Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) Investor Meeting summary

Strategic direction and culture

• Maintains a consistent, long-term strategy focused on alignment, ownership mentality, client-centric culture, and innovative client solutions, emphasizing teamwork and humility.

• Significant investments in people, technology, and infrastructure, with a focus on internal talent development, selective external hiring, and disciplined investment in technology and growth.

• Strategic partnerships, notably with SMBC, MassMutual, and Berkshire Hathaway, are leveraged for growth and global reach.

• Commitment to transparency, prudent risk management, and returning excess capital to shareholders.

• No plans for major shifts in business model or geography; focus remains on organic growth and market share gains.

Financial performance and capital management

• Achieved $6.3B net revenues LTM Q3'24, up 61% since 2019, with record investment banking revenues up 35% from 2023 and 85% from 2019.

• Operating leverage is expected to drive margin expansion, with non-comp expense ratio dropping from 46% in 2019 to 35% today and declining by 1,100bps since 2019.

• Returned approximately 85% of tangible equity since 2017 through dividends and buybacks, with $6.3B returned and dividend per share up 180% since 2019.

• Net earnings LTM Q3'24 were $563M, up 35% since 2019; adjusted ROTE reached 10%, up 410bps.

• Maintained strong capital and liquidity position, with tangible leverage ratio at 7.7x and gross leverage averaging 6.6x since 2019.

Business developments and market positioning

• Expanded global presence to 45 offices in 21 countries, with 5,926 employees and significant growth in EMEA and APAC.

• Market share gains across investment banking, equities, and fixed income, now ranking top 5-6 globally in several categories, with improved M&A and ECM rankings to #6.

• Hired 150 new MDs since 2020 and increased investment banking MDs to 364 in 2024, up 70% since 2019, focusing on high-growth areas.

• Asset management business has grown AUM by over 40% in three years and by $14B since 2019, with management fee revenue up 2.4x and new strategies launched.

• Strategic partnership with SMBC has doubled leveraged finance capacity and is expected to further accelerate joint client growth.