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spk00: Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the ISC Quarter 1, 2021 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Jonathan Haksham. Please go ahead, sir.
spk04: Thank you, Ruby, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to ISC's conference call for the quarter ended March 31st, 2021. On the call today with me are Jeff Stusik, President and CEO, and Sean Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Jeff will provide some opening comments followed by a review of the operational and financial results for the quarter by Sean. Jeff will then make some closing remarks before we open the call up to the question and answer session. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that we will only be summarizing results today. ISCs and audited, condensed, consolidated interim financial statements and notes and management's discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31st, 2021 have been filed on CDAR and are also available in the investor section on our website under financial reports. We encourage you to review those reports in their entirety. I would also like to remind you that any statements made today that are not historical facts are considered to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The statements may involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are described in detail in the company's CDAR filings, in particular in ISC's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in ISC's unaudited, condensed, consolidated interim financial statements and notes and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31st, 2021. Those risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those stated. Today's comments are made as of today's date and will not be updated except as required under applicable securities legislation. Today's conference call is being broadcast live over the internet and will be archived for replay shortly after the call on the investor section of our website. I will now turn the call over to Jeff.
spk06: Thank you, Jonathan, and good morning to everyone joining us for today's call. Our financial performance for the first quarter of 2021 was very strong, building on the strength we experienced in the third and fourth quarters of 2020. While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was evident in our second quarter last year, our business has performed remarkably well since that time. An unexpected dynamic from 2020 is that the seasonality that was generally consistent pre-pandemic is now much less so as seen in this first quarter of 2021. The robust year-over-year performance of our three segments is due to a combination of strength in economic drivers, in registry operations, focus on new customer acquisition and growth in services, and successful delivery and implementation of technology in our technology solutions team. This has been paired with continued cost management across all areas of our business. In particular, registry operations volumes were stronger than expected during the first quarter of 2021, primarily driven by robust activity in the Saskatchewan real estate sector and increases in personal property security registrations, along with increases in new business entity registrations. Our focus on customer service and satisfaction, combined with our new cloud-based registry complete software, helped drive continued organic growth in services and the successful ongoing transition of customers to our new technology. In doing so, we have successfully empowered our remote workforce, advanced our product roadmap, and reduced our cost of delivery. The successful implementations in our technology solution segment also showed our ability to deliver world-class software to our customers, even during a pandemic. I'll now ask Sean to summarize our financial and operating performance for the quarter.
spk05: Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. I'll provide you with some of the highlights of the quarter on a consolidated basis, and then provide some further commentary about each of our reporting segments and their performance for the reporting period. On a consolidated basis, revenue was $39.1 million, an increase of $9.6 million, or 32% compared to the first quarter of 2020, due to increased activity across the business. Our consolidated expenses were $31 million, an increase of $6.5 million compared to the same quarter last year. The increase was due to new wages and salaries in recovery solutions after the acquisition of Paragon in the third quarter of 2020, additional amounts under our share-based compensation plans as a result of the strong performance of the company's share price, normal merit-based increases in performance compensation across our business, and an increase in cost of goods sold related to the higher revenue and services. EBITDA was $11.9 million up 52% compared to $7.8 million last year and our EBITDA margin for the first quarter was 30.3% compared to 26.5% last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $14.8 million for the quarter compared to $7.9 million in the same quarter last year with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 37.7% for the quarter compared to 26.8% in the first quarter of 2020. Net income was $5.5 million or $0.31 per basic and diluted share compared to the first quarter of 2020 when net income was $3.5 million or $0.20 per basic and diluted share. Turning to our business segments, revenue in registry operations was $19.2 million for the quarter, up 24% compared to the same period in 2020. Registry operations volumes were stronger than expected during the first quarter of 2021, primarily driven by robust activity in the Saskatchewan real estate sector, with strong demand coupled with declining supply in some markets. As Jeff mentioned, we also saw increases in personal property security registrations, along with increases in new business entity registrations. More specifically, revenue for the land registry increased to $13.3 million in the quarter, up 29% compared to the same period last year. As you know, most of the revenue generated from the land registry is from the land titles registry and is derived from value-based or ad valorem fees. Land titles registry revenue for the quarter was $12.5 million, up $3 million or 31% compared to last year. The increase was due to higher revenue from regular land transfers, mortgage registrations and title searches during the quarter relative to the same period in 2020. The real estate sector saw strong increases in resale volumes during the quarter, while average land values for regular land transfers were fairly flat. High value property registration revenue, where each high value registration generates revenue of $10,000 or more, was $1.1 million, relatively consistent to the $1 million in the first quarter of 2020. Revenue for the personal property registry was $2.7 million for the quarter, up 21% from 2020. Overall volume was up 7% compared to the same period in 2020. The combination of volume increases and annual pricing changes resulted in strong revenue across the personal property registry, with registration revenue up 22%, search revenue up 19%, and maintenance revenue up 16%. Average term length for personal property security registration setups, which also impacts revenue, increased slightly compared to the same quarter in 2020. Normally, the pattern of seasonality for the personal property registry is higher revenues during the second and third quarter each year. As evidenced by this strong first quarter, COVID-19 and the related lockdowns and travel restrictions appear to have affected customer sentiment and behavior as it relates to the types of movable assets that are registered in our personal property registry. Revenue for the corporate registry for the quarter was $3.2 million. up 11% compared to the same period in 2020, with a 9% growth in overall transaction volumes. Registration, search and maintenance revenue grew by 33%, 10% and 5% respectively during the quarter. It was a record first quarter for the incorporation and registration of new business entities, which helped drive the registration revenue growth. As a result of the strong revenues across all registries, EBITDA for registry operations for the quarter was $8.6 million, up 33% compared to last year. In services, revenue for the first quarter of 2021 was $16.2 million, an increase of $4.4 million, or 37% compared to last year, due to organic growth in regulatory and corporate solutions, as well as the inclusion of new revenue from recovery solutions. Revenue for the quarter in regulatory solutions within services was $12.5 million, an increase of 18% compared to $10.6 million last year. The increase is a result of strong new customer acquisitions, increased Know Your Customer, or KYC, verification transactions, and organic growth from our existing customer contracts. Revenue and recovery solutions in the first quarter was $2.1 million. While we've seen an increase in assignments from our bank partners, Recovery revenue continues to be fairly stable as a result of last year's loan deferral programs and the ongoing stimulus provided by the federal government in response to COVID-19. Corporate solutions revenue for the quarter was $1.6 million, an increase of 28%. Revenue was up as a result of increased corporate filing volumes as the overall economy was stronger in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020, where the last month of the first quarter of 2020 was negatively impacted by COVID-19. EBITDA for services was $4 million for the quarter compared to $2.1 million for the same period last year. The increase was due to the increased revenue from the organic growth outlined previously and the additional new revenue from recovery solutions. Technology Solutions saw revenue of $6 million for the quarter, an increase of $1.3 million compared to $4.7 million for the same period in 2020. The increase this quarter was due to the completion of certain milestones on current third-party contracts, while our internal related party revenue remained stable. EBITDA for Technology Solutions was $1.1 million for the quarter compared to $0.6 million last year as a result of the above revenue milestone achievements partially offset by the related implementation expenses. To other items, our capital expenditures were $0.4 million for the quarter compared to $0.3 million last year. During the first quarter of 2021, capital expenditures were primarily related to system development work in our technology solutions and services segments as compared to 2020, where they were primarily related to the purchase of systems supporting our corporate activities. With respect to our debt, At March 31, 2021, the company had $71.3 million of total debt outstanding compared to $76.3 million at December 31, 2020. During the quarter, the company made a $5 million voluntary prepayment against its revolving term facility due to excess cash and the desire to reduce our interest expense. The aggregate amount available under the credit facility at March 31, 2021 remains at $150 million. Further details on our debt and our credit facilities can be found in our financial statements. From a liquidity perspective, at March 31, 2021, we held $30.4 million in cash compared to $33.9 million at December 31, 2020. As of March 31, working capital was $28.3 million flat compared to the $28.1 million at the end of last year. Consolidated free cash flow for the quarter was $8.9 million, compared to $6.4 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was due to higher cash flows provided by our operations, partially offset by changes in non-cash working capital. Finally, we also announced yesterday that our Board of Directors approved our quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share. The dividend will be payable on or before July 15, 2021, to shareholders of record as of June 30, 2021. I'll now turn the call back over to Jeff for some concluding remarks.
spk06: Thanks, Sean. Before we move to the Q&A session, I'd like to share a few thoughts with you about our outlook. We remain well positioned to manage through the pandemic in 2021, and that is evident in our results for the first quarter of 2021, as well as the last three quarters. Registry operations has performed well over the past three quarters despite pandemic conditions. The typical seasonality, has been impacted, resulting in a very strong first quarter, and indicators suggest that volumes should remain steady, perhaps with some return to normal seasonality. For services, we expect to see volumes remain strong in regulatory and corporate solutions, while volumes in recovery solutions will likely remain at current levels so long as pandemic subsidy programs are in place, which are expected to continue into the fall of 2021. Our ongoing investment in the technology supporting our services segment, combined with our focus on our customers, is translating into robust organic growth through new customer acquisition. When technology solutions project implementation work continues, work that was delayed due to the pandemic has progressed. As we move through 2021, we anticipate advancing remaining in-progress implementation projects while new sales may be delayed due to the government worldwide focus on COVID-19. I am really pleased with the overall performance of the business, but at this point, given the continued uncertainty surrounding the duration and potential outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be providing financial guidance for the year. As always, we remain focused on the years rather than the quarters ahead. Our long-term strategy remains centered on delivering value for shareholders through the consistent performance of our existing business, and the execution of appropriate growth opportunities, including acquisition targets that are complementary to or add value to existing lines of business. With that, I will hand the call back to Jonathan.
spk04: Thanks, Jeff. Ruby, we'd now like to begin the question and answer session, please.
spk00: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star and then number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the question and answer roster. Your first question comes from the line of Stephanie Price from CIBC. Your line is open. You can ask your question. Thank you. Good morning.
spk01: Good morning, Stephanie. Hi. Just wonder if you could talk a little bit more about your comments around seasonality in 2021. mainly around what areas are impacting the most and what have you seen so far in Q2?
spk05: Hi, Stephanie. It's Sean. Thanks for the question. The lockdowns are fairly impactful in some parts of the business. As we saw in Q2 of 2020, we did see volumes in both services and registry operations come off. It's hard to buy a house or a new car or register in businesses when you're in sort of a total lockdown. And it took people and companies some time to figure out how to work remotely. So starting in Q3, we started to see that pick up. And as we've talked about, a stronger Q4 than sort of normal and certainly a stronger Q1 here than normal. Really, what we think is happening is that that delay in Q2 of 2020 last year has sort of shifted significantly. some of the demand out of it, and that's what's resulting in some of the seasonality. We're also seeing a little bit of different behavior from customers. Being locked down means that they're buying, arguably, more sea-dos and ski-dos and four-wheelers and those types of other things, as opposed to going on vacations and traveling, and that's impacting our personal property registry in times where it doesn't usually. So it's really just a little bit of a shift in that behavior.
spk01: Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. And then ISC filed a base shelf prospectus last week. Just curious if you could talk a bit about that decision and how we should be thinking about potential uses of proceeds.
spk06: Yes, thanks, Stephanie. Jeff here. We did file the shelf. For us, this was just sort of a normal course of business. There's sort of no intended or imminent necessarily execution We're very, you know, positive, forward looking about our business and the fact we have made acquisitions and there are opportunities, you know, the ability to access that if necessary, we wanted to sort of take care of that. It's not necessarily a signal that something's right around the corner. But like have Sean and I have talked several times is, you know, we do sort of do an acquisition, there's nothing prescribed about it, but one a year and And having the ability to access funds in different capacities was important. So it really just was sort of a normal course of business action for the time being.
spk01: Thank you. That's helpful.
spk00: I'll pass the line.
spk06: Thanks, Stephanie.
spk00: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Boland from Raymond James.
spk02: Morning, everyone. Just the first question is – I guess, related to Paragon. And when I looked through the bar report you filed, they were kind of doing in the $2.5 million of revenue even through parts of 2020 when COVID was there. And you reported $2.1 million. Has there been any change with customer base or, like, how would you explain the revenue kind of coming down, you know, post-acquisition?
spk05: Yeah. So it's Sean Stevens. What the recovery solutions, the default business has been impacted mostly by is partly COVID-19, but more significantly, the stimulus that's been provided. So the revenue has been pretty stable. The number of assignments per quarter varies a little bit, but it really depends. The longer COVID has gone on and the more stimulus that's provided, the more we work with our bank clients on that default book of business, but sort of the less defaults that are happening in that period, and really that's all that that is, and it's just the specific number of assignments in each quarter, which can vary slightly.
spk02: And do you expect then as the stimulus and the government support dissipates that that business would be back into kind of more of a growth mode? Yes, absolutely. Okay. Okay. And then just the second question is on the technology segment. I think last quarter you mentioned the sales cycle is always very long for that business, COVID impacting it. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Is there any movement in certain mandates or RFPs that you've been looking at? Or is it still really, you know, different jurisdictions are still kind of not focusing on that right now?
spk06: Yeah. Jeff here. I'd say sort of there's two aspects. Because we're dealing with governments, the sales cycles can sort of be long. When it's focused on the technology solutions segment specifically, they're not as long as the long sales cycles I've talked in the past about in our registry operations and looking for those types of opportunities. Regardless, they're the same customer base, i.e. governments. And as you would well expect, suspect the, you know, the governments that we're, you know, selling to are focused on, you know, the sort of local health issues as well as re sort of stimulating the economy. We have seen progress. Fortunately, we have a number of projects underway and hopefully be able to, you know, sort of fill that technology solutions funnel, you know, fairly quickly. So, you know, I think there is light at the end of the tunnel in some jurisdictions, but you know, regardless of the jurisdiction, they're still focused on COVID and, you know, economic rebound, you know, rather than technology acquisition necessarily. But, you know, that hasn't resulted in a shortage of sort of work for us and what we've been working on because we have major projects that are certainly underway and we continue to advance, including the IAA project, which continues to move along and, and we're deploying our technology solutions staff on that project fairly heavily, I guess. Okay. That's all I have. Thanks very much. Thank you.
spk00: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Paul from RBC Capital Markets.
spk03: Thanks very much, and good morning. I just want to focus in on the services business, the outside of Paragon business. You've been gaining, you mentioned organic growth and new customer wins or additions in that segment. Could you speak to who you're gaining that share from? Is it other providers or is it largely Greenfield? And then can you give a profile on those customers that you're gaining? Are they typically smaller or larger and what's sort of the vertical that they're in?
spk06: You know, great question, Paul. Thanks, Jeff, here. You know, I think there's not a really quick and succinct, simple answer to that question because our services business is really multifaceted. And so some of the place that we're gaining is we're gaining larger mandates from our financial institutions and getting a little more volume out of there. And it's sort of their organic growth translates into some of our organic growth. I think where we're seeing sort of the more visible customer transition is on the legal firm side, and that's in line with our sort of registry complete software launch as well as our approach to customers and pricing and the like, and so we're winning law firms and the legal sector. We're also winning some unique customers. that are using our KYC, our Know Your Customer service, like in the crypto space, for example. We have crypto customers that are using our service as a Know Your Customer connection. And I think we're seeing that sort of organic growth from all sort of sectors in this space. And so we're excited about it. We're seeing sort of growth across the piece. So it's not just one single thing. It's many things, but I think it's really fundamentally, you know, it's grounded in we've built the business around the customer and we care for the customer and we make sure that their needs are being met and we treat them properly and, you know, pricing is fair. So that's our approach to it, and I think that's what's paying off for us on the services side.
spk03: Thanks. That's helpful. Also looking at services, can you share any metrics or KPIs on the magnitude of growth that you're seeing from cross-selling or up-selling additional services into that customer base? I'm sort of thinking like something equivalent to same-store sales or in the software world, like net revenue retention, just to try to gauge how the magnitude of growth has been in terms of cross-selling and up-selling.
spk06: That's a good question, Paul. The answer to that is I don't have one specifically to talk about. I can only share anecdotal stories of where we're seeing customers that are engaged in some aspect of our business and then want to try others, and we're sort of growing that way. It's something Sean and I could circle back with you after a little bit of thought. I don't have an answer. It's not as simple as that. As that goes, we are seeing conversations because we have a recovery solutions business now as part of our overall fit. We're having those types of conversations with current and new customers that we never had before. I shared with you the crypto side on the know your customer piece and And so hopefully that sort of extends and expands a little bit too. So, you know, I don't have that per se. You know, what I do have is we're seeing significant organic growth in that services business. Our growth in that business is not simply through acquisition, but our strategy, you know, quite simply is we're going to grow our business through customer acquisition and Not necessarily, but we will supplement it with, you know, company acquisition. But, you know, we prefer the long-term strategy of having happy, satisfied customers that continue to – we look for ways to sort of grab more of their sort of market share.
spk03: Oh, yeah. No, thank you. I totally understand it may be difficult to get some metrics, but to the extent that if you could provide any, you know, I think – help investors understand that business and that growth a little better. Thank you. I'll pass the line now.
spk06: Okay. Thank you.
spk00: Thank you. Again, to ask a question, you can press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. At this time, we don't have any more questions. Please go ahead.
spk04: Thank you, Ruby. With no further questions, I'd like to once again thank all of you for joining us on today's call, and we look forward to speaking with you when we report again in the summer. Have a good day.
spk00: This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.
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