So, we feel — and that’s why there’s a range in our revenue forecast because it’s all about — it’s either wins that we already have signed a contract or we’ve gotten a verbal commitment that are in those numbers, largely that are in those numbers. And as we ramp throughout the year, we would expect that revenue to grow and our EBITDA to grow. So, I think I would look to — and Michelle, correct me if I’m wrong, first quarter, I think, because of March will be a tough comp from a revenue side, but we’ll be pretty close to revenue — service revenue last year. EBITDA will be better in the first quarter than last year, and we would expect our EBITDA and revenue to grow as the year progresses as we ramp these customers that we’ve already won and where we’ve gotten a verbal commitment.
Raj Sharma: Great. Thank you for answering the questions. I’ll take it offline. Thanks.
Bill Shepro: Great. Thanks Raj.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Mike Grondahl with Northland. Your line is open.
Mike Grondahl: Hey Bill, good morning. How would you describe your outlook for Hubzu inventory over the course of 2024?
Bill Shepro: And Michelle, you can jump in as well. So, I think, Mike, we’re being very — we’re trying to be conservative on Hubzu inventory. So, I think we’re focusing a lot on what we can control. And what we can control around a lot of these sales wins and the earlier stage of foreclosure starts, we’re making really, really good progress. And we think that’s going to drive pretty significant revenue and EBITDA growth. We’re being more cautious on Hubzu because until we actually see that conversion rate from a foreclosure start all the way to the end, getting back to sort of the pre-pandemic levels, we want to be more modest in our projections. Michelle, I don’t have the inventory in front of me projection. But I think it’s a very modest growth in inventory, Mike, as my recollection.
Mike Grondahl: Got it. And Slide 9 lays out a bunch of wins in a dollar amount. But as it’s been for a while, revenue from those wins really lag, is 2024 and 2025 kind of the years that the growth in revenue catches up to those strong sales wins? How do we just think about that conversion?
Bill Shepro: Yes. So, the bottom-line, it just takes time from when you win to when you ramp. Of course, things can happen and customers could go out of business, they could increase market share, decrease market share. So, a lot could happen with these wins, and we sort of leave it as a static. But there’s a — in the $58.4 million, Mike, there’s a couple of larger wins. This new REO renovation business we won, that’s got massive potential for us, and we haven’t launched it yet. So, that’s going to launch, we think we’re going to get our first referrals hopefully in the next week or two and that’s got the potential to become very, very significant from a revenue perspective. We launched a new construction lending program in our Granite business.
That’s been ramping as the year progressed last year, but we’re nowhere near to stabilize from a revenue perspective. Michelle, help me out here — our REO win that we got our first referral, I think, in September, we issued a press release around that win. I mean it takes — we’re getting an attractive number of referrals. It takes time for those referrals ultimately to get to an REO sale and generate revenue. But it’s ramping quite nicely. And as we planned, we would — we are expecting as the year progresses to get more market share from that customer as well. So, the bottom-line, Mike, is it just takes time from these wins to actually generating revenue and earnings. But they’re very — they’re household names. They’re very attractive wins and we believe the margins are strong in those — in that — associated with that revenue and we’re going to continue to ramp it this year and next.
Mike Grondahl: Got it. Got it. And then lastly, any milestones related to the debt this year to remind us about? Or not that any amounts do or anything, but just like any milestones you need to reach during 2024 for the debt?
Bill Shepro: Yes. No, look, I think we’ve made really strong progress in a very, very tough environment, as I talked about in the prepared remarks, you had both the pandemic impact to the default market and the higher interest rates impacting the origination market a bit of a perfect storm. And even during this difficult time. we’ve improved our EBITDA over the last couple of years by over $30 million and we’re forecasting $21 million, $22 million improvement this year. So, I think we’re going in the right direction in terms of getting back to strong margins, strong EBITDA the costs are in line. And as we continue to make progress in our growth, our plans are to ultimately refinance the debt. So, right now, we’ve got time. The debt matures in April 2025, but we have an automatic right subject to some conditions around an extension fee and complying with reps and warrants another year.
And so we feel good about our position. We got to continue to grow our adjusted EBITDA and put the company in a position to refi the debt and hopefully reduce our interest expense.
