Following the completion of a 100-day strategic review, Stewart Information Services Corp. began the process of making the company more competitive and resilient, according to CEO Fred Eppinger.
Speaking to analysts, investors and journalists during a conference call to discuss Stewart’s fourth quarter and 2019 performance, Eppinger expressed confidence the company is being positioned to generate long term growth and much improved margins.
“Our work of repositioning Stewart for the future has addressed a number of fronts. First, you have probably seen from our – some of our board, senior executive and managerial changes in the press and public filings,” Eppinger said, according to a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha. “Throughout the company, we have worked to get our team energized, aligned and in place. And while we have additional work to do and potentially some additional team members to add, I feel we have a talented team prepared to work together and get it done.”
After thanking former CEO Matt Morris, who announced his resignation earlier this year, Eppinger noted the addition of Karen Pallotta and Manolo Sánchez to Stewart’s board, and the selection of Steve Lessack to oversee the company’s direct operations.
“Steve’s track record of building businesses and sustaining revenue growth, margin and cost discipline aligns with our new direction,” Eppinger said, according to the transcript. “In addition to the alignment of our team and talent, we have started to be more strategic on our business portfolio and investments, ensuring that we are investing in areas where we can win over the long term.”
Eppinger said the company’s reallocation of resources includes closing some locations.
“Following our strategic review, we’ve identified some areas where we will have targeted investments to improve our competitive position in each of our businesses and identified important improvements needed around our basic execution,” Eppinger said. “There are some important structural changes to our business we need to invest in around building scale in some key direct markets, managing our agency geographic footprint, building an attractive commercial business and adding scale to our nontitle businesses.”
Stewart also is aggressively pursuing agents who left during the period the company was in an agreement to be acquired by Fidelity. That agreement was terminated in September.
“December would have been the first month that we could really begin to gauge our success in bringing back those agents, and it turned out to be a strong month, making us cautiously optimistic that our efforts are gaining traction, the traction we anticipated,” Eppinger said. “That said, we will be carefully monitoring this trend over the next couple of quarters.
“[The] process of turning Stewart into the premier title services company and improving our financial performance has begun,” he said. “It will not be an overnight process, but I remain confident in the potential we can to unlock here given the quality of our people, brand and financial strength.”