Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Automotive Properties REIT 2024 second quarter results conference call and webcast. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following management's remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Please be aware that certain information discussed today may be forward-looking in nature. Such forward-looking information reflects the REIT's current views with respect to future events. Any such information is subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions related to forward-looking information, please refer to the REIT's latest MD&A and Annual Information Form , which are available on SEDAR+. Management may also refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures.
Although the REIT believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please refer to the REIT's latest MD&A for additional information regarding non-IFRS financial measures. This call is being recorded on August 15, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Milton Lamb. Please go ahead, Mr. Lamb.
Thank you, Joelle . Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On the call with me is Andrew Kalra, our Chief Financial Officer. We generated continued solid financial performance in the quarter, reflecting growth from contractual rent increases and acquisitions we completed last year. Compared to Q2 a year ago, property rental revenue increased by 2.5%, cash NOI was up 3.2%, same property cash NOI increased by 2.5%, and AFFO per unit diluted increased to CAD 0.233 from CAD 0.23. Our portfolio continues to perform well in the current environment of elevated interest rates due to the triple net lease structure, where property-level operating and energy costs are the responsibility of our tenants, and our leases include either fixed or CPI-linked annual rent escalators. Leases with CPI-related adjustments currently represent approximately 36% of our base rent.
On our property tour with analysts in Montreal last summer, we gave a presentation that highlighted the potential for higher density for many of our properties located in urban areas that are experiencing intensification. The size and the location of many of these properties can provide compelling opportunities for us to be able to unlock underlying value by working with our tenants as their businesses evolve, creating significant incremental values, value for our unitholders, in addition to strong income throughout the lease term.
Subsequent to quarter end, we entered into an agreement to sell Kennedy Lands in Markham, Ontario, for CAD 54 million, which represents a 79% premium above the IFRS value of the property as of the date of the agreement, subject to customary adjustments, and represented an approximate 3.36% capitalization rate based on contractual base rent payable under the lease for the property from October 1st, 2024 to September 30th, 2025 . Over and above the net proceeds from the sale, we also have the potential to benefit from the successful rezoning of the property to receipt of additional cash, cash consideration equal to CAD 35 per sq ft to the extent the approved rezoning exceeds 1.3 million sq ft of density.
We're able to immediately unlock value at a strong price, and in addition, are entitled to further cash consideration without incurring any risks related to redevelopment of the property. We expect that, assuming the closing of this transaction occurs around October 1st, the net proceeds will initially be used to repay rent. Sorry, to repay indebtedness under our existing revolving credit facilities. This will result in an expected debt-to-GBV ratio of approximately 41.8%, as compared to 43.6% at the end of our second quarter. This will drive an increase in AFFO per unit and an increase in NAV. With a transaction closed in 2024, we expect to declare a special distribution to our unitholders in December as a result of the increase in taxable income generated on closing.
The amount of the special distribution will be determined closer to the end of 2024. We expect that the special distribution to our unitholders will be paid primarily by the issuance of REIT units. Immediately following the special distribution, the outstanding REIT units will be consolidated so that each unitholder will hold, after consolidation, the same number of REIT units as held immediately prior to the special distribution. So in summary, on closing the transaction, our unitholders will benefit from an immediate substantial premium above the IFRS value of the property, immediate AFFO accretion, enhanced NAV for our portfolio, and a potential density bonus upon rezoning and a special distribution. The net proceeds will also provide us with additional capacity moving forward.
Our portfolio benefits from stable, long-term, triple- net leases with Canada's leading automotive dealership operators and Tesla. 100% occupancy and rent collection since our inception, providing our unitholders with a reliable income and potential for underlying land appreciation. Embedded growth with contractual annual set or CPI-linked rent escalators, and exposure to the automotive retail sector, which represents a growing and essential component of Canadian retail, providing underlying stability to our tenants. All of these factors support steady and reliable cash flows and attractive current yield of more than 7.5% on our monthly cash distributions to unitholders.
But our recent transaction also demonstrates that what we strongly believe, that our portfolio and strategy provides the ability to take advantage of opportunities to unlock embedded value for unitholders , which in turn opens up additional financial flexibility to further add to our portfolio and continue to the value generation cycle. I'd now like to turn it over to Andrew Kalra to review our second quarter results and financial position in more detail.
Thanks, Milton, and good morning, everyone. Our property rental revenue for the quarter totaled CAD 23.5 million, a 2.5% increase from Q2 a year ago, reflecting growth from properties acquired last year and contractual annual rent increases. Total cash NOI and same-property cash NOI for the quarter totaled CAD 19.5 million and CAD 19.2 million, respectively, representing increases of 3.2% and 2.5% compared to Q2 a year ago. Growth in cash NOI was primarily attributable to acquisitions and contractual rent increases. Growth in same-property cash NOI reflects rent increases across our portfolio.
Interest expense and other financing charges for the quarter were CAD 6.3 million, an increase of CAD 0.4 million from Q2 a year ago, reflecting additional debt incurred to acquire properties during the first six months of 2023, and a slightly higher weighted average interest rate. Our G&A expenses of approximately CAD 1.4 million were similar to last year. Net income was CAD 37.3 million, compared to CAD 20.9 million in Q2 a year ago. The increase was primarily attributable to increases in fair value adjustment on investment properties, including the CAD 23.8 million fair value gain as a result of entering into the agreement to sell our Kennedy Lands property in Markham. It should be noted that Dilawri converted all Class B LP units to REIT units on a one-to-one basis during the quarter.
In the future, the REIT will not be exposed to IFRS mark-to-market adjustments related to the Class B LP units. FFO decreased by 0.5% compared to Q2 last year due to higher interest expense and a reduction in straight-line rent adjustment due to the focus on CPI-related leases, which do not have a FFO adjustment. The decrease was partially offset by higher rental revenue. AFFO increased by 1.9% compared to Q2 a year ago, reflecting the impact of the property acquired during Q2 last year and contractual rent increases, partially offset by higher interest costs. The REIT paid total distributions of CAD 9.86 million, or CAD 0.201 per unit in the quarter, representing an AFFO payout ratio of 86.3%, down from 87.4% in Q2 last year.
The cap rate applicable to our portfolio was 6.68% at quarter end, up slightly from 6.59% at 2023 year end. The increased cap rate was primarily due to the classification of our Kennedy Lands property as investment properties held for sale. We had CAD 528 million of outstanding debt at quarter end, with an effective weighted average interest rate of 4.31%. We continue to have minimal exposure to floating or short-term interest rates, with 95% of our debt fixed through interest rate swaps and mortgages. We have a well-balanced level of annual maturities with a weighted average interest rate mortgages remaining of 4.4 years, and a weighted average term maturity of debt of 2.4 years.
Subsequent to quarter end, we amended and extended Facility 2 from January 2025 to January 2028. I'd like to turn the call back to Milton for closing remarks. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Andrew. The Canadian automotive sector continues to be supported by strong fundamentals. According to Statistics Canada, total automotive industry sales were a record CAD 211 billion in 2023, an increase of 12.3% from the prior year. That amounts to approximately 27% of Canada's overall retail sales of products and merchandise. According to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants , new light vehicle unit sales in Canada increased by 15.7% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period of last year, reflecting continued strong consumer demand and availability of new vehicles. Looking ahead, we have a strong portfolio featuring essential retail properties located in prime urban markets, high-quality tenants, a triple net lease structure, embedded, fixed or CPI-adjusted rental growth, and a strong financial position to facilitate growth.
Accordingly, we're well-positioned to generate ongoing, steady organic growth in support of distributions to our unit holders, while continuing to pursue strategic opportunities to drive further AFFO growth per unit. That concludes our remarks. I'd now like to turn it over for questions. Joelle, please go ahead.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question- and- answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Frank Liu with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.
Thank you. Good morning, guys.
Good morning, Frank.
Good morning. Congrats on the sale of the Kennedy Lands and, another good quarter. I see the additional, color on the density threshold, which is good. So the property right now is zoned for 1.3 million sq ft. Just wondering, based on your experience and your conversation with Dilawri, what could be the incremental density upon rezoning? And, how long roughly the rezoning process would likely take, like, you know, probably two years?
Yeah, I mean, that, that comes down to why we like the fact that we de-risk this but still participate. Currently, it is not zoned for high density, but certainly in the Markham Official Plan , that's what they're looking for. So we don't have an exact projection. And, you know, we've certainly, in advance of this transaction, worked with a planner to look at potential density. Interestingly enough, that is not that old, and you're already seeing different levels of government pushing densities higher. So in other properties we've looked at, we've seen densities move significantly upwards as the housing crisis continues to push municipalities to drive density higher. Which is why we wanted to kind of work alongside of them. As they push for higher density, we get to benefit.
So it is not zoned right now for 1.3 million sq ft , but certainly, you know, as higher and denser, sorry, projects continue to go on, we certainly hope and believe we should be in the money. As far as timing, that is, again, another mystery. You know, the municipalities, the Ontario government, are certainly pushing for faster approvals. So is that two years? I mean, I think that would be very fortuitous. A lot of the time it's four years, six years. Certainly, they're motivated, I'm sure, to go forward and get the rezoning as soon as they possibly can. And again, just to clarify, we get paid on rezoning, not on building permits or completion or profits. So it's a very clean process for us.
Thanks for the great color, Milton, thanks. And my mistake, yes, the—I mean, the, I was referring to the 1.3 million sq ft of, the density-
That's the threshold.
Yeah. Without the zone.
Yes.
Yeah, without the zone. That's great. With the... So still on this topic, with CAD 54 million of capital recycled, if I did my math correctly, this could give you additional like net of CAD 25 million cash after paying down, you know, the outstanding balance on the revolver. You guys are in a good spot to execute. And, how's the market, transaction market, evolved over the last three months? I know summer is normally quiet, but do you see more opportunities in the market that APR could potentially capture, I guess, later of the year into next year?
I like to believe, maybe it's my optimist side, that this is fortuitous timing. We've traditionally done more deals at the end of the year. And at the same time, the discussions we've had with the automotive industry sector, you know, there's still a bit of a buy-sell gap on the M&A that we often track, but that seems to be adjusting, and I'm really looking forward to the next six to 18 months.
I see. So I guess within the interim, you will have the cash sitting in your account, and you get investment income, I mean, interest income from that, too, right? Until you capture on next opportunity.
Well, the goal is to deploy the funds as we fit with an acquisition. But, obviously, as we pay down our non-revolving debt, our revolver does go up, so we can use that even on a short-term basis. And the number you quoted was as of June 30, and our revolver balance does go up every quarter.
Yeah, and to be frank, to be, you know, clear, we did this to recycle the capital, not just to pay down short-term debt. We walked into this transaction in a very strong financial position, so it was not done for the sake of paying down debt, because we looked at a view that we needed to pay down debt. It's quite the other. This is being opportunistic and believing that we can recycle the capital and continue to drive AFFO per unit as we do acquisitions.
Yeah, for sure. That's for sure. It's a, it's a good value creation for the unit holders. Just lastly,
It's nice to change the theory to reality.
Yes, it's good to see the, it's come to a reality, and then, you know, we expect, we hope there's more of this, coming. Good for APR, for sure.
Good for unit holders, yes.
Yeah.
Sorry, go on.
Sorry, just the last question on the, the financing side. There's a CAD 9.5 million swap entered at 5.4% rate. I'm just curious, if at the rate you see today in the market, when you speak to lenders, because I know you have another CAD 30 million of swaps coming due within the next 12 months.
Yeah, we've seen drops in July, and they're moving in the right direction. We're probably about 30 basis points lower from that one. So the anticipation and what we're seeing in the marketplace right now is rates headed downwards. And you're correct, we do have about CAD 30 million coming up, so we'll be looking to put extensions and terms on that and get the best rates as possible, consistent with our overall policy.
I'm even more optimistic than Andrew. As we go into the fall and early winter, we do expect to see rates continue to move down.
For sure. Yeah, that's good. I mean, like, that's similar - that's consistent with what our economy is seeing here at BMO, so lower rate.
Thanks, Frank. Thank you.
Thank you. That's all my questions for today, and I'll turn it back.
Your next question comes from Mark Rothschild with Canaccord. Your line is now open.
Thanks, and good morning, guys. As far as the sale goes, and you talked about recycling capital, to what extent was this motivated by just the opportunity coming up or in that the equity markets are just not attractive, and you're looking for alternative sources for raising equity to fund growth?
Certainly, the equity markets are not at a place where we're trading right now that we would be looking to do a raise, but we still have capacity to do acquisitions. You know, we've talked about having underlying land value. This is an opportunity to pull some of that land value out. So we've certainly worked with planners on a number of our properties to understand what that means in the event that there is the opportunity that we can take advantage of it in an intelligent way, and that's exactly what we did. You know, as the knock on, yeah, I agree with you. It's fortuitous that additional injection of capital may come at a time when we can certainly take advantage of it.
Moving from a low to mid-threes, you know, to high-sixs to mid-sixs to mid-sevens certainly creates incremental AFFO per unit.
Okay, great. And then just looking at the acquisition market, and I know it's difficult, does declining interest rates make it more difficult, to get, current owners, operators to sell? Would it just make it easier for them to hold on to their properties and get a little more difficult on the cap rates? Would that be a reasonable assumption?
Yeah, if you took it as a very specific moment, but, I mean, this is a trend, tends to be more of a trend line, where a lot of as their debt rolls over, that's when they'll look at it. And certainly, as debt rolls over, it may be at a lower rate than three months ago, but it's certainly a significantly higher rate than it was two, three, four, five years ago. Well, two or three years ago. So, and at the same time, what you're seeing is inventory going up at the same time as inventory financing obviously goes up. So, you know, I certainly believe there will be more opportunities now than when you saw interest rates at incredibly low levels in 2022 and 2021.
Okay, great. Thanks. I appreciate that. I'll turn it back.
Your next question comes from Jonathan Kelcher with TD Cowen. Your line is now open.
Thanks. Good morning.
Good morning.
So I guess the Kennedy Lands certainly demonstrated some of the land value that you guys have. Did the announcement of that sale prompt any discussions with any of your other tenants?
You know, really, it more depends on what's happening in the specific regions and with specific businesses. I mean, we're nine years in, or we're in our 10th year. So as some of these properties mature, at the same time, the cities and the businesses that are, you know, situated on the lands matures. So I don't think it's a prompt on a press release or a news release that'll get discussions going. It's just more the evolution of the city and the business that will allow us to potentially, you know... It's tough to project when, but to be able to capture some of the underlying value by working with our tenants.
Okay. Are you having discussions with any other tenants on a similar sort of thing?
The same as acquisitions. We don't really discuss anything till we announce it.
Fair enough. And then just, I guess, related to that, are you really thinking of your Vaughan site here where the lease comes up, but are you working to get some density on any other sites that you have?
There's always a combination of looking at what we could put in place and moving it to a certain level. We've said consistently over the last number of years, we don't want to create a development company within APR. Certainly entitlement, or, you know, a significant portion of that entitlement process, I do think adds value. So that is something that we continue to look at and spend some money on.
Okay, thanks. I'll, I'll turn it back.
Your next question comes from Lorne Kalmar with Desjardins. Your line is now open.
Thanks. Good morning.
Good.
Maybe sticking on the disposition side of things, you know, with some leases starting to roll in 2026, do you think maybe that could be a year where we see a couple more of these deals come to fruition?
As we've said before, and it was announced, that has one more renewal option. We don't know if that group will end up renewing or not. Certainly know and like the site, and know and like the tenant. So, you know, certainly an interesting site. At this point, we don't have any conclusive answers either way.
Okay. But would that be a site where, you know, there would be appetite for multi-res, similar to the Kennedy Lands?
It's surrounded by high quality retail and high density projects. I mean, that is an area that Vaughan wants to see higher intensification.
Okay. So I won't be surprised then. And then maybe just switching gears a bit here. The AutoCanada results were a little bit disappointing. I think there's some other externalities, but they quoted sort of some softness in fundamentals, and we've seen the EBITDA come down for Dilawri. Do you think, you know, maybe softening sales could be a catalyst for some M&A on the dealership side?
I certainly believe that, you know, a lot of these dealerships were, during the pandemic, incredibly profitable. I think they're going to be at more of that very healthy, profitable number. And when you're seeing interest rates higher and profits being at a more, you know, healthy but normalized level, that means we've a, you know, bigger place at the table. So I certainly, you know, don't think that hurts.
Okay. Thank you very much, Milton. I'll turn it back.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Brad Sturges with Raymond James. Your line is now open.
Hey, good morning.
Good day.
Just to follow on to the acquisition commentary, and I guess in your opening comments, you talked about having more capacity. I'd be curious to know what you think your balance sheet capacity today would be for acquisitions?
Short answer is significant. You know, this, the Kennedy Lands property was unencumbered, so this is pure, you know, cash to the bottom line, which, you know, we were already in a good position. So for us, it's not as much about capacity, it's about availability of properties and groups that we want to work with, and that's often driven by that buy-sell gap that we talked about before, that we're seeing shrink. We think there's going to be a meeting of the minds, and, you know, from my 30-odd years in real estate, I've always been amazed that once there's a couple benchmarks created, how quickly there's a domino effect with other deals.
I guess maybe put a different way, is there a target? Is there a change in the target leverage you'd like to get to, or is it still consistent with, I think, previous comments around the 50% debt to gross book value?
I think that's consistent, and if you kind of sketch out the numbers, if we get to that level, our AFFO per unit is going to look very healthy. And, you know, if I look at where we are now, whether it's, you know, the traditional extension of our credit facilities that we just completed, whether it's, the LTV that we have in pulling off some, some additional capital from Kennedy Lands, we're in a very good place now to really drive that AFFO growth per unit, which we want to do.
Last question. I guess, so, the unencumbered pools down to a couple of assets, would those be kind of lower density, sort of, redevelopment opportunities as well, or how should we think about those, those two assets that are still unencumbered?
I think that's just, you know, whether it's the LTV on some of our corporate facilities or the fact that we've got a couple outstanding properties. Certainly, Kennedy Lands is something that we've known and looked at as having high density potential, so kept it unencumbered. I think the other ones, that's just part of a natural rotation and timing.
Yeah. Okay, perfect. I'll turn it back.
Your next question comes from Himanshu Gupta with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.
Thank you, and good morning.
Good day.
Just on the balance sheet, Facility 2 was, I think, extended until 2028. Did you extend the swap as well? I mean, when does the swap expire on that facility?
There was only that CAD 9.9 million swap that we extended. All the other ones just flowed through.
And this is-
Okay.
I mean, this is traditionally what we've done with all three facilities. That when we extend it, it doesn't affect the swaps. So those in-place swaps, we just carry on, and certainly when the right time occurs or as they come closer to the expiration, we'll look at extending or replacing the swaps.
It's just the debt portion that's was extended. That's what's been done on Facility 2.
Okay, and-
At the consistent rate that we've had since, you know, IPO.
Yeah.
Got it. Okay. And if I look at 2025 debt maturity, now what is left in 2025?
So the debt maturity, we don't have debt maturities until 2026. I think you're referring to the swaps that are coming due?
And they will be coming due. Yeah, so they'll be coming due now, over the 2024-2025. And as we commented, as the rates are lowering, we'll look to extend those swaps and with rates coming down, that will be better than today.
A lot of those, you know, just the natural cadence. A lot of those swaps are closer to year-end because a lot of our acquisitions are closer to year-end.
All right. Okay, thank you. And then I think, did you mention the target leverage is around 50% or so? I mean, that gives you a lot of acquisition capacity here.
It does. You know, as a triple net lease structure, we don't have a lot of leakage below the line, so we're comfortable at that 50%, you know, low 50s level. You know, certainly as we've continued to grow and mature, we've reduced that LTV a bit from our IPO. So we continue to be comfortable in that kind of 50%, very low 50s.
Got it. Okay, thank you. Maybe just a last question on the popular Kennedy Lands transaction. When does the Dilawri lease expire on this property? And just wondering if the lease term was a factor in deciding, you know, whether this property should go for a rezoning application or not.
Sure. I mean, they've got a midterm lease with significant renewal options, so they had long-term control over the site, which is why we have to work with our tenants, unless it's a lease expiration. And certainly, as you know, Dilawri will be the owner and the operator on the site, I'm sure, you know, they've got the flexibility to tear up or redo their own lease, which we as the REIT did not. So that's. It's a situation where, you know, we've said this from day one, that we expect there'll be opportunities where, you know, if we leave a little money on the table, we can take some very good profits for our unitholders, which is what we did.
Awesome. Thank you, guys. I'll turn.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Milton for closing remarks.
Thank you, all. We appreciate all of you joining us today, and look forward to speaking with you again soon. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.