Anywhere is back in the black after 2 quarters of steep losses
While down year-over-year, revenue and income were up over the previous quarter, but the company missed expectations on earnings per share.
After a rocky couple of quarters in late 2022 and early 2023, industry giant Anywhere Real Estate appears to be turning a corner.
In its second quarter earnings report released today, Anywhere missed analyst expectations for earnings per share but beat expectations for revenue, which declined 22% from last year but was up over Q1. In each of the previous two quarters, revenue had dipped by more than 30% year-over-year.
Anywhere's net income was down significantly compared to the same quarter last year, but the company managed to stay in the black — an improvement after two consecutive quarters of steep losses.
Consistent with many other real estate brokerage companies, Anywhere saw transaction volume fall, but the company said it expects to see improvements in the second half of the year.
The report also noted Anywhere was on track to realize cost savings of $200 million for the year, a goal first announced when the company reported losses of nearly half a billion dollars in Q4 2022.
In the earnings presentation, Anywhere said it had implemented operational changes to improve efficiency and lower costs, and expected 70% of savings for the year to come from "headcount and footprint actions."
Key numbers
Revenue: $1.7 billion for the quarter, off 22% from Q2 2022 but an increase over Q1.
Cash and cash equivalents: Free cash flow of $105 million vs. $70 million over the same quarter last year.
Net income: $19 million, down 78% year-over-year, but an improvement over the company's substantial net loss of $138 million in Q1.
Operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization): $126 million, down 38% year-over-year.
Transactions: Closed sides were down by just over 20% compared to Q2 2022 for both Anywhere Brands and Anywhere Advisors, the company's owned brokerage arm.
What Anywhere had to say
"In the midst of a challenging housing market, we delivered results in line with our expectations and continue to invest to set Anywhere up for an even stronger future," Anywhere President and CEO Ryan Schneider said in a statement.
"We are accelerating our strategy, which includes growing our high-margin franchise business, expanding our luxury leadership, simplifying and integrating the consumer transaction experience, and further transforming our cost base as we position Anywhere to lead real estate to what's next," Schneider added.
The company's chief financial officer, Charlotte Simonelli, referred to the Q2 results as "impressive" and noted that the company is focused on "driving meaningful cost savings, making progress on our agent commission costs, and opportunistically reducing our debt."
Notable moves
In conjunction with its Q2 earnings release, Anywhere announced today that it has entered into an exchange agreement with funds managed by Angelo, Gordon & Co., L.P., a transaction intended to lower the company's debt.