Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Inc.

Good morning. My name is Justin, and I would like to welcome everyone to the Bridgemark Real Estate Services, Inc. 2022 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, simply press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. 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.

Thank you, Justin, and good morning, everybody.

On the call with me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Glenn McMillan. We appreciate you joining us on the call today. I will begin with a brief overview of the company's second quarter results and business updates. Glenn will then discuss our financial results in more detail, and I'll jump back on and conclude with some remarks on operational highlights, company updates, and market developments. Following our remarks, Glenn and I would be happy to take your questions. I want to remind you that some of the remarks expressed during this 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 anticipated future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. I encourage everyone to review the cautionary language found in our news release and on our regulatory filings These can all be found on the Bridgemark website and on CDAR. After two and a half years, the COVID-19 pandemic's hold on our day-to-day lives appears to be fading. However, we will be dealing with the economic consequence of managing this health emergency for some time, including the need to tighten monetary policy to slow inflation and the impact of such Such measures could have on the economy, the real estate market, and our business. The company performed admirably during the pandemic, and we remain optimists. However, it is important to remain vigilant. We're pleased with the company's agent growth during the past year, as our highly regarded brands resonate with real estate professionals across the country. How the sector performs in the future will be impacted by Canada's economic performance, and more specifically, employment levels and mortgage rates. In previous quarters, you heard us speak of record double-digit real estate market growth. We've called this the COVID catalyst, where the perfect storm of rock bottom interest rates, government stimulus, soaring consumer savings, pent-up demand, and most importantly, a hyper-focus on the importance of the family home created a huge surge in the number of trading hands in our nation. As a result, markets set new records for both home prices and sales volumes, and they are now moderating. Technically, we are in a balanced housing market. But this is actually transitioning towards a buyer's market, particularly in our largest and most expensive cities where demand is down year over year as consumers adopt a weight during the transition. However, it is important to remember that home values, remember, remain well above pandemic levels and sales in most regions are close to or above historic normal. For the six months of the year, revenue for the company was $27.2 million, which is a slight increase compared to the same period last year. During the second quarter, revenue was $13.8 million, down slightly from the $14 million we produced last year. Distributable cash flow decreased to $5.9 million from $6.8 $4 million last year. The company's steady financial performance is a result of network growth, which has simply offset a decline in the transaction activity in the Canadian market and other structural safeguards built into our model that we'll talk about later. And Glenn will provide more commentary on the company's financials. I'm pleased to report that the company's The network agent count has risen to 20,538, which reflects net growth of 950 agents, or 4.6% compared to June of last year, a very strong period based on historical norms. At its meeting yesterday, the Board of Directors approved a dividend payment on September 30, 2011, 0.25 cents per share to shareholders of record on August 31st. This indicates an annualized dividend of $1.35 per share, which is consistent with 2021. With that, I'll turn things over to Glenn for a look at our quarter financial performance in more detail.