First National Financial Corporation (FN-PA.TO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the First National Financial Corporation Annual Meeting 2021 conference call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand today's conference over to your speaker, Stephen Smith. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to First National Financial Corporation's 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'm Stephen Smith, Co-Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and I will chair today's proceedings, which I call to order. Moray Tawse, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President; and Rob Inglis, our Chief Financial Officer, are participating from their home offices; as is Hilda Wong, our Senior Vice President and General Counsel. This year, as in 2020, we are holding this meeting in a virtual-only format via this online webcast. This is both necessary and appropriate given the pandemic and provides a convenient and safe way for you to participate in the proceedings. Our agenda is short, but covers all the key items of business that would normally come before a meeting like this. We appreciate the time you are taking to participate. I will act as chairperson of the meeting. And in the event of a technical malfunction, Rob Inglis will step in and assume the role of chair. I've asked Hilda Wong to act as secretary of the meeting, and Joseph Chirico of Computershare Investor Services, Inc. to act as scrutineer. I've been advised by Moray Tawse and Rob Inglis that they are prepared to second each of the motions to be brought forward today as outlined in the management information circular. Accordingly, unless there are any objections, I will consider such motion seconded. Before we begin, I will provide a few business level observations with the usual caution about forward-looking statements. First National is an essential service, and therefore, has remained active during this difficult time. To protect our employees, we have implemented our business continuity plan last March, with close to 100% of our team relocating to home offices where they continue to work today. Working from home has been tough on them and their families given the disruption of daily routines, but also because of strong growth in originations and requests for customer support. In the face of these extraordinary circumstances, I can't thank our employees enough for achieving outstanding productivity. Their dedication is inspiring. First National entered what the International Monetary Fund called the great lockdown with a strong foundation. As record 2020 results attest, we took advantage of that foundation, which includes our technology and non-bank business model. We are fortunate to count our proprietary MERLIN underwriting system among First National's structural advances as it eliminates the need for face-to-face interactions. MERLIN is well-suited for this area of physical distancing and for the future where more and more business will be conducted using technology. Overall, the company's business practices resonated with mortgage brokers and borrowers alike. 2020 featured record mortgages under administration, record revenue and record earnings, which supported growth in our common share dividend. Combined with share price appreciation, total return to IPO investors -- and you recall, our IPO was in June 2006, stood at 573% as of December 31. Throughout 2020, we continue to renew mortgages and to lend on an insured and conventional basis. Both our single-family and commercial segments delivered strong growth with total originations, including renewals, amounting to $36.9 billion. The biggest challenge to our business last year was providing mortgage payment deferrals to those borrowers in need. From an accounting perspective, deferred mortgages ceased to amortize interest, otherwise payable is capitalized to the principal such that these mortgage balances increased. This represented only a modest increase in risk, but made a significant difference to borrowers who needed their support -- who needed our support. I'm pleased to say that by year-end, virtually no borrowers remained on deferral. We announced Q1 2021 results on April 27. Mortgages under administration increased again as the quarterly earnings as the conditions that defined the last 9 months of 2020 continue to support First National's business. As a result of strong earnings, a low payout ratio and our outlook for 2021, our Board voted to increase our common share dividend again this year, taking it to an annual rise rate of $2.35, up $0.25 per share. This is the 15th straight year of rising common share dividend payments. Looking ahead, we are positive about the remainder of 2021. With vaccinations ramping up, COVID-19 will slowly diminish. Despite the length of this transition, First National is set up to execute its business plan. While the market is likely to become more competitive and wider mortgage spreads that arose in 2020 will probably return to normal, First National has strength of scale and a resilient business model that is proven to be successful in all parts of the business cycle. We all look forward to the return of a healthier world. Before moving to the agenda, I would like to thank our Board members for their counsel; the senior team of First National for their leadership; and our customers, partners and fellow shareholders for your confidence and trust in our institution. Now to the business at hand. The notice of this Annual Meeting of Shareholders was mailed on March 31, 2021 to all shareholders of record on March 19, 2021. The matters to be considered at today's meeting are set out in the notice dated March 25, 2021. Proof of mailing of the notice calling the meeting and the accompanying form of proxy, information circular, financial statements and the auditor's report have been duly filed. And I direct that a copy of the notice with proof of mailing to be kept by the secretary with the record of this meeting. Our transfer agent, Computershare, has attested to the proper mailing of the notice calling this meeting. Accordingly, I will dispense with the reading of the notice of the meeting. I've been informed by the scrutineer that a quorum is present. I direct that a copy of the scrutineers' final report be annexed to the minutes of this meeting. Turning to the voting procedure on the Computershare platform. Questions or comments regarding procedural matters or the items of business can be submitted by any registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder using the Instant Messaging Service on the virtual interface. Questions and comments would generally appear for all attendees, together with the legal name of the registered shareholder or proxy holder of record that submitted the question or comment shortly after they are submitted, provided that questions not related to procedural matters will only be addressed during the question period at the end of the meeting. Questions or comments containing inappropriate language, profanities, hostilities or that are otherwise disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be published or answered. Questions or comments which were already answered or that are redundant will not be published or answered. Each holder of a common share of the corporation is entitled to 1 vote for each common share held by him or her in respect of each matter to be dealt with at the meeting. Voting on the applicable items of business to come before today's meeting will be conducted by a single electronic ballot. Registered shareholders or proxy holders of record will complete their ballot to vote on each item of business after the presentation of all such matters. When you are asked to complete your ballot, you'll receive a message on the virtual interface requesting you to submit your vote as it pertains to each item of business. You will have approximately 1 minute to do so. Once the balloting closes, the scrutineer will tabulate the results of the vote for each matter. I now declare that this meeting was properly called and duly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item of business is to receive the audited consolidated financial statements for the financial period ended December 31, 2020. Consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report were mailed to shareholders who requested copies. The financial statements are presented to the meeting, but no other action is required. Therefore, I will dismiss with the reading of the financial statements with -- and auditor's report. There will be a full question-and-answer period following the business of the meeting. The next item of business is the election of Directors. I move to formally nominate the people in this information circular for election as Directors. The proposed nominees are Stephen Smith, Moray Tawse, John Brough, Duncan Jackman, Robert Mitchell, Barbara Palk and Robert Pearce. If there are any further nominations, please submit the nomination through the Instant Messaging Service on the virtual interface. If there are no further nominations, I move that the nominations be closed and take such motion as seconded by Moray Tawse. The nominations are now closed. The motion is now open for discussion. If you are a registered shareholder on the proxy or proxy holder of record and would like to make a comment, please submit the comment by using Instant Messaging Service on the virtual interface. You have heard the motion, and you will be prompted to complete your ballot for or in respect of any individual nominee as indicated on the electronic ballots shortly. The next and last item of business is the appointment of the auditors of the corporation. I move that Ernst & Young LLP, they be appointed auditors of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders and that the Directors of the corporation be authorized to fix their remuneration and take such motion as seconded by Moray Tawse. The motion is now open for discussion. If you are a registered shareholder or a proxy holder of record and would like to make a comment, please submit the comment by using Instant Messaging Service on the virtual interface. You have heard the motions, and you will now be prompted to complete your single electronic ballot and vote in respect of each of today's resolutions on the virtual interface. Please register your vote in respect of each of the resolutions by pressing the For or Withhold buttons next to the name of each individual Director nominees -- each individual Director nominee. And next to the resolution appointing Ernst & Young LLP as auditors of the corporation. Once the electronic balloting closes, the Voting page will be -- will disappear, and your ballots will be automatically submitted. We will wait a few moments for the completion of the electronic ballots and then move on with the remainder of the meeting. We provide registered holders and duly appointed proxy holders approximately 1 minute to complete the electronic ballot. Once voting is completed, I would ask the Scrutineer to compile the report regarding the results of the voting on all business matters. We will reconvene in a few minutes with the scrutineer's report and voting results. I will now be pausing for a minute or 2. [Voting]

Based on the votes received prior to this meeting, I confirm that all resolutions were carried as follows: One, each of the Director nominees listed in the information circular have been elected as Directors of the corporation; and two, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the auditors of the corporation has been approved, and the Board of Directors has been authorized to fix their remuneration. The final voting results will be available in SEDAR. The formal items of business as set out in the information circular have now been dealt with. As there is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare the formal part of the meeting to be concluded. At this point, we would be happy to answer a few questions from registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders. For each question we answer, we will summarize the question and read aloud the name of the person who asks that question. And if applicable, the entity such person represents. We would like to remind you that questions which were already answered or that are redundant or repetitive will not be published or answered. Please limit your questions to topics relating to today's subject matter and keep your questions short and to the point. We will now give attendees a brief moment to type in their questions. There being no questions, we are now concluding the question-and-answer portion of the meeting. This meeting has now ended. Thank you very much for participating.