Heritage Global (HGBL) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Summary

Heritage Global, Inc. reported a substantial second-quarter loss after deciding to wind down Heritage Global Capital. Management said the move will redirect capital and attention toward its industrial auction business and asset-light financial brokerage platform.

Key Takeaways

• Heritage Global recorded approximately $21.7 million in non-cash charges tied to the write-down of non-performing loans within Heritage Global Capital.
• Q2 2026 revenue fell to $12.3 million from $14.3 million in Q2 2025. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $1.2 million from $2.8 million.
• The company reported a net loss of $15.9 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, compared with net income of $1.6 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, a year earlier.
• The Industrial Assets Division generated approximately $0.6 million of operating income, versus $1.3 million in Q2 2025, as auction activity remained weighted toward smaller opportunities.
• Heritage Global completed the acquisition of substantially all assets of Boston Note Company after quarter-end, adding seller-financed real estate notes to its DedEx and NLEX brokerage platform.
• Management said the industrial pipeline now contains larger auctions than in Q1 and Q2 and expressed confidence in a stronger second half, while noting that auction timing remains uneven.

Key Financial Data

Business and Operating Performance

Heritage Global Capital wind-down

Management said Heritage Global Capital had become a significant operational distraction as collections continued to lag without improvement. The company determined that committing additional capital to junior-position lending was not the best use of resources.

The wind-down resulted in approximately $21.7 million of non-cash charges. Management expects the decision to free up time and capital for businesses it considers profitable, scalable and central to Heritage Global’s future.

Financial Assets Division

Excluding the HGC charges, management characterized the division’s quarter as decent. NLEX remained active across charge-off and non-performing loan transactions, while Heritage Global began recognizing gains from DedEx, which it acquired in January 2026.

DedEx serves banks and other sellers as a full-service loan sale adviser. Management noted that 50% to 60%, and sometimes as much as two-thirds, of DedEx’s annual revenue has historically been generated in the fourth quarter. The company said the pipeline is expanding, but cautioned that performance will be clearer by January 1.

Boston Note Company expands the platform into seller-financed residential and commercial real estate notes. Before completing the acquisition, Heritage Global ran a multi-month trial that closed eight transactions and generated more than $500,000 in revenue.

Management believes Boston Note, DedEx and NLEX can operate as a combined distribution platform covering performing and non-performing financial assets. Boston Note can source seller-financed notes, DedEx provides an exit platform, and NLEX adds capabilities for non-performing loans.

Industrial Assets Division

Industrial Assets operating income declined to approximately $0.6 million as the market continued to produce smaller-scale assignments and fewer large auctions. Refurbishment and resale performed better, with improved inventory quality supporting faster asset turnover and higher profitability, according to management.

The company has expanded its sales force selectively and is pursuing assignments across pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, electric vehicles, cannabis, construction and transportation. Management said the current pipeline includes larger auctions than in the first half and that several are being signed.

In construction and transportation, Heritage Global is targeting regional and owner-operated assignments rather than competing for the largest fleet auctions. Management described auctions from approximately $500,000 to $5 million–$10 million as the company’s preferred range.

Risks and Areas to Watch

• HGC collections had continued to lag, and management emphasized the uncertainty of recoveries across thousands of accounts, particularly where the company held junior positions.
• The industrial auction business remains uneven, with periods of smaller assignments followed by larger transactions. The timing and completion of pipeline opportunities are therefore uncertain.
• DedEx’s revenue is heavily weighted toward the fourth quarter, limiting visibility into full-year acquisition performance until later in the year.
• Integrating Boston Note with DedEx and NLEX will take place over the next six months to two years, according to management, and the expected synergies have not yet been fully realized.

Analyst Q&A Highlights

• Boston Note strategic fit: Management said the acquisition became more compelling after Heritage Global acquired DedEx. Boston Note can expand beyond residential seller-financed notes into commercial, jumbo and non-performing real estate loans using the company’s existing distribution channels.
• Addressable seller-note market: Based on Heritage Global’s initial analysis, management said Boston Note represented less than 2% of the residential market and characterized the broader opportunity as substantially larger than Boston Note’s existing business.
• Industrial pipeline: Management said larger auctions are entering the pipeline and expects activity to improve in the second half. Opportunities are also becoming more diversified across sectors.
• Construction and transportation strategy: Heritage Global will focus on regional auctions and individual sellers requiring hands-on service, rather than pursuing approximately $50 million fleet transactions dominated by larger competitors.
• Capital allocation and management focus: Closing HGC allows management to stop allocating resources to a difficult-to-repair lending platform and concentrate on expanding businesses it views as better positioned for growth.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Operator

Thank you. assistance at any time, please press star zero and a member of our team will be happy to help you. Hello and welcome everyone joining today's Heritage Global, Inc. second quarter 2026 earnings call. This time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. To register to ask a question at any time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Please note this call has been recorded. We are standing by should you need any assistance.

Unknown Speaker

It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Jen Belladeau. Please go ahead. Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations and projections about future events and are subject to change based on various important factors. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this call. For more details on factors that could affect these expectations, please see our filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Heritage Global's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ross Dove. Please go ahead, Ross.

Ross Dove

Welcome everyone and thanks for joining us today. Before I turn it over to Brian to go through the financials, I want to take a few minutes to add some color to our recent news. Closing Heritage Capital was at a point of no return where it became both obvious and necessary on multiple fronts. First, the distraction on managed management team, then coupled with the continued lag on collections that was not improving. Our board and many investors had weighed in for several months that all focus should now be on growing the business units that are both profitable and strong and core to our future. Honestly, it's a relief moving forward to just do that. It can be hard to fold, but I look at the great poker player Stu Unger, and maybe he had the best advice of all.

Fold to live to fold again. With that, everyone here is moving on, building the business units that are built to last. On the financial side, our acquisition of Boston Note that followed the DedEx acquisition is very exciting. With DedEx, along with NLEX and Boston Note, we have an asset-light brokerage now that truly serves a broad and diverse range of purposes. financial asset classes, both performing and non-performing, and covering institutional and private sellers, with all the building blocks ready to accelerate growth. It's exciting. On the industrial side, we have expanded our sales force and already see an expanded and more diverse sector pipeline with more bankruptcy assignments and also added transportation and construction products which are additive to our well respected and key manufacturing and processing auctions. We have built an extremely robust inventory holding at ALT us more buyers to the HG family as well. The trucker is simple and up to us. grow it strong, and build to last.

With that, I pass it back to Brian.

Brian Cobb

Thank you, Ross, and welcome, everyone. During the second quarter, we made the strategic decision to substantially wind down Heritage Global Capital in In connection with this wind down, we recorded approximately $21.7 million in non-cash charges during the second quarter related to the write down of non-performing loans within our specialty lending business. The second quarter impact, we believe this is the right path forward in order to create a stronger platform anchored in the fundamentals of our core business that allows for growth and long-term shareholder value. We recorded a consolidated operating loss of 20.9 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to consolidated operating income of 2.2 million in the prior quarter. Our Industrial Assets Division reported operating income of approximately $600,000 in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $1.3 million in the second quarter of 2025. In our financial assets division, due to the wind down of HGC, we reported an operating loss of 20.4 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared to operating income of 2.2 million in the prior year quarter. Our Industrial Assets Division continued to execute on a steady volume of auction activity, though we've continued to see a similar trend of smaller-scale opportunities absent larger auctions in the marketplace.

With that said, we're seeing a solid pipeline of activity and remain confident in our ability to capitalize on opportunities in this space as they arise. Our refurbishment and resale business has been performing well, as we're seeing our improvements to the quality of inventory continuing to translate to meaningful increases in asset turnover and improved profitability. Our financial assets division was impacted this quarter by non-cash charges associated with the wind down of HCC. Excluding these charges, the division reported a decent quarter as we saw continued activity in NLEX across the charge-off and non-performing loan space and began to realize gains from DedEx, a leading full-service loan sale advisor that we acquired in January of 2026. Subsequent to the quarter, we completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of the Boston Note Company, a seller financed real estate brokerage with over 30 years of operating history in the residential space. The transaction acts as a bolt onto DedEx and expands our financial assets platform as we look to enter additional asset classes and distribution channels while expanding upon the seller note category, which we believe is ripe with opportunity. We look forward to integrating Boston Note into the business and building upon their well-earned reputation in the marketplace.

Additional consolidated financial results include the following. Revenue was 12.3 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared to 14.3 million in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was 1.2 million compared to 2.8 million in the prior year period. Net loss was 15.9 million or 46 cents per diluted share compared to net income of 1.6 million or 5 cents per diluted share in the second quarter of 2025. Our balance sheet remains a strength with stockholders equity of 51.9 million as of June 30, 2026, compared to 67 million at December 31, 2025. with a net working capital of 9.4 million. Our cash balance reflects a total of 13.2 million as of June 30, 2026. And after removing amounts due to our clients or payables to sellers on our balance sheet, net available cash balance was 6.5 million.

With that, Ross, I'll turn it back over to you.

Ross Dove

Thank you, Brian. So just as an ending, my thinking on all of this. 50 years ago, when I lost my first deal, I took the long walk from the front of our warehouse to the back of the warehouse to face my grandfather. And I told my grandfather, I feel really, really bad about the loss. He was at 5 o'clock having his normal bourbon, sitting at his desk, and he said to me, Rossy boy, kid, I feel really, really good that you feel really bad. Now, flash forward 50 years to where I'm the age he was then, and I understand exactly what he meant, and I know exactly what we need to do to get out of feeling really bad and start feeling really good. So that is the plan. That is all the effort, and that is everything we're going to do. to move forward on the platforms that are strong and say goodbye to the platform that held us back. So, an onward and upward, I'm proud to announce, thank you all for everything you've done, sticking with us and staying with us, and we're on our way in the right direction. Best to all, and we're around to answer any questions.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will open the floor for questions. And we'll take our first question from Jacob Steffen with Lake Street Capital Market. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Unknown Speaker

Hey, guys, appreciate you taking the questions. Maybe just first, kind of focusing on, you know, the two businesses that were recently acquired and maybe, you know, touching on how they kind of fit together. I'm wondering if you could talk about, you know, DedX's performance relative to Q1. And then also just, you know, how does Boston Note fit in with that?.

Ross Dove

I'll start with how Boston Note fits in. This is Ross talking. We originally looked at Boston Note, and we didn't see where we were the perfect partner to Boston Note until after we acquired DedEx. Once we acquired DedEx, we really saw that there was an opportunity for Boston Note to convert from just doing seller financed residential products to also seller financed commercial products. And we knew that Dedex had an unparalleled exit platform if as long as they could find the assets. We ran a trial for several months and during the trial we closed eight transactions. and over a half a million dollars in revenue. And it really became kind of air apparent that they fit like a glove. We had already acquired Dedex and we knew that putting Boston Note in tandem with them was going to really create some synergy.

We also knew that Boston Note turned down pretty much every kind of non-performing loan that was brought to them and we had an avenue, second to none, on non-performing loans with NLEX. So when we looked at it, we said, putting these three companies under one roof will give us a commanding position in the marketplace. And we feel that on a go-forward basis, you're going to see that over the next six months, year, two years as we blend them together, unify our sales pitch, and get them all working in consortiums. So we're really excited about what we think we can build there.

Unknown Speaker

Got it. And then, sorry, I might have missed this in the comments, but the DedEx acquisition relative to Q1,.

Ross Dove

I guess your comments made it seem like things have improved off of a seasonally slow quarter, but any kind of comments there? They're a company that over the last, maybe, and Brian can give you the exact details, but over at least the last half decade, almost... 50 to 60 percent, sometimes even two-thirds of their revenue comes in Q4. Their revenue primarily comes from banks, and while their revenue comes from banks, it's very common for the banks to wait until the end of the year for a lot of the asset flow. So we'll we'll know a lot better by January 1st, how well we're doing, but the pipeline is growing and transactions are closing, and we're also adding the Boston note transaction. So, you know, I don't want to overstate, you know, what hasn't happened yet, but we're on the right track.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. And then maybe just touching on the auction activity, it sounded like the larger type auctions were a little bit softer or few and far between in the first half. I guess, what are you seeing in the second half that kind of gives you confidence in the pipeline that you referenced? Yes.

Ross Dove

It's almost like when we're slow for one or two quarters, we almost follow with one or two, three strong quarters afterwards. I've been doing this for five decades, and it's just the nature of the business that everything kind of comes in shifts. Yes. you go from doing a bunch of smaller auctions to do a bunch of bigger auctions just to just by the sheer nature of the macro economy. Our pipeline has larger auctions now than it did in Q1 or Q2, and we're signing several of those. So all roads lead to a positive second half of the year. And the good news is a lot of the things we're signing now are not just in our strongest sectors, the pharma sector, the food and beverage sector, but they're in a lot of diverse sectors where we're also good. So, you know, I think there's bright days ahead on the industrial side.

Operator

Great. I appreciate all the color. I'll turn it over. Thank you. We'll take our next question from George Sutton with Kirk Callum. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Question-and-Answer Session

Logan W Lillehaug

George hey hey Ross Brian you actually have Logan on for George here thanks for taking the question so First one, Ross, obviously the capital segment has been in a tough spot here for several quarters. I wonder if you could just talk about what moving away from that opens up in terms of time and management focus. I guess how should we think about this move kind of lending itself to your desire to do more acquisitions? Yes, it became a real burden because in the end of the day,.

Ross Dove

it was taking a lot of management time without us necessarily doing anything really, truly effective to improve it. And in the end of the day, I mean, nobody can ever be sure with thousands of accounts what you're going to collect back. But if you're in a junior position, there's always risk. So it just got to the point where we said, look, this is not the best place for us going forward to either operate or to put more capital. That there's way better places to put our capital. It's time to... It's time to basically end trying to fix something that is difficult to fix and try to focus all the energy on building what doesn't need fixing but is ripe for growing. So it became kind of obvious. of investors kept saying it's the right move.

Lots of board members kept saying it was the right move. And at some point in time, everyone in management kind of all stood up together and said, all right, if we're ever going to do it, let's do it now. So, you know, the best thing I can tell you is it does feel good to have it over.

Logan W Lillehaug

with. Got it. And you mentioned doing some more hiring on the industrial side. I mean, in the past, you've talked about maybe trying to add more business on that side that's outside the building. I'm curious if any of that hiring is focused there, or maybe just in general, help us understand kind of where you see opportunity to win new business there. We've been winning in most of the time.

Ross Dove

more diverse auctions, not just outside the building, but in other sectors. You know, there's lots of new sectors that are basically getting busy now. The EV sector is getting busy. The cannabis sector is getting busy. Lots of the food and beverage sectors are getting busy. So there's lots of kind of inside the building manufacturing getting busy, coupled with a lot of outside the building construction and transportation transportation. So when you see this kind of broad group of asset classes getting busy, We're just building up because we think the amount of auctions and the size of auctions are going to grow over the next year or two years.

And we want to make sure that we have the right sector and geographic coverage. So, you know, this is not the type of business where we're looking to hire dozens of people. but we're going to add some select people to make sure we get as broad a coverage as we can.

Operator

Okay, thanks for taking the questions. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take our next question from Michael Diana with Maxim Group. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Hi, Michael.

Michael Diana

Thank you. Hey, Ross. So you mentioned construction and transportation, which has been very successful for other people. What is your strategy or niche or whatever that you're going for there?.

Ross Dove

Yes, the really, really big firms doing it, and there's obviously one monster firm, we're not out to try to take them on. There are lots of regional auctions. where in the end of the day, they're underneath the radar of somebody at that size. Half a million dollar auctions, million dollar, two million dollar auctions. And those are really kind of our sweet spot. The auctions, you know. from basically half a million to five to 10 million of our sweet spot. We're not looking to win the $50 million fleet auctions, but the individual owner retiring or the struggled company with some financial trouble that needs someone to come in right away with a lot of hand holding, kind of really fits our DNA and culture. And we've won what I'll call kind of one-off transactions that aren't from the biggest institutions or the biggest rental companies, but from individual sellers who were looking to really with somebody on a one-on-one basis and and we think there's a lot of that coming forward right now and so we just want to make sure we can serve that market Michael.

Michael Diana

Yes, okay, that's what I figured, that's great. So you're in an area where you can compete well. Going to Boston Node, I'm somewhat ignorant on the terminology there. Could you just explain to us what a seller node and a carryback node is?.

Ross Dove

I sure can. So when an individual sells a property, it could be his residential property. It could be multifamily. It could be any really category of property. It could be any kind of commercial property. And an individual sells that property. And for whatever reason. The buyer won't either qualify for a bank loan or the seller of the property wanted a steady income and said, you don't need to go to the bank. I will become your lender. He carries back the loan. So the seller carried back a first deed of trust. trust secured by the collateral of the property he used to own.

Now, one year later, two years later, three years, four years later, for whatever reason, he wishes he could monetize that loan and he really would like to get all of this cash, not get the month. payments anymore. So he didn't really know where to go. He or she, as an individual, it wasn't that simple to go find a bank, to sell it to. So Boston Note for the last 30 years, primarily on the residential side, it says, come to us. and we will get you all cash and get you out of that seller carry back and you'll be done with it and have the money in the bank. We figured out with the CEO of Boston Note, what if you did this for commercial loans, which is, you know, 50X bigger business, and what if you did this for larger jumbo real estate loans and non-performing loans and really extended the offering, what would it look like? And he said, would it look like a lot more profitable, a lot larger company? How can you execute this? And we said, we think because of the two companies we already own, that putting everything together, we think it can really scale.

Michael Diana

Okay, that sounds very logical. Do you have any idea, does anybody keep track of the magnitude of just the residential part of the market? I mean, how many of these carry-back notes are out there? Yes.

Ross Dove

All I know, I don't have the exact number, when we did the original... basically analysis you know we were under two percent of the market so the market is you know a hundred times bigger than what boston note which is the boutique firm was doing.

Michael Diana

Okay. Okay, great. Okay. Thanks, Ross. Thank you, Michael.

Operator

Thank you. I'm showing no additional questions at this time. I'd like to now turn the meeting back to Rosto for any additional or closing remarks.

Ross Dove

Thank you all for attending. We got our work cut out for us, but we're very comfortable that we're in the right place at the right time with the right plan. So, you know, keep an eye on us and I think you'll be very pleased as we move forward through the year. Thank you all and anybody who has questions, And just you can contact us at any time, and we'd love to chat with you. Thank you again. Bye-bye.

Operator

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

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