Thank you all for standing by, and welcome to the Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT 2022 full year results briefing. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question- and- answer session. To ask a question at that time, you'll need to press Star then one one on your telephone keypad. Please be advised, today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker, Mr. Travis Butcher, Fund Manager of CQE. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to CQE's results presentation for the full year ended 30 June, 2022. Presenting with me today is Scott Martin, Head of Social Infrastructure REIT Finance. I'd like to commence today's presentation with an acknowledgment of country. Charter Hall is proud to work with our customers and communities to invest in and create places on lands across Australia. We pay our respects to the traditional owners, their elders past and present, and value their care and custodianship of these lands. Turning now to slide 5. CQE has had a strong year, continuing to deliver on its strategy and achieving robust financial and operating results.
Key highlights for the year were as follows: Operating earnings were AUD 0.173 per unit, with distributions paid of AUD 0.172 per unit, an increase of 8.1% and 9.6%, respectively, on FY 2021. During the year, CQE achieved a revaluation uplift of AUD 269.4 million, representing a 19.4% increase since 30 June 2021, reflecting the strong demand and yield compression for long WALE social infrastructure assets. Acquisitions of AUD 232.7 million were made during the year in social infrastructure assets across 26 properties on long leases with strong tenant covenants. As a result of the revaluation growth and acquisition activity, CQE's gross assets have increased by 35% during the year to AUD 2.1 billion.
CQE has available investment capacity of AUD 160 million, allowing CQE to pursue opportunities consistent with the fund's strategy. The valuation uplift was a key contributor to the growth in NTA per unit of 25.5%, resulting in an NTA per unit of AUD 4.08 as at 30 June, 2022. The portfolio is well positioned with a WALE of 14.3 years, 100% occupancy and a weighting of 80% of income to metropolitan locations. Moving to slide 6 and CQE's strategy. CQE's strategy remains unchanged. Our strategy is to provide investors with secure income and capital growth through exposure to a diversified social infrastructure portfolio. We do this by focusing on enhancing income sustainability and resilience to the assets we own, targeting ongoing capital growth and undertaking ongoing portfolio curation. Turning to slide 7.
During the year, CQE continued to enhance and diversify its income. Childcare continues to be a critical social infrastructure asset class and integral to CQE's strategy. As such, CQE has continued to invest in high quality childcare portfolios leased to well-capitalized operators with a total of AUD 157.3 million of acquisitions during the year. All of the acquisitions are well located with an average lease term of 14 years, with the operators including the two largest operators in Australia's childcare sector, Goodstart and G8 Education. With respect to development activity, CQE completed six childcare developments during the year, delivering brand new assets with average leases of 16.7 years and valuation uplift of AUD 8.6 million or 25%. In October 2021, CQE acquired a healthcare asset in Heidelberg, Victoria, leased to Healius, a leading ASX-listed healthcare operator.
The asset is strategically located within one of Victoria's largest medical precincts, adjacent to a Healius-operated pathology lab. In December 2021, the development of the South Australian Emergency Services Command Center was completed and is now occupied by the four government agencies. The building is leased on a 15-year term with fixed annual rent increases of 2.5% and two 5-year options. In April 2022, CQE acquired a 50% interest in a newly constructed TAFE campus and specialist emergency medical care facility in Robina, Queensland. Robina is located within the Gold Coast growth corridor. The properties are underpinned by long-term leases to TAFE Queensland, a state government-owned education provider, and Wise Medical. Both properties have 10-year lease terms with average fixed annual rental increases of 3.2%. Settlement of these properties is expected to occur in September 2022.
Turning now to slide 8 on environmental, social, and corporate governance. We remain focused on implementing sustainability initiatives across our portfolio and consider ESG as a driver of long-term value for the fund, in addition to investor and tenant customers. At a group level, Charter Hall has taken accelerated climate action with a renewable power purchase agreement, which secures seven-year renewables in partnership with global energy giant ENGIE. A critical step in the group achieving its target to be 100% powered by renewable electricity by 2025. CQE has participated in this renewable PPA with 100% grid supply of renewables powering two assets in our operational control. Additionally, CQE is partnering with tenant customers to provide solar solutions across the CQE portfolio. This will support clean and affordable energy for tenants in partnership with the fund.
This will also enable CQE to better understand tenant operational performance through information sharing, which is currently not available under existing lease arrangements. Once implemented, CQE will be able to measure the impact of the solar initiatives and reduce the fund's Scope 3 operational emissions. CQE has also announced a partnership with the Green Building Council of Australia to develop Australia's first social infrastructure rating tool for operational assets. This will support operational performance, promote active tenant partnerships, and create awareness of social and environmental initiatives at an asset level. Moving to slide 9. In December, we launched a two-year partnership with tenant customer, Goodstart, to provide funding to enable children from vulnerable families to access fee-free childcare. We expect that the funding provided will enable 55 children to be able to attend childcare as a result of this partnership, which in turn supports employment opportunity for parents and carers.
I encourage you to view the case study we've included on page 24, the results presentation, to understand the impact of the early learning fund. This initiative with Goodstart is part of Charter Hall's approach to creating strong communities. I'd now like to hand over to Scott, who'll provide an overview of the financial performance of the REIT.
Thanks, Travis, and good morning to everyone. A summary of CQE's earnings for the full year FY 2022 can be found on slide 11. Net property income has increased by AUD 12.5 million or 17.4% compared to the prior reporting period, and has been driven by like-for-like rental growth, which contributed AUD 1.8 million and AUD 10.7 million generated from net acquisition activity. The increase in operating expenses has been driven by portfolio growth and new acquisitions, and finance costs have also increased period-on-period as a result of higher levels of drawn debt and an increase in floating interest rates. CQE delivered operating earnings of AUD 62.9 million, representing an increase of 8.4% on the prior corresponding period.
Operating earnings per unit were AUD 0.173, and distributions per unit were AUD 0.172, in line with our full year guidance released to the market. Turning to slide 12, which provides a summary of CQE's balance sheet position at 30 June , 2022. The AUD 507.9 million increase in investment properties represents an increase of 34.2% since 30 June , 2021, and has been principally driven by AUD 269.4 million of property revaluations, AUD 168.8 million of property acquisitions transacted during the year, and AUD 53.1 million of expenditure on childcare developments and the completion of the South Australian Emergency Command Center.
Acquisitions and development expenditure have been debt-funded, resulting in drawn debt increasing by AUD 253 million to AUD 553 million as at 30 June 2022. NTA per unit has increased 25.5% from AUD 3.25 per unit at 30 June , 2021 to AUD 4.08 per unit at 30 June 2022, driven by the AUD 269.4 million increase in property revaluations. Turning to slide 13, which provides a summary of CQE's capital management initiatives. As outlined in CQE's half year results, the REIT has worked closely with the Charter Hall Treasury team on a range of debt initiatives that have continued to strengthen CQE's balance sheet position through extension of facility terms and debt maturities, together with a reduction in margins.
In February 2022, CQE increased its total facilities to AUD 800 million, providing it with additional investment capacity to pursue new social infrastructure opportunities. CQE currently has a total of AUD 160 million of available investment capacity. CQE has diversified funding sources with no debt maturity until January 2025 and a weighted average debt maturity of 3.9 years. CQE's weighted average cost of debt as at 30 June , 2022 was 3.2%, which was calculated based upon drawn debt of AUD 553 million and includes line fees on undrawn debt capacity. Balance sheet gearing was 29.8%, and look-through gearing was 30.7% as at 30 June , 2022, adjusted to include contracted acquisitions and disposals, together with the funding of the remainder of the childcare development pipeline.
Gearing levels remain at the lower end of CQE's target gearing range of 30%-40%. During the current reporting period, CQE increased its level of hedging from AUD 225 million to AUD 325 million. Hedged debt comprises AUD 225 million of interest rate swaps with an average hedge rate of 0.54% and a AUD 100 million interest rate cap, which entitles CQE to pay the floating rate of interest up to 3% and a fixed rate of 3% above this rate. As at 30 June , 2022, CQE has 59% of its balance sheet debt hedged with a weighted average hedge maturity of 3.6 years. I will now pass back to Travis to continue the presentation.
Thanks, Scott. On slide 15, we have CQE's portfolio summary. As detailed earlier in our strategy, we are focused on continual portfolio improvement and enhancement of income sustainability and resilience. The portfolio continues to be 100% leased, and the portfolio WALE sits at a very healthy 14.3 years. During the year, acquisition activity across 22 properties that settled and completion of six childcare developments and the South Australian Emergency Command Center delivered average WALE of 14 years to the portfolio. Lease expires within the next five years remains low at 4.6%, highlighting the importance of the property and lease terms to the operator's business.
It's also worth noting that in FY 2027 and FY 2028, where there are lease expiries amounting to 5.5% of income, that over 90% of these expiries have options which we expect will be exercised during FY 2023. Moving to slide 16. CQE's current portfolio is well positioned to deliver both income and capital growth, with 69% of CQE's income underpinned by the top five tenants who are all well capitalized entities. The portfolio is heavily weighted to metropolitan locations, with 80% of income derived from these locations, and a strong eastern seaboard weighting, with 79% of income derived from these states. Childcare assets currently comprise 85% of the portfolio, with health assets sitting at 9% and government assets at 6%.
Over the medium term, we expect the childcare weighting to reduce to between 50%-70% of the portfolio as other social infrastructure assets, including the Robina acquisitions, are added to CQE's portfolio. Fixed annual reviews comprise 75% of CQE's leases at an average rate of 3%, with the balance of leases based on CPI reviews. FY 2023 rental growth is forecast to be 3.5%. Over the next five years, 44% of rental income is subject to market reviews. The majority of these reviews occur in the three-year period from FY 2025 to FY 2027, and are typically capped at 7.5%. This will allow CQE to capture rental growth, both from under renting across the portfolio and also periods where inflation exceeds the fixed rental reviews. Turning to slide 17.
During the year, CQE revalued 100% of the portfolio, excluding acquisitions undertaken and the developments completed during the year. The portfolio saw an uplift in valuations of AUD 269.4 million, representing a 19.4% increase from 30 June, 2021, with the average passing yield of the portfolio now sitting at 4.7%. The valuation uplift and compression we've seen is a function of strong demand for long WALE social infrastructure assets in essential sectors with growing and resilient income. As can be seen from the graph, the value of childcare market transactions are at record levels, with sales of approximately AUD 832 million compared to the full FY 2021 year, with sales of approximately AUD 550 million. Direct market transactions post 30 June , 2022 have slowed.
However, transactions have included the sale of a 100-place center in Toowoomba at 4.75%, a 112-place center in Brisbane at 4.8%, and the sale of a smaller center in Woodcroft in Sydney at a yield of 4.5%. Turning to slide 18, which provides an update on CQE's childcare developments. During the year, CQE completed six developments with a total valuation on completion of AUD 42.3 million and an average yield on cost of 5.8%. All these developments are in high quality locations and provided a valuation increase upon completion of AUD 8.6 million, 25% on cost.
There are a further eight remaining properties in the development pipeline, and we are forecasting 5 of these to be completed prior to 31 December , 2022, with the balance in calendar year 2023. The remaining properties have a forecast cost to completion of AUD 18.5 million and an average yield on cost of 5.6%. Turning to slide 19, an update on the current childcare market. The last six months have been very positive for the childcare sector from a government policy perspective, and once again highlight the importance of the sector as both the labor supply mechanism to the Australian economy and provision of quality educational outcomes to children. Annual federal government funding is expected to increase by 25% over the next four years to AUD 12.4 billion in FY 2026.
This is expected to further increase as a result of the introduction of the federal Labor government new childcare funding policy. This policy will increase the affordability of childcare through increased subsidy rates and higher family income eligibility. The government has targeted an implementation date of July 2023. This additional funding follows the improved funding package by the previous government, which was implemented in March 2022, which has assisted in improving the affordability of childcare. In June, both the Victorian and New South Wales governments announced a significant funding investment in the provision of three and four-year-old kindergarten programs in their respective states, which is expected to provide significantly improved education outcomes and drive an increase in participation levels for long daycare centers that provide kindergarten services.
Current operator performance is strong despite the operating challenges faced by operators in attracting and retaining staff, which is consistent with the broader labor shortage across the Australian economy. Net center supply levels for the year grew by 2.7% or 224 centers with 8,556 centers at 30 June, 2022. This annual growth rate has pleasingly moderated from the prior year growth of 3.7%. Vacancy across the industry remains low and is estimated at circa 1%. Moving to slide 21 and the outlook and guidance. CQE is focused on continuing with the execution of its strategy to pursue opportunities in social infrastructure areas underpinned by strong tenant and property fundamentals.
We are pleased to advise that based on information currently available and barring any unforeseen events, the FY 2023 forecast distribution guidance is AUD 0.172 per unit. That concludes the formal component of our presentation. I'll now hand back to the operator and open the line for your questions. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Solomon Zhang at J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Thanks, operator. Good morning, Travis, Scott, and team. Just a question on slide 16, just on your comment around the 44%, market rent reviews over the next five years. Two parts to my question. Firstly, could you just provide an update on where your rent versus market? Secondly, just the breakdown of the mechanisms. You mentioned the majority are at 7.5% caps. Could you just provide a rough split there, please?
Yeah. Thanks, Solomon. In terms of your first question, based on our tenant data, our rent revenue sits at 11.8%, and typically, market sits between that 12%-15%. We're sitting under rented, which is obviously a good position to be in. In terms of then onto the market reviews, the majority of those fall in that FY 2025 through FY 2027 period. There's approximately a hundred and eighty over that period. Sort of 60 in each of those periods. When we come to that period, you sit down with the tenant and look at the current passing rent. But sort of using that current sort of under renting across the portfolio, we're confident we'll get some increase in rent through that period.
Great. Maybe one more from me. Just on the labor shortage issues you called out on slide 19. What sort of wage growth are you seeing across the operators, and is that impacting the EBITDA margins much? Do you think they'll have much of a flow-on impact on market rent growth for childcare?
Well, it's definitely challenging for them, and it's actually been prior to COVID. It's always been an issue for operators attracting and retaining staff, just given the low levels of wages they're paid. So I think there's definitely some wage pressure. I think on the flip side, you're seeing good funding increases from the government. The prior Morrison government with their funding increases that came through in March and the new Labor government, which is coming through in July next year, will really provide some funding increases, which will ultimately help operators maintain their EBITDA margins.
Yep. It's still sort of tracking at a 15%-20% mark across your centers or?
Yeah, correct. It does vary between operators and their different models. Yeah, on average, you're probably sitting 15% EBITDA margin or a center level.
Thanks, Travis.
Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Murray Connellan at Moelis. Please go ahead.
Morning, Travis. Morning, Scott. Would you mind just giving us a little bit more color around the assumptions that have gone into your guidance figure, particularly around your debt base rates, your margin, if you can give it, and maybe just a feel for payout ratio as well?
Good day, Murray. It's Scott here. I can take the question on interest rates for you. We've assumed an average rate over FY 2023 of 2.7%. We've rolled our first quarter debt at 180 basis points, and we've assumed an average of circa 290 basis points for the Q2 to Q4 debt rolls. That's the floating rate interest assumption. Our margins around that 160 basis points level. You know, we've got the hedging in place at 54 basis points on AUD 225 million of interest rate swaps. To blend all that together, that gives you the sort of interest rate assumptions for FY 2023.
I think, Murray, on top of that as well, obviously we always have assumptions around portfolio curation, and development completion. It's early in the year. There's a lot of interest rate volatility, so we won't be making any comment on payout ratios at this point in time.
Sure. No worries. Thanks very much.
Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Lou Pirenc at Jarden. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Two quick ones from me. Arena last week talked about evidence of cap rates starting to move upwards. Are you seeing that? What do you see as the risk there?
Lou, it's an interesting one. I think it's probably a little bit early to tell. Like, we're coming off the back of AUD 830 million of sales last year. I think you've seen really aggressive interest rate increases. I think how has that played through the auction market for childcare? A little bit early to tell, I think. But what you will see, I think, will be around the good quality locations. Good tenants will still sell well. I think you've got that rental increases coming through. Like for example, we forecast 3.5%, which does give you some buffer against any cap rate expansion. For example, for us, that 3.5% gives you 15-20 basis points of expansion to keep your yields constant.
I think you will see, where you will see some weakness will be in those lower quality regional centers, the mom-and-pop operators. I think that's where you'll see the weakness coming through in yields.
Thank you. I mean, you sold four assets in 2022. How do you kind of look at your current portfolio? I mean, is there much non-core assets there that you could recycle into, you know, higher growth developments or acquisitions?
I think when you've got a portfolio as large as we do, you always have that bottom 10-20 assets. We get the benefit of the trading data. You can see what's happening in particular centers. We've had, over the last five-six years, we've sold north of 100 centers, so we're playing around the edges. There's always, I think, sort of part of an active portfolio curation. There's always that sort of bottom 10-20 assets you're looking at. Does it make sense to sell? We're always sort of looking at opportunities there, Lou.
Great. Thank you.
Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. Thank you, everyone. There appears to be no further questions, so I'll hand back for any closing comments. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone, for your participation today and your questions. Look forward to getting around and meeting a lot of you over the next couple of weeks. Thank you.