FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ:FSV) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Daryl Young: That’s great color. And then on the residential property management side, we’ve seen a number of third-party technology platforms that have kind of popped up in the last few years and looking at helping HOAs and residents self-managed communities and record-keeping and amenity booking and all that. Are you seeing any sort of competitive risks related to that? I know you invest a lot in your own tech stack. But just any color you can give us there in terms of ability to keep winning market share on the resi side and any potential disruption?

Scott Patterson: Yes. I mean a lot of that technology would relate to smaller communities, where they — technology and the Board may be able to manage it themselves. You did mention self-management. So I think that’s what you’re speaking to. Our sweet spot is really the larger communities, the more complex communities, High-Rise, Lifestyle, where there’s large numbers of sited staff. Technology certainly matters. And as you suggest, we continue to invest in ours, but it’s more about the day-to-day delivery of service from your teams.

Daryl Young: Got it. Okay. That’s it from me. I’ll jump back in the queue. Thanks, guys.

Operator: Thank you. And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Frederic Bastien from Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Frederic Bastien: Hi. Good afternoon, guys. I just wanted to dig a little further on the M&A side. Scott, on the brand side, you’ve been pretty vocal about adding services like roofing, insulation and asbestos removal. Obviously, you took care of the roofing part with RCA, but I was wondering what are your views right now on the other two business lines that you were calling out in prior quarters?

Scott Patterson: Frederic, I mean nothing close, but I think we’re always going to be keeping our eyes out for adjacencies. And again, it’s around this maintenance, repair, restoration space. You know what? When we service a large loss, commercial large loss what other opportunities are there. And what are we walking away from, how can we deliver a better service to the customer, which is really what led us to roofing and to comment on some of the other things that you’ve mentioned. Nothing close though.

Frederic Bastien: Okay. And then this was, I guess, discussed a little earlier on. But presumably, the RCA acquisition came in with a laundry list of potential targets. And is that what is giving you the confidence that you might be able to bring in a couple more tuck-ins on that side?

Scott Patterson: Yes. I don’t know if it’s a laundry list, but there’s certainly a pipeline. And over the last few years, we’ve had many conversations and so sort of combining those efforts will create some opportunity this year, but it’s — we also are going to be very careful and focused on fit and strategy. But this roofing is a consolidating industry, and it’s happening quickly. So we need to be there.

Frederic Bastien: Great. That’s all I have. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And we have a follow-up question, one moment. And our follow-up question comes from Tom Callaghan from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Tom Callaghan: Hey. Good morning, guys. Maybe just on the residential side. In terms of the building blocks for 2024, can you just talk kind of about pricing and what you’re seeing there? I know through the year in ’23. Obviously, renewals were running kind of stronger than historical, but maybe what’s kind of embedded in your outlook into ’24 there?

Jeremy Rakusin: Tom, we’ve been running at 3%, and that contributed to the strong organic growth in the 10% range these past few quarters. Heading into ’24 and then built into I think in Scott’s comments, about us settling back to a mid-single-digit range is moving back down to the longer-term and typical pricing dynamic in this industry, which is 1% to 2%. So we’re incrementally as we renew contracts throughout the year, we’re kind of starting to see that type of pricing dynamic settle back in there. And it makes sense, wage inflation is coming down and it’s a price-competitive industry, and we’ve always said that. So that’s the look forward.

Tom Callaghan: Got it. Thanks for that. And then just maybe one more. And I know you guys kind of have touched upon it here in your prepared remarks. But just given kind of the macro headwinds and obviously leads being down in the home improvement side of things, but obviously, still showing gains. How are you kind of thinking about that volume/market share versus kind of the price promotion trade-off and kind of the impact or related impact on margins there? As we kind of move forward into ’24?

Scott Patterson: Yes. It’s definitely a balance that we’re working through. It’s a growth-oriented group and it’s a time, when we can, in some respects, take advantage of the market and gain share, but we want to balance it with margins. So we’re looking to this year not go backwards on margins certainly and looking to increase it from what we experienced in 2023.

Tom Callaghan: Okay. Great. appreciate the color, guys. I’ll turn back. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. And one moment for our next follow-up question. And our follow-up question comes from Daryl Young from Stifel. Your line is now open.

Daryl Young: Yeah. Sorry, guys. Just one last one. With respect to the national account strategy and now having sort of fire restoration and roofing all potentially pursuing the same customers. Is there an insurance angle that’s starting to work its way through on the commercial side and opportunities to be a preferred vendor with insurance companies as well or is that still kind of an early days concept?