RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. Class A

Good morning and welcome to RE-MAX Holdings' first quarter 2021 earnings conference call and webcast. My name is Megan and I will be facilitating the audio portion of today's call. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Andy Schultz, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Schultz.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to RE-MAX Holdings' first quarter 2021 earnings conference call. please visit the investor relations page of REMAX.com for all earnings-related materials and to access the live webcast and the replay of the call today. If you are participating through the webcast, please note that you will need to advance the slides as we move through the presentation. Turning to slide two, our prepared remarks and answers to your questions on today's call may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include those related to agent count, franchise sales, financial measures and outlook, brand expansion, competition, technology, housing and mortgage market conditions, including statements about recovery of those markets, capital allocation, dividends, strategic and operational plans, and business models. Forward-looking statements represent management's current estimates. Remax Holdings assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in the future. Forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. These are discussed in our first quarter 2021 financial results press release and other SEC filings. Also, we will refer to certain non-GAAP measures on today's call. Please see the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures contained in our most recent quarterly financial results press release, which is available on our website. Joining me on our call today are Adam Contos, our Chief Executive Officer, Terry Callahan, our Chief Financial Officer, Nick Bailey, RE-MAX Chief Customer Officer, and Ward Morrison, President of Model Mortgage. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to RE-MAX Holdings CEO, Adam Contos. Adam?

Thank you, Andy, and thanks to everyone for joining our call today. Looking at slide three, we continue to grow with a robust housing market and record model growth that helped drive strong financial results for the first quarter. Ongoing execution of our strategy and the benefits of investments we've made in recent years are having an impact. We're seeing strength in our key leading indicators, REMAX agent growth, as well as model franchise sales and open offices, alongside improving financial performance. During the first quarter, we increased and enhanced our value proposition for both of our franchise networks. At our recent RE-MAX convention, we introduced innovative programs and new tools, technology, and educational resources for the exclusive benefit of our affiliates. At the same time, within our mortgage business, we continue to ramp up our RE-MO acquisition, offering affordable, dependable loan processing services to more of our model franchisees each week. Highlights of the first quarter included revenue of $72.3 million, up 3%, adjusted EBITDA of $23.2 million, up 19%, adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.46, up 18%, total REMAX agent count increased significantly, reaching a new all-time high, and model franchise sales continued at a record pace. Turning to slide four, April is generally when prominent industry publications announce their survey results from the prior year. For both RE-MAX and Motto, recognition of our track record of outstanding annual performance and consistent industry leadership continues. In fact, the high bar we eclipse each year remains way above the industry norms. Case in point, RE-MAX agents' productivity.