FOA

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Finance of America first quarter 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance. Michael, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Finance of America's first quarter 2026 earnings call. With me today are Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer; Kristen Sieffert, President; and Matt Engel, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. You can find the earnings release and related presentation on our investor relations website at ir.financeofamericacompanies.com. Also, I would like to remind everyone that comments on this conference call may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and are subject to the safe harbor statement for forward-looking statements that you will find in today's earnings release.

Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of risks or other factors, including those that are described in the Risk Factors section of Finance of America's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2025, filed with the SEC on March 13th, 2026. Such risk factors may be amended and updated in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements if conditions change. Please note, today we will be discussing interim period financials for our continuing operations, which are unaudited. In addition, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call.

You can find reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures to the extent available without unreasonable efforts in our earnings press release and presentation on the investor relations page of our website. Now, I will turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Graham Fleming. Graham?

Thank you, Michael, and good afternoon, everyone. The first quarter of 2026 was an outstanding quarter with operational momentum and originations driving an acceleration of volumes, excellent profitability in our portfolio management segment, and steady improvement in our financial results, liquidity, and capital position. On our call today, I will take you through the highlights, then spend a moment commenting on the market opportunity in reverse mortgages, which we believe is significant. Kristen will dive into our originations performance. Matt will comment on the financials, and then we will take your questions. To start with, if you turn to slide five of the accompanying presentation, Finance of America generated net income of $35 million and adjusted net income of $26 million, or $1.10 per share, up 112% from last year's first quarter results.

This powered a strong increase in tangible equity to $268 million or approximately $15 per share. These results are consistent with the guidance we have issued for 2026, which Matt will update you on in a moment. From a production standpoint, we funded $596 million in the quarter, up 6% year-over-year. As you will recall, we talked about operational enhancements to our platform driving an inflection point in results, and we are starting to see that in the March and April fundings, consistent with the volume guidance we have shared with you. Separately, I'm excited to see us rolling out a new second lien reverse mortgage line of credit, which is a great product to help seniors tap their equity with the timing and amounts that precisely suit their needs.

Regarding the previously announced PHH transaction, the transaction has been modified to close in two distinct phases. The first phase, consisting of the origination, marketing of our products, and sub-servicing components, is expected to close in May. The second phase, which includes the purchase of HECM servicing rights, will follow as we continue to work with our primary regulator, Ginnie Mae, on the related approval. Additional information can be found in today's 8-K filing with the SEC. Before turning the call over to Kristen, I would like to spend a moment on the opportunity in reverse mortgages, which are typically viewed as a niche product in the broader mortgage universe, and in our experience, are not well understood by investors missing the growth potential. If you turn to slide six, let me share with you a snapshot on current industry volumes.

As you can see from the top chart of this slide, government-insured reverse mortgages or HECMs have been running roughly flat for the last three years at approximately $4 billion per year, down significantly from the boom experienced during the pandemic driven by refinance activity. What is noteworthy but is somewhat hard to see given the lack of consistently available industry data is the market expansion related to proprietary products. This is one of the reasons we believe the equity markets have been slow to pick up on the opportunity. These proprietary products significantly expand the market by making reverse mortgages available to borrowers aged 55 and older in certain states, compared to age 62 for government-insured products, and by offering jumbo balances and a range of product structures, including first liens, second liens, and lines of credit.

For example, Finance of America's second lien products can provide a solution for borrowers who want to access home equity while maintaining a low-rate primary mortgage. These products are really important to watch because their increasing origination volumes demonstrate the growing mainstream acceptance of reverse mortgages by American seniors. Finance of America has been the market leader in proprietary reverse products for over a decade. These products have been a significant and accelerating driver of our growth over the last three years as they continue to gain acceptance from our customers and from our investors alike. With this thought in mind, if you will turn to slide seven, I will end my prepared remarks by reminding you that American seniors control a massive amount of home equity, approximately $14.6 trillion. This equity is expected to continue to grow as homes continue to appreciate and as the population ages.

Between 2024 and 2026, census data shows that over 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day. Now these are big numbers, making the addressable market more than 100 times greater than the size of the entire reverse mortgage population outstanding today. And not everyone is going to become a reverse customer. However, as the proprietary product set continues to expand and American seniors turn to home equity for an ever-widening set of use cases, we believe there is a massive multi-year growth opportunity shaping up for Finance of America. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Kristen.

Thanks, Graham, and good afternoon, everyone. Last quarter, I said we were reaching an inflection point in the platform. What we saw in the first quarter reinforces that view, and we can see it clearly in the numbers. Turning to slide eight, overall originations were up 6% year-over-year, and first quarter submissions reached a new high of $918 million, which is up 20% year-over-year. Submissions represent customers who've completed their application and provided all supporting paperwork. They're one of our clearest leading indicators of future funded volume and why we remain confident in our volume guidance. Our volumes reflect a mix of both HECM and proprietary products across first and second liens. I specifically call out our HomeSafe Second, which reached a high watermark in the quarter, increasing 32% year-over-year.

As Graham mentioned, we rolled out a new line of credit option for HomeSafe Second, further expanding the use cases for our customers. Finance of America has long been a leader in proprietary products supported by our understanding of the customer and strong capital markets relationships, which continue to support growth across both our retail and wholesale channels. While HECM is structured to a one-size-fits-all approach, FOA's industry-leading product development and partnerships allow us to better target the various and bespoke needs of our massive customer base, which will lead to continued profitable growth. Turning to slide nine, at the top of the funnel, momentum exiting the quarter was strong. Inquiry volume in March was up 84% versus the 2025 average, while cost per inquiry declined 19%.

Opportunities defined as qualified warm transfers to loan officers also reached a new high in March, up roughly 58% over 2025 levels. Further down the funnel, we're seeing equally strong progress in early conversion. Borrowers opting into our digital prequalification experience more than doubled sequentially, and submissions per loan officer in March reached the highest level in the history of our retail channel, up 47% compared to 2025 levels. These improvements are being driven by the operating model we've been building. HELOCs is our proprietary industry first end-to-end platform that connects how we acquire, evaluate, and move customers through the process with Joy operating as the AI layer across that system. The deployment of AI is helping us in two ways. First, by allowing us to more consistently match customers with the right solution and improve their overall experience.

Second, by improving our top-of-funnel marketing and resulting cost per lead. Incorporating AI across the platform is driving meaningful improvements that will compound as we grow and scale. HELOCs and Joy give us a competitive advantage over peers who rely on vendor systems, and I look forward to updating you on our progress as we build out new capabilities. Stepping back, this is happening in a market that remains significantly under-penetrated. As Graham mentioned, today, there's less than $100 billion of reverse mortgage volume outstanding, compared to an estimated $14.6 trillion of senior home equity. As the category leader with approximately 30% market share, our scale, product breadth, and operating model position us to capture more of this under-penetrated opportunity, supporting better outcomes for customers in retirement and strengthening the durability and scalability of our earnings. With that, I'll turn it over to Matt.

Thank you, Kristen, and good afternoon all. Graham already gave you the headline results, so I'll give you some added color for the quarter, which you can find in today's earnings release and summarized by segment on slide 11. As mentioned, we generated $35 million of net income and $26 million of adjusted net income. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.10 was up 112% year-over-year. Starting with retirement solutions, which represents our originations platform, adjusted net income was $14 million, down from the fourth quarter due to the typical seasonality in originations, but up substantially year-over-year, in fact, up by 56%.

Driving these results was the higher conversion rates Kristen mentioned, as well as improved revenue margins, which increased year-over-year, reflecting the strong execution we are seeing as proprietary production continues to grow. Portfolio management delivered strong results for the quarter, generating $28 million in adjusted net income. Performance was driven primarily by $1.7 billion of securitization activity across both proprietary, reverse, and HECM buyouts. Results benefited from favorable market conditions, including tight spreads and relatively lower interest rates, as well as the timing of execution within the quarter. While timing can vary quarter-to-quarter, our results reflect the strength of our platform and our ability to consistently identify and execute on attractive capital markets opportunities.

Corporate segment adjusted earnings, which reflects overhead and interest expense on our non-funding debt, was materially in line with prior quarters, reflecting reduced non-funding interest expense offset by investments in technology. Overall, these results drove a sequential increase in tangible equity to $268 million or approximately $15 per share. With respect to our evaluation, we believe the growing origination and earnings power that we continue to demonstrate will, over time, warrant a higher multiple on both an earnings and tangible equity basis. Turning to key balance sheet metrics on slide 12, you can see that our cash balances increased from $90 million at the end of 2025 to $108 million at the end of the first quarter, and they're up by 108% year-over-year.

During the quarter, we generated $58 million in cash flow from our originations and capital markets activities and utilized $40 million to complete the repurchase of Blackstone's equity position. At this time, we view our plan to retire the $150 million balance of our senior secured corporate notes later this year as the most prudent use of our liquidity and capital in the near term. This de-leveraging plan will create a very strong balance sheet, which we view as an appropriate foundation for the valuable operating franchise we have built. Having said that, given the strong results we posted this quarter, we also see considerable value in our own shares. We expect to revisit capital allocation priorities as we make progress against the de-leveraging plan. If you turn to slide 13, I'll conclude my prepared remarks by giving you an update on our guidance.

For 2026, we are maintaining our funded volume outlook from $2.8 billion-$3.1 billion. We're also increasing our guidance for full year adjusted earnings per share above our previously stated range to between $4.50 and $5 per share, reflecting the strong first quarter performance and the momentum we are seeing in our business. With that, I'd like to ask the operator to open your call for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Timothy D'Agostino with B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Congrats on the quarter. On origination volume, it sounds like March was a pretty strong month, and I was wondering if you could add some color as to maybe why March was stronger than February and January and if that volume that was seen in March persisted through April and into the beginning of May. Thank you.

Hi, Tim. It's Matt. Yeah, I think a couple things. One, I mentioned there's some normal seasonality, right? Our lead generation capabilities in November and December is always curtailed a little bit just from the holiday periods at the end of November and the end of December, of course, so that will lead naturally to some lower fundings in January and February. As you start to get into the new year and start to crank that engine back up, you start to see a lead flow come in which really starts to kick in in February, March. That's just kind of the normal seasonal stuff. Maybe let Kristen expand on the improved performance we're seeing from that marketing spend as well.

Yeah. I touched on HELOCs, and really what we saw in March was the work that we've been doing actually producing the results that we expected it to starting to come together in March. So, you know, we really started to hit a different speed as it relates to our origination volume in March as a result, and we expect that to continue through the year.

Okay, great. That's, that's super helpful. And then, on the funded volume by product, especially thinking about the first quarter, obviously, it's shifted, more towards that proprietary product. But I guess regarding origination in the first quarter from the HECM product and the proprietary product, was there any, you know, changes in demand or any color you can provide on how homeowners are interacting with each product? Is the proprietary product, gaining more traction? Just kind of color on how homeowners are interacting. Thank you.

Homeowners typically choose the product that best suits their needs, which in most cases is a function of the amount of proceeds relative to the, to the debt that they have and their home value. So where we see proprietary as natural fits are more of the jumbo home sizes on our traditional suite. But the, the difference for us in Q1 is we're really starting to see our second lien product, you know, increase in originations. And those products are for people that really have a different use case in the sense that they're happy with their first mortgage, typically a low interest rate. They can afford that payment, but they have a tremendous amount of home equity that they'd like to tap and can't afford or don't want another payment to impact their cash flow.

So, for a HECM versus HomeSafe on the traditional side, it's typically a function of which product provides the customer access to the most funds and dependent on property value. And then on the HomeSafe Second lien, it's based on what I just described, borrowers looking for a different alternative.

Okay, great. Thank you. I'll jump back to queue.

A reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your handheld device. And we have a follow-up question from Timothy D'Agostino from B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Awesome. Just take the third question here. I just wanted to see if you had any more updates or just kind of touch on anything else regarding the PHH acquisition. I know in the slide deck it was mentioned as progressing, but I don't know if there was any additional color you could provide. Thank you.

All the additional information, Tim, will be in the 8-K that we filed after the market today. So as I said in my remarks, right? We've bifurcated the transaction into the originations, the marketing of our product, and some servicing which we expect to close here in May. We have a smaller pool of HECM MSR in front of Ginnie Mae, which we, you know, we'll work with Ginnie Mae on gaining the appropriate approvals and then close on that when the timing is correct and we've received that approval.

Okay. Great. Thank you so much for taking the questions today, and congrats on the quarter.

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Graham Fleming for closing remarks.

Yeah, thank you. The takeaway from the first quarter is straightforward. You know, we're seeing clear improvement in the underlying drivers of the business, and that improvement is starting to translate into stronger production and financial results. And with that, we look forward to updating you in August with our Q2 results. So thank you, everybody, for joining the call today.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Colby and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome you to the Finance of America fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise, and after the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

If you'd like to ask a question at that time, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and enter the queue. If you'd like to withdraw your question at any time, simply press star one again. I will now turn the call over to Michael Fant, Senior Vice President of Finance. You may begin.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Finance of America's fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. With me today are Graham Fleming, Chief Executive Officer, Kristen Sieffert, President, and Matt Engel, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, this call is being recorded and you can find the earnings release and related presentation on our investor relations website at ir.financeofamerica.com.

I would like to remind everyone that comments on this conference call may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and are subject to the safe harbor statement for forward-looking statements that you will find in today's earnings release.

Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of risks or other factors, including those that are described in the Risk Factors section of Finance of America's amended annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2024 filed with the SEC on May 20th, 2025.

Such risk factors may be amended and updated in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements if conditions change. Please note, today we will be discussing interim period financials for our continuing operations which are unaudited. In addition, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call.

You can find reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures to the extent available without unreasonable efforts in our earnings press release on the investor relations page of our website. Now, I'll turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Graham Fleming. Graham?

Thank you, Michael, and good afternoon, everyone. As we look back at 2025, it was a year of continued strong execution for Finance of America as we delivered improving operating performance and took deliberate steps to strengthen the balance sheet and improve alignment, all while operating in a dynamic market environment.

For the full year, we reported GAAP net income of $110 million, or $5.04 per share, representing a 175% improvement compared to the prior year. On an adjusted basis, which we believe is representative of our recurring earnings power, we generated full year adjusted net income of $74 million or $3.04 per share. Up $60 million from 2024, representing a 429% increase and above our stated guidance range.

Lastly, the company recognized Adjusted EBITDA of $143 million, a 138% increase versus 2024. These results reflect the progress we've made improving earnings quality and capitalizing on operating leverage as the platform scales.

Because the securitization activity can shift between quarters, we continue to view the second half of 2025 average earnings as the best indicator of recent normalized run rate earnings power. For the second half of the year, the company recognized $47 million in Adjusted Net Income or $2.05 in Adjusted EPS, an annualized run rate of $4.10 per share. From a production standpoint, we funded $2.4 billion of originations in 2025, representing a 24% increase from $1.9 billion in 2024.

Fourth quarter volume totaled $619 million, and importantly, this growth was achieved alongside structural enhancements to our technology and operational processes, which should allow us to continue to see positive momentum in 2026. During the fourth quarter, we continued our momentum with additional capital actions designed to strengthen the business, solidify the balance sheet and support durable growth.

In November, we announced an agreement to acquire the reverse mortgage servicing portfolio and related assets from PHH Mortgage, a subsidiary of Onity Group. This transaction, which we expect to close in the second quarter, will expand our servicing platform, add experienced origination talent, and pave the way for a long-term relationship with Onity that accelerates our mission to make responsible home equity access available to more homeowners age 55 and older. Also in December, we announced a $50 million equity investment supporting our continued growth initiatives.

Stepping back, we believe home equity is increasingly becoming an important component of broader family financial planning. For many seniors, it represents not only retirement security, but also flexibility to support evolving family needs across generations.

The investments we've made in our platform, product suite and capital structure position us to serve that opportunity with discipline, consistency and scale. Overall, 2025 marked an important step forward for Finance of America, not only in what we earned, but in how repeatable and durable those earnings have become. With that, I'll turn it over to Kristen to discuss the operational drivers behind this performance and positive early signals in 2026. Kristen?

Thanks, Graham, and good afternoon, everyone.

The fourth quarter marked an inflection point for the platform. 2025 was a year of disciplined investment, modernizing our technology stack, embedding AI across the customer journey, and strengthening marketing precision. As we enter 2026, those investments are translating into measurable operating momentum.

For the full year, we funded $2.4 billion of originations, a 24% increase compared to 2024. Fourth quarter funded volume totaled $619 million, closing the year with strong sequential performance. In a rate-sensitive environment, this growth reflects improved full-funnel productivity and the durability of our category leadership.

As a reverse mortgage market leader, marking the largest marketing investments in the space, we are uniquely positioned to see demand trends develop in real time. In January, inquiry volume increased more than 75% year-over-year, while speed to answer calls improved by over 60%.

These improvements drove opportunities approximately 30% above baseline while reducing costs per opportunity by 12% compared to the second half of 2025, demonstrating early operating leverage within our acquisition engine. A key structural differentiator is the rollout of Joy, our AI-powered customer ambassador.

Joy is delivering more than 5x the conversion performance of our prior third-party call center while materially improving responsiveness across peak and off hours. This is not simply a productivity improvement, it represents a permanent shift in our acquisition model, lowering variable costs while increasing scalability and conversion efficiency.

Our digital acquisition engine is also accelerating performance. So far in Q1, pre-qualification engagement has doubled compared to Q4 of 2025. Among customers choosing the digital path, we saw a 47% increase in speed to application, a 36% improvement in speed to submission, and a 77% increase in submission rate.

We expect these gains to shorten cycle times, improve pull-through, and lower our cost to produce. We're also seeing external signals that reflect an increase in consumer interest in reverse mortgages. Google Trends data shows reverse mortgage-related search activity trending approximately 40% higher year-over-year at seasonal peaks, significantly outpacing prior year trends.

Given our scale and brand leadership, increased category search activity positions us well to capture incremental demand. Underpinning this progress are our people and culture. We're a team willing to challenge legacy approaches, embrace innovation, and hold ourselves to a higher standard of execution. Our team is and will remain a critical driver of our performance. As we look to the year ahead, we have clear visibility into the drivers of performance, stronger cross-functional alignment, and a structurally more efficient platform.

The work completed in 2025 has improved funnel productivity, reduced customer acquisition friction, expanded operating leverage, and has positioned us for a breakthrough year. As volumes grow, we expect these dynamics to translate into sustained earnings expansion and margin improvement. With that, I'll turn it over to Matt to walk through the financials.

Thank you, Kristen, and good afternoon, everyone. The fourth quarter was the latest example of solid execution at Finance of America, with full-year results highlighting consistent operating progress and our ability to execute effectively as opportunities arise. For the full year, Finance of America reported GAAP net income of $110 million, or $5.04 per basic share.

These results reflect the impact of interest rate and credit spread movements, partially offset by changes in model assumptions on the fair value of our residual assets, which, as we've discussed previously, are non-cash in nature. On an adjusted basis for the full year, we generated adjusted net income of $74 million, or $3.04 per share, representing a 429% increase compared to 2024.

We also generated Adjusted EBITDA of $143 million, a 138% increase year-over-year. These results reflect our ability to realize the platform's operating leverage and continued improvement in earnings quality as the platform has scaled. Total revenue increased 26% year-over-year to $497 million in 2025, compared to $394 million in 2024.

This $103 million increase in revenue directly translated into improved profitability as fixed expenses remained largely consistent year-over-year. Excluding non-cash fair value changes to our balance sheet, revenue increased approximately $83 million year-over-year. After tax, that equates to roughly $61 million of incremental earnings, which closely aligns with the $60 million year-over-year increase in Adjusted Net Income. This demonstrates the operating leverage embedded in the platform as volume scales.

Turning to our fourth quarter, we reported a GAAP net loss of $21 million, or $1.30 per basic share. While our Q4 results were impacted by fair value movements, so far in 2026, interest rates have moved lower and spreads have tightened. At current levels, we would expect our first quarter fair value adjustments to more than offset the fourth quarter impact.

On an adjusted basis for the fourth quarter, we generated adjusted net income of $14 million or $0.69 per share, representing a 180% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter totaled $28 million, up 56% year-over-year, reflecting continued operating momentum and improved earnings consistency as the platform has scaled.

Despite the volatility in GAAP, adjusted earnings have remained resilient, reflecting the strength of the core economics and the consistency of cash generation across the platform. As mentioned earlier, the company recognized adjusted earnings per share of $3.04 for the full year of 2025, which was above our stated guidance range.

As Graham noted earlier, because securitization timing can shift between quarters, we view the second half of 2025 combined as a reasonable reference point for the underlying earnings power of the company. For the second half of 2025, the company reported adjusted net income of $47 million or adjusted earnings per share of $2.05. This would approximate $4.10 per share on an annualized basis.

Looking ahead to 2026, we continue to expect volume growth of 15%-25% year over year for a range of $2.8 billion-$3.1 billion, supporting our previously communicated 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance of $4.25-$4.75 per share. For the full year, the company's cash and cash equivalents increased by $42 million.

During 2025, Finance of America generated over $150 million in cash flows through our core origination and capital markets activities. This reflects stronger performance driven by higher funded volumes, improved operating leverage and meaningful bottom-line expansion. In addition to the $150 million generated from our core operations, we raised an additional $40 million in the form of a 0% coupon convertible note and a $50 million preferred equity investment.

From these sources of cash, we paid down $117 million of corporate debt and working capital facilities, paid $40 million of interest on our non-funding financing, and used $40 million to acquire the first half of Blackstone's equity position.

Please see our earnings supplement and our investor relations website for further detail. In February, we completed the second half of the Blackstone purchase, fully exiting that legacy ownership position. Looking forward to 2026, we anticipate that cash flows from our core origination and asset-level capital markets financing activities will be sufficient to fund both the acquisition of PHH, as well as the paydown of the $150 million of senior secured notes.

Once the senior secured notes have been paid off, we'll be left with only $40 million of convertible notes and $150 million of exchangeable corporate bonds, both of which have the ability to convert to equity. Lastly, given the company's strong performance and investments made by our strategic partners, Finance of America ended 2025 with a tangible equity position 117% greater than December of 2024. With that, I'll turn it back to Graham for closing remarks.

Yeah, thank you, Matt. As we reflect on 2025, the takeaway is straightforward. The fundamentals of our business are working. Our operating platform is performing consistently. Margins remain disciplined and execution continues to improve. Finance of America's earnings power is becoming more visible and durable. As the business scales, adjusted results increasingly reflect the underlying economics of the platform and are less influenced by timing-related volatility.

We enter 2026 expecting to grow volume by 15%-25%, generate cash flow from originations and capital markets similar to 2025 of $150 million, and use these proceeds to pay down debt and delever our balance sheet. Over the coming years, we expect Finance of America to be free of all corporate debt, leaving our company better capitalized, more resilient, and well-positioned to expand our reach.

We believe demographic trends continue to support long-term demand for responsible home equity solutions. The progress we've made across our platform, products, and capital structure enables us to meet those evolving needs with discipline and consistency. As we continue building a more scalable technology-enabled platform, we remain confident that there is a better way with FOA for our customers, our partners, and our shareholders. With that, we'll open the call for any questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, again, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and enter the queue. If you'd like to withdraw your question at any time, simply press star one again. We will pause just for a moment to compile the roster. Your first question comes from the line of Ethan Brown with Omega. Your line is open.

Hi. Nice job on the quarter. I have a question just trying to clarify what you said about the balance sheet and the uses of cash. I heard you can fund the PHH acquisition and pay down some senior secured notes. When you consider all the free cash that you've got coming in and you consider the share repurchase program that you've got.

Are you going to be able to extend the share repurchases beyond just what you bought from Blackstone? Or is that going to be a 2026 strategy for capital allocation, or should we expect capital share repurchases to be larger in 2027 and going forward?

Great. Great question, Ethan. Thank you. I think really we don't have any announced share repurchase activities beyond the Blackstone repurchase, which we know we did the first half of that in the fourth quarter. We completed that purchase in February of 2026. That's now behind us. With that in mind, look at the free cash flow from this year.

Really our focus is looking at retiring that $150 million of corporate debt. Once that has been extinguished, then I think we're in the world where you're talking about potentially doing further share repurchases into 2027. For 2026 right now our goal would be on paying off that $150 million of corporate debt, which again would be a little early.

I think our latest amendments to the facility only require us to pay off $60 million by this November, and we can extend $90. We have drawn up plans. We'd like to see if we can retire that full $150 during 2026.

Just a follow-up. When would you see the $90, the full $150 or the $90 in 2027 being paid down? You know, when would the gates be wide open to more aggressive share repurchases?

Yeah. Again, there's a lot of long year with a lot of activity to do. Our goal would be to pay off that $60 and the $90 in 2026. The gates would be open for further share repurchase activity going into 2027.

The outside date for that payment, Ethan, will be November 27th. You know, our expectation is, we'll pay the $150 in November of 2026.

Great. Thank you.

Your next question comes on the line of Leon Cooperman with Omega Family Office. Your line is open.

Yeah. I think you've answered the question through Ethan. I got a question on Bloomberg from a friend of mine. He says, "Can you ask the following question of [Vesta], Leon? Do you have enough cash generation to pay off the first lien this year in its entirety?" The answer is yes. So how much cash do you think it will leave you with, and do you think you'll be in position to buy back stock this year? You're saying you don't think you'll buy stock back this year?

Yeah. I think that sounds like pretty much the question that Ethan asked as well. Again, I think our goal for this year is to pay off the entire $150 million. You know, $60 million we've agreed to pay down this year for sure. $90 million we could extend, but based on our plans for the year, we think we can retire the entire $150 million this year. Then next year we would have all free cash flow to do other things with, including repurchasing shares if that was an option.

Right. In terms of, you have so many different measures of earnings. I've asked this before. What is the measure that you run the company by that's most important to you?

We look at the Adjusted EPS, ANI, which was $3.04. If you recall, we gave guidance, repeated guidance of between $2.60 and $3.00 for last year. We finished the year at $3.04. Just over the high end of the range. This year's guidance is $4.25-$4.75. You know, as we started the year here and we look at the early fundamental metrics, we're confident, right, that we'll be in that range again in 2026.

Your stock is less than 4x earnings?

Yes.

Yeah. Why do you wanna wait till 2027 to buy it back? I would recommend you buy it back sooner.

It's a good question, Leon. I think as we think about alternatives for cash, you know, buying back shares and extinguishing debt, there's certainly arguments on both sides of that equation. I think different stakeholders have different points of view. I think certainly removing the corporate debt overhang is beneficial, helps with the rating agencies overall perception of the company, which benefits the equity holders in long term.

At these prices, I think the share repurchase options are also kind of attractive. I mean, we'll definitely weigh both of those. I think at this point in time, I think our focus is on retiring the corporate debt. You know, that could change either way as the year unfolds.

Good. Well, all the best. Thank you.

Thanks, Leon.

Your next question comes from the line of Eric Hagen with BTIG. Your line is open.

Hi, this is Brendan Greaney on for Eric. Can you discuss the current warehouse financing conditions for both new originations and MSRs? More specifically, given the consolidation we've seen in the space over the past few years, do you believe that dynamic has actually improved funding terms and availability for the main remaining players in the space?

Yeah. I maybe can't speak to the other players in the space, but from our own experience, I'd say that warehouse financing is ample. We have increased some of our facilities. We've added some new financing partners. You know, credit has been pretty readily available in the space. We've talked about in previous calls, we're you know pursuing financing on our mortgage servicing right asset, our HMBS asset.

That's going pretty well. I think that overall, we view credit positively in the space. As mentioned earlier, we've seen spreads generally tighten across the spectrum, so we're seeing some benefit there as well. I would suspect others are seeing similar things, but I have no firsthand knowledge of what our competitors are seeing.

Yeah, we're generally seeing as we're renewing our facilities over the course of the year that we're gaining improved terms either higher advanced rates or lower spreads. Yeah, we have no concerns about. We have ample warehouse liquidity and, you know, we continue to increase where we can and add new participants as necessary.

Thank you very much.

With no further questions in queue, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Graham Fleming for closing remarks.

You know, I wanna thank everybody for joining the call today. We look forward to updating you on our progress in May with our Q1 results. Have a great afternoon, everybody. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.