Re/Max reported positive revenue, earnings and agent numbers for the year 2018. The franchise brokerage reported $212.6M in revenue, a year/year increase of 9.8%. Its net income hit $27M. Re/Max doubled its MOTTO Mortgage franchises. And it increased its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.) An EBITDA score is a useful metric to measure a company’s overall profitability or financial performance as an alternative to “net income.”
In 2018, Re/Max exceeded earnings estimates by +4.8% over last year. It increased its net income by +6.3M and its stock earnings were $0.49/share.
According to Adam Contos, Re/Max CEO, the brokerage increased its agent count, MOTTO franchises, revenue EBITDA and free cash flow in the midst of “…double digit reduction in US existing home sales to end the year.”
Contos continued, “We believe the agent-centric Re/Max model is more insulated and resilient than many other (models) in our industry and our expanding MOTTO business provides another organic growth channel during times like these.”
Re/Max now has 124,280 real estate agents worldwide, an increase of +4.4% y/y. There are 84,449 agents in the US and Canada. MOTTO franchises doubled to 78 offices.
Franchise fees and annual dues were Re/Max’s biggest moneymaker by generating 67.4% of the company’s revenue in Q4 2018. Also the franchise growth initiative was reorganized into four regions from ten in order to enhance productivity.
Re/Max looks forward to rolling out its new, branded video tech platform for agents top create their own individualized digital business cards. The brokerage’s partnership with Lovepop supports agents by offering them discounts on these 3-D cards. Agents will create their customized videos in a 4-step process that includes downloading head-shots and contact information, selecting music options, and choosing among 5,000 combinations of 3-D home tours, e-signatures, marketing strategies, etc. to best represent themselves, their expertise and their listings.
Re/Max also looks forward to rolling out end-to-end booj (be original or be jealous) tech products such as websites, mobile apps, predictive analytics and lead generation systems to and for their agents.
Agent forecasts for Q1 2019 call for an increase of 3.5% – 4.5% y/y and revenue to fall between $70M – $73M. Re/Max predicts its agent count to increase between 2% – 4% y/y and revenue to approach $287M – $291M for the full year of 2019.
For more information, go to Inman’s article on Re/Max year-end report
https://www.inman.com/2019/02/21/remax-reports-50-8-m-in-revenue-for-q4-2018/
