Good morning, welcome to Ellington Credit Company's 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. At this time, I want to turn the conference over to Barry Allardice, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at EARN. Please go ahead.
Thank you, good morning, everyone. On behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank you for virtually attending our Annual Meeting of Shareholders. By hosting the meeting virtually, all of our shareholders, including those that reside outside of the local area and those unable to attend for health and safety reasons, are able to attend and vote with the same ease as listening to a quarterly earnings call, rather than incurring costs to travel to an in-person meeting. At today's meeting, following the introduction of the members of our Board of Trustees, we will conduct the formal portion of the annual meeting. Our Chief Executive Officer and President, Laurence Penn, will then make a few remarks. I would now like to introduce the other members of our Board of Trustees who are virtually attending today's meeting.
In addition to myself, our trustees attending today are Laurence Penn, Michael Vranos, Ronald Simon, Mary McBride, and David Miller. In addition, Rachel Klein from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, our registered independent public accounting firm, is on the line today. Ms. Klein will be available to answer any appropriate questions you may have after the formal meeting. With that, I will now call our 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting to order. We will now conduct the formal business as set forth in the notice of meeting and proxy statement, which were mailed to all shareholders of record as of April 30, 2026, and the agenda shown on the website. EARN shareholders as of the record date were sent notice of the annual meeting on or about May 5th, 2026, along with a proxy statement and requests for a proxy by the Board of Trustees.
The notice of annual meeting also stated the date, time, and meeting purpose, along with the web address for participating in today's virtual meeting. I am pleased to announce that there are present by proxy a sufficient number of voting shares of the fund to constitute a quorum. Accordingly, this meeting is duly called to order. A copy of the notice, proxy statement, and the form of proxies, as well as an affidavit of distribution of Broadridge Financial Solutions, shall be made a part of the record of this meeting. At this time, any shareholders that are logged in and who have not already submitted a proxy and wish to vote their shares may do so by clicking on the Vote Here button on your screen.
While we allow time for shareholders who haven't already done so to complete their voting, I'd like to remind you that some of the statements made at this meeting may be considered forward-looking. The fund cautions investors that the results of future operations may differ from those anticipated. We urge you to review the cautionary statements and other information contained in the fund's filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form NCSR for fiscal 2026, which identifies certain factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements made during this meeting. Copies of the NCSR and other filings are available through the fund or online. At this point, the polls are closed. I will now report the preliminary results of the voting.
There are two proposals to be considered during this meeting, all of which were described in detail in the proxy statement furnished to shareholders. The fund has not received notice from any of its shareholders of any other matter to be considered at today's meeting. The first item of business is the election of Trustees. The Board has selected myself, Robert Allardice, Laurence Penn, Michael Vranos, Mary McBride, David Miller, and Ron Simon as its nominees for election as Trustees. I am pleased to report that each of the Trustees standing for election at today's Annual Meeting have received the affirmative vote of a plurality of the votes cast and are hereby elected. The second and final proposal relates to the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers to serve as the fund's independent registered public accounting firm for the fund's 2027 fiscal year.
A majority of the votes cast at this meeting have voted in favor of this proposal. Consequently, the proposal has been approved. The final tabulation of these votes will appear in our required Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This concludes the formal portion of our 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. At this time, Larry Penn, Chief Executive Officer and President of the fund, will make a few remarks.
Thank you, Barry. On behalf of the entire Management Team at Ellington Credit Company, I offer my sincere thanks to Barry Allardice, Mary McBride, David Miller, and Ron Simon, the distinguished independent members of our Board of Trustees, with whom Mike Vranos and I proudly serve. Having seen other fund boards in action, I can say with great confidence that this fund's shareholders are extremely fortunate to have directors who dedicate the time, effort, and exceptionally high level of diligence that you all do to help ensure that the fund runs effectively, smoothly, and properly. I also thank our shareholders for your continued support and confidence. Barry, you may make your closing remarks now.
Thank you, Larry, and thank you for your kind comments. I would like to thank all of you for attending this annual meeting virtually. The trustees and officers of EARN appreciate the loyalty and confidence of all of our shareholders. Operator, please end the meeting.
Thank you. You may now disconnect your lines.