• Portfolio Size: Reduced to $647 million in Q2 2024.
• New Debt Investments: $11 million funded in Q2 2024.
• Loan Prepayments: $34 million in Q2 2024; additional $30 million in July.
• Onboarding Debt Investment Yield: 13.7% in Q2 2024.
• Debt Portfolio Yield: 15.9% for Q2 2024.
• New Loan Commitments: $13 million in Q2 2024.
• Committed and Approved Backlog: $138 million at the end of Q2 2024.
• Investment Income: $26 million in Q2 2024.
• Total Expenses: $12.4 million in Q2 2024.
• Net Investment Income (NII): $0.36 per share in Q2 2024.
• Net Asset Value (NAV): $9.12 per share as of June 30, 2024.
• Available Liquidity: $150 million as of June 30, 2024.
• Debt to Equity Ratio: 1.36 to 1 as of June 30, 2024.
• Potential New Investment Capacity: $386 million as of June 30, 2024.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 12 Warning Signs with GLW.

Release Date: July 31, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• Horizon Technology Finance Corp (NASDAQ:HRZN) reported a strong portfolio yield of 15.9% for the quarter, one of the highest in the BDC industry.
• The company has a robust pipeline of $1.7 billion, indicating strong future growth potential.
• HRZN has strengthened its liquidity and balance sheet, with $150 million of available liquidity as of June 30.
• The company completed amendments to key credit facilities, reducing cost of capital and increasing credit availability.
• HRZN's management team has extensive experience, with an average tenure of over 20 years in the venture lending business.

Negative Points

• The portfolio size reduced in the second quarter due to modest originations and prepayments.
• There is a significant lack of exit opportunities for VC-backed tech and life science companies, affecting the venture ecosystem.
• The macro environment continues to hamper the recovery of certain stressed assets in HRZN's portfolio.
• Prepayments are not yet driven by IPOs and M&A activity, indicating a slow return to historical market behavior.
• The company's NAV decreased to $9.12 per share from $9.64 in the previous quarter, primarily due to paid distributions and fair value adjustments.

Q & A Highlights

Q: This quarter, 2-rated loans went from 1 to 4 loans, and 1-rated loans went from 4 to 5. Can you talk a little bit about the reasons for some of those downgrades? A: Sure, Cory. This is Dan Devorsetz. In our portfolio and the market right now, it's challenging to get rounds completed. Some companies are in the process of raising money or getting acquired, but there are delays in commercialization or R&D. In today's market, these rounds are more challenging, especially with multiple investors having different priorities. We're working with these companies to get them properly capitalized.

Q: Are there any particular sectors in which you're starting to see more activity? A: The pipeline is quite across our sectors of technology, life science, healthcare services, and sustainability. We're seeing a lot of AI-enabled technology in these sectors. It's important to ensure that AI is used for business reasons and not just as a buzzword.

Q: In terms of the challenged companies in the portfolio, what has driven the deterioration? Is it the lack of exit opportunities or available financing? A: It's primarily the lack of exit markets, such as IPOs and strategic M&A, which affects the willingness and capability of VCs to fund across their portfolio. The exit markets drive a lot of behavior in terms of funding and access to cash.

Q: How should investors think about earnings given the current situation? A: The venture debt model assumes prepayments every quarter, which have been picking up. The run rate is where you could expect it, but it can fluctuate quarter over quarter based on prepayments.

Q: Can you provide more details on the second half pickup and what it could look like? A: We've been holding our fire to ensure markets are turning positively. We believe the second half will be better for venture lending. We've already had $30 million in prepayments in July, with fundings exceeding that. We expect a stronger second half with quality investments.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.