Silence. I assume that means we're ready to start. It comes up so quickly, and I never feel totally ready. I'd like to welcome everybody to the Melcor AGM. Great to see everybody here. I've got shareholders, a lot of employees and stakeholders. Great to see everybody. Great to be out here in this beautiful, sunny Alberta day in this nice location. Been three years since we've been able to come to a nice, live event. We had our last three AGMs on virtually. I took my suit out of hibernation today after three years in the closet. I reserve this for bankers meetings and shareholder meetings. Anyhow, just make a few general comments. My name is Timothy Melton, Chairman of Melcor and CEO.
This is our 54th meeting as a public company, our 54th AGM. It's our 100th year of operation as a company. We'll talk a bit about that later, a lot of you have been here through the morning. We had our REIT meeting at 9:30 A.M. this morning, we followed it up with a Melcor meeting just now. Wanna thank the people, the REIT people that organized that meeting, Ralph and Andy and Naomi. Thank them and Larry for the great meeting and they held. We're pleased to host the meeting again in person. We're also still webcasting this event to those who are unable to be in attendance at the meeting.
A warm welcome both to everybody here personally and also those people watching on webcast. We're pleased to have guests in the audience that aren't shareholders. Just remind everybody that the shareholders do the voting and everybody else is welcome and certainly for the reception. Shareholders only can vote. We'll try and move pretty quickly through the formal part of the meeting as required. We've already found motioners and seconders to make the motions. Following the formal component of the meeting, Naomi's gonna present our 2022 results and talk a bit about our 100th anniversary. Naomi, together with our management team, will be making those presentations.
After the meeting, after the meetings and presentation, we'll open the floor to questions regarding Melcor and the future. We'll keep our questions mainly for that period of the meeting. We invite everybody in the room, everyone attending, to join us for a nice light reception lunch and after the meeting. During lunch, you'll have the opportunity to talk to members of our board and our management team and visit. I'd like to turn the meeting over now to Nicole Forsythe. Forsythe, who I got to give a lot of credit to her and her team for putting up all the celebration items for our 100th and organizing these meetings.
Management come in and make the presentation and talks, but it wouldn't be possible without all the work from our team that put it together. I really appreciate that. Anyhow, Nicole, could you please make some comments?
Yes. Number one, I'd like to let everybody know that the meeting materials, including the information circular, MD&A, and annual report, were available to our in-person audience on arrival, and our webcast audience can access them by clicking on the button on the side of your screen. For voting, our advance votes were sufficient to meet quorum and pass all matters. We will conduct voting on meeting matters by a show of hands. For Q&A, following management's presentation, we will open the floor. In-person attendees can please step up to the microphone, it's right in the middle of the room, and ask your question so that the webcast audience can benefit from hearing it as well.
We do request that you limit your questions to one or two to ensure that we are able to get to all shareholder questions. However, if there are no further questions, you would be invited to approach the mic again, if you have further questions. For our webcast audience, you can type your question into the chat box, that's underneath the presentation. We will read your question for the benefit of all and get an answer for that. Finally, I would like to remind you that certain statements during this presentation might be forward-looking. For a complete discussion of the items that may cause actual results to differ, you may try to read that very tiny print on the screen, or you can read all about it in the Business Environment and Risks section of our annual MD&A.
I will now turn it over to Tim.
Thank you, Nicole. Before we continue, I'd like to make a few introductions. First of all, Naomi Stefura, our CFO and COO of the company with me up here. I'd like to also acknowledge and mention we've got some directors with us today. Catherine Roozen, our Lead Director. We've got Andrew Melton, who was the CEO of the REIT. Bruce Pennock, who chairs our audit committee for Melcor. Ralph Young, who's been around forever, and he's the Chair of the REIT. Unfortunately, they send their regrets in regards to the company. Douglas Goss, Kathleen Melton, Janet Riopel unfortunately can't be here today. They will unlikely be or likely be connecting through the web.
Just on directors, you know, we're so fortunate through the years that Melcor has always had the good fortune of having excellent directors. Director is quite an honor. They've got the responsibility of looking after all shareholders' interests. Directors, you know, don't get a fee, of course, but it is tough to get good people. The good people really don't need the job to come and be a director. I totally respect and acknowledge that we're so lucky we get people that are dedicated to the company. You know, we really appreciate their time and effort. They don't need another job, but we're lucky to have them. I think we've been very fortunate through the years. I'll chair the meeting today, and Naomi Stefura will act as secretary.
Gloria Grasam of Odyssey Trust Company will act as scrutineer. However, all motions have been already passed. First item, now that we've called the meeting to order, the first item of business. Notice has been sent to all shareholders of record of this annual meeting. I have an affidavit of the mailing, which indicates the mailing date of March 27th, 2023, as proof that the notice of this meeting has been properly served. It is certified by our transfer agent. As such, I request a motion dispense with reading of the notice. Thank you, Robin. Thank you, Nicole. Just a slight change. We have a motion that we require a show of hands for all those in favor. Thank you. Opposed, if any? The motion has been carried. Thank you.
I'll ask the secretary to keep a copy of the notice and proof of mailing with the records of this meeting. We have received a report on shareholders' attendance at the meeting from our scrutineers. We have received proxies or people in person totaling 25,484,340 shares, representing 81.553% of the outstanding shares. Of the 81% of the outstanding shares. Quorum requirements have been met. I now declare that the meeting is regularly called and properly constituted to conduct business. I now request a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of Melcor's last annual general meeting of shareholders held on May 19th, 2022. Graham. Giselle, thank you. Questions, comments? Those in favor? Thank you. Opposed, if any? Thank you. Motion carried.
Next item of business is presentation of financial statements for the period ending December 31st, 2022, and a related auditor's report. When you received notice of meeting, you also received instructions for accessing Melcor's annual report online or requesting that a printed copy be sent to you. This information is also available on our website at melcor.ca or sedar.com It will be mailed to anyone who requests it. As you've had ample time and opportunity to review this material, I would request a motion dispensing with reading of the financial statements and auditor's report. Thank you, Robin. Graham, thank you. Those in favor of the motion. Thank you. Opposed, if any? Thank you. Motion carried. Next item of business is to appoint external auditors and to authorize the directors to set their remuneration.
I ask for a resolution in this regard. Thank you for the motion and seconder. Discussion, questions? Those in favor? Thank you. Opposed, if any? Motion carried. Next item of business is to fix the number of directors to be elected at this meeting. Thanks, Giselle. Those in favor? Opposed, if any? Thank you. Motion carried. Next up, we have election of directors. All directors elected today will hold office until our next annual general meeting, unless his or her office is earlier vacated. The eight nominees, as listed in the information circular, are proposed for election. They are Douglas Goss, Andrew Melton, Kathy Melton, Timothy Melton, Bruce Pennock, Janet Riopel, Catherine Roozen, and Ralph Young. We've had sufficient proxies to individually elect these nominees, and we will not be seeking nominations from the floor.
Thank you. Those in favor of the motion? Opposed to any? Motion carried. Thank you. Okay, this concludes the formal business of the annual general meeting as described in the notice of meeting. Don, we go very quick, it always seems very scripted, it's nice to have the formal part complete and done. I declare this formal part of the meeting terminated. Prior to turning over to Naomi and team, I would like to personally acknowledge and thank our board of directors for their service through this past period, difficult, challenging time, for their good guidance and counsel and stewardship of the company. I would also like to thank the total Melcor team that's here, current leadership of the company for the satisfactory results they deliver day in and day out. It's a tough and ever-changing business.
We really appreciate everyone. Everyone's everyone in the company is a leader, and everyone does a very important job in carrying out the company's mandate. Thank you all for your tremendous dedication effort. I'd like to also thank our shareholders for your continued and ongoing support and commitment. Before turning over to Naomi, I just gonna make a few general remarks. Just a second. I'm gonna get my water. Ralph, can you?
Yeah.
Don't wanna be too long-winded. Don't want to get dry. Anyhow, there's a lot of things we could talk about, but it is our 100th birthday, and we've got some time to kill before lunch. Anyhow, you know, I can think back. I can remember very vividly our 50th anniversary. Don't know if we held it here or not. I know we had our 75th, and we held it here. Everyone's very congratulatory and saying how wonderful it is. The company's been around for so long. What are you gonna do for your 100th, you know? It seems so far in the future at the time, we really didn't even think about it. All of a sudden, here we are.
Like, who can believe, well, you know, the 100 years of business running here in Edmonton and family sort of started becoming public, who would ever believed? The other thing that comes to mind, how quickly time goes. I mean, it just seems literally like yesterday, all those memories of the past, and now we reach this tremendous milestone. Up on stage here, up in the front of the hall here is pictures of. Well, we'll start over here. Pictures of the grandfather. I can't say my grandfather 'cause I got siblings here. It's our grandfather, Timothy Lewis Melton, who headed west. He was in Winnipeg, and there was no work back in the 1919 era.
He said to the family at the time that they were all young, and he says to his wife, "I got to go to Vancouver, find some work." Got on the train. The train stopped here in Edmonton. He got off and said, "Well, I might as well look around the city." Anyhow, he got off, liked the vibrations, liked the city. He telegraphed his wife in Winnipeg, Doreen Melton, and said, "I decided I want to stop here. This city looks like it's got a lot of interesting things happen." The family moved to Edmonton in 1919 from Winnipeg. Our granddad, we'll call him Old Tim. He started selling real estate with another company here in town in 1919. He liked the business.
Old Tim was quite a character. The roots to our sort of family history here are just around the corner. The building that he started working at, I forget the name of the little real estate company, it was just around the corner. He sold with them two or three years, then he decided to hang up his own shingle. He started the company. Picture there, the house, that's the first house. He called it, I think he called the company Stanley Investments. I don't think we owned it. He probably rented it. He didn't have any money. There's where we began, that little house, and it was downtown Edmonton. The address is on there. Anyhow, he started the business, the roaring '20s.
The Great Depression hit in 1929, the total economies throughout the world collapsed. There was many bankruptcies up and down. You know, things were very challenging through the Great Depression. He was a character. He was very passionate about providing housing for young people, he felt all young people should have their home. Their home is their castle, it's the best investment people could make. He was very passionate about taking young people out to try to get them into a house. Houses in those days were CAD 2,000 or CAD 3,000. He didn't have a car. He used to meet them on his bicycle. He rode around the bike. Very passionate about that.
Other little thing I remember him saying is one of his sayings. He died when I was about 6. I don't remember him saying this, but it was part of his feeling. Buy land on the west side of a growing city, keep it, and it'll keep you. He can then to move his operations more to the western end of town. He focused mainly on selling houses in West Edmonton, acreages, farmland, and within Jasper Place at the time. The other thing I mentioned, he was very passionate about youth. He said that youth and enthusiasm will always win out over age and experience. I mean, we could change that. I think the combination isn't bad, but he really thought of the enthusiasm and vinegar of youth was an integral part of success.
World War II started. Our father, Stan, we'll call him Stan. He was 19 at the time, in 1939, he went over to Europe and fought with the Canadian Forces, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment. Yeah, fought World War II for the duration of the 6 years. While he was away, he was sending home his little military paychecks to his father. He said, "Dad, I'd like you to buy me a farm, a little farm. I want to come farming when I finish the service." The old, old Tim bought him an acreage out west of the CFRN-DT station, West Edmonton. It actually was a half section of swamp muskeg. Anyhow, dad came back from war. Old Stan came back from war in 1945.
He was a very decorated soldier and received medal, military medal and wounded 3 times. He came back to Edmonton to go farming, but his father, old Tim, was sick. Old Tim said, "Will you help me out, Stan, see if we can do something with this company?" It was very small at the time, 1 office and just a few salespeople working out of the West End. Dad got in helping his father out, and business grew on. Us kids are eternally grateful that we're not farmers. Instead, our dad got us into real estate. Stan was. In the late 1940s, he purchased the business off his mom and dad.
It was mainly a retirement, benefit sort of purchase, just to give them a little living allowance, out of the company. He purchased it. Stan was a very ambitious, driven to succeed kind of guy, passionate about the business. He was very motivated by serving others and adding value, providing a necessary service. He, certainly through that era, he was aided by the post-war recovery, the economy in Canada and all the war bonds and everything. After the war, they wanted to get the engine of the economy going again. That was a boost for all the allies after the war. Also the great growth that took place in Alberta through the late 1940s and early 1950s with the discovery of oil and economic viable oil and gas business. That was tremendous catalyst.
He grew the company to be the biggest brokerage company in Western Canada, mainly selling real estate for others. Expanded through all the major cities in Western Canada. We have 40, Melton Real Estate of the day had roughly 40 offices and 400 plus people. It was very professional. He made a team. He transformed it from a little proprietorship to a very professional, managed organization and wanted to provide opportunities. He was really motivated by providing housing and providing jobs for people. That was his big motivation. He figured if you took care of the basics, success and profitability will follow those important items. He also was very involved in organized real estate. He was instrumental in setting up the Edmonton Real Estate Board.
He was president of the Alberta Real Estate Association. As a young man, he was president of the Canadian Real Estate Association. He really put in a lot, gave back an awful lot to the industry as a whole. In 1968, he sold half the business, half of Melton Real Estate to the employees. He felt it was really important to have employees connected and owning part of the company. Essentially at that time, Melton Real Estate employees purchased half the company, and it was a pretty generous arrangement. They had some easy finance terms for the employees to buy into it. Paralleling that, he needed to provide liquidity for the employees, so they decided to take the company public. There's a long story to that.
We won't get into all the details and mechanisms, but the company went public in 1968. I can think back to those days, and we family remembers the he had set up a board of directors. I'll just mention two names, Cliff Willets, who was a head of the accounting firm, Willets McMahon, and a lot of the people here from PricewaterhouseCoopers. That's how they got started in this city through Willets McMahon and became more national. Cliff Willets and also like we had put together a great board of directors. In other words, at that time, old Stan Melton decided to turn over the governance and owner and management direction of the company from himself as an individual owner to the board representing all shareholders.
We put together a great board. Ernest Manning was on the board and many others. We've had that tradition of great boards obviously continue. Stan believed very much in getting results through people. You can't do it alone. If you want to succeed, you need a good, motivated team of people, which we're so lucky to have with us through history and acknowledge all the people that have contributed. Ralph Young sitting here has been with the company for 50 years, and we have a lot of people in the room that have got their 25th anniversary plaques. We've had the longevity, which is good. We got results through people. Dad also believed that you've got to first give it to receive, and results and success will follow.
You've got to walk the talk first. The Golden Rule is a very part of our DNA of our company, the Golden Rule. You treat others as you would like to be treated. Put yourself in the shoes of other people. It's so fundamental, I think, to the values that have made our company survive through the years and prosper through the years. I call it, That's our ESG policy. The Golden Rule. That could be. Really, that's all ESG is all about, treating others as you would like to be treated. So that they were sort of had premonition of where it was all going. They got with that program long before it became unpopular and vogue.
The company is where it is today because of these values that have passed on. There's been many changes. I mean, for example, we talk about real estate. This beautiful hotel, like some of you younger people may not know, this hotel closed down for about 10 years from the late eighties till sometime in the nineties, maybe longer. When Edmonton was struggling, hard to believe this iconic hotel was shut right down and sold very, very cheaply. We're in an ever-changing business. Yeah, and the economy. That's one thing. The only thing that's been constant is change. We've had ups and downs in the company, but the values, you know... People can ask where things are gonna go or what's your prediction. I don't think anybody really knows.
What's worked for us is just sticking to those values, showing up every day, treating people right. Just stay in the course, and things work out. That's the only thing we really can control. We can't control interest rates or world events or inflation, but we can take care of our own business on our own. That way, I think we do relatively well. You gotta be financially prudent. The other thing we're very fortunate about is we've been lucky enough to be born in Alberta at this particular time and do our business in Alberta. It's been a very good place to do business, so. Before I turn it over, I just wanna make a few acknowledgments.
Certainly I mentioned the team that got us here. We'll focus a bit on that through our presentation. Ralph Young and Andy and some of our long-term employees. Garry Holmes, who's not with us, but I hope he's watching from up above, played a vital role in the company. Naomi up on stage with me here and our CFO and COO, been with us 14 years. I've been very lucky to have the opportunity to work with Naomi. I think it's safe to say, I can say on behalf of all the staff, she's a tremendous person, very smart, and knows what's going on, both in the financial end of things, but also really getting a good understanding of operations.
I feel very fortunate and lucky to be able to work with her on a day-to-day basis. Today's focus a little bit on this presentation will be history, but I know it's with the future. It's the present and the future that really count. We don't wanna be totally preoccupied in history because it's, what have you done for us lately. We know we can never rest on our laurels. It's good to be proud of your history and recognize history and how it's led to today's status. Anyway, I wanna thank, I wanna thank the Melcor team. We're a public company, and often people describe Melcor as a public company with a family flavor, 'cause the controlling shareholder, obviously family.
I want to thank the staff as I mentioned. I want to thank all our shareholders that have been with us through the years. I want to thank my siblings, because the control ownership group of my siblings, 7 of us, have stayed very united in our goals and objectives to want to be good stewards of Melcor Developments. I acknowledge and thank them. I've got my sister Mary Beth today and Andrew. I think the other siblings are not here today. We've also got 4th generation involved. We're the 3rd generation. We've got the 4th generation involved in the company, and some are working with the company. With 26 in the 4th generation, Graham's here and Patrick's here. Kathy mentioned she's on the board. She couldn't be here today.
We've got 26 in that category, and they're very involved, and they're interested in the company. I know when time for us to retire, they'll take over the interest of the shareholders in excellent manner. We've got looming in the background, we've got a 5th generation. I think we're up to about 40 people so far. We're growing and expanding. I've talked long enough. It's a pleasure to be here and celebrate this AGM and the 100th year anniversary. Pictures are worth 1,000 words, and we're gonna turn it over to Naomi and team, and they can go from here. I look forward to chatting after. Back over to you, Naomi. Thank you.
Thank you, Tim. I'd just like to start out by saying, Tim is very humble, and he thanks all of us, you know, sort of for where Melcor is today. I think it goes without saying we all need to turn around and thank him. Thank you, Tim, for 50 years of leadership in this company. Thank you for being a mentor to me. We all love hearing your stories. Some of what you might hear is a little bit repetitive, but I thought it's great to hear it from Tim first. I love hearing the true personal stories about his granddad and his father.
what I'm gonna do today is try to sort of run everybody through a little pictorial history of Melcor. Before I get there, I'm gonna do one last thank you and thank you to our senior leadership team. Their pictures are up on the screen for you. Our senior leadership team is comprised of six vice presidents: Randy Ferguson, Leah Margiotta, Sue Keating, Gray Melton, Sinead O'Meara, and Guy Pelletier. Thanks to each of you and all of your teams. To all of our Melcor staff here today, all of your faces are here. It's so great to see you. We have people here from our regional offices in Vegreville and Calgary. Thanks for making the drive. As Tim said, we couldn't do this without you. 100 years. This is such an absolutely remarkable achievement.
While we are here today to report to you, our shareholders, on the annual results from 2022, we can't help but acknowledge that right now, in the year 2023, the company is in its 100th year of business and real estate operations. It's not a birthday without gifts and cake, so I just wanna make sure that everyone knows. After lunch, everybody needs to get a cupcake. Some of them have candles, some of them don't. Take one home. Light it up. We can't light them here. Blow it out. Make a wish. There's also to-go boxes, so if you don't feel like eating a cupcake here, make sure to take some home 'cause we have a lot of cupcakes. Last but not least, a little gift for everybody. We've made these Melcor 100 commemorative pins.
There's one for everybody in a little gift bag, make sure you don't miss these on your way out. Now I'm proud to tell you the story of Melcor Developments, an Alberta-based family business that, as Tim mentioned, now spans 4 generations. 1923, Ford's Model T is the best-selling automobile of the year. The first home game was played at Yankee Stadium. TIME Magazine published its very first issue. Insulin is used for diabetes treatment in Canada for the first time. The original Hollywood sign was erected and read, "Hollywoodland," to promote the name of the new housing development in the hills above Los Angeles. Melcor Developments started its operations. It all began with a man scanning Edmonton's west horizon, exploring opportunities, and achieving his dream of helping young families purchase a home of their own.
A century later, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren survey the impact the company has had on the Edmonton region and realize that indeed L.T. Melton's vision has been realized. Melcor has brought homeownership to tens of thousands of Edmonton and area families over the years and has had a substantial impact on Alberta. On this Google Earth overlay of Edmonton and surrounding regions, the blue represents communities where Melcor has developed, and the green is our current active developments. L.T. named his company Stanley Investment Company after his oldest son, Stanley Lewis Melton, who was three years old when the company was founded. L.T., his wife, Doreen, and three-year-old Stan are highlighted in this photo of the family enjoying time with some friends. This is the place it all began, Stanley Investment Company's first office.
As Timothy Melton mentioned, L.T. rode his bicycle to meet with clients and sold lots in the Jasper Place area for $100, with $5 down and $5 payments per month. The family lived on the second floor of this building in the early years. The location of the building was the corner of 101 Street and 102 Avenue, the present-day site of the Edmonton City Center Mall, just a few blocks north of here. In 1932, the company name was changed to L.T. Melton Realty, and the company began to expand throughout the growing metropolis of Edmonton and surrounding communities. L.T. specialized in the village of Jasper Place, west of Edmonton. This massive billboard is an example of early advertising for L.T. Melton Realty.
The billboard proclaims, "Organized for service, specialized for value." One of Melton Real Estate's significant transactions was arranged by LT in 1949 when he negotiated the sale of dairy farmland to investors looking to build Edmonton's first drive-in movie theater. LT did not make any money on the transaction, but did it for the good of the community and his commitment to Jasper Place and providing amenities to residents. The size of the theater is evident in this aerial shot taken in 1960. Today, Melcor remains committed to building amenities into our neighborhoods and commercial projects that bring people together. Amenities such as this modern-day reclining seat cinema in Jensen Lakes. Our many golf courses, community gardens and orchards, and playgrounds, and gathering spots of all kinds. More playgrounds. We have a lot of playgrounds.
This is a photo of Mike, LT, and Stanley Melton. While LT grew his business, Stanley grew up and went on to serve his country in World War II. He was a member of the 49th Loyal Edmonton Regiment. Stan received 7 medals for his service, including 3 stars for service on the front lines of France, Germany, Italy, and Britain, where he met his wife, Peggy. Stanley returned to Edmonton with Peggy and baby Timothy Charles in 1945. His dream was to be a farmer. He started helping out his father in one of the branch offices, and his leadership, people skills, and business sense quickly became evident. In spite of declaring from an early age that he did not want to be involved in real estate, Stan was hooked. 1947 to 1973, the building years.
In 1947, Stan bought the company from LT, whose health was failing. LT died in 1951. The post-war period and Stan's unique strategy brought growth and expansion throughout Western Canada. Melton's progressive style of real estate and the top-notch well-trained sales team took the Edmonton real estate market by storm. By 1953, Edmonton's population was 170,000, and there were 16 Melton branch offices, each strategically situated in a section of the city to provide specialized service to the area. This provided up-to-date market data and was considered a strategic competitive advantage at the time.
Melton Real Estate began expanding across Western Canada by the mid-1950s, adding cities of Calgary and Red Deer and then Vancouver in the 1950s, Saskatoon in the 1960s, and Winnipeg, Regina, Kamloops, Victoria, and Kelowna in the early 1970s. This chart, taken from Melton Real Estate's 1967 annual report, demonstrates the growth in the MLS sales volume.
Melton Real Estate was the MLS sales volume leader for seven consecutive years in Edmonton and four consecutive years in Calgary during that era. In 1953, the company started using the Melton Real Estate For Sale signs, which soon dotted hundreds of front yards all over the city. Billboards like the one pictured here were placed all throughout Edmonton in the 40s and 50s. The company's famous, "Call a Melton Man and Start Packing" signs were introduced in this period and appeared in advertisements all over, including bumper stickers on the salesmen's cars. Billboards were also used to pass on positive messages like this example from 1954. Here, the company made a play on their size compared to the other realtor service companies. Oh, we're going backwards. One more. Uh-oh.
Can you advance another one? One more. Sorry, everyone. It's going so well. There we go. Okay, next one, Nicole. You can go one more. Thank you. When making a choice, eeny, meeny, miny, Melton is always the way to go. Finally, this one suggesting that Melton Real Estate had all the listings for blocks and blocks of Edmonton's finest homes. This photo is of the Southwest branch sales office team with the office in the background in 1967. Under Stan's leadership, Melton Real Estate prospered and diversified into a fully integrated real estate company, including complimentary services such as mortgages, insurance, home construction, and land development. This land development offering helped feed listings to the brokerage arm. Advertising campaigns also promoted Melcor's other businesses, such as Melton Homes.
The connection between getting married and buying your own home was L.T.'s original vision and is nicely summed up by this billboard. Home plans included neighborhood models such as the Glenora and the Lynwood. The price of this Glenora model was CAD 12,871, with interest and principal payments of CAD 83 per month. Other Melton marketing innovations included providing free comprehensive city maps to the public and the guaranteed sales plan, which guaranteed the sale of a current home so that a new one could be purchased. Together, these marketing innovations contributed to the success of Melton Real Estate.
From the late 1950s through to the 1970s, Melton Real Estate expanded to a peak of 40 branch offices and over 500 sales agents, becoming the leading broker in western Canada with sales of CAD 222 million. Stan Melton felt very strongly that employees should have the ability to own a piece of the company for which they work. In 1968, Melton Real Estate became a publicly traded company on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.
The company graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1972. This tradition of employee company ownership carries on today with Melcor's employee share purchase plan, which matches employee contributions towards purchasing of Melcor shares. Many of our employee shareholders are here with us in the room today, and we're so happy to have you as shareholders. Tragically, Stan Melton died of a sudden heart attack in November 1973 while at the Western Final football game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Saskatchewan Roughriders at the age of 54. He was in the prime of his business career and was well-liked and respected by all Melton staff and industry colleagues. 1974-1998, developing the future. Stan was a charismatic leader who was loved by all those he worked with.
Through his leadership, he had also built a strong board and senior management team who were able to carry on his vision. Immediately following his death, the board appointed Garry Holmes as president of the company. Timothy Melton had been with Melton Real Estate for 3 years when Stan Melton died. He worked in residential and commercial sales in Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Calgary. He was appointed president in 1975 when the brokerage business was at its peak. The dilemma Timothy faced was whether to continue the growth and expansion of the brokerage business to eastern Canada or to focus on the growing and lucrative land development activities that the company had started.
In response to changing trends in the brokerage business, the company made the difficult but prudent decision to divest of the brokerage division. In 1976, the sale of the brokerage division to A.E. LePage, now known as Royal LePage, was completed for CAD 4.25 million. As a result of the transaction, the company name was changed to Melcor Developments, and the focus of the company shifted to land development and investment properties. Since 1866, the company's headquarters have been located at the corner of 103 Street and Jasper Avenue. Melton Real Estate bought this two-story building with plans to eventually expand. The giant Melton sign had a rotating Call Melton Man and Start Packing topper.
On the left, the company's 1972 annual report cover featured a rendering of the proposed expanded Melton building, while the photo on the right is the building today, which is still the home of the company's head office. Through the late seventies, Melcor continued to plan and build communities throughout Western Canada, from Country Club, Primrose, and Westridge in Edmonton to Dalhousie, Forest Heights, and Hawkwood in Calgary, and many more communities in between. The company began acquiring and building apartments, commercial and office buildings in the nineteen sixties within the Investment Properties division.
At one point, Melcor's portfolio included 1.2 million sq ft of suburban and downtown office space, industrial projects, retail centers, and low-rise residential construction, such as the award-winning Hillington project depicted here. The late seventies brought buoyant economic conditions in Alberta, and Melcor prospered. In nineteen seventy-seven, the growing town of Spruce Grove annexed a substantial chunk of Melcor-owned land. Melcor developed a significant portion of the city, particularly around our Links Golf Course. Several Melcor and Melton developments captured national and international awards for innovation and excellence in efficient design.
44 Capital Boulevard on 108th Street, Edmonton, was one such building. At 380,000 sq ft, the wide building has been described as a skyscraper turned on its side. While a crowning achievement, this building was also a financial strain on the company in the 1980s in conjunction with a major recession that hit Alberta. The building was completed in 1982 and sold in 1984, along with many other properties that were in the Melcor portfolio during these very tough times. In 1982, Melcor opened the Links at Spruce Grove. The company's first golf course has proven to be one of the area's most popular golf courses for tournaments, and many of Melcor's Spruce Grove communities surround the course.
The prosperity of the late 1970s came to a sudden halt in the early 1980s with falling oil and gas prices and the impact of the National Energy Program. In 1982, the company posts its first and only loss to date. Melcor's foresight to focus on land developments and on investing in the United States carried it through this devastating recession. This slide is an illustrative plan of the Village Oaks community Melcor developed in the 1980s in California. This aerial photo is the build-out result of that Village Oaks development. By 1983, Melcor's U.S. sales exceeded $13 million and served to offset the troubled Canadian market. By 1988, developments in both California and Arizona were concluded, and the U.S. branch offices were closed. Melcor also continued its on-again, off-again home-building status.
The business was the first to feel the impacts of changing economic conditions and could be quickly scaled up or down as a result. By 1998, investment properties owned had dwindled to only 360,000 sq ft, with many properties forced to be sold during the recession of the '80s to manage cash flow and service debt. 1999-2023, rebuilding, growth, and harvesting. The recession of the '80s had a lasting impact on Alberta, and it took many years to achieve the recovery, but by the late '90s, the company was in a position to start rebuilding. As usual, Melcor's steadfast, safe balance sheet provided the financial stability to manage this growth. Mr. Ralph Young was named President in 1997 and added the CEO title a few years later in the year 2000.
Ralph started with Melcor in 1971. We are all grateful for his over 50 years of service to the company. He currently remains active as a board member for Melcor Developments and the chair of the board for Melcor REIT. With the 2002 appointment of Darin Rayburn who headed up the Investment Properties division, and Brian Baker, who headed up the newly formed property development division, Melcor began amassing commercial assets once again through both acquisition and internal development. In 2013, Brian became President and CEO of the company. In 2017, Darin followed suit. We also resumed amassing raw land for future development in strategic growth corridors, including the 2011 purchase of 1,000 acres of raw land in the Denver area that would eventually become our Harmony project.
Following the U.S. housing market crash in 2008, we issued a $40 million convertible debenture and invested heavily in the U.S. In addition to the raw land purchase in Denver, we acquired residential rental units in Arizona and Texas. The Dakota, as pictured here, was recently sold in 2022. In total, we bought 969 residential units for CAD 86 million. We have since sold 884 of those units for CAD 167 million, doubling our investment during that period. In 2013, Melcor spun off the Melcor Real Estate Investment Trust, otherwise known as Melcor REIT, with an initial public offering of CAD 91.3 million. The proceeds were used to purchase 27 properties with 1.5 million sq ft of gross leasable area from Melcor.
The photo on the right is from the official signing of the closing document, which I can attest literally took hours, and I don't think my hand will ever be the same. A lot of signatures. To date, the REIT has paid out CAD 5.98 in distributions to unitholders since inception. Communities developed during this latest period include a variety of lot profiles that meet the needs of modern home buyers with everything from multi-family developments, including duplex and townhouse lots to single-family estate communities and walkout basement amenity-rich communities with ravines, golf courses and lakes. The eagerly anticipated Beach and Lake at Jensen Lakes opened last summer and was a huge hit with residents of all ages. This is the Harmony Community Center in Denver, which includes fitness equipment, meeting space, and a pool.
The community center won the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver Award for best community amenity in 2022. The mixed-use community of Greenwich brings New York-style brown houses, brownstones, and condo style to Calgary and continues to be built around our anchor tenant, the Calgary Farmers' Market. The quality products that our property development team brings is consistent for rendering to full build-out, as we see in this example of an office building rendering at The Village at Blackmud Creek. Here the completed product. Can you tell? In this example of the rendering of a landmark similar to Jensen Lakes in St. Albert and the completed product. When thinking about the success of Melcor Developments, staff always reminisce on its rich traditions. Many of the traditions that were started when the real estate brokerage was growing remain in place today.
Going back through old company photos is so much fun. Whether it's old Colonel Day's barbecue luncheons or the kids' Christmas party, all of these traditions remain today. Every year at Christmas, staff receive a grocery gift card to go buy a turkey for their families, a tradition that started when real turkeys were distributed in the brokerage days. Some other very important traditions include our service awards, which have proudly been handed out for over 70 years as staff hit 5-year service increments. 22 people are now members of Melcor's Quarter Century Club, recognizing employees who have served 25 years at the company. Here you can see Carol Wallace receiving her award. Brett Hulford is here today. He's also a member of the Quarter Century Club.
This 25-year recognition earns you a picture on the wall in our head office in Edmonton. Many employees have actually more than surpassed their 25-year mark, hitting 30 years and onwards, such as Karen Alberda and Emma Paris, pictured here. Another long-standing tradition is the Melcor manager meeting, where in addition to an obligatory group photo, there are educational sessions on leadership development and strategy development. This consistent annual organizational training and group bonding has grown staff throughout the eras and has led to most promotions and most senior leadership coming from within the company. Manager meetings in Kelowna have been a tradition for the most recent generation, with many held at Black Mountain Golf Course. I can't help but comment that those are some epic golf pants. This is Eric. Eric of course telling me to run my course.
Here we are now at our most recent meeting, held in Kelowna this past fall on our joint venture-owned lakefront property, soon to be developed in North Clifton Estate. Divisional meetings are another important part of tradition, like this most recent community development team meeting we held in Camrose, Alberta, where employees from across our many regions can get together for camaraderie and to share best practices, identify problems, and brainstorm solutions. That brings us to today. Well, last year. 2022. Where are we now? 2022 was a solid year for the company. We reported revenue of CAD 241 million and net income of CAD 89.4 million. Revenue was down year-over-year, primarily due to the lack of sales activity in the US. However, from a Canadian perspective, revenue was stable year-over-year.
We also reported net income of CAD 89.4 million, up from the prior year. Because our accounting results can be skewed by fair value gains, we focus on funds from operations or FFO as a better measure of performance. FFO eliminates all the non-cash items included in our income statement. In the current year, FFO is CAD 60.9 million, down from CAD 81 million in the prior year. Not included in FFO was the sale of the Dakotas condo property, which I spoke to, which generated CAD 35 million in cash to the company. This cash was used to pay down our operating line subsequent to year-end, helping to reduce our interest costs going forward during these high interest rate times.
In 2022, we continued to increase the dividend, paying out $0.58 per share, up from $0.44 per share in the prior year. This is consistent with our company goal of returning profits to you, our shareholders. In addition to dividends paid and our focus of increasing shareholder return, we were very active in our NCIB program. We allocated and spent over $20 million buying back 1.6 million of our shares and subsequently canceling them. This represented our full 5% allowable purchase of issued and outstanding shares under the NCIB. We do not currently have an active NCIB in place today. However, this continues to be an initiative we believe in, and it will be discussed at upcoming board meetings. We sold over 1,000 lots in Canada but did not complete any lot sales in the U.S.
The U.S. housing market was probably much stronger to the increased interest rates, and builders were dealing with long construction lead times due to supply chain issues. We've seen a resurgence in the U.S. in 2023 and expect sales to resume. The property development group completed the construction of over 36,000 sq ft in new retail space transferred to our IP division. Occupancy rates have increased from 84%-88%, thanks to the strong efforts of our leasing teams and our property management teams to provide top service to our tenants. Last but not least, our golf courses, who also had a tremendous year with over 123,000 rounds of golf played. Due to weather, we had a shorter season in 2022 than the prior year. Rounds were down.
However, despite the decrease in rounds, the courses actually recorded higher profits made up by strong food and beverage and tournament revenue. In closing, I just want to thank all our past and present employees, board members, and stakeholders in the room today. Melcor and predecessor companies were growing concerns throughout the Great Depression, World War II, the 80s, Y2K, 9/11, a global pandemic, and many more momentous events that shaped the past century. Melcor has survived through booms and busts, fluctuating oil prices, and changes in management. Although proud of the past, we know that continued success rests in the future. At Melcor, the operative word is tomorrow, not yesterday, and we look forward to serving you for generations ahead.
This concludes the formal portion of the presentation, and I'd now be happy to open it up for questions. Thanks for listening. That was long. I'd just like to remind everybody that if you are in the room, you may ask your question by approaching the mic, which will be on that stand there. If you are on our webcast, you can use the chat box just below the presentation on your screen and send that through, and we will get to your question as well.
While you're thinking about your questions, I'll just thank Naomi. Very good, Naomi. Very organized. Thank you. That was a nice present. I haven't seen the presentation. You and the team, Nicole and other, there's a lot of input, so thank you. As somebody said earlier, I think it was Andy, Nicole make Naomi makes us look good, so thank you. Yeah, a history we're proud of, everybody. Anyhow, questions, where we're at, where we're going, we're open for. We went a little longer, but we've got five or 10 minutes if you want. Any other questions or comments? Sean?
Yeah. A few questions. Yeah. That was a great presentation. I'm always myself interested in history of companies and respecting the past, and it's nice to see all that. Thank you. You mentioned the liquidity in 1968. That was so that the employees could have liquidity with their shares. One of the questions that, you know, comes to mind, I've never been sure if the company is too concerned about the share price. I mean, like, I don't, you don't go on television, or you don't promote the company on Business News Network or something like that. Your employees have, you know, so we're all shareholders. Of course, the employees and yourselves are interested in share price. You know, what are your thoughts on that?
I guess could more be done to, 'cause I, you know, I think the share price is undervalued.
Do you want me to tackle that? You can add, Naomi. Well, our main objective is success and results, you know, positive results for the company. In terms of share price, we can't do much about share price except deliver good results. That's our main focus. We haven't been one to promote the share price per se. We like our results and our performance to do the talking. Once you get into promoting stock.
Yeah.
you can do the dog and pony and promote it, but if you don't have the fundamental, success, it's gonna be very volatile and fluctuate. We choose to let our results do the talking. We know we're undervalued. Many companies based on book value, we know we're undervalued, but that's just the way the market is. We just felt, let's put all our efforts instead of promoting price of shares. Let's work on profits, revenues, results. That's been our consistent pattern. Can you add to that, Naomi?
Hello? Okay. No, I think, Sean, to just add a little bit to Tim's question, I think, you know, reflecting that no matter how good our results are, we often don't see a large movement in share price. I think that speaks a little bit to maybe a little of our focus in the last year on the NCIB. What are some other ways that we can help, you know, the shareholder base increase sort of their value in the company. We've been very active in the NCIB and then increasing dividends as sort of, you know, another way to get return to shareholders that's different just from, you know, sort of price appreciation.
Yeah. Thank you. If anybody else has a question, I can step aside. Meanwhile, if we just got a couple of minutes, I'll have a couple more. I was interested in the, you know, the history of your grandfather and your father, really promoting, trying to get young people into houses. You still do that today. Houses are very expensive, though, and, you know, general consensus is that it's very tough for young people to afford houses, whether single family or even apartments.
I wondered if the company has been approaching the governments, provincial and municipal, if there's any big, you know, some kind of partnership that could be done, to, you know, to promote that and get some cheaper housing out to people and to, you know, realize on some assets at the same time and just do some good for the community.
More good. Yeah. Thanks, Sean. For those of you in the audience, Sean's a long-term investor in the company with a nice portfolio, and Sean's gives us some good emails and good ideas, so appreciate those through the years, Sean, and very knowledgeable about the company. You know, you talk about affordability of housing. It's funny, when I started selling in the late sixties, conventional houses were selling for around CAD 17 thousand-CAD 20 thousand. I graduated with a lot of friends, and I said, "You gotta buy a house." "Oh, no, they're too expensive. We're gonna wait for the prices to go down.
Mm-hmm.
It's like, you know, because they were used to it being 10,000 instead of 20,000.
Yeah.
Who knows where the price is going. Even though, you know, 20 years ago, people thought the prices were too high, they're gonna wait.
Mm-hmm.
Whatever people can do to try to get in their own house, prices may fluctuate a bit, but it's better to start paying off your mortgage than paying rent. In terms of governments, no, we, our good people are involved in various associations, UDI and those, that we try giving policy to governments. They don't really ask the industry much often. They come up with their own game plans. I mean, we work with governments on a local level, but we can't really have a lot of influence on government policy. I admire all the people that try, but yeah.
All right. Just one follow-up one then, or one last one, at least. I think I saw in the report that you have close to 200,000, I think, square feet of already developed commercial and multifamily land. I don't know if you can talk a little bit about, like, where those parcels are or, you know, is there opportunities? Of course, you're always trying to sell those, but that sounded like quite a bit of ready-to-go, developed commercial and multifamily land. Is there some activity to realize on that?
Do you want to take a tackle on it, Naomi?
Sure. Interestingly, we had an investor meet with us yesterday, Sean, who asked the same question. I think what's interesting about the multifamily land is the predictability of selling it is not as easy as with the lots. As of recent, we have had a lot more interest in our multifamily land. I think with the introduction of the new CMHC financing, I think the cost of constructing a lot of those multifamily projects is getting a lot better because we can finance a lot of it. You know, so without making any guarantees, I hope to see more multifamily sales of that land and sort of realizing and harvesting on that coming through.
As far as the commercial land that we have, our property development team is actively planning on some of those sites as we speak. You know, I would hope that some of those come to fruition over the next year. In terms of to answer your question of where it is, most of that is in communities where we have developments. It is in sort of our neighborhoods where we're actively developing single-family lots. They're great sites. It's just a matter of market demand, and it does seem like that's returning.
Thank you.
Question. Question over there.
Sorry. I'd like to ask you to just come to the mic to ask your question, please. I also do have some questions from the webcast audience, so I'll slip one of those in right now. So this comes from a Charles Dildel. I hope I didn't mispronounce his name. The last 10 years have been hard on it from a shareholder's perspective. It's kind of a redundant question, why the share price is so low. He asks another question, and that is, do you have a plan for a new NCIB or a substantial issuer bid?
Naomi.
Substantial issuer bid is difficult for us. Our liquidity is quite low, and in order to actually launch a substantial issuer bid, you have to sort of meet a liquidity test before you're allowed to do one. We typically, due to our low trading volume, do not meet the test for that. It would be unlikely that you would see a substantial issuer bid in our future. As I spoke about, the NCIB is something that we believe very strongly in as a way of sort of returning value to shareholders. We are, you know, constantly talking about implementing that program, it's something that is going to be discussed at upcoming board meetings.
I'll ask one question if you just wanna make your way over here. I have kind of a little bit of a two-part question from Richard Stovall. It is just asking if you can comment on sales at Harmony so far this year and also what the kind of development horizon is for Harmony as a community.
I don't wanna overcommit on something that is an issue, but we do, we do have good conversations ongoing with all of the builders in Harmony. In fact, you know, not yet released, but we have closed on some lots in the current year. Those will be reported on soon as we start to release sort of our Q1 and coming up next quarter, Q2 results. While I would not guarantee the total sales volume, I can tell you sales are occurring already this year, so that's positive to see. As far as the total timeline to develop, we still have 10 years of land in Harmony, I would venture to say. There's still a long sort of horizon of development in that community.
Thank you, Rolf, inviting and Tim. I'm very happy to attend this meeting today. I was a very, very small builder. I used to build one or two houses a year. I start my company, Akash Homes, 2001. Pardon? My name is Ashok Gupta. I own the Akash Homes, very small company. My big brother, Rolf Jung, he helped me. I appreciate. Thank you very much. Tim, thank you very much. I learned so much from here today. The biggest thing I learned. You are so kind. Number second, I don't know how you do this, how you internal and get together your family. Fifth generation is coming to work for you. That's wonderful. It's wonderful. Don't mind my English is weak, no? I'm very, very happy to attend your meeting. I don't know much business.
My son is in the business. I met you in the Blackhawk, Kamloops. No, not Kamloops. Kelowna, the golf course. Since then we become friends, and Mr. Rolf said, "Give me 5 or 7 lots in Summerside." That's how we grew our relationship. Many years ago, I met in the University of Alberta function. He opened the door for us. Thank you very much. I really, really appreciate your help for us. Thank you. Thank you. Biggest thing, look at your father picture is there. That's the biggest thing I like it, no? I'm a people person. I meet everybody. That's the biggest thing. You kept the 5th generation in your company. We don't even keep 1 generation. Am I right, sir? Maybe I'm wrong, but I think, it's a kingdom. Very nice. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thanks.
I appreciate it. I appreciate you inviting and giving me a chance to speak. Thank you again. I hope this company become three times more bigger than this one in many years, you know? Thank you.
If I could just respond, Ash. I feel great, Ash. It's the first time we've had one of our builder customers come up and really thank us and give us a lot of credit. Thank you very much. Ash was a builder. We've got our development team, our property community development team, work with several builders, and Ash is one of them. Often builders start as a small company. So I compliment Ash for their company. They're growing their company. Ash just got an award the other day, Queen Elizabeth award as honorary citizen of sorts in Alberta. It was a wonderful thing. Thank you for that. You mentioned about the family, and we're lucky.
I think our parents, they had no one envisioned where things were gonna go 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. The family, my siblings and the next generation now, like, we think the biggest legacy parents can have is for their family to carry on in a good, happy, harmonious way. We've been lucky to have that. The success of the company is secondary to the fact that we all still get along and like to be with each other. We acknowledge that. Thanks.
I have another follow-up question from the webcast audience, it is again from Richard Stovall He is interested to know how many acres or lots are in the new Kelowna community of North Clifton?
I off the top of my head don't know that. I'm staring at Sue Keating, who is our vice president of the region. I'm not sure she has instantly called that. Is that something we could maybe get back to him with after the meeting? I'd be happy to provide that.
Sure.
Sure.
Can you come to the mic, Sue?
Sure.
Yeah.
Thank you for that question. We're actively working on the planning for the next phase in North Clifton, which has about 100-120 lots. That'll probably last us a few kind of phases of development, kind of broken up sort of 1 year at a time. We're leasing, you know, 20-40 lots per year until we get through that 120. Then, we do have more land after that, but that's a little further in the future, so we don't have an exact lot count at this point.
Well, don't see any more questions. It's been a nice past hour and a half or so. Is there one more question? Oh, okay.
with David Schaefer Engineering Ltd. 20 years ago, 20 years ago, July 1st, I found my way over what would be through a waterfall on a high-level bridge and moved to Edmonton. I moved from Winnipeg. I found the stories of moving to Edmonton coincidental so many years ago that started this company and 5 generations. The reason I wanted to come to the microphone was that I wanted to present getting results through people. The contribution of this company in just the short time that I was here.
As an engineer, I moved to Edmonton and realized the dream of being a land development engineer. I had the fortune of working with, working on Melcor projects in the US States. It was like a dream. I'm here, on behalf of what would be all the people that I worked with, whether they're planners, engineers, contractors, folks that are involved in the process and each day and for everything that I've been involved with. There's always been pride in working with Melcor, providing what would be engineering and in our life of what we know to be a small part of something that's a lot bigger.
As a proud Edmontonian, as a proud engineer, as a proud person that values everybody that I've worked with, I really just wanna celebrate 100 years. I hope to hear a forecast of a 125th that's coming up. I really just wanted to presence that and acknowledge that this really is for me, for many others, a dream come true to be able to work with such fine people. Thank you.
Thank you, Mike, for those kind remarks on our 100th birthday. That's great to hear. Yeah, like you mentioned, 25 years. I'm sure with all the talent we got in this room, we're gonna have another really good report card there. I think that's it for questions, Nicole. As for the future, all the, yeah, mainly we've got to look at the past, how we've done. We never like to overpromise. We like to underpromise and overperform. We know there's a lot of challenges out there today in many areas. Life's not without its complications, but if we stick to basics, I think we can perform. Who knows where the overall economy goes, but Alberta is looking very good and positive.
The oil and gas industry is a wonderful, responsible resource that we've got in this province. We're gonna need it for a long time. I think we're the best producers in the world. That's very fundamental to our economy, so we'll do good. In the States, we've got a good asset position and things are picking up. We're well-positioned. Where the overall economy goes is a big question, but we think we'll continue to provide satisfactory results and cautiously optimistic, as we always say. I know you're all getting hungry, I'd like to thank for that, Naomi. Thank everybody for their contribution and look forward to visiting and having a little lunch with you. Thanks for attending.