Real Matters Inc.

Welcome to the Real Matters Q1 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on February the 1st, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lynn Beauregard. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Real Matters Financial Results Conference call for the first quarter ended December 31st, 2023. With me today are Real Matters Chief Executive Officer Brian Lang and Chief Financial Officer Rodrigo Pinto. This morning, before market opened, we issued a news release announcing our results for the three months ended December 31st, 2023. The release, accompanying slide presentation, as well as the financial statements and NDNA are posted in the Investors section of our website at realmatters.com. During the call, we may make certain forward-looking statements which reflect the current expectations of management with respect to our business and the industry in which we operate. However, there are a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our results to differ materially from expectations. Please see the slide entitled Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information in the accompanying slide presentation for more details. You can also find additional information about these risks in the risk factors section of the company's annual information form for the year ended September 30 2023. Which is available on cedar plus any investor relations section of our website as a reminder, we refer to non gap measures in our slide presentation, including net revenue net revenue margins adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin. Non-GAAP measures are described in our NDNA for the three months ended December 31, 2023, where you will also find reconciliation to the nearest IFRS measures. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Brian.

Thank you, Lynn. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. I'll kick things off by going over the business highlights of the quarter. Rodrigo will then follow up with a brief discussion of the financial highlights before we take questions. We delivered solid results in the first quarter against the backdrop of a bottom bouncing mortgage origination market. Consolidated revenues were down 7% year over year compared with an estimated US mortgage origination market decline of 18%. Consolidated net revenue was relatively flat and we reduced our adjusted EBITDA loss by two thirds to $1.1 million as a result of improved net revenue margins across all three segments and a lower cost base. We continue to leverage our platform to improve our net revenue margins while driving our performance advantage, which is key to increasing market share and winning new clients. While the mortgage market continues to hover around historical lows, our focus remains on setting the business up for long-term success. Building market share, winning new business, and positioning the company for improved financial performance when market conditions improve and we start to see growth in volumes from these historical lows. First quarter U.S. appraisal purchase and refinance revenues outperformed the market year over year. Purchase revenues were down 10% compared to an estimated market decline of 21%, and refinance revenues were down 5% compared with an estimated market decline of 8%. We launched one new client in the first quarter, increased our market share on a sequential basis with two of our top clients. We posted record high net revenue margins of 27.9% and a year-over-year adjusted EBITDA increase of 16% in U.S. appraisal in Q1. In U.S. title, centralized title revenues were flat year-over-year compared with an estimated market decline of 10%. As we discussed in our last conference call, we launched a second channel with our Tier 1 lender at the end of September, increasing our market share with that client. U.S. title net revenue was up 18% year over year, and we reduced our adjusted EBITDA loss in the segment by 44% to $1.6 million in the first quarter. The focus for title remains on readying ourselves to scale for growth as the market recovers and market share increases. We continue to work the pipeline with a view to adding new clients in 2024. In Canada, we saw lower market volumes for appraisal services, which were able to offset in part with market share gains. Revenues were down 12% year over year. However, a 90 basis point increase in net revenue margins helped temper the decline in net revenues. We launched two new clients in Canada in the first quarter. During the first quarter, our sales team was highly engaged with existing and potential new clients at the annual Mortgage Bankers Association Convention, discussing how we can leverage our capabilities to better serve their needs and strategically expand our relationships, particularly in title. Our focus remains on leveraging our current performance and various strategies to onboard new clients and build franchise value for the long term. With that, I'll hand it over to Rodrigo. Rodrigo?