Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Q1 & AGM 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 11, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • BridgeMark participated in 28% of Canadian real estate transactions in 2022 with 20,700 agents, driving over 14% revenue growth since 2017 and a commercial segment that expanded agent count by 60% year-over-year.
  • The company delivered a $1.35 per share dividend in 2022 and benefits from long-term franchise agreements that provide stable, recurring revenue despite a Q1 2023 revenue dip versus pandemic-era highs.
  • BridgeMark upgraded its 2023 housing forecast to +4.5% national price growth (with the GTA expected to rise 7.5%), underpinned by stable interest rates, full employment and sustained immigration-driven demand.
  • Adoption of the cloud-based RLP Sphere platform and rolopage.ca drove record engagement—22 million agent communications and 127 million website views—fueling lead generation and higher agent productivity.
  • The virtual annual meeting proceeded smoothly with routine reappointments and director elections, and BridgeMark highlighted its ESG efforts, including the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation’s $41 million in donations since inception.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Bridgemarq Real Estate Services Q1 & AGM 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 4 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BridgeMark Real Estate Service Inc. Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. This call is being recorded on Thursday.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to Spencer N. Wright, Chairman of the Corporation. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is now 10 am and time to start the annual meeting of Bridgemark Real Estate Services Inc. My name is Spencer Enright and as Chairman of the Corporation, I will be We are holding our annual meeting of shareholders virtually today. We have found that these virtual online meetings Run much the same as the in person meetings we have run-in the past. Before we begin with the formal business portion of the meeting, I will provide some comments on voting and asking questions at the meeting.

Speaker 1

In making the decision to hold the meeting virtually, we have ensured that shareholder rights are protected. As such, this meeting offers shareholders the same in person meeting. I welcome all guests who are not registered shareholders or holding proxies for registered shareholders. As a reminder, as with an in person meeting, only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders are able to vote or ask Questions during the formal portion of the meeting. Guests will be permitted to ask questions during the management presentation after the meeting.

Speaker 1

We will conduct the votes on the matters before us by a poll. On a poll, every shareholder entitled to vote has one vote for each share entitled to be voted on the matter and held by that shareholder. Voting during this meeting can only be done through our virtual voting platform on the webcast. Our polls are now open for all matters to be voted on at this meeting and you should see your voting options appear on the left side of the screen. Voting can be completed at any time from now until the end of the formal business of the meeting.

Speaker 1

Thank you to those who have already voted. Votes collected by the poll will reflect selections at the time the poll closes. If you have already voted in advance of the meeting, You do not need to do anything as your vote has already been recorded. However, if you wish to change your vote or if you have not yet voted, we encourage you to vote now. Shareholders and guests can submit questions at any time during the meeting.

Speaker 1

There will be opportunities for registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders To ask questions specific to each resolution. If you have a question, click on the messaging tab at the top of the page. Please read the instructions before submitting your question. In particular, we ask that you identify whether your question relates to a motion being considered as part of the formal business of the meeting or whether it is of a more general nature. We will address all questions that directly relate to a particular motion at the appropriate time of the meeting.

Speaker 1

We will respond to general questions following the formal business of the meeting During the management presentation, time permitting. Once you have finished typing out your question, click the arrow beside where you typed your question. The secretary will receive the questions and at the appropriate time we'll read them out in order for everyone to be aware of the question being addressed. And with that, I would like to call the meeting to order. Again, I remind you that the polls are open for all matters to be voted on at this meeting.

Speaker 1

I will now ask TSX voting shares represented by proxy at this meeting to compute the votes on any polls taken or ballots cast at this meeting or any adjournment And in each case, report to me as Chair. With me today is Phil Soper, the Corporation's President and Chief Executive. Also with us today is Glenn MacMillan, Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation, who is to act as Secretary of today's meeting. Mr. Soper and MacMillan have joined me in our offices for this meeting.

Speaker 1

First, I will deal with the formal business of the meeting as outlined in the management proxy circular you received in April. Mr. Soper will then make a presentation on the corporation's financial And finally, we will be happy to answer your questions. In order to expedite the formal part of the meeting, I've asked certain individuals to nominate and second various resolutions. Although this procedure will assist in the handling of the formal matters, it is not intended to discourage anyone from participating in reference to any resolution after it has been proposed and seconded.

Speaker 1

Any proposed amendments or objections to a motion will need to be submitted as questions using the messaging tab at the top of the webpage. All proposed amendments or objections submitted by shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders who are entitled to vote at the meeting. As I previously mentioned, questions which do not Typically related to the formal matters being addressed at the meeting will be considered during the presentation of management at the conclusion of the time of the meeting to any dated April 17, 2023, That the notice and access calling this meeting and the accompanying management information circular, form of proxy and audited financials on April 6, 2023. Therefore, we will dispense with the reading of the notice of the meeting. I have received the scrutineers preliminary report on attendance and I confirm that we have the required quorum for A copy of the scrutineers' final report on attendance will be filed with the records of the meeting and posted on SEDAR.

Speaker 1

The minutes of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 12, 2022 were reviewed by the Board of Directors of the corporation at its quarterly meeting on August 8, 2020, that meeting and have been included in the minute books of the corporation. I trust that everyone has had an opportunity to read the materials that were provided Prior to the meeting, including the annual report, which includes the letter to shareholders, the management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2022 and the audited financial statements for the corporation, including the auditor's report thereon. Copies of these materials were made available to all shareholders and are available on SEDAR or on the corporation's website at www.bridgemark.com. Should anyone have any questions relating to the materials or questions of a more general nature, We'll be pleased to respond to them during management's presentation at the conclusion of the meeting. The Chief Financial Officer has tabled the consolidated financial statements of the corporation for the year ended December 31, 2022 together with the auditors report and such financial statements will form part of the record of this meeting.

Speaker 1

The next item of business is the appointment of auditors and the authorization to fix their remuneration. It is the intention of the persons named in the management proxy to vote in favor of a resolution reappointing Deloitte LLP as external auditors of the corporation until the next annual meeting And authorizing the Board of Directors to fix the remuneration be paid to the auditors. As such, in the management information circular, the audit committee of your Board of Directors has recommended to shareholders that Deloitte LLP be reappointed as the corporation's external auditor. Will someone please move a resolution for the appointment of auditors?

Speaker 2

Mr. Chairman, I move that Deloitte LLP be reappointed auditors of the corporation To hold office until the next Annual Meeting and that directors be authorized to fix the remuneration.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Glenn. May I have

Speaker 3

a seconder? Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Phil. Adoption of this motion requires a favorable vote of a majority of the votes At the meeting by the shareholders, management has received proxies representing approximately 16.5% of the corporation's restricted voting shares. In addition, management has received a proxy for the special voting share, which is entitled to 3,327,667 votes. These proxies represent approximately 38.2 percent of the total votes eligible to be cast at this meeting and direct me to vote 99.6 percent. As there have been no questions or comments submitted related to this motion, we will now proceed with the vote.

Speaker 1

If you have not already recorded your vote, please record it now.

Speaker 3

We're

Speaker 1

now ready to record your vote. The Corporation's Board is comprised of 6 persons. Brookfield Business Partners through its subsidiary Brookfield BBP Canada Holdings LP Is entitled to designate up to 2 5ths of the members of the Board and has chosen to designate myself, Spencer Enright and Mr. Joe Friedman as their representatives to the Board of Directors. With the designation of 2 directors by Brookfield Business Partners, there are 4 directors to be elected at this meeting who will hold office until the earlier of the end of the next annual meeting Or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Speaker 1

The proposed nominees for election of directors are Colin Bastable, Lorraine Bell, to Tanjali Datt and Gail Kilgore. Mr. Bassettbo, Ms. Bell, Ms. Datt and Ms.

Speaker 1

Kilgore Are standing for reelection and have served on the Board of Directors of Corporation since they were elected at last year's shareholders meeting. I now declare the meeting open for nominations.

Speaker 3

Mr. Chairman, I nominate for election as Directors of the Corporation, the 4 nominees named in the Corporation's Management Information Circular relating to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders dated March 27, 2023. Thank you, Phil.

Speaker 1

May I have a seconder?

Speaker 2

Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Glenn. I will now ask the secretary to please advise If any questions specific to this motion were submitted or if there were any additional director nominees to be proposed at this time, We will wait for a brief period of time to allow for the broadcast delay and to allow eligible shareholders to submit their questions related to this motion.

Speaker 2

Mr. Chairman, there have been no questions specific to this motion nor any additional director nominees

Speaker 1

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I now declare the nominations closed. If you have not already recorded your vote, Please record it now, remembering that if you have already voted in advance of the meeting and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. Voting for all resolutions brought before the meeting is now closed. Now that the voting is closed, I can declare the results of the votes.

Speaker 1

On the basis of the voting completed prior to the meeting, The proxies received by management and the results of voting received online during this meeting, the motion to reappoint Deloitte LLP as auditors of the corporation is carried. As to the election of directors, as there are 4 directors to be elected and the same number of nominees, I now declare that those nominated Ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the conclusion of the formal agenda of the meeting. And as such, may I please call for a motion to terminate the meeting?

Speaker 2

Mr. Chairman, I move that the meeting be terminated. Thank you, Glenn.

Speaker 1

May I have a seconder?

Speaker 3

Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Phil. I will now ask the secretary to please advise if admitted or if there were any objections or amendments to this motion. We will wait for a brief period of time to allow for the broadcast delay and to allow eligible shareholders to submit their questions related to this motion.

Speaker 2

Questions specific to this motion nor any objections or amendments submitted.

Speaker 1

Thank you. As there have been no questions or comments submitted related to this motion I will now turn the webcast over to Mr. Phil Soper, President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation, We'll provide a strategic update on the corporation and present the corporation's 2022 Q1 2023 financial results. After Phil's presentation, we will be happy to answer any questions that may have been submitted. Again, if you wish to ask Before Phil starts, I should caution that in talking about our strategic initiatives And our financial and operating performance and in answering any of your questions, we may make forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and future results may differ materially from those implied or imputed from those forward looking statements. For further information on known risk factors, I would encourage you to review the Risk

Speaker 3

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my pleasure to provide an update on The corporation. It has been a tumultuous few years. The pandemic brought the real estate industry grinding to a halt after which the hyper focus on one's living arrangements Brought unheard of numbers of transactions through the industry.

Speaker 3

And then We went into a market correction in 2022 through it all the our Shareholders and the Board of Directors have stood by us and the company has remained remarkably steady and growing through this period. So thanks to the Board of Directors for their advice and counsel and for all of you for your trust. What I am going to take you through today is highlights on the corporation, The overall real estate brokerage industry itself and Then dive into some of our strategic initiatives. To begin with, a summary of The items that drive our business strategy. 1st and foremost, we have been seen as A strong income investment since inception.

Speaker 3

So we do deliverable purposeful dividend income. And I'm just going to pause for a second while we sort out the slide presentation.

Operator

Which one do you want to be on? One bed.

Speaker 3

That one. Okay. And I can't control the slides. Okay. Secondly, we are a service provider To thousands and thousands of real estate agents across the country, we do this through the use of innovative technology and business services.

Speaker 3

As the industry's largest firm, we leverage our size and scale to the benefit of our industry Participants are partner franchisees. We need the talents of the industry's premium practitioners. So we recruit, obtain them throughout their careers. And finally, we operate the business through long term Franchise agreements, which provides that stability of income that we have for long All right. Let me just briefly go through our brands.

Speaker 3

We operate multiple brands. Our premium brand and the largest portion of the company is the Royal LePage brand, dates back To 1913, 110 years old this year, it is Canada's Oldest real estate continuing portfolio, definitely the largest Canadian based real estate company. We run 2 luxury boutiques, Trambrand Immobilier, which provide specific skills for agents that Sell distinctive properties at high value, and we have a very specific Quebec based Business, Via Capital, which is very strong in particularly in areas outside of the city of Montreal across the province of Quebec. Let me provide a brief overview of our operating results. Overall, in 2022, we participated in 28%, 1 in 3 transactions approximately in Canada had a Bridgemark Realtor on 1 or both sides of the table.

Speaker 3

That was delivered through 20,700 Realtors from coast to coast. And it's Interesting to note, and I'll talk about this later in the presentation, that Bridgemark Realtors on average sold $1,600,000 more of real estate compared to the industry average last year. And during an industry correction, This is very important to allow people to escape through a down market. I wanted to make a brief mention to Royal LePage Commercial, a very important Commercial brokerage, brand in Canada and of the major commercial Houses that operate nationally the fastest growing. We grew by 60% in 2022 and by Practitioner count are the largest dedicated commercial practice in the country.

Speaker 3

Turning to our financial results. In 2022, We again paid a healthy dividend of $1.35 per share and continue to pay a Healthy dividend throughout the life of the corporation. In the Q1, Compared to the Q1 of 2023, there was a dip in revenue year over year, But we have to remember that we were comparing ourselves to the absolute peak of the pandemic excess When we broke all records for price and volume, the number of homes trading hands in this kind of comparison, if you look back To 2020 and pre pandemic times, where it's more of a return to normal. So over On transaction count and rose because of the growth in the underlying agent count During 2021 2020 that we've called out. We can boil our business down to these elements.

Speaker 3

First is the number of realtors in the company network. They are secondly, and I talked about this at the outset, is the stability of our revenues. With long term contracts, The 8A recurring revenue stream has been one of the more attractive elements of bridged Mark to shareholders for years. Thirdly, and this is where we saw A sharp rise in 2021 and a dip during the market correction of 2022 is transactional dollar volume. Although it is less of an element in our overall revenue structure, the business does benefit from an expanding Call.

Speaker 3

And when the market contracts, we do see the results of that. Fourthly is realtor productivity. Again, on a previous slide, I talked about how our realtors Sell more real estate than the industry overall. And when our realtors are more productive, that drives additional revenue into the corporation. And finally, we have ancillary Products and services.

Speaker 3

These are things like CRM driven, Lead generation revenue and mortgage services revenue that are added to the company's Overall revenue and diversify the way that we move the business forward. If you look at the business, we've been on a continuous growth path. If you compare the business back to 2017, we've grown by more than 14%. And this is a considerable feat considering the size of the business And our market share. We are a very large and mature company.

Speaker 3

So To continue to grow steadily over time is one of the things that management is most proud of. Productivity, I touched on this a couple of times. You look at the earnings of Our agents compared to the industry overall and you see that our agents simply sell more real estate. Now the obvious benefit of this is that this produces more revenue, which finds its way into the corporation and ultimately the stakeholders. But there are secondary benefits as well, particularly those that show up during a down market, a market correction like 2022.

Speaker 3

When the industry dips, less productive agents remember In the real estate industry across North America, our frontline practitioners are independent contractors. 100 percent of the need a large book of business to be able to get through those lean years. Luckily in the Canadian real estate over the last quarter century and we'll talk about the better equipped to weather them. Overall, we follow GDP roughly in Canada. As the nation's largest firm and having been serving Canadians for over a century, We are embedded in communities, small and large, farming communities, huge cities, downtown cores.

Speaker 3

We are serving our clients everywhere. We are slightly overrepresented in certain jurisdictions And slightly underrepresented in other jurisdictions. For example, in Quebec, where we have we have an over representation. And in Alberta, we have a slightly our strongest growth in 2022. And as I look ahead to 2023, is actually in the West, in Alberta and British Columbia.

Speaker 3

The other thing that mitigates risk in our industry Is our traditional real estate franchise agreement is a 5 year agreement. Our agreements, and we're able to do this because of the level of renewal on our contracts. People tend to get into our businesses as orders across the company up to 10 year agreements. And you can see from this graph that the expiration date of those agreements is spread out over time, Which simply reduces the risk that someone should either leave the industry altogether So let's turn to growth opportunities themselves. Royalty growth, our top line growth is driven through the number of realtors, which we talked about, by converting Competitive brokerage, whether they're an independent or someone who wishes the services and the brands they trade in and they are moving from another, Say American brand to the leading Canadian brands by driving realtor productivity through better use of Technologies or training and those technologies themselves can open brand new doors For revenue such as introducing Canada's first national ABM or automated valuation method, A new introduction service that we introduced that I'll be talking about later in the year.

Speaker 3

When you have a network as large as ours, It's one thing to develop a better mousetrap, you then have to get people to use it. And That is half the battle, and it's something I'd like to say we're very good at. 2023, here are items of focus for this year, the year we find ourselves in. 1st of all, digital brokerage transformation, including expanding the use of Cloud based AI driven software services, which we have we first introduced in 2020 And we've received for decision support. The national business uses it for client service.

Speaker 3

We use it for marketing, leading brokerages And individual agents to one of the company's brands by showing them the light, showing them the best way of the brokerage today. We have an evolving and growing focus on servicing real estate. Traditionally, we have practiced on 3 levels, a national firm, a national brand, call it a franchisor, then local brokerages and then frontline practitioners. The business is evolving into 4 level structure With individual agents, real estate teams, brokerage offices in the national firm. And that real estate team, which is essentially a brokerage within a brokerage, is a high level of growth.

Speaker 3

It's beyond the scope of this particular call to get into all the details. But in short, We are taking our years of expertise in helping real estate brokerage companies Grow through better use of local technology, human resources, Financial systems, taking those that kind of learning and applying it to the small business, Which may have as few as 2 or 3 people in it or it may have, say, up to 30 people in a real estate team. They are businesses within the business, and we found that they are thirsty for this kind of knowledge, and we're able to attract teams from other corporations as a result. And finally, we are as the nation's largest real estate firm, We take that responsibility seriously and we advocate for policies that addresses Canada's critical housing Supply shortage, with policymakers at the municipal, provincial and federal level. All right.

Speaker 3

Let's talk More specifically about the Bridgemark difference. And I'm going to start with some in-depth market research. So this is brand new, literally just weeks old. We went to market Before the Bank of Canada ended its aggressive Interest rate rising campaign that lasted a full year. So this was February of this year.

Speaker 3

And we asked Canadians, if they were in the market for changing their housing situation, 24% of them said they were, Yes, 63% of them had postponed their plans due to the rising interest rate environment. We then asked Whether or not an end to that environment or if the Bank of Canada ended their campaign of raising interest rates, Would that change your plan? And this is focused on that 63% who had postponed their plans. And 26% said, yes. When I see them keeping interest rates flat, we'll be back in market.

Speaker 3

And then we said, okay, for the rest of you, If the bank kept interest rates flat again, so a second or more times, would that encourage you to get back in the market? And a further 36 Percent of people said, yes, we that would encourage us to get back into the real estate market. So in summary, 6 of 10 sidelined homebuyers have or plan to return to the real estate market. And we are seeing this in spades this spring where demand levels are very high. Canada's millennials, which are the largest demographic, have aged into our largest, our prime buying category and 57% of millennials already own their home.

Speaker 3

60% of millennials who do not currently own their home Believe that they will someday. And of those 52% say they would have to relocate in order to achieve this. So this There is some interesting information that is part of this. First of all, The newest group, the people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are our largest buying cohort Are as interested in owning their homes as their parents were, the baby boomers, which is the generation that had the highest homeownership rate in Canadian history. The other reality that comes from this research is that our most relocate and we see this.

Speaker 3

We see people relocating from the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario into Atlantic Canada into the priorities, particularly on the markets because most new Canadians land in Southern Ontario. And for these other, which attracts brokerages, franchisees and agents who understand the power of a national referral network. In Vancouver, 32% in Montreal, almost 40% nationally, as I mentioned. So it was a significant market correction. Excuse me, sorry, we're just having an issue with the charts.

Speaker 3

Okay, perfect. All right. So this Now we turn ourselves to the outlook overall in 2023. We have upgraded our outlook for the 2023 Home price by a significant amount over what we believed the market would show When we first put our 2023 forecast in place at the end of 2022. So at that We believe the market would recover.

Speaker 3

Remember, we just saw just seen double digit drops in both volume and in home prices. And so we had forecast that we would basically recover to flat to minus 1% in price by the end of 2023. Based on a number of factors, predominantly the steep rise in demand, We've adjusted our forecast to say that prices will be up by 4.5% Year over year, 2023 over 2022 and you can see it. It varies considerably By major city, but the GTA itself, we see rising 7.5%, for example, over Prices at the end of 2023. So the rise in demand is significant.

Speaker 3

And this is driven, as I as we showed in the research by the Bank of Canada holding interest rates in that neutral range. So we saw the steepest Rise in interest rates from virtually 0 during that 1 year period and We're now in a holding pattern. We've had 2 periods where the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates flat. From an employment standpoint, as we look across the country at employment, It has been quite remarkable. And this has certainly helped the recovery of the real estate industry, Because while people were pushed to the side with the I showed you the research recently that said the majority of Canadians We're uncomfortable trading while interest rates were rising rapidly and they felt that once they had stopped Rising rapidly, that it was okay to get back into the market.

Speaker 3

Well, backing that is the fact That we have in economic terms full employment in this country. For the 5th consecutive month at 5% unemployment, 95% of people working full time. And of course, when people work full time, They're able to get a mortgage. They're able to afford a home. The other part of the financial occasion Is Canadians are saving at a much higher rate than they traditionally have.

Speaker 3

The traditional savings rate is at about 2% and Canadian savings rate are currently standing at 6%. So about 3 times normal and that of course means that they can afford A down payment. So we have existing Canadians who are able to get back in the market driving demand. The next piece of the puzzle are new Canadians. So the wave of immigration, These people have to be housed.

Speaker 3

Now it's critical that we pursue this immigration because the rate of people retiring from the market, Call it baby boomers moving into retirement is quite a bit higher than the rate of young people moving into their working years. So we need to plug that graph as do advanced economies all over the world With immigration and Canada is a leader in attracting economic immigrants Who are able who come to the country and are they have skills or they have capital. And interestingly, At the 7 year mark, new Canadians have a higher level of homeownership than people who were born in Canada. All right. Let's switch gears and talk about the tools and technologies that we use to drive our business.

Speaker 3

The biggest news in technology in Canadian real estate in many years, probably Since our Rollapage business introduced the very first website to Canada, the very first Real Estate Portal back in 1995, that's rolopage. Ca, was the introduction of RLP Sphere, which is a cloud based AI driven end to end digital architecture. It's a platform For managing real estate, we introduced this in 2020 and it has made a huge difference in the way our realtors practice. Essentially, what it allows people to do to use a Customized CRM to manage their relationship with prospects and existing clients. So if you look at this chart, the you'll see 2020, 2021, 2022, contacts, calls even we're just going to bounce back for a second here.

Speaker 3

Yes. The and you'll see in the calls, texts and emails line in particular that first blue circle that we have moved from $2,300,000 to $11,000,000 to $22,000,000 As our sales force across the country has adopted this. And this is despite the fact That the market was down by 40%. There was 40 fewer contacts. People are using the Auto the auto drive AI driven models to reach out to their clients at the appropriate time.

Speaker 3

And even though the market was down 40%, you can see A very similar level of formal leads driven into them, 112,000 versus 119,000 in 2021. On rolopage. Ca, this is Canada's and has been Since 1995, the most visited, the most popular real estate company website, 127,000,000 views last year, 37% and are the 2nd largest real estate company website, driving approximately a quarter of a 1000000 leads into our agents across the country, which is One of the most powerful tools that we have. I mentioned at the outset a new feature of Royal LePage. Ca.

Speaker 3

We call it Quick Quote. It is an automated valuation method, a way for Consumers, Canadian consumers to understand what the value of a home is before it goes on sale. So traditionally, real estate websites like realtor. Ca or our rolopage. Ca are a place where sellers go to find homes for sorry, where buyers go To find homes for sale, it's a place you go to shop homes.

Speaker 3

We call it buyer aggregation. What we intended to do For the ABM is to aggregate sellers, to bring people who have not let list of their home to the website, to give them Advice and counsel before they were ready to talk to a real estate agent and then we take these leads And they're put through our Smart Leads program into our frontline practitioners. So it allows people to get an estimate on the value of their personal home, their neighbor's home, any property in Canada. All right. To wrap things up, I did want to talk on our ESG, our environmental, social and governance initiatives.

Speaker 3

The company Has a number of initiatives that are focused on Aligning with our core values, we published, which you can find on bridgemark.com, A comprehensive ESG report, which covers all the various elements Of our corporate philanthropic efforts, our efforts on the environmental front and how we properly govern the business. If you look here, you can see some of the initiatives that we have taken under each of the ES and G highlights that have allowed us to move the industry forward and align our business and all our stakeholders with being An appropriate corporate citizen. And the most important of which and which we're extremely proud of It is our charitable foundation, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. It is the largest Foundation, largest public foundation in Canada focused on eradicating violence in our communities and supporting the women and children who fall victim to it. It is our 25th anniversary of the foundation.

Speaker 3

This year, we've raised some $41,000,000 since inception. And even in a down market in 2022, we were able to raise $3,250,000 For women's shelters across Canada and many policy programs to help eradicate So to sum up, Bridgemark Real Estate Services, we feel is A compelling investment, has a strong track record of producing attractive annual dividends, Produces financial stability and liquidity, a strong neck Premium Realtors that has continued to grow even through market downturns, secured by Industry leading long term franchise agreements. We operate through 2 markets through iconic brands and All of this together is a proven successful growth strategy. So with that, I'll wrap things up and we'll be pleased to take Your questions.

Speaker 1

Thanks very much, Phil. I'd like to now open the proceedings to questions or comments concerning the corporation or its operations. Glenn, do we have any questions from shareholders or guests at this time?

Speaker 2

Mr. Chairman, there are no questions from shareholders or guests.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Glenn. Well, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of my colleagues, I would like

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