Raymond R. Quirk - Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
Management
Thank you, Bill. As Bill mentioned, this was another strong quarter for our title operations, as we generated a 15.8% adjusted pre-tax title margin. Our adjusted pre-tax title earnings of $292 million were a $67 million or 30% increase over the fourth quarter of 2015. For the fourth quarter, total open orders averaged approximately 7,600 per day with October at 8,600, November at 8,000 and December much seasonably lower at 6,400. FNTG purchase orders opened and closed on a daily basis in the fourth quarter increased by 7% and 12%, respectively. The mix of open orders shifted more towards purchase transactions with 53% of open orders being purchase transactions. But the mix of closed orders shifted more towards refinancing with both purchase and refi being 50% of closed orders in the fourth quarter. January total open orders per day were 7,200. While the first two weeks of the year averaged approximately 6,600 open orders per day, the most recent two weeks averaged approximately 7,600 open orders per day. Additionally, FNTG purchase orders opened increased by more than 10% on a daily basis versus 2016. It was a very strong finish for our agency operations. As you may recall, a few years ago, we began to make a concerted effort to increase our agency market share. With a focus on organic growth and signing new quality agents, our agency premiums grew by 17% in the fourth quarter and 15% for all of 2016, both of which were stronger than our direct premium growth. Additionally, in the fourth quarter, $86 million or 12% of our agency premiums were generated by agents signed since January of 2015. Finally, in 2016, our agency market share has grown by nearly 1.5 percentage points through the third quarter. We experienced another strong commercial quarter to end 2016. Total commercial revenue of $285 million was our second highest quarterly figure ever and a 6% decline from the record fourth quarter of 2015, driven by a 4% decrease in closed commercial orders and a 1% decline in the fee per file. National commercial revenue of $167 million declined by 9%, as closed orders declined by 4% and the fee per file also fell by 4%. For full year 2016, total commercial revenue of approximately $973 million declined by 5% from the record 2015 performance. We remain confident that 2017 should be another good year for our commercial operations. The total fee per file of $2,091 decreased by 8% versus the fourth quarter of 2015, as the mix shifted to more refinance closings in the fourth quarter of this year and the commercial fee per file was lower than the prior year. Let me now turn the call over to Tony Park to review the financial highlights.