Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Automotive Properties REIT 2025 Second Quarter Results Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following management's remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please be advised 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 relating 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 15th, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Milton Lamb. Please go ahead, Mr. Lamb.
Great. Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. With me on the call is Andrew Kalra, our Chief Financial Officer. We generated continued growth in our revenue, rental revenue, cash NOI, same-property cash NOI, and AFFO per unit in the quarter. Compared to Q2 a year ago, rental revenue increased by 4.6%, cash NOI was up 5.6%, same-property cash NOI increased by 2.4%, and AFFO per unit diluted increased to CAD 0.249, up from CAD 0.233. Our AFFO payout ratio declined to 80.7% for the quarter and is at 81% to date. Supported by the strong financial performance and the stability of our cash flows, the trustees have determined that a 2.2% increase to our unitholder distributions is appropriate at this time.
Effective for our August 2025 cash distributions, our monthly unitholder distribution will increase to CAD 0.0685 per unit, up from the previous monthly amount of CAD 0.067. On an annualized basis, our new distribution amount increases to CAD 0.822 per unit. In addition to our distribution increase, we also announced that we have entered into two acquisition agreements to acquire a total of seven automotive properties. The first agreement is to acquire a portfolio of five auto dealership properties and one collision center property operating as Groupe AutoForce for an aggregate purchase price of CAD 70.5 million, subject to customary adjustments. Properties are located in Île Perrot, Quebec, part of Greater Montreal. Île Perrot is an island off the western tip of Montreal that is off Autoroute 20 and is in close proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Île Perrot properties consist of an aggregate of approximately 178,000 sq ft of GLA, sitting on approximately 27 acres of land, including dealerships representing GM, Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, and Ford, as well as a body shop. The respective tenants of each of the properties are under long-term net leases and identified by Groupe AutoForce and are subject to annual adjustments linked to the Consumer Price Index in Quebec. The acquisition of this portfolio of properties is expected to close by the end of this quarter, subject to customary closing conditions. As part of the acquisition, the vendors agreed to take back CAD 10 million through the issuance of Class B units at a price of CAD 12 per unit, with the balance to be funded by drawing on our credit facilities.
Pursuant to the terms of the purchase agreement, we have a potential cash payment to the vendor in the amount equal to the difference between CAD 12 and the VWAP at the second anniversary date of closing, subject to a maximum cash payment of CAD 1.25 million. The second transaction we announced yesterday is the purchase of a 35,000 sq ft automotive property situated on 6.4 acres of land located in Orlando, Florida, for a purchase price of $16.8 million U.S., or approximately CAD 23 million Canadian dollars. The Orlando property is comprised of a sales delivery and service facility tenanted by Rivian, LLC under a long-term net lease that includes contractual fixed annual rent increases. The property is a few miles outside downtown Orlando and close to several highways.
We expect to close the Orlando property acquisition by the end of this quarter, subject to customary closing adjustments, and we expect to fund the acquisition through drawing on our credit facilities. The Orlando acquisition represents our second transaction with a Rivian tenant property in Florida. We successfully closed our CAD 18.6 million acquisition of a sales delivery and service facility in Tampa, tenanted by Rivian, earlier in Q2. These acquisitions are consistent with our strategic focus on acquiring attractive commercial properties in growing metropolitan markets, enhancing our tenant and geographic diversification, increasing our exposure to public traded electric vehicle tenants, and driving growth in AFFO per unit. I'd now like to turn it over to Andrew Kalra to review our second quarter results and financial position in more detail. Andrew?
Thanks, Milton, and good morning, everyone. Our property rental revenue for the quarter increased to CAD 24.6 million from CAD 23.5 million in Q2 a year ago, reflecting growth from the properties we acquired in Q4 last year and in the first half of this year, plus contractual rent increases, partially offset by a decrease in rent due to the sale of our Kennedy Land property in Q4 last year. Total cash NOI and same-property cash NOI for the quarter total CAD 20.6 million and CAD 19.5 million, respectively, representing increases of 5.6% and 2.4% compared to Q2 a year ago. Interest expense and other charges for the quarter were CAD 6.4 million, a slight increase from Q2 a year ago due to additional debt incurred to fund acquisitions. Our G&A expenses were CAD 1.6 million for the quarter, an increase of CAD 0.2 million from Q2 last year and in line with our expectations.
Net income and other comprehensive income was CAD 11.2 million compared to CAD 37.3 million in Q2 last year. The decrease was primarily due to changes in non-cash fair value adjustments for investment properties and investment properties held for sale and for Class B unit vendor takeback and unit-based compensation in Q2 this year compared to Q2 a year ago. The Kennedy Land were classified as investment property held for sale in Q2 last year, which resulted in a fair value gain of CAD 23.8 million in the quarter. FFO and AFFO increased by 6.6% and 7.4%, respectively, compared to Q2 last year, reflecting higher rental revenue from acquisitions and contractual rent increases, partially offset by the reduction of rent from the sale of the Kennedy Land.
We paid unitholder distributions of CAD 9.87 million or CAD 0.201 per unit in the quarter, representing an AFFO payout ratio of 80.7%, down from 86.3% in Q2 last year. The cap rate applicable to our portfolio was 6.73% at quarter end, up slightly from 6.69% at 2024 year end. During the quarter, we increased the amount of the non-revolving portion of Facility 3 by CAD 35 million, completed a floating to fixed rate swap within Facility 1 in the amount of approximately CAD 8.7 million for a term of six years at an interest rate of 4.5%, which is retroactive to March 31st, 2025.
Subsequent to quarter end, we renewed a floating to fixed interest rate swap in the amount of approximately CAD 9.9 million within Facility 3 for a term of six years at an annual interest of 4.8%, and we renewed a floating to fixed interest rate swap within Facility 2 in the amount of approximately CAD 9.3 million for a term of five years at an interest rate of 4.58%. We anticipate funding the announced acquisitions through an increase and draw on our credit facilities. We have a well-balanced level of annual maturities with a weighted average interest rate swap term and mortgages remaining of four years. We continue to have minimal exposure to floating or short-term interest rates with 91% of our debt fixed through interest rate swaps and mortgages. At quarter end, we had CAD 544 million of debt with an effective weighted average interest rate of 4.36%.
Our debt to GV was 44%, and we had CAD 68.5 million of undrawn capacity under our credit facilities, cash on hand of CAD 0.6 million, and five unencumbered properties with an aggregate value of approximately CAD 85.8 million. Assuming the successful completion of our properties in Greater Montreal and Orlando this quarter, our debt to GV ratio would increase to approximately 47.6%. I'd like to turn the call back to Milton for closing remarks. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Andrew. I recently completed property acquisitions in the U.S., which included a Tesla Collision Center in Columbus, Ohio, and a Rivian Service Center in Tampa, Florida. Combined with our acquisitions of the two heavy construction equipment dealership properties in Greater Montreal in December of last year, have contributed to our AFFO growth per unit to date in 2025. With the completion of the property acquisitions announced yesterday, expected to close later this quarter, we look forward to a further AFFO and AFFO per unit growth throughout 2025. We believe that our acquisitions, coupled with our announced increase to unitholder distributions, will continue to drive significant unitholder value. Before opening up the lines to questions, I'd like to note an important milestone for us. In July, we mark our 10th year since the completion of our IPO.
Over this period, we have increased the value of our investment properties from CAD 358 million to over CAD 1.2 billion, internalized management, while significantly diversifying and expanding our automotive and OEM brand representation, tenant base, and geographic presence in metropolitan markets. Through our Kennedy Land sales, we've also demonstrated the potential for higher density of many of our properties that are located in urban areas experiencing densification. Looking ahead, you can expect us to continue to build on these positive factors to drive unitholder value, supported by a growing property portfolio featuring essential retail and service properties with an historical 100% rent collection, prime metropolitan markets anchored by GDP and population growth, high-quality tenants, attractive single-tenant net lease structures, and embedded fixed or CPI-linked rental growth. That concludes our remarks. We'd now like to open the lines up for questions. Rob, please go ahead.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. You may re-queue for any additional questions. Your first question today comes from the line of Lorne Kalmar from Desjardins. Your line is open.
Thank you. Good morning and congrats on the couple of exciting announcements accompanying results this quarter. Maybe just sticking with that, on the deals, can you maybe give us a rough idea of the expected yield on the Montreal and Orlando acquisitions?
Yeah, we've consistently said that we're seeing opportunities in that 6.5% - 7.5% cap rate, and these certainly fall within that. That certainly depends partially on what the annual rent escalators are and which markets, but both of them fall nicely within that bandwidth.
Okay, fair enough. You mentioned you guys have been quite busy the past 12 months. What's the outlook for the balance of the year and into 2026 on the acquisition front?
We're still seeing and liking some of the opportunities that cross our desk. As you're aware, because a lot of this goes on the back of M&A, it can be moments in time when we have to react. We're certainly seeing as well with the increased runway of parts of the U.S. that are showing GDP and population growth and getting into the heavy equipment construction world, we're positive on what we're expecting to see over the next 18 months.
Your next question comes from the line of Jonathan Kelcher from TD Cowen. Your line is open.
Thanks. Good morning. The Montreal acquisition, was that related to any dealer M&A, or maybe give a little bit of color on why they sold?
Sure, indirectly it was. The vendor was the previous operator of Groupe AutoForce. When he spun off the operations, he retained the real estate and we acquired or I was about to acquire the real estate. That is also one of the reasons why a unit takeback made a lot of sense because they have held these assets for a significant amount of time. At CAD 12, that would be with the discounts and fees and everything else equivalent to a CAD 13 pre-raise number. We found that attractive. It helped us get the deal done with him. We like the brands and location within that portfolio.
Okay, so this wasn't really with Groupe AutoForce. It was, so the founder sold and then he retained the real estate, and so it's not really with Groupe AutoForce expanding or anything?
Correct. That's why I say it's tenanted by Groupe AutoForce and that we've acquired from a vendor. It's a third-party vendor. It's not Groupe AutoForce, but Groupe AutoForce is indemnifying the leases and is the group that is operating the dealerships.
Okay, that's my one question. I'll turn it back next.
Great, thanks.
Your next question comes from a line of Brad Sturges from Raymond James. Your line is open.
Hey, good morning.
Good.
On the distribution increase, very good to see. Just can you walk through the factors and considerations that the board took to land on the new distribution rate, and how do you think about payout ratio going forward?
Yeah, I mean we're, for the first few years, we worked at reducing our LTV while at the same time growing our same-property cash NOI growth. Both of those have come to a place where we're getting distribution levels that are in the very low 80%. Certainly, as a triple net lease, you know, net lease company, we're not seeing a lot of expenses below the bottom line. All of that plus, you know, it's kind of nice to have 10 years of 100% leased and 100% rent payment. It seemed to be the right time that we, as we look forward and at, you know, we'd like to give a bit more to our investors and keep some for the REIT to continue kind of helping out with our financial growth. I think it's time that we reward all parties.
Would there be a plan in place to do this more on an annual basis, or how do you think about distribution changes going forward?
Sure, everyone likes forward-looking statements. I have been very public over the last number of years that, you know, when we start doing unitholder distributions, some of the companies, REITs that do it on a regular basis, I believe, get rewarded, whereas a one-time does not really get rewarded. It is something we look at, something that we like. It is tough to pin it on a forward, but we certainly like the idea of having something on a regular basis.
Got it. Great, thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Jimmy Shan from RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Thanks. Just a follow-up on a comment you made on the deal pipeline. I think you mentioned something about construction equipment in the U.S. Is that?
Yes and no. That was combined. We certainly like the heavy equipment construction space that we acquired in Montreal. We think in metropolitan markets, infrastructure is going to continue to be a big spend. That in our world is different than agro. It may be a John Deere, but there's John Deere that tear up highways in Montreal and John Deere's that plant corn in Nebraska. We love the first. I don't think we're going into the second. I could see opportunities in states on the heavy equipment. My comment there actually had a comma between them, which was that we certainly see pathway to continued acquisitions in the U.S. and pathway to continued acquisitions on the heavy equipment. I think heavy equipment, we like the bracket. It's nice to have some consumer-facing and some infrastructure-facing.
I still think, especially with the portfolio we have now, we're going to be a lot more weighted towards the traditional auto sector as opposed to heavy equipment and construction. That is a bracket that we do find can be appealing in some cases. I mean, it's high-quality dirt with low-density properties on top. We don't mind that at all.
Okay. Sorry, if I could sneak just one more. The tariff situation, any better sense on the impact on the profitability of your tenants? I mean, I saw the Dilawri UIDAI looks still very, very healthy. Maybe any comment there?
Yeah, I mean, we certainly, first name in Automotive Properties REIT is automotive. I think we got tagged pretty quickly with concerns over auto parts and auto manufacturing going across border with tariffs. I certainly don't believe that we have a direct impact on that or our tenants do. Last time COVID, the lack of inventory hit, dealers did quite well. It will adjust some, I don't even want to say brands, it will adjust some models that you're going to see, some models not making it in North America, and then some other models kind of being pushed more in North America. It does change the complexion of some of the new car sales or potentially can. It's just such a moving, bouncing ball. At the end of the day, you're seeing huge strength in used car sales and prices. Service continues to do extremely well.
The headline risk that tariffs present really does not distill down to tenants, the tenant's ability to pay our rent. I mean, we're 10 years and going, you know, we've been through some ups and downs as far as the market around us and our tenants continue to pay rent and occupy. It's something that we certainly track. When it gets down to the dealer, which is more of a distribution and certainly has different components of profitability, the word profitability we think will still be very much in their vernacular. It's just where they're making the profits. As long as they're making profits, we're getting our rent paid. Again, I remind everyone that in most cases, we have indemnification from a parent group. That's multi-brand, multi-locational dealer groups that if one brand's doing poorly on one corner, they still have to pay our rent.
If you'd like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Sairam Srinivas from Cormark Securities. Your line is open.
Thank you, Operator. Morning, guys.
Good.
Milton, just going back to your comment on the stability of cash flows and 100% occupancy being one of the factors on the distribution increase. Can you reference that in relation to the leasing pipeline ahead? Starting 2026, you probably see some of your leases coming up. Can you give us some color on what the extensions or renewals over there look like? Thanks.
Sure. I mean, we say 100% occupancy because we've had it for 10 years and we very much enjoy that. The distribution increases based on our cash flow and AFFO. Certainly, one leads to the next. We do not have a significant amount coming up in 2026. We'll announce when things are done. We know that the properties that are there, there's certainly one that is a very high-quality property. Whether the tenant stays or leaves, we're going to be very happy. The other ones, from everything we're seeing, the industry continues to desire greater locations. It's very tough to move. We always believe that it's very sticky because the radius clauses within franchises, it's very difficult for tenants to leave. Nothing to announce yet, but as a general comment within the portfolio, it's very tough to leave in these urban locations.
That's fair. That's a good call, Milton. Maybe just a follow-up. Do any of these leases have extension clauses in them that could probably just mean that? What I'm trying to get is that obviously Dilawri leases are different from your inflation-indexed leases. Could we see that changing or is it more of the same?
Most of our leases, especially when we acquire the properties, will have renewal clauses in place, renewal options in place for the tenant. A lot of them we like in the fact that it says not less than previous. Yes, most of the tenancies, because it's so important to their business, it's almost the same comment I make in the opposite viewpoint, which is the tenants really want the renewal options because if they don't renew, it's sometimes very tough to, or if they don't have a renewal option and they can't find another location, that can mean the end of their franchise or business. It is very important to them and it's very sticky for us.
That's fair. Thanks for the call, Milton. We'll turn it back.
Your next question comes from a line of Guiliano Thornhill from National Bank Financial. Your line is open.
Thanks, guys. Good morning. Just turning the attention to the Quebec acquisitions. What do you like about those markets, and is there any competition nearby, or like what's the health of the tenant?
I'm sorry, what was the last part of the question?
What's the health of the tenant, and what kind of rent coverage are you underwriting at? There's probably three questions there, but as you're not aware.
What do we like about Montreal? It's the second largest auto market in Canada. Certainly, you're seeing population growth, has some good wealth, really good underlying fundamentals. It seems as, you know, I'll throw my very lack of French out here, but the joie de vivre is very strong in Montreal. It seems some people retire earlier than other parts of Canada and that can drive a bit more of the M&A world, which we tend to find opportunities within. As far as Groupe AutoForce, yes, we've looked at their financials. Yes, obviously we wouldn't have waived if we weren't comfortable. We've always been, especially as they're private companies, we've never disclosed rent coverage ratios because they're private companies.
Right. On the Orlando property, it looks like it was situated in an industrial park. Is that a long-term part of the thesis? Just being able to capitalize on the coverage there at all?
It's in an industrial park. I would make this similar to the Laval, larger Tesla facility that we have. This is distribution as well as sales and service. Through this location, they distribute to other cities within the Florida area. It's a hub for them, and it's in an industrial area because it's a distribution hub. We're Automotive Properties , we're not just automotive retail properties. This makes, you know, it's one of the reasons why we like the facility because, A, it's low density. Yes. B, it's extremely important to their logistics world. We like the Orlando market. I do, you know, remember, this is direct with the OEM with Rivian. It's not a franchise model. With franchise laws in the U.S., they cannot sell directly to the client on site. This is pickup, service, and distribution.
All right, thanks.
Your next question comes from a line of Tal Woolley from CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.
Hey, good morning. I just wanted to follow up on some of the Rivian recent acquisitions you've done with them. The price per square foot seems to be well in excess of sort of where you guys mark your current portfolio. I'm just wondering if there's something unique about these sites, whether it's the servicing or the fit out or something like that that makes these more expensive on a price per square foot basis.
Yeah, both of them are slightly different. The Rivian in Tampa is really near Midtown, which, you know, in Toronto would be the equivalent of Yorkdale. Hotel, apartments, high-quality retail, mixed use, high density. It enjoys that kind of zoning. It's one of those, which you know I love. Option A, Rivian, long term. Option B, do something more interesting that goes up in the air. That's why the price is a bit higher. It's only because it's a smaller facility. The amount of electrical upgrades that go into these locations is significant, not surprising as an EV company. The second one, it's because it's a smaller, call it 35,000 ft on 6.5 acres of land. That's a significant amount of land.
That's going to kind of push it because of the industrial outdoor storage component of it to a higher level when you look at it just based on the per square foot building. We've looked at it because it is slightly higher than our average. It is higher than our average. We needed to understand that and be comfortable with it before moving forward.
On Rivian longer term, like, you know, I appreciate the company's gotten, you know, the investment from Volkswagen, but they are burning cash pretty significantly. How did you guys get comfortable with the credit quality for the long term?
Yeah, I mean, it's still a CAD 20 billion company that's sitting on, I can't remember the exact number, CAD 7 billion in cash. They are doing the burn, which we expect to continue until they get the R2 out. They're retooling their existing and then launching a bit more of a consumer as opposed to a luxury vehicle in the R2, which is a lot lower price point, more for a mass market than just luxury. It really is talking to a lot of the industry players, even some of their competitors, and talking about the quality of their underlying platform. Their infrastructure is strong. We certainly believe that they will have a good runway ahead. We like what they're doing and that like is based on what we're hearing in the market from, you know, stock analysts, from people in the industry itself of auto.
Okay, that's great. Thanks, Milton.
Your next question is a follow-up from the line of Sairam Srinivas from Cormark Securities. Your line is open.
Thank you, Operator. It's me again. I'm going to prolong the call. Milton, I know historically the cadence of their acquisitions has been more, you know, Q1, Q4 weighted as such. Obviously, you guys have been a lot more active. Does this mean, like, you know, is it more of a reflection of what you're seeing underlying in the market or is it, you know, more of a regular course going ahead, especially given your expansion to the U.S.?
The expansion in the U.S., I mean, the Rivian and Tesla that we've done tend to be fitted out for a new tenant, being Rivian and Tesla, and then a bit more of a merchant seller at the end. Whereas, you know, traditionally in Canada, we've done it on the back of M&A, which tends to be more at the end of the year. When it is, you know, the retirement world, when the M&A has already happened and they hold the asset after the fact, that tends to be a lot more flexible. I still believe you're going to see, you know, end of year that may potentially close early in the new year. World that's associated with M&A, which tends to be one of the drivers of our activity.
Certainly, there's been a bit of an expansion on where we're seeing opportunities from, which can kind of change that cadence a bit. I still believe it's going to be a bit more back-end loaded.
That's great. Thanks, Milton.
Your next question is a follow-up from the line of Guiliano Thornhill from National Bank Financial. Your line is open.
Hey guys, I just wanted to follow up on the permit financing for the acquisitions. Are you guys going to let it float on the line just because the rates are, you know, on a declining trajectory, or are you going to look to swap it out immediately?
Yeah, we'll assess it upon closing. We usually close with revolving and then we term out accordingly. Rates right now are similar to what we did in June on some of the swaps. For your modeling, you could use that on a go-forward basis for your modeling.
You're right. Right now there's a lot of volatility within those interest rates for the small band, but it seems to be going up and down depending who says what across the border. It is, we watch for timeliness for when we kind of strike on the duration, but we do like having duration.
That's what we've done in the past. We've balanced a relatively good rate with long-term duration on our swaps.
Sure. Thank you, guys.
That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Milton Lamb for closing remarks.
That's great, everyone. Appreciate it and enjoy the rest of the summer. All the best.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.