Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Inc.

My name is Colin and I'd like to welcome everyone to the Bridgemark Real Estate Services Inc. 2021 second quarter results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there'll be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. Thank you. I would now like to... introduce you to Mr. Phil Soper, President and CEO of Bridgemark Real Estate Services Inc. Mr. Soper, you may begin your conference call.

Thank you, Colin, and good morning, everyone. With me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Glenn McMillan, and we appreciate you joining us on the call this morning. Today, I'll begin with a brief overview of the company's second quarter results and business updates. Glenn will then discuss our results in more detail, and I'll conclude with some operational highlights, company updates, and market developments. Following our remarks, both Glenn and I will be happy to take your questions. I want to remind you that some of the remarks expressed during the call may contain forward-looking statements. You should not place reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results and performance of the company to differ materially from the anticipated future results expressed or implied by such statements. I encourage everyone to review the cautionary language found in our news release and our regulatory filings, which can be found on both our website and CDAR. As I mentioned on recent calls, It remains important to consider the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, real estate market, and company performance as an extension of our traditional cautionary language. The pandemic has impacted some industries negatively and some positively, and real estate brokerage is clearly in the last camp. Still, this ongoing health crisis is a shifting and unpredictable variable for investors, and we encourage you to take that into consideration. Within the industry, the company's brands are well positioned for success. Our best-in-class technology, training, and marketing has helped us flourish. However, how the sector performs overall will ultimately be impacted by Canada's overall economic performance, and drilling down factors such as immigration, employment levels, and interest rates. You are going to hear numbers on today's call, such as 153% year-over-year market growth. Please remember that we are comparing today's performance to a period last year in which the economy was artificially restricted as we all sheltered at home to keep our communities safe. That said, housing's COVID catalyst, as I sometimes call it, in which Canadians put incredible focus on the importance of their homes, which had become their offices, their kids' school rooms, their restaurants, gyms, and primary place of entertainment, was and is a very real phenomenon. Business in our industry has been very good. We do see signs of moderation in June, which is typical leading into the summer months. However, unit sales remain significantly higher than the 10-year average and listings continue to be below historical norms. As a result, while the rate of house price increases should moderate, we continue to see upward pressure on home prices. The company itself is very pleased with its second quarter financial performance. Revenue for the quarter was up 22% to $14 million, and distributable cash flow increased by 73% to $6.4 million compared to the second quarter of 2020, which was negatively impacted by emergency lockdown measures, as I mentioned previously. In addition, going beyond this to capitalizing on those strong market conditions, I am pleased to report that the 2020 launch of our cloud-based, AI-driven, RLP sphere digital platform, operating platform, has been a big success, allowing us to add a net 667 realtors over the past 12 months. Glenn will provide more commentary on company financials shortly. At a board meeting yesterday, the board of directors approved a dividend payment payable on September 30th of 11.25 cents per share to shareholders of record on August 31st. This indicates an annualized dividend of $1.35 per share, which is consistent with 2020. With that, I'd like to turn things over to Glenn for a look at our second quarter financial performance.

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. As Phil mentioned, our revenue in the second quarter was $14 million compared to $11.4 million in the second quarter of last year. For the first six months of the year, revenues were $27.1 million compared to $22.5 million generated in the first half of 2020. Strong real estate markets across the country contributed to stronger operating results and improved cash flows compared to last year. Net earnings for the quarter were $900,000 or 10 cents per share compared to a loss of $9.2 million or 97 cents per share during the second quarter last year. The results reflect a loss of $2.5 million on the fair valuation of the exchangeable units issued by the company compared to a loss of $7.9 million last year. Distributable cash flow amounted to $6.4 million in the quarter And as mentioned, this is a 73% increase over the 3.7 million generated in the second quarter of last year. We were negatively impacted by the pandemic. During the quarter, the Canadian residential real estate market closed up 153% compared to Q2 of last year, when the entire country was locked down and real estate markets reached all-time lows at the start of the pandemic. The increase was driven by a 91% increase in unit sales and a 27% increase in average selling price. The Greater Toronto Area, which represents about a third of the national housing market, saw markets rise 179% to $40.1 billion. The primary driver was a 127% increase in unit sales and an average selling price increase of 21%. The Greater Vancouver market closed up 195%, driven by 157% increase in unit sales and a 12% increase in price. And the Montreal market closed up 104%, reflecting a 60% increase in unit sales and an 18% increase in average selling price. And now I'll turn it over to Phil to provide additional insights into the markets and an update on our operations.