Oxford Square Capital Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Negative Sentiment: NAV fell to $1.69 from $1.95 as the company recorded approximately $18.3 million (about $0.22 per share) of combined unrealized and realized investment losses in the quarter, driven largely by markdowns to CLO equity positions.
  • Positive Sentiment: Net investment income remained roughly stable at $5.4 million (~$0.07 per share) for the quarter, and the company paid $0.105 per share for the quarter while the board declared monthly distributions of $0.035 for April–June 2026, supporting near-term cash return to shareholders.
  • Negative Sentiment: Oxford Square issued approximately 4.3 million common shares through an at-the-market offering, raising net proceeds of about $7.9 million, which dilutes existing shareholders even as the company added roughly $18 million of new investments during the quarter.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Management notes a softer U.S. loan market—loan prices modestly down, the distress ratio rose to 4.34%, and effective default metrics are elevated—while positioning the portfolio toward first‑lien B2B loans and seeking opportunities in both primary and secondary markets as a permanent capital vehicle.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Oxford Square Capital Q4 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Tina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Oxford Square Capital Corp fourth quarter 2025 earnings release conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, simply press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to CEO, Jonathan Cohen. Please go ahead.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Oxford Square Capital Corp fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by Sol Rosenthal, our President, Bruce Rubin, our CFO, and Kevin Yonan, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager. Bruce, could you open the call with a disclosure regarding forward-looking statements?

Bruce Rubin
Bruce Rubin
CFO at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Of course, Jonathan. Today's conference call is being recorded. An audio replay of the conference call will be available for 30 days. Replay information is included in our press release that was issued this morning. Please note that this call is the property of Oxford Square Capital Corp. Any unauthorized rebroadcast of this call in any form is strictly prohibited. At this point, please direct your attention to the customary disclosure in this morning's press release regarding forward-looking information. Today's conference call includes forward-looking statements and projections that reflect the company's current views with respect to, among other things, future events and financial performance. We ask that you refer to most recent filings with the SEC for important factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these projections. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements unless required to do so by law.

Bruce Rubin
Bruce Rubin
CFO at Oxford Square Capital Corp

To obtain copies of our latest SEC filings, please visit our website at www.oxfordsquarecapital.com. With that, I'll turn the presentation back to Jonathan.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Thanks, Bruce. For the quarter ended December, Oxford Square's net investment income was approximately $5.4 million or $0.07 per share, compared with approximately $5.6 million or $0.07 per share in the prior quarter. Our net asset value per share stood at $1.69 compared to a net asset value per share of $1.95 for the prior quarter. During the quarter, we distributed $0.105 per share to our common stock shareholders. For the fourth quarter, we recorded total investment income of approximately $10.4 million as compared to approximately $10.2 million in the prior quarter.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

In the fourth quarter, we recorded combined net unrealized and realized losses on investments of approximately $18.3 million or $0.22 per share, compared to combined net unrealized and realized losses on investments of approximately $7.5 million or $0.09 per share in the prior quarter. During the fourth quarter, our investment activity consisted of purchases of approximately $18 million and repayments of approximately $7.4 million. During the quarter ended December, we issued a total of approximately 4.3 million shares of our common stock pursuant to an at-the-market offering, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $7.9 million. On February 26, 2026, our board of directors declared monthly distributions of $0.035 per share for each of the months ending April, May, and June of 2026.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

We note that additional details regarding record and payment date information can be found in our press release that was issued this morning. With that, I'll turn the call over to our Portfolio Manager, Kevin Yonon.

Kevin Yonon
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC

Thank you, Jonathan. During the quarter ended December 31st, U.S. loan market performance declined versus the prior quarter. U.S. loan prices, as defined by the Morningstar LSTA US Leveraged Loan Index, decreased slightly from 97.06% of par as of September 30th to 96.64% of par as of December 31st. According to LCD, during the quarter, there was some pricing dispersion, with double-B-rated loan prices decreasing 8 basis points, B-rated loan prices increasing 18 basis points, and triple-C-rated loan prices decreasing 265 basis points on average. According to PitchBook LCD, the 12-month trailing default rate for the loan index decreased to 1.23% by principal amount at the end of the quarter from 1.47% at the end of September.

Kevin Yonon
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC

Additionally, the default rate, including various forms of liability management exercises, which are not captured in the cited default rate, remained at an elevated level of 3.35%. The distress ratio, defined as a percentage of loans with prices below 80% of par, ended the quarter at 4.34%, compared to 2.88% at the end of September. During the quarter ended December 31, 2025, U.S. leverage loan primary market issuance, excluding amendments and repricing transactions, was $70.7 billion, representing a 27% decrease versus the quarter ended December 31st, 2024. This was driven by lower refinancing and LBO activity, partly offset by higher M&A and dividend activity versus the prior year comparable quarter.

Kevin Yonon
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC

At the same time, U.S. loan fund outflows, as measured by Lipper, were approximately $3.2 billion for the quarter ended December 31st. We continue to focus on portfolio management strategies designed to maximize our long-term total return. As a permanent capital vehicle, we historically have been able to take a longer-term view towards our investment strategy. With that, I will turn the call back over to Jonathan.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Thank you, Kevin. Additional information about Oxford Square's fourth quarter performance has been posted to our website at www.oxfordsquarecapital.com. With that, operator, we're happy to open the call up for any questions.

Operator

As a reminder, to ask a question, simply press star one on your telephone keypad. Our first question is from the line of Erik Zwick with Lucid Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Erik Zwick
Managing Director at Lucid Capital Markets

Thanks. Good morning, all. Wanted to start with a question. You mentioned the $18 million of new investment purchases during the quarter. I curious if you could just add a little maybe detail into what you bought and what you're currently finding attractive in the market.

Kevin Yonon
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC

Sure. Broadly, the investments we're focused on, first lien loans, generally B2B loans. Going forward into this quarter, I mean, obviously the primary market has certainly slowed down just given the volatility associated with certain things. I think we're definitely seeing opportunities in the primary and the secondary, just given the way the markets are trading.

Erik Zwick
Managing Director at Lucid Capital Markets

Got it. Thanks. Maybe kind of the back end of that question if I dig in a little bit deeper. You mentioned there in the prepared comments the distress ratio, up to... I don't have the exact decimal, 4-point something% up from 2-point something%. A market increase there. Wondering if from your perspective is that reflective of some of the volatility we've seen and concerns in the software market? If not, what else is driving that? Two, has this, is this creating some of the opportunity for you to, you know, maybe find some good investment opportunities at lower prices today?

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

The answer I think, Erik Zwick, is yes to both questions. Certainly, the state of the software market right now, the software, private credit market and the syndicated loan markets in that sector are reflecting real concern, no question about it. There's also, I think, a more general pushback against the growth in the private credit asset class that we've been seeing for the past several years. All of that is manifesting in somewhat more recently, wider U.S. indicated corporate loan spreads and lower pricing for the LSTA Index. The answer certainly, from our perspective anyways is yes.

Erik Zwick
Managing Director at Lucid Capital Markets

Thanks. That's helpful. Last one from me. Wondering if you could just describe a little bit the unrealized appreciation in the quarter. What was the primary driver there?

Kevin Yonon
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC

Erik. Yeah. That was a good portion of that was the CLO equity portion of the book. As you know, it had a very challenging year and quarter, and that was mainly a markdown of the CLO equity portion of the book.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Principally unrealized.

Erik Zwick
Managing Director at Lucid Capital Markets

Yep. Yep, that makes sense. Thanks, guys. That's all I had today. I appreciate it.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Thank you, Erik, very much.

Operator

With no further questions in queue, I will now hand the call back over to CEO, Jonathan Cohen.

Jonathan Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
CEO and Board Member at Oxford Square Capital Corp

Thank you very much. I'd like to thank everyone on the call now, listening to this call and also everyone listening to the replay for their interest in Oxford Square. We look forward to speaking to you again soon. Thanks very much.

Operator

Thank you again for joining us today. This does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Executives
Analysts
    • Erik Zwick
      Managing Director at Lucid Capital Markets
    • Kevin Yonon
      Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Oxford Funds, LLC