RISMEDIA, May 14, 2009-Realogy Corporation, a global provider of real estate and relocation services, reported results for the first quarter of 2009. Realogy generated $4 million of cash flow from operations in the first quarter of 2009-a year-over-year improvement of $110 million-and, as of March 31, 2009, had $386 million of readily available cash. The company had first quarter 2009 net revenue of $697 million, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of negative $62 million, and a net loss of $259 million.
Realogy’s EBITDA for the period was negatively affected by $38 million of restructuring and legacy charges. The net loss includes $144 million of interest expense and $51 million of depreciation and amortization expense. “In the first quarter, the seasonally slowest for our industry, our year-over-year revenue declines of $354 million were largely offset by variable and fixed cost savings of $310 million,” said Realogy chief executive officer Richard A. Smith. “In addition to strategically managing our operating costs, we have continued our focus on investing in long-term growth opportunities. Notably, we achieved $101 million of new franchise sales as measured by gross commission income in the first quarter of 2009, which is a 5 percent increase over the same period a year ago.”
In the first quarter, Realogy’s year-over-year home sale transaction sides declined by 15% at the Realogy Franchise Group (RFG) and were down by 12% at NRT, the company’s owned brokerage unit. RFG’s average home sales price decreased 15% and NRT’s average home sale price declined 32% compared to the same period in 2008. Driven largely by an increasing number of REO (real-estate owned) sales throughout our markets, NRT, in particular, experienced a significant shift in homesale transactions, moving from the higher price ranges to the low- and mid-price points of the housing market.
“The housing market is still being substantially impacted by the weak macroeconomic environment,” said Chief Financial Officer Anthony E. Hull. “The high end was particularly hard-hit in the first quarter of 2009 with sales of homes with prices exceeding $750,000 falling about 50 percent year-over-year. In contrast, unit sales declines in the more prevalent middle and lower segments of the market have been trending slightly better than last year.”
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