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AppFolio, Inc. (APPF)

Q4 2021 Earnings Call· Mon, Feb 28, 2022

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to AppFolio Incorporated Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded, and replay information will be given at the end of the broadcast. I would now like to hand the conference over to Lori Barker, Investor Relations.

Lori Barker

Management

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Lori Barker, Investor Relations for AppFolio, and I'd like to thank you for joining us today as we report AppFolio's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 financial results. With me on the call today are Jason Randall, AppFolio's President and CEO; and Fay Sien Goon, AppFolio's Chief Financial Officer. This call is being simultaneously webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.appfolioinc.com. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone of AppFolio's safe harbor policy. Comments made during this conference call and webcast contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Any statement that refers to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events, including financial projections or future market conditions, is a forward-looking statement. AppFolio's actual future results could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements for any reasons, including those listed on our SEC filings. AppFolio assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Please see our filings with the SEC, including our Form 10-K, which was filed earlier today, for greater detail about risks and uncertainties. With that, I will turn the call over to Jason Randall, AppFolio's President and CEO. Jason, please go ahead.

Jason Randall

Management

Thank you, Lori, and welcome to everyone joining us for AppFolio's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 financial results. I'm pleased to report that in the fourth quarter, revenue was up 32% to $95.6 million, capping off a year of 26% revenue growth in our continuing real estate business. Unit expansion per customer shows that our ongoing multiyear strategy and investment in moving upmarket to customers with more complex portfolios and substantial unit count is working. In 2021, we continued our focus on igniting revenue growth by layering in a new organizational strategy structured around our growing customer base. We also increased momentum in our value-added services, especially in payments. For 2022, our team is energized to continue making traction in these areas of ongoing growth. Against that backdrop, I'd like to start today's call with a short discussion about the state of our industry and how AppFolio is helping our customers. Digital transformation is a requirement for many businesses' success today, and the way we work and live requires powerful solutions to enable this transformation. AppFolio exists to maximize the success of businesses small, medium and large across the real estate industry, and we are leading customers to the future of how work is done. This continues to give us purpose as we navigate the world in an industry that is undergoing significant change. Our customers and the real estate industry as a whole are experiencing the impacts of the changing labor market. Turnover has increased, and staffing vacant positions takes more time and resources. In fact, the 2021 survey we conducted in partnership with the National Apartment Association reveal that HR staffing and recruitment is by far the most urgent challenge for property managers, followed by improving operational efficiencies and maximizing revenue and profits. What this means is…

Fay Sien Goon

Management

Thank you, Jason. On the call today, to enhance comparability, I will discuss the results of our continuing real estate business, excluding the impact of our former MyCase business which we divested in the third quarter of 2020. We are pleased with our strong fourth quarter revenue growth rate of 32% year-over-year or $95.6 million. For the full year 2021, revenue from our continuing real estate business grew 26% to $359 million. This increase is primarily due to growth in our usage-based value-added services, which are designed to enhance, automate and streamline processes and workflows that are essential to our customers' businesses. Also, our revenue grew due to increasing unit counts and growth in the number of property management customers we serve. The migration of customers to portfolio Property Manager Plus is an excellent example of our land and expense strategy as we continue to drive increased revenue from existing customers who realize the value in our products. Core solutions revenue, which are revenues derived from subscriptions to customers based on units on our platform, was $29 million in Q4, representing an increase of 26% year-over-year. Full year core solutions revenue from our continuing real estate business grew 22%. At the end of the fourth quarter, we managed 6.35 million property management units compared to 5.36 million a year earlier. This represents an 18% increase in the average annual property management units under management. The growth rate in the number of property management units is a key performance metric that drives how we manage our revenue growth. Residential units continue to be the largest part of our business. Community association has also contributed nicely this year to our unit count. In addition, the number of units we serve, it is important to note that core revenue also grew as we…

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Management