WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2025 Earnings Results and Declares Quarterly Distribution of $0.385 Per Share

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 12, 2025

NEW YORK, May 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. ("WhiteHorse Finance" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: WHF) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. In addition, the Company's board of directors has declared a distribution of $0.385 per share with respect to the quarter ended March 31, 2025. The distribution will be payable on July 3, 2025 to stockholders of record as of June 19, 2025.

Stuart Aronson, WhiteHorse Finance's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our first-quarter results continued to reflect company-specific challenges that obscure the underlying stability of our broader portfolio. While the BDC's earnings power has moderated relative to a year ago, we are actively addressing underperforming investments by leveraging the expertise of our dedicated restructuring team. Our deal pipeline is consistent with seasonal norms in terms of volume, though we are seeing fewer high-quality opportunities compared to this time last year. We continue to be active in the non-sponsor market and have expanded our origination capabilities to a 13th region. By maintaining our focus on credits with solid fundamentals, we believe we are well-positioned to navigate the current environment and support long-term value creation for our shareholders."

Summary Information as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024 (unaudited):

 
                    Three Months       Three Months 
                    Ended                  Ended             Change 
($ in thousands 
except per share 
data)               March 31, 2025   December 31, 2024     $        % 
----------------    --------------   -----------------  --------  ------ 
Total investment 
 income            $        18,801  $           21,009   (2,208)  (10.5) 
Total expenses, 
 including excise 
 tax                        11,958              13,032   (1,074)   (8.2) 
Net investment 
 income and core 
 net investment 
 income(1)                   6,843               7,977   (1,134)  (14.2) 
Net investment 
 income and core 
 net investment 
 income(1) per 
 share                       0.294               0.343   (0.049)  (14.3) 
Distributions per 
 share                       0.385               0.385        --      -- 
Special 
 distributions 
 per share                      --               0.245   (0.245)      NM 
Net realized 
 gains (losses)              (402)            (12,293)    11,891      NM 
Net unrealized 
 appreciation 
 (depreciation)            (2,177)               8,217  (10,394)      NM 
Net increase 
 (decrease) in 
 net assets 
 resulting from 
 operations                  4,264               3,901       363     9.3 
 
($ in thousands 
except per share        As of              As of 
data)               March 31, 2025   December 31, 2024     $        % 
----------------    --------------   -----------------  -------- ----- 
Total 
 investments, at 
 fair value(2)     $       650,999  $          642,213     8,786     1.4 
STRS JV total 
 investments, at 
 fair value                310,160             294,957    15,203     5.2 
Net asset value 
 per share                   12.11               12.31    (0.20)   (1.6) 
 

Portfolio and Investment Activity

As of March 31, 2025, the fair value of WhiteHorse Finance's investment portfolio was $651.0 million, compared with $642.2 million as of December 31, 2024. The portfolio as of March 31, 2025 consisted of 134 positions across 74 companies with a weighted average effective yield of 12.1% on income-producing debt investments. The average debt investment size (excluding investments in STRS JV (as defined below)) was $5.2 million with the overall portfolio comprised of approximately 79.4% first lien secured loans, 0.5% second lien secured loans, 0.2% unsecured loans, 3.5% equity and 16.4% in investments in STRS JV. Almost all loans were variable rate investments (primarily indexed to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate) with fixed rate securities representing only 1.3% of loans at fair value. Nearly all performing floating rate investments have interest rate floors.

During the three months ended March 31, 2025, WhiteHorse Finance made investments in seven new portfolio companies for a total of $40.8 million, added a total of $4.7 million to existing portfolio companies and net fundings of $0.6 million to revolver loans. Proceeds from sales and repayments totaled approximately $19.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, driven by full repayments from PLTFRM Companies, LLC and LSCS Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a Eversana Life Science Services, LLC).

In addition to the transactions discussed above, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, WhiteHorse Finance transferred assets comprised of three new and one existing portfolio companies, totaling $17.0 million to STRS JV in exchange for cash.

Distributions

The Company's board of directors has declared a distribution of $0.385 per share with respect to the quarter ended March 31, 2025. The distribution will be payable on July 3, 2025 to stockholders of record as of June 19, 2025.

On March 7, 2025, the Company declared a distribution of $0.385 per share for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024, with distributions declared at or above $0.355 for the fiftieth consecutive quarter since the Company's initial public offering. The distribution was paid on April 4, 2025 to stockholders of record as of March 21, 2025.

Distributions are paid from taxable earnings and may include return of capital and/or capital gains. The specific tax characteristics of the distributions will be reported to stockholders on Form 1099-DIV after the end of the calendar year and in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission

Conference Call

WhiteHorse Finance will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. To access the teleconference, please dial 800-267-6316 (domestic) or +1 203-518-9783 (international) approximately 10 minutes before the teleconference's scheduled start time and reference ID #WHFQ125. Investors may also access the call on the investor relations portion of the Company's website www.whitehorsefinance.com.

If you are unable to access the live teleconference, a replay will be available beginning approximately two hours after the call's completion through May 20, 2025. The teleconference replay can be accessed by dialing 800-839-1246 or +1 402-220-0464 for international callers. A webcast replay will also be available on the investor relations portion of the Company's website at www.whitehorsefinance.com.

About WhiteHorse Finance, Inc.

WhiteHorse Finance is a business development company that originates and invests in loans to privately held, lower middle market companies across a broad range of industries. The Company's investment activities are managed by H.I.G. WhiteHorse Advisers, LLC, an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, LLC, ("H.I.G. Capital"). H.I.G. Capital is a leading global alternative asset manager with $69 billion of capital under management(3) across a number of funds focused on the small and mid-cap markets. For more information about H.I.G. Capital, please visit http://www.higcapital.com. For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.whitehorsefinance.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement made herein. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

(1) "Core net investment income" is a non-GAAP financial measure. The Company believes that core net investment income provides useful information to investors and management because it reflects the Company's financial performance excluding (i) the net impact of costs associated with the refinancing of the Company's indebtedness, (ii) the accrual of the capital gains incentive fee attributable to net realized and unrealized gains and losses, and (iii) excise and other income taxes related to such net realized gains and losses (net of incentive fees). The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Additional information on core net investment income and a reconciliation of core net investment income to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, net investment income, are set forth in Schedule 1 hereto.

(2) Includes investments in WHF STRS Ohio Senior Loan Fund LLC ("STRS JV"), an unconsolidated joint venture, totaling $106.7 million, at fair value.

(3) Based on total capital raised by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

SCHEDULE 1

As a supplement to GAAP financial measures, the Company has provided information relating to core net investment income, which is a non-GAAP measure. This measure is provided in addition to, but not as a substitute for, net investment income determined in accordance with GAAP. The Company's non-GAAP measures may differ from similar measures by other companies, even if similar terms are used to identify such measures. Core net investment income represents net investment income adjusted to exclude the net impact of costs associated with the refinancing of the Company's indebtedness, the accrual of the capital gains incentive fee attributable to net realized and unrealized gains and losses, and excise or other income taxes related to such net realized gains and losses (net of incentive fees). There were no excise or other income taxes related to net realized gains and losses for the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024.

The following table provides a reconciliation of net investment income to core net investment income for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2024 (in thousands, except per share data):

 
                    March 31, 2025           March 31, 2024 
                -----------------------  ----------------------- 
                  Amount     Per Share     Amount     Per Share 
                              Amounts                  Amounts 
                    ------  -----------      ------  ----------- 
Net investment 
 income          $   6,843   $    0.294   $  10,815   $    0.465 
Net impact of 
costs 
associated 
with 
refinancing 
of 
indebtedness             -            -           -            - 
Accrual for 
capital gains 
incentive 
fee                      -            -           -            - 
Net impact of 
excise tax 
expense 
related to 
net realized 
gains and 
losses                   -            -           -            - 
                    ------      -------      ------      ------- 
Core net 
 investment 
 income          $   6,843   $    0.294   $  10,815   $    0.465 
                    ------      -------      ------      ------- 
 

Contacts

Stuart Aronson

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc.

212-506-0500

saronson@higwhitehorse.com

or

Joyson Thomas

WhiteHorse Finance, Inc.

305-379-2322

jthomas@higwhitehorse.com

or

Robert Brinberg

Rose & Company

212-257-5932

whitehorse@roseandco.com

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SOURCE WhiteHorse Finance, Inc.

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May 12, 2025 16:45 ET (20:45 GMT)