Earnings Call: Q2 2021

Aug 10, 2021

Good morning. My name is Valerie, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to CTE REIT's Q2 20 21 Earnings Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. The speakers on today's call are Ken Silver, Chief Executive Officer of CTE REIT Leslie Gibson, Chief Financial Officer of CTE REIT and Kevin Selzberg, President and Chief Operating Officer of T. P. REIT. Today's discussions may include forward looking statements. Such statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs. These forward looking statements are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause Actual results to differ materially from such statements. Please see CTE's public filings for discussion on these risk factors, which are included in their 2020 MD and A and AIF, which can be found on CPE REIT's website and on SEDAR. I will now turn the call over to Ken Silvers, Chief Executive Officer of CTE REIT. Ken? Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We're very pleased to welcome you to CTE REIT's Q2 2021 Investor Conference Call. With Canadians having significantly embraced vaccination, resulting in lower COVID case rates and the lifting of most public health restrictions, We can be hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. Yet we can see with the emergence of the Delta variant and ongoing health crises In various parts of the world that the future is not without risk. Even given the path we're currently on, There is much uncertainty still regarding the safe return to the workplace, schools, travel and other elements of normal life. Nevertheless, in many ways, the Q2 marked the transition from a Canadian economy constrained and impacted by the pandemic To a step on the way to a new somewhat different normal. From a CTE REIT perspective, we're pleased to share with you the results of another strong quarter, A quarter to a large extent reflected this transition in the Canadian economy. One of the key takeaways from the past year or so Is that throughout the pandemic, our portfolio demonstrated tremendous resiliency, delivering uninterrupted growth In AFFO per unit, a strong balance sheet and credit metrics and distribution growth, we believe that we are well All of these hallmarks of our strong performance We're again reflected in our Q2 results. In addition, renewed market confidence has contributed to growth In our IFRS fair value, driven by strong fundamentals in both the retail and industrial components of our portfolio, The reduction in our bad debt expense is also a reflection of greater confidence in the resilience of our ancillary tenants As the economy move to reopening. We are also excited about the growing list of projects that will support our future growth With the new investments that we announced yesterday, bringing our acquisition and development pipeline to approximately 1,250,000 square feet of attractive Our resilience and our growth are owing to the success of Canadian Tire, Which continues to demonstrate its ability to deliver on the wants and needs of Canadians year in year out through good times and bad For now, almost 100 years. With that, I'm going to turn the call over to Kevin to provide an update on our investing activities and operations. Leslie will then review the financial aspects of the quarter before turning the call over for questions. Kevin? Thanks, Ken, and good morning, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. As outlined in yesterday's press release, we are pleased to announce 5 new investments this quarter These new projects consist of the vending of an existing Canadian Tire store And Canadian Tire Gas Plus Gaspar in Trenton, Ontario Canadian Tire store expansions in Toronto, Ontario As well as the Canadian Tire store expansion that required the acquisition of land from a third party in Drummondville, Quebec. Finally, we've also announced the dividend of land for the development of a new Canadian Tire store and third party tenants in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. When completed, these investments are expected to earn a weighted average going in cap rate of approximately 6.5% and will add roughly 266,000 square feet of This brings the total investment activity announced since the beginning of the year to $173,000,000 $130,000,000 of which relates to the expansion and development of Canadian Tire retail and supply chain assets. As we continue to work collaboratively Alongside Canadian Tire on these projects, the REIT has opportunistically engaged in discussions with our largest tenant surrounding remaining lease terms. As can be seen this quarter, these proactive negotiations allowed us to extend the weighted average lease term for the entire portfolio By almost half a year to 8.9 years, one of the longest in the sector. This improvement was primarily driven by the extension of 1 Canadian Tire distribution center lease And 9 Canadian Tire store leases, and we are pleased to have extended the lease terms for all but one of the Canadian Tire stores that were set to expire between now and the end of 2020 We are in discussions with Canadian Tire regarding possibly replacing this remaining location to a larger format store that will potentially better serve And we'll announce further details in the future should this project come to fruition. At the end of the Q2, CPE REIT had 28 properties that were at various stages These projects represent a total committed investment of approximately $280,000,000 upon completion, dollars 66,000,000 of which Has already been spent and $54,000,000 of which we anticipate will be spent in the next 12 months. These projects will add a total incremental gross area of approximately 923,000 square feet to the portfolio upon completion, 95% of which has been pre leased. As at June 30, 2021, CTE REIT's occupancy rate was 99.2%, in line with both Q2 2020 as well as year end. With that, I will turn it over to Leslie for a review of our financial results. Thanks, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. We are again very pleased with the strong Q2 results that C. T. Reid has delivered. Our rent collections for the 2nd remained stable at 99.7 percent, and we recorded no bad debt expense, reflecting the stable portfolio and health of our tenants. Our reported AFFO per unit on a diluted basis was $0.277 an increase of 8.2% compared to Q2 of 2020, reflecting the positive net impact of NOI variances, including reduced credit losses and lower interest expense. Reported net operating income increased 6.5 percent or $6,100,000 in the quarter compared to Q2 2020. The main contributors to this growth are the same store NOI results, which contributed $3,300,000 as well as intensifications and the acquisition of income producing properties completed in 2021 2020, which contributed a further $2,800,000 to NOI growth. Even excluding the credit losses recorded in Q2 of 2020, Organic NOI growth would have been a healthy 4.9%. Same store NOI increased by 3.6 percent or 3,300,000 Compared to the Q2 2020, driven by contractual rent escalations contributing $1,500,000 and Lower provisions for the expected credit losses due to the improving business environment, which increased NOI by 1,400,000 General and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue were 2.5%, which is in line with recent quarters. The REIT recorded a fair value increase of $106,500,000 on our investment properties for the Q2 of 2021. The increase in the fair value adjustment on investment properties was driven by changes to the investment metrics for both the industrial properties and the retail properties within the portfolio, With about 57% of the increase attributable to the industrial and the balance to retail. This was supported by recent market And external appraisals completed during the quarter. Our AFFO payout ratio has improved for the 3 months ended June 30, 2021 and was 72.6%, a decrease of 3.4% from the same period in 2020. There has also been continued improvement in our debt metrics with interest coverage ratio increasing to 3.73 times in Q2 It was 41.6% as of June 30, 2021, compared to 42.5% a quarter ago. The decrease was primarily due to the growth in the property fair value adjustments along with a reduction in the total indebtedness. In addition, with $294,000,000 available through our committed credit facilities and $3,000,000 cash on hand, coupled with no debt maturities for the remainder of up from $14.74 per unit in the Q1 of 2021, primarily due to net income exceeding our distributions. And with that, I'll turn it back over to the operator for any questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Sandam Yani with TD Securities. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Yes. Just to, I guess, close the loop on the renewals, which were great to see, the lease renewals. Did any of those renewals, the terms of those, would they interrupt The same store NOI growth that the REIT has been enjoying historically in the 2% plus range. Hey, Sam, it's Kevin. I think you're basically asking If the annual rent escalations would be continuing in the extension terms, and the answer for these lease extensions is yes, they will be. Okay, great. And the DC lease extension, was that just a renewal or was it like a blend And it might impact rents in the short term? It was tied to the expansion that we announced earlier this year And they exercised options in conjunction with the funding. Okay, great. Okay. And I guess, great to see the results showing basically zero impact of the pandemic. Do you expect that to continue in the latter half of twenty twenty one? Kevin, sorry, Sam, it's Leslie. Well, we're very happy that that happened for The second quarter, it is really hard to predict with what's going to happen in future quarters. I think the tenants have shown resilience and found a way to operate through Yes. And our rent collections and the bad debts have virtually gone back to pre pandemic levels. But one can't guarantee what happens in other quarters, but We certainly hope that is the continued experience that we have. Great. And last question Before I turn it back is just an update on the Brampton Steels Avenue property owned by Canadian Tire. Any update on the plans there? Is The company is still utilizing that space at all? It's Kevin. I'll take that one. So yes, Canadian Tire continues to use that facility, I think, With the robust sales they've been generating, they were looking for excess capacity and had the facility available to them. So In the short term, it is still in use. We continue discussions with the entire on the future of that site and the potential to redevelop it. And in conjunction, we're working on, obviously, concept planning and working towards advancing some municipal approvals over time. Great. Thank you. I'll turn it back. Thank you. Our next question is from Jenny Ma with BMO Capital Markets. I'm looking at the development pipeline And it looks like there were some projects that were actually moved up in terms of timeframe. Could you talk to us about why that was the case? Were you able to make a little bit more Progress or maybe you had been conservative in some of these timing estimates. Jay, I think you'll see quarter to quarter projects shifting both forward and backwards. A lot of that depends The municipal approval process and how long it takes certain jurisdictions, obviously, we foresee it happening sooner and it takes longer or vice versa. And then obviously, construction related delays or not. So no specific commentary on The projects that moved up or any rationale, I think it's just the development process sometimes can be lengthy or sometimes takes less time than we anticipate, and You'll see some natural movement within the projects related to that. Okay, sounds good. With regards to the Leslie and Sheppard expansion That was mentioned in the press release. It says this expansion to some current CRU space. Is that a result of Canadian Tire's desire to expand that specific store or did you have any tenant failures that may have brought this opportunity up? Is there something specific That you could share about this location. Sure. So totally related to Canadian Tire's desire to expand that particular location, It was actually the reverse of tenant failures. We had to remove certain tenants to accommodate the store expansion, which Obviously, it was to the benefit of our anchor tenant and financially made sense to us as well. So, they just expanded into adjacent space was really the story there. Okay, great. And it's great to see that the bad debt has basically been eliminated. So is it safe to assume that there wasn't any issue With the rent collection as well, but that was 100% for Q2? Yes, Jenny. Our rent collection, When we're operating in the sort of 99.7%, I mean, we're really, really close to full rent collections and yes, And the bad debts for us have effectively subsided during the quarter, which was great to see. Okay, great. Do you know if any of your tenants are still taking SIR's assistance at all? I realize that it's not very opaque with this process. Yes, I do understand we have a handful of tenants that are still participating in the SIRS to the best of our knowledge. Okay, great. Okay, well, congratulations on a strong quarter. I'll turn it back. Thanks. Thank Our next question is from Sumayya Syed with CIBC. Please go ahead. Thanks. Good morning. Good morning. So just Ken, firstly on the distribution policy, a bit of Hi, Ivanka announced more recently following, I guess, a smaller increase last year. So how are you thinking about that? And Should we expect similar pace going forward? And what payout ratio would you be targeting? Hi, Samaj. It's Ken. I can't give you a ton of guidance on the Distributions, I mean, obviously, it's something we review with our Board and that they approve on a monthly basis. So really, it's a reflection Of what's happening in the business and what we see going forward. So I wouldn't infer from what we've Done in the past year and make any conclusions about what you might see going forward. Okay. And then just on the investment activity in the quarter, there was a land, vending And most John, just wondering what does the scope or the pipeline book for land held back in entire that could be REIT suitable down the line? Well, there's a couple land banks that Canadian Tire has owned, some historic, some more recent, that Our strategic to them and should they decide to move forward in terms of developing new locations or larger format stores on those Land parcels, that would be the appropriate time for the REIT to step in and acquire it. Okay. That's all from me. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question is from Tal Woolley with National Bank Financial. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. Good morning. Just to follow-up on Samaya's question, she was asking about the payout ratio, but obviously you are Continue to work on your leverage and you're still seeing good cash flow growth. Maybe we could just expand the question a little bit more. Do you have like what's the goal leverage that maybe you're trying to get to? Should we expect CGT REIT to sort of Continue to work down its leverage over time or given that you're continuing to build excess cash, You could look at distribution increases, maybe you look at share buybacks, that kind of thing. Like do you have a sort of sense of where you want That structure to be over the longer haul? Tal, it's Wesley. As far as Yes, we have been sort of slowly working that down. I think whether where it is sort of now and so That sort of low 40% range is where we'd like to sort of see it and target it. There's not a specific goal that's significantly lower than that that we're Actually aiming towards, in terms of stuff like share buybacks, I think we've worked over the last few years to sort of increase flow and do other things. So that's not Something that I would see us looking to on our radar screen, but and the ratio, the payout ratio has moved around and continues to be Lower, obviously, with the recent distribution increase that will inch up a smidge. But I think in that sort of mid-70s range is probably where you'll see The payout ratio land and we'll still be looking at wanting to have sort of I guess conservative leverage compared to our peer group of REITs here. Okay. And then just to go back to the lease extensions for a second. Kevin, I think you said basically like you've handled all of That CTC leases except for 1 through to 2023, do I have that correct? That is correct, yes. Okay. And I'm just wondering, can you remind me what exactly the mechanism is? I hadn't I didn't have time to look it up this morning, but I remember there was a Sort of end of lease term mechanism that was there, I just can't remember exactly what it is. Can you just talk about whether this was negotiated out or you just follow-up the So the mechanism is basically they have an option to extend that they can exercise within 18 months of the expiry of the term. The rents are set up market subject to a floor not less than The term in the initial or the rent in the initial term and a ceiling that basically works out to not greater than roughly 12%, More than that number. These negotiations were done outside of that process. We've obviously Had waived average lease term as a focus of ours for a long time now and are obviously in constant dialogue with Canadian Tire on a number of different Items, lease term being one of them. And these being strong Stores and in conjunction with other discussions around new store development, Store expansions, their program came to the conclusion that both sides were amenable to dig So can you give us some sense of what's Like, we see other peers that obviously haven't been an issue for you guys since your debut in the public markets. But can you give us some sense of what the renewal spreads were on those leases? Well, as I mentioned in Sam's to Sam's question, the lease extensions provide for the same annual rent increases As in the initial term. Okay. So it's just more a continuation of that than you're seeing a big step at the Analyst. Got it. And then just finally, the triple net market, like what how have you seen many good deals Outside of the transactions you're doing with Canadian Tire these days. A couple of interesting things out there that we are seeing and And working on, I think you've probably heard commentary from some of our other retail REIT peers around just the In-depth of the demand for, obviously, grocery and essential needs retail, so there's a couple of transactions that we are aware of that are Either tied up or closed, that are really driving cap rates down for strong retail assets. And I'd say there was a good amount of marketed product that came out 1st part of the year. It's a little slower now in the mid part of the summer. But I think there's still lots of capital, private and otherwise, chasing these deals. And hopefully in the fall, we'll see some new supply to address that demand. But nothing out there that was like you guys were Dying to get your hands on? Like I said, there's some transactions out there that we are looking at and working on. Once we, I guess, Bring those to fruition. We'll have lots more to say about it. Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question is from Sam Damiani with TD Securities. Please go ahead. Thank you. I just wanted to see if there was an update on Canada Square with the approvals and the expected timeline, any update Hi, Sam. It's Ken. Happy to give you an update. Although there's not a ton of new news, our development manager and co owner, Oxford Properties, Continues to advance the building design for the first phase as well as the overall municipal approval process. Nothing's changed from a timing perspective as we continue to be subject to the timing of the completion of the LRT. Again, lands that Metrolinx is using for the construction of the project at the north end of the site are part of the Phase And there's been no new announcements from them, and we are still expecting a construction start In 2023. With respect to the municipal approval process, Obviously, this is a very significant site at a key location in the City of Toronto, And we would expect it to be given careful consideration by many stakeholders. Our master plan concept reflects The policies and guidelines, the city developed the site over a significant number of years. So We continue to work with the city to advance the application. That's great. Thank you very much and I'll turn it back. Thanks, Sam. Thank you. As there are no further questions registered at this time, I will turn the call over to Ken Silver, CEO, for closing remarks. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and we look forward to speaking with you all in November. Thank you. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.