Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Mark Hughes: Okay. And then based on what you see in the backlog in the commercial, any commentary about revenue per order?

Mike Nolan: I think nothing real specific. I think it probably will stay in the range that we’ve seen I think our national commercial fee has been running in the $13,000 plus range. I would anticipate that to stay in that range, certainly off the highs of 2022, but actually a very good number when you look at prior years to 2022. And then the total commercial fees, I think running around $9,300 or $9,500.

Tony Park: $9,500 this quarter.

Mike Nolan: And again, I would say that $9,000-plus range, we continue to see that as we move through the back half.

Mark Hughes: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Mike Nolan: Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Geoffrey Dunn with Dowling & Partners. Please go ahead.

Geoffrey Dunn: Thanks. Good morning.

Mike Nolan: Good morning.

Tony Park: Good morning.

Geoffrey Dunn: Tony, what is the remaining capacity – dividend capacity from the regulated entities? And what is the back half expectation for capacity from the unregulated?

Tony Park: From the regulated, we have been taking some dividends of non-cash dividends. We had some common stock in there that we’ve been moving out, which was non-cash. So in terms of cash, full year is probably from the regulated is somewhere around $400 million and we’ve already taken, let me look we’ve already taken about $220 million of that, so maybe $180 million in the balance. In terms of the unregulated, that’s kind of – that’s a good question because that would have me predicting what we’re going to do real-time since that’s not predetermined. That’s cash and earnings that we’re actually going to generate and so that one is harder to estimate, and I would have to give guidance on that front. So maybe a broad overall commentary would be landing at year-end, absent share buybacks, and again I’m not suggesting that’s where we are.

But if we didn’t do any share buybacks I think we end the year at somewhere around $1 billion in HoldCo [ph] cash.

Geoffrey Dunn: Okay. And then with respect to buyback, obviously, the environment is uncertain, but it’s been uncertain for a while now. Is part of the moderation in the first half having to do with these noncash dividends as you do continue to generate strong cash flow. The holding company is in a great position. The overall company is in a good financial position. So as we think about maybe some of these noncash dividends coming out and being replaced by cash dividend flow again next year, is that what helps restore that along with the incremental economic data points we get along the way? Or is it really you’re holding back in this kind of higher for longer environment?

Tony Park: Yes. I mean, I think it’s a combination, although I don’t think the noncash dividends are really impacting the buyback decision at all. Those aren’t really material. I just thought I would throw that out there. I think just the market overall and not knowing exactly where we land, I mean, I think we’ve been pleased with the market given where rates have gone, but we didn’t know that going into it. And so we’ve been fairly conservative. I think we like to preserve the financial flexibility. We do have a $500 million commitment on the common dividend. And so we like to be conservative in terms of Holdco cash. But certainly, if we see the market continue to stay strong and improve as we get into next year, you’re right, we generate a lot of cash and F&G is generating cash now, and I could foresee F&G even paying a bigger dividend to us.