Lazard Inc Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: James Mitchell - Seaport Global Securities LLC - Analyst : Maybe just a follow-up on some of those -- that discussion there. First on the Asset Management business, you talked about record gross inflows. Are you seeing any change in the trends and gross outflows, I guess, not just within the sub-advisory group, but just more broadly? Because I think if you look at the trends that you guys disclosed, your gross outflows have still been relatively high. Do you see any improvement there?

Question: James Mitchell - Seaport Global Securities LLC - Analyst : Okay. Thanks. And then -- and just maybe, when you think about Asset Management and the turnaround there, you have a lot of momentum, obviously, assuming the markets hold up, especially heading into next year, it seems like you'd have more operating leverage and comp leverage in that business. So does that lower the bar on the Advisory side to carry the weight to get to that 60%? So just, how are you thinking more positively about getting to that 60% in the intermediate term? Just any thoughts on getting to that goal?

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : First, Peter, I'll definitely cop to it, I was one of the doubters in you guys getting and turning around the flows as quickly as you did. So no question there, just tip of the cap.

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : You're welcome. I'm impressed with how well it's gone. And you still have leadership inbound. So actually, you know what, I'll turn it into a question. I know we've got new leadership coming in December. When do you think it's realistic for the analysts and investor community to hear Chris's plans for the business? I know he's not started yet, but I also I'm sure of, an executive of that caliber, I doubt he didn't start hatching plans when going through the whole hiring process and interviewing process. So yeah, how long do you think it'll be before we'll get an idea or at least a framework of what he's thinking?

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : Right. Okay. We'll call it at some point in the first quarter. That's --

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : Perfect. Thank you for that. Okay. And then thinking about Advisory, right? So you've done a lot of changes. You've spoken to bringing up the productivity number and the productivity numbers have improved really quite well under the new strategic direction. So all that's really encouraging. I'm guessing this might have changed how we think about the mix within Advisory. So can you give us maybe like high level sense of the major buckets within Advisory? And if you want to talk about it on like an LPM basis or like how it's been trending recently versus maybe historical levels? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 23, 2025 / 12:00PM, LAZ.N - Q3 2025 Lazard Inc Earnings Call Like how does it break down in between like M&A, PCA, like the private capital advisory business, your restructuring business? The major buckets that you would break it into, how does that break down versus the history and has that changed a lot? Thanks.

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : Good morning or good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess just following up on one of your remarks you just made, Peter, on the restructuring business. Concerns on the credit outlook have been building in recent weeks following some comments made by one of the big banks on two recent defaults. However, at the same time, the Fed as well as other central banks have begun to lower rates, which should help to alleviate the stresses put on corporate balance sheets. So it'd be great to get your perspective around whether you're restructuring business is seeing any signs of building stress at this juncture? And how you're thinking about the outlook for the business given these puts and takes?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : It's a really helpful response. Thanks for the color there, Peter. I mean, for my follow-up, I just wanted to touch on Europe a bit. The expectation last quarter was that the pickup in M&A activity would be largely driven by the US, which the data suggests is largely played out that way. However, at the same time, it does seem like trends in Europe have been quite strong as well. So I was just hoping you could unpack what you're seeing in Europe relative to the US? If there's any notable divergences and how do you think those two fee tools will track relative to each other over the near to intermediate term?

Question: Ryan Kenny - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I want to follow-up on the earlier comment that the US government shutdown could impact some deals. Could you impact which pieces of Advisory are impacted? And how quickly after the shutdown is lifted can these deals move forward?

Question: Ryan Kenny - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : And then separately, on non-comp, different topic, any color how we should think about the trajectory here? You mentioned your ambitions to be a leader in AI. Is there an upfront investments that needed to get there?

Question: James Yarrow - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Thanks for taking the question. Maybe just could you help us think a little bit in more detail on the secondary outlook from here? We've seen a very strong CAGR in this business over the past three or four years. Is there anything slowing down there, perhaps this year and more recently?

Question: James Yarrow - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Okay. Great. You were very clear about where you expect inflows and outflows to come from in Asset Management. Perhaps you could just comment on the fee rates on these outflows and inflows? And I guess just more broadly, how we should think about your fee rate and Asset Management trending going forward.