningful inflows in the institutional channel are the result of continued hard work and commitment of teams across Janus Henderson. We'd like to reiterate what CEO, Ali Dibadj, stated on today's earnings call, "We are in the early days of executing our strategic plan, and the path to achieving consistent results will not be linear. Our focus continues to be on controlling what we can control to deliver desired outcomes for our clients, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders." Today, we announced that the Board declared a dividend with respect to the first quarter of 2023 of $0.39 per share. Including the $360 million returned to shareholders in 2022, this demonstrates our dedication to active capital management, balancing the needs and investment opportunities of the business with shareholder interests. Before concluding these remarks on behalf of our Board, we would like to thank our prior Chair, Richard Gillingwater, who retired at the end of December for his service to Janus Henderson over his nearly 10 years on the Board. In addition to my appointment to the Board and subsequent appointment as Chair, we were pleased to welcome 5 other members to Janus Henderson's Board of Directors in 2022: Ed Garden and Brian Baldwin, who represent our largest shareholder, Trian Fund Management; Alison Quirk; Anne Sheehan and Ali Dibadj. We are thankful for the contributions of Nelson Peltz, Lawrence Kochard, Alison Davis and Jeffrey Diermeier, who stepped down from the Board since the 2022 Annual Meeting. In conclusion, we remain encouraged about the prospects for Janus Henderson. Our business fundamentals remain solid. And as today's results announcement exemplifies, we are making progress towards our long-term strategic objectives. On behalf of the Board, we commend our employees for their continued hard work and dedication and express our gratitude to our shareholders and clients for their continued support. Now to the formal items of business. We remind you of the votes needed to pass the proposals as required by our articles. Proposals 1, 2 and 5, as ordinary proposals, require votes in favor of more than 50% of the votes cast. Proposals 3 and 4, as special proposals, require votes in favor of at least 2/3. We will proceed and now begin with the first proposal. Proposal 1.1 approves the election of Mr. Baldwin as a Director. Proposal 1.2 approves the election of Mr. Cassaday. Proposal of 1.3, the election of Ms. Davis was withdrawn. Proposal 1.4 approves the election of Ms. Desai. Proposal 1.5 approves the election of Mr. Dibadj. Proposal 1.6 approves the election of Mr. Dolan. Proposal 1.7 approves the election of Mr. Flood Jr. Proposal 1.8 approves the election of Mr. Garden. Proposal 1.9 approves the election of Ms. Quirk. Proposal 1.10 approves the election of Ms. Seymour-Jackson. And proposal 1.11 approves the election of Ms. Sheehan. Proposal 2 is an advisory proposal to approve the company's executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement. This is called a say-on-pay vote. Proposal 3 authorizes the company to purchase its own shares to a limited extent. Proposal 4 authorizes the company to purchase its CDIs to a limited extent. And Proposal 5 approves the reappointment of PwC as auditors of the company and renews the Audit Committee's authority to agree to their remuneration. That completes the summary of the proposals. We will now conduct the polls for the proposals included in the company's notice of Annual General Meeting and proxy statement. [Voting]

I appoint Earon Crosby of Computershare as the Inspector of Election, also known as the returning officer for the conduct of the polls. If there are shareholders present in Denver who have not submitted their voting cards, please do so now. I now direct the Inspector of Elections to count the votes and to report the results to me. The Inspector of Election has provided me with her preliminary report on the voting. All proposals have received sufficient votes to pass and are, therefore, adopted. Final voting results will be announced to the NYSE and the ASX and will be disclosed in a Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC and will also be published on our website. That concludes the formal business of the AGM, and I declare the meeting closed. I thank you for being loyal shareholders of Janus Henderson, and we look forward to welcoming you to our AGM next year.