Bridgemarq returns to profitability, but income down 90% from 2022
The Canadian brokerage giant saw a much smaller drop in revenue, and agent count increased slightly.
Canada's biggest brokerage enterprise, Bridgemarq Real Estate Services, posted net income of $1.1 million CDN in the second quarter, a welcome return to positive earnings after suffering a net loss of $4.7 million in the first quarter of the year.
"Results for the second quarter were in line with our expectations — softer than the same period last year … but improved over the last quarter," Bridgemarq President and CEO Phil Soper said in a call with investors this week.
Key numbers
Revenue: $12.8 million vs. $13.8 million CDN in the same period last year. That figure was up from the previous quarter's revenue of $12 million.
Net loss/earnings: $1.1 million CDN net income, down sharply from $11.3 million in Q2 2022 — a decline of more than 90%. This was primarily due to a loss of $0.5 million on fair value of "exchangeable units" compared to a gain of $8.1 million in the same period last year. Exchangeable units are assets that can be traded for shares of stock, and the change in value is directly related to changes in market price of shares.
Cash on hand: $5.2 million CDN.
Agent count: 20,752, up slightly from Q1.
What Bridgemarq had to say
Soper said Bridgemarq's agent count is up 1% year-over-year, and the company's revenue for the second quarter and year-to-date are "in line with historic results and surpass pre-pandemic levels reached in 2019."
"Compared to the second quarter last year, which marked the tail end of the pandemic-fueled real estate boom, total transactional volumes are down slightly," Soper told investors. "However, since the start of 2023, sales volumes and average home prices have been steadily climbing nationally and in the country's three largest urban centers."
He suggested that a turnaround for the market was coming. "We are close to that pivotal point where most people who purchased at the peak of the market in February or March of 2022 would break even if they sold their homes today."