Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the E&P Financial Group results briefing for the half-year ended 31 December 2021. I'm Peter Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, and with me is Paul Ryan, our Chief Financial Officer. This morning, I'll be providing an update on the performance of the business over the half. Paul will then run through the group's financials before I conclude with an update on the outlook for the company. We're pleased to report that over the six months to 31 December 2021, the company delivered a solid underlying result driven by growth from our core businesses. The group generated net revenue of AUD 110.4 million, which was up 11% compared to the first half of financial year 2021. This result was achieved on the back of strong performances from E&P Capital and the core Evans and Partners Wealth business. The half-year result was also supported by growth in core equities funds under management and profit contribution from principal positions in our joint venture private equity funds. Underlying EBITDA for the half-year was AUD 20.7 million, which represents a 16% increase on the prior corresponding period. Underlying earnings per share for the half-year was AUD 0.042, which was up 58% on the prior corresponding period. Notwithstanding, the board has deemed it prudent to continue the dividend pause while we work through the legacy issues facing the business. Accordingly, no interim dividend has been declared. We are pleased to report that the strong performance across each of our core businesses was led by successful execution of the growth initiatives core to our reset strategy. E&P Capital had a very busy period marked by high levels of market activity across M&A, capital markets, and sales and trading. In E&P Wealth, the Evans and Partners high net worth business delivered strong revenue growth, and with the continued rollout of retail wealth management, helped drive an uplift in profit for the division. In E&P Funds, our core equity strategies produced strong performances and returns for their investors, leading to growth in core equities funds under management. The financial result in E&P Funds was again supported by gains on the group's principal positions in our joint venture private equity funds. The group recorded a statutory profit of AUD 4.1 million, driven by growth in operating earnings, which was partially offset by higher expenses relating to extraordinary matters that are not part of our core business. These items primarily comprise the costs incurred in addressing the regulatory and representative proceedings, which Paul and I will speak to in greater detail later on. We adjust for these items as they are not reflective of our continuing core business, which experienced positive momentum over the period. As I mentioned, the board has not declared an interim dividend for the half. We understand that dividends are important to our shareholders and reiterate the board's commitment to reverting to a full-year payout range of 75%-85% of NPATA in a normal operating environment. Over the half, we have made significant further progress in reshaping our funds business to deliver improved value and liquidity outcomes for clients invested in internally managed real asset funds. Last week, we completed a withdrawal offer for the FSREC Property Fund, which provided AUD 330 million of liquidity for unitholders, funded by a subscription led by ISPT. This is in addition to the AUD 95 million withdrawal offer completed in July 2021. Earlier in the half, New Energy Solar disposed of its Australian assets totaling AUD 288 million, with proceeds applied towards debt reductions and the buyback of units. Finally, the group's CD Private Equity Fund I, II, and III returned a total of AUD 67 million in capital to investors following a period of strong returns and realizations of the funds' portfolio companies. During the half, we progressed with the consolidation of the E&P Wealth business under a unified brand, with all advisors now authorized under the Evans and Partners AFSL. Following the appointment of voluntary administrators to DASS in January, the consolidation of brands to Evans and Partners and the client transition process are well progressed. We are pleased to report that we have had very strong support from the Dixon client base in the transition to Evans and Partners, which is a testament to the strength of the relationships of our advisors with their clients. As in previous periods, we continued to invest in our RegTech to deliver improved efficiencies, advice quality, and management oversight. We've also achieved progress on the implementation of a comprehensive enterprise-wide ESG program. Moving now to our operating performance. We can see that the group's underlying business drivers performed well over the half. Funds under advice was up 5% in the six months to 31 December 2021 to a total of AUD 25.6 billion, driven by continued strong growth in Evans and Partners client assets. In E&P Capital, net revenue was up 30% on the prior comparable period to AUD 36.4 million, driven by high levels of market activity, leading to execution of numerous M&A and ECM transactions. In E&P Funds, our funds under management was lower at AUD 6.5 billion compared to June 2021, with strong growth in core equities funds offset by planned reductions in real asset funds. During the period, we continued to execute on our clearly defined strategy and progressed initiatives to drive value creation and position the business for the Australian financial services landscape of the future. In E&P Wealth, we did this by leveraging our strong scalable advice and risk systems to drive the rollout of the Evans and Partners retail wealth management offering and capitalize on the opportunity in the mass affluent retail advice segment while continuing the successful execution of our market-leading high-net- worth offerings. In E&P Capital, the team continued its sector-driven strategy, supported by targeted investment in its research, corporate and institutional businesses. In E&P Funds, the team has continued to execute necessary structural changes across the real asset portfolios and to take steps to expand the external distribution and marketability of our outperforming direct equity strategies. I'll now provide an update on the performance of our three segments, beginning with E&P Wealth. The Evans and Partners retail wealth management service continues to be well supported by existing and new clients. Growth in funds under advice and client numbers continued throughout the period, illustrated in the charts on the top right of the page. By 31 December 2021, we had 734 clients under the new service, representing over AUD 1.4 billion in funds under advice. We believe the service is well positioned for growth as more clients transition and as our initiatives to win new clients gain traction. Positive investment outcomes, combined with net client growth across the Evans and Partners client base, has resulted in FUA growth of 5% over the prior period. Overall, total client numbers were stable during the half, although we expect some client exits as a result of the DASS voluntary administration as clients transition to a replacement service provider of their choice. A number of structural initiatives were implemented throughout the period. This included a refresh of the Evans and Partners client portal to include detailed stock-specific ESG data and reporting. More work was done on the transition of our primary platform provider to HUB24 and key third-party SMSF technology partner to BGL 360. During the period, we also completed a comprehensive review of the marketing function and appointed a new marketing director. The Evans and Partners Family Investment Office is another pillar of our long-term growth strategy that provides clients with a bespoke offering for managing complex affairs and intergenerational wealth. We have achieved early success in this new business line, illustrated by the growth in funds under advice. Finally, to ensure we can deliver on our strategy over the long term, we are prioritizing advisor development through structured mentoring and training programs to retain and to develop internal talent. In terms of the financial performance of E&P Wealth, net revenue was up 8% on the prior comparable period due to strong growth in advice and services revenue, which benefited from growth in funds under advice. In addition, strong support for attractive ECM and DCM investment opportunities led to increased capital markets fees. Revenue growth during the half was also driven by the transition of a number of Dixon Advisory clients to our retail wealth management offering. This process drives an improvement in the quality of the division's earnings by expanding the Evans and Partners financial advice offering and transitioning from a capped fee for service and transactional revenue model to a funds under advice-based model. We expect this scalable service offering to deliver further revenue growth as we continue to roll out and win new clients. Underlying EBITDA of AUD 8.1 million was up 4% compared to the first half of 2021. Despite the strong revenue growth, our EBITDA margins remained in line with the prior periods, reflecting the short-term impact of Evans and Partners advisor transitions and decreased Dixon Advisory revenue contribution. In future periods, we expect EBITDA margins to benefit from growth in retail wealth management funds under advice, albeit Dixon Advisory client exits will likely impact the second half of this financial year. Now moving on to E&P Capital. E&P Capital experienced a meaningful uplift in deal volume in the first half of the financial year, advising on over AUD 2 billion of M&A transactions and numerous capital markets mandates. This result is the product of previous origination efforts and demonstrates that E&P Capital's strategy to focus on targeted market sectors of expertise across the platform is working. New business origination is ongoing, and I note that the second half corporate advisory pipeline is encouraging. Our institutional equities business has continued to perform well in a competitive environment, and we have continued to invest in this part of the business, which is core to the division's integrated strategy. An important arm of this strategy is our expansion into Hong Kong. Although it is still early days, our Hong Kong office is now established in providing institutional sales and distribution to the Asian market. Excuse me. During the half, we refined our equity research coverage with a steady 142 stocks under coverage at 31 December 2021, representing approximately 77% of the ASX 200 by market cap. During the half, the research team initiated on 11 small and mid-cap companies, offsetting 11 cessations, reflecting takeovers and the redeployment of resources. Our research coverage is specifically tailored to the needs of our institutional and private wealth clients and reflects the core sectors we seek to cover across E&P Capital. Finally, I'm pleased to report that E&P Capital again performed exceptionally well in the Peter Lee Associates survey. The results from the 2021 report, which are shown on the slide, include second in both sales team capability and execution of small caps, plus repeated high rankings for a number of our sector analysts. Moving now to the financials on slide 12. E&P Capital produced a meaningful uplift in revenue and EBITDA compared to the first half of 2021, with a result led by the successful integration of institutional capital markets and corporate businesses, and high levels of market activity. Net revenue for the half was AUD 36.4 million, representing an increase of 30% on prior comparable period, and underlying EBITDA was AUD 8.7 million, an increase of 25% on prior comparable period. Moving now to E&P Funds. In E&P Funds, the strong momentum and performance across our core equities offerings during the half supports our strategic objective to expand and diversify distribution of these funds. The Claremont Global Fund continued its stellar performance as one of Australia's leading global equity fund managers. I'm pleased to announce that the fund ranked as the number one performing global equity fund manager in Australia in the large blends category in Morningstar's 2021 top-performing global equity fund managers report. Similarly, the Orca Global Disruption Fund continued its strong performance with index outperformance of 7.3% per annum since inception. As reported at the 2021 full-year, we continued to invest in dedicated distribution resources and strategic marketing to focus on attracting third-party capital from a diverse investor base. As I mentioned earlier, we've progressed value and liquidity initiatives for each of our real asset funds across the half, as detailed on the slide. I should note for shareholders that from 1 January 2022, we have agreed to indefinitely waive the responsible entity administration fee charged to URF, delivering an annual saving to URF of approximately AUD 2 million. Moving now to E&P Funds financials. E&P Funds achieved a resilient result driven by growth from our core equity strategies and gains on principal private equity positions. The period also benefited from non-recurring revenue arising from structural initiatives to the real asset funds, offsetting reductions in investment management fees from these funds. Overall, net revenue decreased 2% compared to the first half of 2021. Underlying EBITDA was up 7% year on year and materially higher than the prior half due to the non-recurring, non-fund based revenue recorded. The half-year saw a 13% increase in fund-based revenue compared to the first half of 2021, reflecting fund growth in the core equity strategies, which saw base management fees up 10% together with the expansion of the U.S. Solar Fund following its upsized institutional capital raising in May 2021. The movement in non-fund based revenue primarily reflects gains on principal private investment positions. It is important for shareholders to note that we expect fund-based revenue from real asset funds to reduce as structural changes take effect, to be offset by growth in core equities fund revenue over time. Finally, compared to the first half of 2021, we achieved significant operating expense savings as a result of the wind down at Dixon Projects and rationalization of our core equities offering over the past 18 months. During the period, the group made significant progress integrating sustainability elements into our service offerings. Firmwide client-driven ESG framework and reporting has been developed to provide sustainability guidelines across our three divisions. In E&P Wealth, we provide comprehensive information on investment products and ensure a broad suite of ESG investment solutions are available. In E&P Capital, we are integrating ESG-related information into equity research and producing thematic research into prominent ESG issues. In E&P Funds, we're providing ESG reporting on our investment strategies. In our wealth business, the team has been especially busy implementing several initiatives to ensure our clients are able to make informed investment decisions. Some of these recent ESG enhancements include real-time access to detailed ESG data through the Wealth Client Portal and additional and personalized ESG services such as bespoke ESG consulting, investment policy construction, board education services, and ESG portfolio reporting. The appointment of Sally McCutchan as Non-Executive Director of E&P Financial Group at our 2021 AGM brought significant ESG experience to our organization. Sally was formerly CEO and is currently Executive Director of Impact Investing Australia. As I mentioned earlier, on January 19, 2022, voluntary administrators were appointed to Dixon Advisory and Superannuation Services, as the directors of DASS determined that mounting actual and potential liabilities meant DASS was likely to become insolvent at some future time. Actual or potential liabilities included possible damages arising from the representative proceedings led by Piper Alderman and Shine Lawyers, claims against DASS being determined by AFCA, and penalties agreed between DASS and ASIC. The first objective of the VA is to facilitate the prompt transfer of DASS clients to a replacement service provider of the client's choice with minimal disruption to client service. As at 22 February 2022, 70% of DASS clients have asked to transfer to Evans and Partners, with the group facilitating a transfer to an external service provider for 16% of DASS clients who have expressed the desire to exit, leaving 14% of DASS clients who are yet to advise of their preference. The second objective of the voluntary administration is to, in due course, propose a Deed of Company Arrangement as part of a broader mechanism which provides for the comprehensive settlement of all DASS and related claims in a manner which provides for the equitable treatment of all DASS clients of creditors. The second matter on the slide relates to the two ongoing representative proceedings which were launched in late 2021 against DASS, EP1, and former group executives. The appointment of voluntary administrators means that the representative proceedings are stayed as against DASS, unless the voluntary administrator's written consent or leave of the court is given to proceed. In due course, EP1 intends to defend the proceedings, but as of today, the issue of carriage of the representative proceedings is yet to be resolved. With that, I'll hand over to our CFO, Paul Ryan, who will talk to the Group financial results. Thank you, Peter, and good morning, everyone. The group's underlying earnings for the period reflect an improvement on first half of 2021, driven by revenue growth across our scalable core business, assisted by contribution from non-recurring, non-fund based revenue in E&P Funds. Statutory profit, however, was impacted by costs associated with regulatory and legal matters and the change in value of non-core legacy investments. Group net revenue of AUD 110.4 million was up 11% on the prior comparable period due to revenue growth from E&P Capital and the core Evans and Partners Wealth business. Overall, the group delivered underlying EBITDA of AUD 20.7 million and underlying NPATA of AUD 9.7 million, up 16% and 63% respectively, compared to the first half of 2021. The uplift in staff expenses of 14%, as shown on screen, reflects higher revenue link remuneration. The group's staff expenses to net revenue margin increased slightly from 64% in the first half of 2021 to 66% this period as the group made further investment in our people in a competitive market. Operating expenses were 4% lower compared to the first half of 2021 as the business continues to manage costs closely following the operational review launched a couple of years ago. The group's profit before tax was 27% higher than the prior comparable period, partly due to lower depreciation and amortization, due to the rationalization of our office footprint in prior periods, which we are now realizing the benefits of, plus lower amortization of acquired intangibles. We expect the amortization of acquired intangibles to reduce further through the next financial year. The effective tax rate for the half was 41% due to, firstly, the non-deductibility of share-based payment expenses and also the write-off of U.S. deferred tax assets. As mentioned at the full-year, going forward, we expect our effective tax rate to trend towards the Australian statutory company tax rate as share-based payment expenses reduce and the U.S. wind down reaches completion. A reconciliation of the group's tax expense for the half is in the appendix. Slide 19 sets out the group's cash flow statement with operating cash flows reconciled from net profit after tax. Net operating cash flows were AUD 8.2 million for the half, up from AUD 1.4 million in the first half of 2021, which is reflective of the growth in core operating earnings. The increase in net working capital was driven by annual bonus payments in September 2021, and the increase in receivables due to the timing of corporate advisory transactions completed in December 2021. Strong gains on the group's positions in the CVC Emerging Companies Fund I and CD Private Equity Fund Series joint ventures flow through equity accounted profits given our level of control as the investment manager. The distributions and realized gains we receive on those positions flow through investing cash flows. During the half, the group acquired further financial investments in respect of legacy commitments, which are not expected to recur. There is one further capital call of $0.7 million to come in respect of the CD3 wholesale fund. The dividends received this period were primarily from the group's CD Private Equity and Fort Street real estate joint ventures, the latter of which the group sold to ISPT on 18 February 2022. The net proceeds from borrowing shown in the financing cash flows reflects drawdown of an insurance premium funding facility net of repayments made over the period. This facility will be fully amortized by year-end. Finally, during the period, the group applied AUD 1.2 million in cash towards the purchase of treasury shares to satisfy the future exercises of employee share rights. Moving now to the balance sheet on slide 20. As has been the case for a number of years now, the group maintained a prudent balance sheet over the period. At 31 December 2021, the group held cash totaling AUD 58.5 million and borrowings of AUD 1.8 million for a net cash balance of AUD 56.6 million. While operating earnings and recent monetization of non-core investments has boosted the group's cash balance, I note a large majority of this balance is committed, the details of which are set out in the chart at the bottom of the page. As I mentioned just before, the increase in trade and other receivables over the period by 20% reflects the timing of corporate advisory transactions completed in December 2020. The movement in financial and equity accounted investments reflects the reclassification of the group's interest in the FSREC investment management entity equity accounted investments to assets held for sale pending the sale of ISPT, which as of 31 December 2021, hadn't yet completed but closed last week on 18 February 2022. The net movement of AUD 0.2 million when combining these two line items reflects fair value gains on private equity fund principal positions that were offset by a fair value loss on the group's investment in FSREC. Total consideration paid to the group for its interest in the Fort Street real estate entities was AUD 12.4 million. As a result of the transaction, we expect to recognize a total pre-tax profit of approximately AUD 4.1 million for the financial year net of transaction costs. This comprises a AUD 1.8 million fair value loss on FSREC booked during the first half, and a gain of approximately AUD 5.9 million on the remaining economic interests to be recognized in the second half of the year. Both will be recorded as ordinary items. With that, I'll now pass it back to Peter to talk about the outlook for the company. Thanks, Paul. Resolving the legacy issues related to DASS and continuing to execute the group's divisional growth initiatives are our priorities over the near term. Subject to market conditions remaining supportive, we expect our full-year underlying profit will be stronger than the prior year due to continued momentum in E&P Wealth and E&P Capital and the non-recurring contribution from E&P Funds in the first half. However, as previously advised, the transition in E&P Funds is ongoing and the contribution from real assets is expected to reduce as structural changes continue. We expect this will be offset over time by growth in core equities fund revenue. As I mentioned before, the board remains committed to reverting to a full-year dividend of 75%-85% of NPATA in the normal operating environment. With regards to the ongoing legacy issues, we expect continued investment to be necessary to manage both processes. As part of a broader mechanism to facilitate the comprehensive settlement of all URF-related claims against the group, the group intends to propose a DOCA and contribute a sum equivalent to AUD 8.2 million in penalties and costs agreed in the ASIC proceeding for the benefit of client creditors. Noting this will require both creditor and court approval. Finally, I should also note that a six-month extension for the second DASS creditors' meeting has been obtained by the administrator. We will continue to update the market on these matters as appropriate. The final slide of this presentation repeats the message that Paul and I presented to shareholders at our last few briefings. E&P Financial Group is building and consolidating a services delivery platform which we think is truly differentiated from that of our competitors. We have achieved significant progress against several structural change initiatives, particularly in funds, which need to be seen to their conclusion. At the same time, we are strongly focused on growing our core businesses for the benefit of shareholders. We continue to work hard as a team every day to realize the strategic and financial objectives of the group, and I'll look forward to sharing more of our progress with you at future presentations. Thank you everyone for joining today's briefing. We now have an opportunity for Q&A from those on the line. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Once again, if you have a question, please press star and then one to be joined to the queue. There appears to be no questions at this time. Concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Peter Anderson for any closing remarks. Well, again, thank you for joining and we look forward to updating you again in six months' time. We appreciate your continued support.
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