Realogy Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results

MADISON, N.J., Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), the largest full-service residential real estate services company in the United States, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

"Realogy had an outstanding 2020, delivering $726 million in Operating EBITDA, $555 million in free cash flow, 13% homesale transaction volume growth, and substantial capital structure improvements," said Ryan Schneider, Realogy's chief executive officer and president. "In an extraordinary year, we were able to capitalize on the dynamic housing market, accelerate our strategic progress, and capture significant incremental transaction economics. With our strategic success and strong momentum, we believe Realogy is well-positioned to lead into the future. 2021 is off to a very strong start, and we are excited as we look ahead."

"2020 was a year of tremendous operational and financial execution for Realogy," said Charlotte Simonelli, Realogy's executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer. "In the year we delivered top-line growth, cost efficiencies, impressive profitability, and greater simplification while continuing to invest in the business. We seized market opportunities to improve our capital structure, including significantly reducing net debt and net leverage, which further strengthened Realogy's financial profile."

Fourth Quarter 2020 Highlights

• Generated revenue of $1.9 billion, an increase of 36% or $497 million year-over-year.
• Reported Net income of $18 million and basic earnings per share of $0.16, an increase of $63 million vs. prior year or $0.55 per share.
• Generated Operating EBITDA of $206 million, an increase of $80 million year-over-year, driven by higher transaction volume, strong performance at our mortgage JV, and ongoing cost management (See Table 5a).
• Title and mortgage continued to contribute meaningfully to our business results, generating approximately $58 million in fourth quarter Operating EBITDA (See Table 5a).
• Combined closed transaction volume increased 45% year-over-year in the fourth quarter driving market share gains for the second consecutive quarter.
• Generated Free Cash Flow of $268 million vs. $77 million for the corresponding quarter last year (See Table 7).

Full Year 2020 Highlights

• Generated revenue of $6.2 billion, an increase of 6% or $351 million year-over-year.
• Reported Net loss of $360 million and net loss per share of $3.13 includes non-cash impairment charges of $682 million largely attributable to the COVID-19 crisis.
• Generated Operating EBITDA of $726 million, an increase of $136 million year-over-year, driven by higher transaction volume, strong performance at our mortgage JV, and strong cost management both temporary and permanent (See Table 5b).
• Title and mortgage continued to contribute meaningfully to our business results, generating approximately $226 million in Operating EBITDA (See Table 5b).
• Increased combined closed transaction volume 13% year-over-year with improvement across both Brokerage and Franchise businesses and held market share steady in 2020 vs. 2019.
• Generated Free Cash Flow of $555 million, up $329 million vs. last year (See Table 7).
• Strengthened the balance sheet reducing net debt by $493 million from December 31, 2019 with the Net Debt Leverage Ratio declining to 3.4x (See Table 8b) and senior secured leverage ratio of 1.70x (See Table 8a).
• Grew Brokerage agents 2% year-over-year and had continued improving retention.

Q4 and Full Year 2020 Financial Highlights

The following tables set forth Realogy's financial highlights for the periods presented (in millions, except per share data) (unaudited):

The results of Cartus Relocation Services have been reclassified from discontinued operations to continuing operations within Realogy Franchise Group for all periods presented.

Balance Sheet and Capital Allocation

The Company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $520 million*. Total corporate debt, including the short-term portion, net of cash and cash equivalents (net corporate debt), totaled $2.8 billion at December 31, 2020.  The Company's Net Debt Leverage Ratio was 3.4x at December 31, 2020 (see Table 8b).

In January and February 2021, the Company issued $900 million 5.75% Senior Notes due 2029. The Company used $250 million of the proceeds from these issuances to repay a portion of outstanding borrowings under the Term Loan A Facility and $655 million of the remaining proceeds to repay a portion of outstanding borrowings under the Term Loan B Facility.  Furthermore, in January 2021, the Company entered into amendments to the Senior Secured Credit Agreement and Term Loan A Agreement, which, among other things, (i) provide for the extension of the maturity of a portion of the commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility and a portion of the outstanding loans under the Term Loan A facility from 2023 to 2025, subject to certain earlier springing maturity dates, (ii) lowered the required senior secured leverage ratio level under the Senior Secured Credit Agreement and Term Loan A Agreement, including a requirement that the senior secured leverage not exceed 5.25 to 1.00 for the trailing twelve-month period ended December 31, 2020, and (iii) provided for an amortization schedule applicable to the portion of the Term Loan A Facility that was extended pursuant to the amendments (with no amortization payments required on the portion of the Term Loan A Facility that was not extended).

A consolidated balance sheet is included as Table 2 of this press release.

Investor Conference Call

Today, February 23, at 8:30 a.m. (ET), Realogy will hold a conference call via webcast to review its full year 2020 results and provide a business update. The webcast will be hosted by Ryan Schneider, chief executive officer and president, and Charlotte Simonelli, chief financial officer, and will conclude with an investor Q&A period with management.

Investors may access the conference call live via webcast at ir.realogy.com or by dialing (833) 646-0499 (toll free); international participants should dial (918) 922-3007. Please dial in at least 5 to 10 minutes prior to start time. A webcast replay also will be available on the website.

About Realogy Holdings Corp.

Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY) is the leading and most integrated provider of U.S. residential real estate services, encompassing franchise, brokerage, relocation, and title and settlement businesses as well as a mortgage joint venture.  Realogy's diverse brand portfolio includes some of the most recognized names in real estate: Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, Corcoran®, ERA®, and Sotheby's International Realty®. Using innovative technology, data and marketing products, high-quality lead generation programs, and best-in-class learning and support services, Realogy fuels the productivity of independent sales agents, helping them build stronger businesses and best serve today's consumers. Realogy's affiliated brokerages operate around the world with approximately 190,700 independent sales agents in the United States and nearly 130,000 independent sales agents in 115 other countries and territories. Recognized for ten consecutive years as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies, Realogy has also been designated a Great Place to Work three years in a row and one of Forbes' Best Employers for Diversity. Realogy is headquartered in Madison, New Jersey.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Realogy Holdings Corp. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "projects", "estimates", "potential" and "plans" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. Any statements that refer to expectations or other characterizations of future events, circumstances or results are forward-looking statements.

The following include some, but not all, of the factors that could affect our future results and cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements: adverse developments or the absence of sustained improvement in the U.S. residential real estate markets, either regionally or nationally, which could include, but are not limited to: meaningful decreases in the average broker commission rate, continued or accelerated declines in inventory, increases in mortgage rates, and other factors that impact homesale transaction volume, including a reduction in housing affordability, a decline or lack of improvement in the number of homesales, stagnant or declining home prices, and changes in consumer preferences, including weakening in the consumer trends that benefited us in the second half of 2020; adverse developments or the absence of sustained improvement in macroeconomic conditions (such as business, economic or political conditions) on a global, domestic or local basis, which could include, but are not limited to intensifying or continued economic contraction in the U.S. economy, including the impact of recessions, slow economic growth, or a deterioration in other economic factors (including potential consumer, business or governmental defaults or delinquencies due to the COVID-19 crisis or otherwise) and fiscal and monetary policies of the federal government and its agencies, particularly those that may result in unfavorable changes to the interest rate environment; adverse impacts from the COVID-19 crisis, including amplification of risks to our business and worsening economic consequences of the crisis or the reinstatement of significant limitations on normal business operations; our ability to execute our business strategy and achieve growth, including our efforts to: recruit and retain productive independent sales agents, attract and retain franchisees or renew existing franchise agreements without reducing contractual royalty rates or increasing the amount and prevalence of sales incentives, alleviate or control the erosion of our share of the commission income generated by homesale transactions or compete for real estate services business, develop or procure products, services and technology that supports our strategic initiatives, realize the expected benefits from our mortgage origination joint venture or from other existing or future strategic partnerships, achieve or maintain a beneficial cost structure or savings and other benefits from our cost-saving initiatives, generate a meaningful number of high-quality leads for independent sales agents and franchisees, complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into our existing operations, or to complete or effectively manage divestitures or other corporate transactions; our geographic and high-end market concentration; the operating results of affiliated franchisees; continued consolidation among our top 250 franchisees; negligence or intentional actions of affiliated franchisees and their independent sales agents or independent sales agents engaged by our company owned brokerages; difficulties in the business or changes in the licensing strategy of the owners of the two brands we do not own; the loss of our largest real estate benefit program client or multiple significant relocation clients; continued reductions in corporate relocations or relocation benefits; the failure of third-party vendors or partners to perform as expected or our failure to adequately monitor such third-parties; interruptions in information technology used to operate our business and maintain our competitiveness; increases in mortgage rates, tightened mortgage underwriting standards or reductions in refinancing activity; actions taken by listing aggregators to monetize their concentration and market power; industry structure changes (as a result of new laws, regulations or administrative policies, the rules of multiple listing services, or otherwise) that disrupt the functioning of the residential real estate market; adverse effects on our operations or liquidity due to our indebtedness, including with respect to: interest obligations and the negative covenant restrictions contained in our debt agreements, our ability to fund our operations, invest in our business or pursue growth opportunities, react to changes in the economy or our industry, or incur additional borrowings under our existing facilities, an event of default under our debt agreements, or our ability to refinance or repay our indebtedness or incur additional indebtedness; our failure or alleged failure to comply with laws, regulations and regulatory interpretations and any changes or stricter interpretations of any of the foregoing (whether through private litigation or governmental action), including but not limited to: (1) state or federal employment laws or regulations that would require reclassification of independent contractor sales agents to employee status, (2) privacy or data security laws and regulations, (3) the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") or other federal or state consumer protection or similar laws, and (4) antitrust laws and regulations; significant claims relating to operations, and losses resulting from fraud, defalcation or misconduct; the weakening or unavailability of our intellectual property rights; cybersecurity incidents; impairment of our goodwill and other long-lived assets; failure of banks to honor our escrow and trust deposits; and severe weather events or natural disasters, including increasing severity or frequency of such events due to climate change or otherwise, or other catastrophic events, including public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics. Consideration should be given to the areas of risk described above, as well as those risks set forth under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and our other filings made from time to time, in connection with considering any forward-looking statements that may be made by us and our businesses generally. We undertake no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules. As required by SEC rules, important information regarding such measures is contained in the Tables attached to this release. See Tables 1a, 8a and 9 for definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures and Tables 1a, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7, 8a and 8b for reconciliations of the historical non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP terms.

The following table reflects Revenue, Operating EBITDA and Operating EBITDA margin by reportable segments:

The following table reflects Realogy Franchise and Brokerage Groups' results before the intercompany royalties and marketing fees, as well as on a combined basis to show the Operating EBITDA contribution of these business units to the overall Operating EBITDA of the Company:

The following table reflects Revenue, Operating EBITDA and Operating EBITDA margin by reportable segments:

The following table reflects Realogy Franchise and Brokerage Groups' results before the intercompany royalties and marketing fees, as well as on a combined basis to show the Operating EBITDA contribution of these business units to the overall Operating EBITDA of the Company:

A reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to Free Cash Flow is set forth in the following table:

Table 9

Non-GAAP Definitions

Adjusted net income (loss) is defined by us as net income (loss) before mark-to-market interest rate swap adjustments, former parent legacy items, restructuring charges, the (gain) loss on the early extinguishment of debt, impairments, the tax effect of the foregoing adjustments.  The gross amounts for these items as well as the adjustment for income taxes are presented.

Operating EBITDA is defined by us as net income (loss) before depreciation and amortization, interest expense, net (other than relocation services interest for securitization assets and securitization obligations), income taxes, and other items that are not core to the operating activities of the Company such as restructuring charges, former parent legacy items, gains or losses on the early extinguishment of debt, impairments, gains or losses on discontinued operations and gains or losses on the sale of investments or other assets.  Operating EBITDA is our primary non-GAAP measure.

We present Operating EBITDA because we believe it is useful as a supplemental measure in evaluating the performance of our operating businesses and provides greater transparency into our results of operations.  Our management, including our chief operating decision maker, uses Operating EBITDA as a factor in evaluating the performance of our business.  Operating EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other statement of operations data prepared in accordance with GAAP.

We believe Operating EBITDA facilitates company-to-company operating performance comparisons by backing out potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting net interest expense), taxation, the age and book depreciation of facilities (affecting relative depreciation expense) and the amortization of intangibles, as well as other items that are not core to the operating activities of the Company such as restructuring charges, gains or losses on the early extinguishment of debt, former parent legacy items, impairments, gains or losses on discontinued operations and gains or losses on the sale of investments or other assets, which may vary for different companies for reasons unrelated to operating performance.  We further believe that Operating EBITDA is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in their evaluation of companies, many of which present an Operating EBITDA measure when reporting their results.

Operating EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider Operating EBITDA either in isolation or as a substitute for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP.  Some of these limitations are:

• this measure does not reflect changes in, or cash required for, our working capital needs;
• this measure does not reflect our interest expense (except for interest related to our securitization obligations), or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt;
• this measure does not reflect our income tax expense or the cash requirements to pay our taxes;
• this measure does not reflect historical cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often require replacement in the future, and this measure does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements; and
• other companies may calculate this measure differently so they may not be comparable.

Free Cash Flow is defined as net income (loss) attributable to Realogy before income tax expense (benefit), net of payments, interest expense, net, cash interest payments, depreciation and amortization, capital expenditures, restructuring costs and former parent legacy costs (benefits), net of payments, impairments, (gain) loss on the early extinguishment of debt, working capital adjustments and relocation receivables (assets), net of change in securitization obligations.  We use Free Cash Flow in our internal evaluation of operating effectiveness and decisions regarding the allocation of resources, as well as measuring the Company's ability to generate cash.  Since Free Cash Flow can be viewed as both a performance measure and a cash flow measure, the Company has provided a reconciliation to both net income attributable to Realogy Holdings and net cash provided by operating activities.  Free Cash Flow is not defined by GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income (loss), net cash provided by (used in) operating, investing and financing activities or other financial data prepared in accordance with GAAP or as an indicator of the Company's operating performance or liquidity.  Free Cash Flow may differ from similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

SOURCE Realogy Holdings Corp.

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