Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Nexus Industrial REIT fourth quarter 2024 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kelly Hanczyk, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I'd like to welcome everyone to the 2024 fourth quarter results conference call for Nexus Industrial REIT. Joining me today is Mike Rawle, Chief Financial Officer of the REIT. Before we begin, I'd like to caution with regard to forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Certain statements made during this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements which reflect the REIT's current expectations and projections about future results. Also, during this call, we'll be discussing non-GAAP measures. Please refer to our MD&A and the REIT's other securities filings, which can be found on our website and at sedar.com for cautions regarding forward-looking information and for information about non-GAAP measures. In 2024, we executed the strategic repositioning of Nexus to be the Canadian-focused pure-play industrial REIT, which has been several years in the making. First, we invested to improve our business.
Our goal was to high-grade and optimize our portfolio, taking advantage of uncertain economic backdrop and weaker real estate market to acquire and develop high-quality assets at attractive prices. In the year, we made three targeted industrial acquisitions. Sorry about that. Acquisitions completed three industrial development projects and advanced two more. Next, we focused our portfolio by selling our legacy office, retail, and non-core industrial assets. These sales transitioned our net operating income to nearly 100% industrial and strengthened our balance sheet as we used the sale proceeds to reduce debt. Finally, we executed operationally, delivering strong industrial same-property NOI growth through a combination of proactive leasing, realization of mark-to-market lift on renewals, and annual rental steps that are embedded into our leases. I'll dive into each of these actions in more detail.
Starting with the development, this quarter was our first full quarter benefiting from our new Hubrey Road industrial intensification project, which added CAD 300,000 of NOI in the quarter. We completed this 96,000 sq ft building in July, and it is yielding 8.4% in its first year on cost of CAD 14 million, with significant rent escalations thereafter. It also builds on our leadership position in the highly desirable London market, which continues to be one of the tightest industrial markets in Canada. Our recently completed Titan Park property in Saskatchewan completed CAD 500,000 of NOI this quarter. We finished construction on time and within budget in April, and the primary tenant took occupancy immediately. A second tenant for the remaining 112,000 sq ft is now taking occupancy. The property adds annual stabilized NOI of CAD 3.8 million, representing a 7.9% cap rate on our investment of CAD 48 million.
We're currently looking for a tenant for our 115,000 sq ft Glover Road new build in Hamilton, which we completed in the summer. We own 80% of the property and will earn a 5.9% going-in yield on our CAD 25 million share of the development costs. The market has definitely slowed in Hamilton, but we're optimistic that it should be leased within the year. In the fourth quarter, we advanced construction at our Dennis Road property in St. Thomas, which is scheduled for completion in the early third quarter of 2025. This project is a 325,000 sq ft expansion for an existing tenant at an estimated cost of CAD 55 million. The tenant pays us 7.8% interest on the development costs that we incur during the construction phase, so there's no financing drag on our cash flow.
Upon completion, the tenant will pay us rent equal to a 9% yield on the development costs. This quarter, we also started construction on a new 115,000 sq ft small-bay industrial building on vacant land that we hold at 102 Avenue in Southeast Calgary. The total project cost is CAD 15 million and is expected to deliver a 12% unlevered return. Scheduled to be completed in August, it is already generating a lot of rental interest, and it looks like we have tenants lined up for approximately seven of the 10 units already. Turning to asset sales, through 2024, we furthered our transition to a pure-play industrial REIT by selling our legacy office and retail properties, as well as four non-core industrial buildings.
In the fourth quarter, we closed on the sale of two of the office buildings, one mixed-use industrial property, and four non-core industrial buildings for total proceeds of CAD 48 million. We also sold another office property for CAD 4 million, which closed in February of 2025. We're closing this month the sale of our legacy retail portfolio, except for one building, for CAD 47 million. Combined, as part of the transition, we have sold a total of CAD 120 million in properties at a blended cap rate of 7.1%. We are using the proceeds to reduce our debt and to fund the remaining development. Following these sales, our industrial NOI concentration will be nearly 100%. We will be left with one retail building and two office buildings. The retail building is Les Halles d'Anjou in Montreal, has surplus land, and we are selling that separately from the building.
Once this land is sold to a condo developer that we've been working with over the last couple of years to get approval, and it looks like it's imminent, we'll then sell the building. Our partner in the project has already expressed their desire to own the property, so we expect a smooth sale mid-year. The final two office buildings are joint ventures where we generate significant asset management fees, and we're not currently marketing them. Turning to operating performance, we had a strong fourth quarter. Our normalized AFFO improvement improved 2.7% to CAD 0.192 per unit, and our normalized AFFO improved 2.5% to CAD 0.161 per unit. In both cases, the increase was driven by strong net operating income in our industrial portfolio, which was up 1.3% or CAD 400,000 compared to last quarter.
Compared to a year ago, our total net operating income was up 10% or CAD 2.9 million to CAD 32.1 million in the quarter. The NOI increase was largely driven by three factors: acquisitions, organic growth, and development. New properties that we acquired in the past year contributed CAD 2.2 million to NOI. Same property NOI increased by CAD 1.2 million, driven by 5.1% industrial same-property NOI growth from the lease-up of our Richmond, BC property, as well as mark-to-market lift on renewals and embedded rent steps in our leases. Our recent developments at Titan Park in Regina and Hubrey Road in London contributed CAD 800,000 in the quarter. On a full-year basis, the actions we have taken in the embedded rent escalation in our leases resulted in industrial same-property NOI growth of 4.7%.
Looking forward to 2025, we have already renewed or are extremely close to renewing approximately 65% of our leases or 1.1 million sq ft of the GLA that was set to expire this year. The growth in expiring rents for these renewals is 32%, representing CAD 3.2 million of additional NOI. We are in discussion with the tenants of the remaining 35% or 700,000 sq ft. Of this amount, the largest chunk, 280,000 sq ft, is our Chatham, Ontario property tenanted by London property, who has indicated that they will renew. We recently became aware of two tenants in the portfolio who have entered creditor protection that could impact results beginning Q2. Peavey Mart is a tenant at one of our buildings located at 40 Avenue in Red Deer and at Clarke Road in London. We own their Eastern Canada Distribution Center and their Western Canada Distribution Center.
If they early terminate, which we expect them to do, probably it's effective either in April or May. It will take us time to find a new tenant in Red Deer as the building is quite large for that market, and it generates an annual NOI of about CAD 1.3 million. In contrast, I anticipate we will be able to quickly find a new tenant in London. Given it's currently leased well, well below market, I expect we'll be able to remain whole in this building for 2025 if all goes well. The second tenant occupies our cross-dock facility at 102 Avenue in Southeast Calgary. If required, we should be able to find a new tenant quickly here too. However, there's a good possibility that a new owner will step into the business and take on the lease, mitigating any impact to Nexus.
Despite these potential headwinds, due to our solid leasing activity on a full-year basis, I expect we will be able to achieve mid-single-digit industrial same-property NOI growth for the year. In summary, we continue to advance our strategy in 2025 as Canadian pure-play industrial REIT. We are making excellent headway on our developments, which will be completed in Q2, Q3. We have firm sales contracts for our retail portfolio, which closes in March, and we will further focus our portfolio and delever our balance sheet. We will continue to realize organic growth through embedded rent steps and positive mark-to-market on renewals. I will now turn the call over to Mike to give some more color on our financials.
Thank you, Kelly. Good morning, everyone. Starting with the headline earnings in the quarter, net income was CAD 49.7 million, a CAD 47.5 million increase compared to a net income of CAD 2.1 million last year. The increase was primarily due to a higher gain on the fair value adjustment of Class B LP units by CAD 49.6 million, a higher gain on derivative financial instruments by CAD 24.5 million, a higher NOI by CAD 2.9 million, and a lower general and administrative expenses by CAD 1.4 million, partially offset by a lower gain on investment properties by CAD 27.5 million and higher net interest expense by CAD 1.6 million. As Kelly mentioned, our Q4 net operating income increased 10% or CAD 2.9 million year-over-year to CAD 32.1 million. Of this amount, new acquisitions accounted for CAD 1.6 million, an increase in same-property NOI added an additional CAD 1.2 million, and development projects accounted for CAD 500,000.
This growth was partially offset by CAD 500,000 relating to asset dispositions made since the third quarter of 2023. Normalized AFFO for the period was CAD 0.161 per unit compared to CAD 0.15 per unit a year ago, primarily driven by higher net operating income. Total general and administrative expenses for the quarter were CAD 1.7 million, which was CAD 1.4 million lower than a year ago, predominantly due to lower severance and one-time compensation expense. Net interest expense in the quarter was CAD 14 million, a CAD 1.6 million increase from the same period last year. The increase was primarily due to a higher outstanding average debt balance resulting from borrowings to fund acquisitions and development, as well as lower capitalized interest due to the completion of development projects. At December 31st, 2024, our NAV per unit was CAD 13.19, a CAD 0.13 per unit increase from last quarter.
Our weighted average cap rate increased one basis point to 5.82% compared to 5.81% at September 30th. The carrying value of our investment properties increased by CAD 8.2 million in the quarter, primarily due to development spend of CAD 18.9 million, capital expenditures and tenant incentives of CAD 5.8 million, and CAD 11.6 million of positive fair value adjustments, partially offset by a CAD 27.8 million reduction from the disposal of four industrial properties located in Saskatchewan. I'll now turn the call back to Kelly.
Thanks, Mike. Our strategy to be a Canada-focused pure-play industrial REIT is now complete. I'm excited by the progress that we have made and believe in the turbulent market that we have today. We have set a solid foundation on which to build in the future. With that, operator, please open up the lines to questions.
We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. We will pause momentarily as callers join the queue. The first question comes from Brad Sturges with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Good morning.
Morning.
Appreciate the comments on the space that you might get back or the CCAA exposure at the moment. I guess I want to clarify, that is baked into your mid-single-digit guidance. That includes any change in occupancy.
Yes. Yep, absolutely. I want to give a little color on it. The Peavey one is the larger one, right? It is two warehouses. The London one, we are working on a tenant for approximately half the building, a little over half the building, but their rent is so low that if we were able to lease it at even slightly below what market is, it would make the whole building whole on what we are receiving from them on rent. It also gives us a parcel of land. I think it is about 10 acres. That was connected to the lease, but it is separately parceled that we are getting work done right now to be able to potentially build about 150,000 sq ft in the future if we want. If there is ever a positive to come out of a negative, I would say it is that building.
Okay. I appreciate that. Just, I guess, when you think about the portfolio as a whole, is there other space you're expecting back? Or maybe more specifically, how should we think about the average occupancy on a same-store basis for the industrial portfolio as it relates to the guidance?
Yeah. Right now, we're at 96% occupied, and that's really down due to two things. One is the Glover Road property, which came on board in Q3, that new build. Secondly, we had a bit more vacancy this quarter at our 855 Park Street in Saskatchewan. About another 100,000 came up, and we expect we'll be able to fill those during the year. That should get us back on the high 90s.
In terms of the 25 expires, no material non-renewals at this stage in terms of what you're working on?
No. In fact, in that 65% renewed, I'm just waiting for the, it's a deal that's been agreed to with our tenant at Robins Hill Road at CAD 1.250 a foot that effectively starts January 1 of this year, so backdated to January 1. If you remember, I think our expiring rent was CAD 4.40 or something along those lines. On the 260,000 sq ft building, it's a significant early renewal for us.
Okay. That's great. I'll turn it back. Thank you.
The next question comes from Sam Damiani with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone, and congratulations on the year-over-year growth put up in Q4. Just curious if you could give us a sense of any change in the market given the on-and-off threats of tariffs in your leasing discussions with tenant prospects.
Yeah. It's been very, very interesting. I can say that definitely that Hamilton Corridor, that market has slowed significantly. The amount of tenants kicking tires right now is pretty low. I feel that I would say the majority have a wait-and-see aspect to their decisions that they never used to have. On a positive, the Calgary small-bay that we're building August finish, I think that thing will be 100% pre-leased in another month or so because it's generating a significant amount of activity. It's a little all over the place. Montreal, we've completed some renewals and some new tenants that have pretty decent rates. I would say, in general, the overall theme on the market is tenants are taking a much longer time to make a decision and really waiting to see how this whole thing wraps up.
I would say 2025 is going to be, I'm glad we're 65% done, and we have our partner already saying that they're going to renew at the other one because it takes us not a lot left, at least for the year. I think it will be a challenging year because guys are taking a long time.
Maybe I can jump in a little more color too. I think one thing that we're very happy with now is the mixture of tenants that we have. We're really focused on Canadian distribution and Canadian 3PL, and that's, I think, reduced our overall exposure to this geopolitical turmoil. Roughly 85% of our tenants sit in those kind of sectors, so they would have much less exposure to any cross-border issues. Another piece, which has just fallen nicely for us, is our longer weighted average lease term. The fact that we have a seven-year WALT and have fewer leases coming up for renewal this year and the fact that we're well ahead of the game in renewing sets us up pretty well for this year.
Thank you both. Kelly, you mentioned Hamilton. Any specific comments on the London market? I know you're having some good traction on the one building there, but just bigger picture in London, is it being impacted by the tariff discussions?
Yep. I would say yes, there just was not a lot of space available in London to begin with, available space. I know our partner actually got back about 750,000 sq ft from a bankruptcy in their own portfolio, which will be coming back to the market. That is a big absorption there that has to be done. I would say overall, I would say all markets, London was a little better in that it really had almost zero vacancy of anything of quality at the time. I do not know. We are talking with groups on the Peavey building, and it was going along, but we have a tenant who are very, very interested, and they have kind of, it is a slow process because they are waiting to see what happens with the tariff. I think overall, everything is going to be affected until this gets straightened out with some sort of certainty.
Overall, we're on it, and we still see some positive. This is our real first vacancy to deal with there. We'll see how it all pans out. The good thing is it is a very low expiring rent.
Exactly. Last one for me, just on the balance sheet. I mean, you have repositioned the portfolio basically as a pure-play industrial balance sheet at 49% now. Where do you expect to run the REIT over the next couple of years in terms of how much of that disposition capital would you redeploy, or are you happy with the leverage and kind of want to keep it in this zone? How should we think about modeling over the next couple of years?
I would say hopefully it downticks a little bit where we maybe call the portfolio here and there of smaller non-core assets if we do. Our development has been going along pretty well. That is a positive for us. Redeploying at higher going-in yields is something we are always looking at. I would think the 47, somewhere around there, I would think we would like to sort of target for now.
Yeah. I think, Sam, just to add to what Kelly was saying, clearly we have the retail, which is under contract, which will close imminently, and we will use the proceeds for that to delever further, which will get us down into the 48% range. As Kelly mentioned, we would look to continue delevering just from our cash flows. With a view to getting to investment grade, that is really our target. We feel we are getting pretty close. There are a few metrics that we are looking to hit to get there. Maybe it is a 2025 thing, maybe it is an early 2026 thing, but that is really our target, to get there and get access to investment-grade markets.
Makes sense. Thank you, and I'll turn it back.
The next question comes from Kyle Stanley with Desjardins. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, guys. Just wanted to clarify your comment on the Robins Hill Road asset and the lease there. Did you say that your expectation is that would be retroactive to January 1st? I think I remember that being more it was year-end weighted, right?
Yes. It was December 31st of this year expiry. Once I have it signed in my hand, it's been all agreed to. I never say until it's actually signed, but it's retroactive to January 1 this year.
Okay. So then, yeah, it would actually impact for the entire year, which would probably be a nice boost to your growth. Okay. That makes sense.
It'll definitely be a nice set-off to the Peavey if that transpires shortly.
Okay. No, that makes sense. Just sticking with your 2025 maturities, I'm just looking at Alberta and Saskatchewan. The expiring in place rate is a little bit above, I think, where you kind of mentioned market is. I'm just curious, is there something specific with those assets that allows you to get that higher rate, or is there a risk of a roll down on just a few of those?
To be honest, I'll have to get back to you because offhand, I can't think of what expires we have left there. I'll have to look it up and follow up with you after the call.
I mean, nevertheless, Kyle, the guidance we've given on mid-single digits for the year incorporates that. I think that's kind of a good guiding light for you guys as they base it off of mid-single digit growth, same property NOI growth for the year.
Okay. Fair enough. The last one for me, I was just wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more on that non-cash FX loss that was added back to your FFO in the fourth quarter. Just curious about the drivers there and how to think about it.
Yeah. That's the revaluation on the deferred purchase obligation from our old Nobel portfolio. We have about $250,000 a quarter that we pay on that. Given the jump in U.S. dollar, strengthening U.S. dollar last quarter, there was an unrealized loss on the revaluation of that payable. We have added that back.
Okay. No, that makes sense. All right. That's it for me on two exact things.
It just came to me, Kyle, just before you jump off, that the Saskatchewan, part of the reason to jump in the Saskatchewan portfolio is due to the sales of the four properties that we disposed of.
Okay. That makes sense. Thanks for that clarification.
The next question comes from Himanshu Gupta with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Thank you and good morning. Just on this St. Thomas development, is the completion getting pushed to Q2, or should we still expect Q1 there?
Yeah. I believe the completion date is scheduled for July 13th or 14th, right around there.
Okay. The tenant starts paying rent from July itself, and I think you're getting some interest during the development as well.
Yeah. We get 7.8% as we spend going along.
What happened there, Himanshu, is the scope increased. There has been a further development. The tenant decided they would like to do further development of the mezzanine level there. From our perspective, that is great news because we get paid as a rate on the total development spend. Development spend has gone up another CAD 5 million, and that means that we will earn a higher rent at the end of the day.
All right. Thank you. And then on the Glover Road, I mean, thanks for the commentary already. Is it like one-year now expectation, like by end of the year or more into next year in terms of lease of the Glover Road asset?
Oh, clever. I don't know. I would love to say we did have a tenant kind of in hand, and our zoning didn't allow it, and we couldn't meet their timeframe for the zoning change. There's been a couple that have been kicking around, and we have made a broker change, and I think we're well positioned. It's getting lucky to get the right tenant. In our reforecast, what we look at, we've tentatively scheduled something around November is what we're thinking.
Okay. Thank you. Then on the Calgary small-bay, I mean, looks like pretty good demand so far. Would you say your Calgary market is growing stronger or relatively better than Hamilton Corridor or London Corridor or even Montreal? Is Calgary demand mostly for the small-bay, or overall market looks still better than the others?
I think overall market is still pretty good from the stats I've been reading. Honestly, we're not finished till August. I think we signed 30,000 sq ft, and then that's three bays, and there's another four bays that we're back and forth on, and we're only March. It's a little skewed there. That node where that property is and where we're building has huge demand for small-bay. It seems to lease pretty quickly in that market. I'd say the small-bay market there is definitely performing extremely well. From the stats I see, Calgary as a whole is still performing pretty well.
Awesome. Thank you. Then on the Richmond property, I think you received around CAD 1 million in Q4. Is that the run rate, or should we expect any ramp up in Q1 and onward?
Yeah. It's just a little over that, but yeah, it's just over a million. It does step up. I think it's in a year. For this next year, that's fair to keep the run rate stays current for this year.
Awesome. Okay. Thank you. Maybe just one last question on the legacy retail portfolio. When are you expecting that to close? Have you recorded any value losses on that property?
I think that closing is scheduled for mid-month, so not too far off from now.
We do not expect to have to record any change in value. We are carrying it at CAD 47 million now, which is where we are looking to sell it.
Awesome. Thank you, guys, and I'll turn it back. Thank you so much.
Awesome.
Once again, if you have a question, please press star, then one. Our next question comes from Jimmy Shan with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thanks. You called out Hamilton as being relatively weak. I was just curious as to what is it about that market that makes it particularly weak? Is it the type of tenants that tend to do more cross-border business there and maybe any color there? Are there any other large tenants that's sort of on your watch list right now?
When I call Hamilton being a little bit weak, there is a bunch of new development all in around Glover, around the airport where we are. There is absorption to have to get taken in. It is just slowed. I mean, no different than Guelph, Cambridge, that whole node. I would say Brantford has slowed from what was a torrid pace. To now, the actual amount of large tenants looking right now are fewer and far between. I do not think it is anything to do with the location. The location is great. Right by the airport, it is a great node. Access to Niagara, access down through the corridor down to Windsor. Overall, that is a great node for future holding. It is just the amount of tenants out looking and banging doors in a market now that that whole kind of horseshoe there has slowed significantly.
Okay. Got it. Any other large tenants that are where you right now?
All right. There is nothing on the radar right now. We do have some in Windsor that are attached to the automotive industry. I believe AP Plasman would be one. Can Art, some aluminum extrusion type guys. We will see how that all goes. Overall, I think still strong. If I am watching, that is the area I am kind of watching right now.
Okay. Makes sense. Sorry, last clarification. Peavey Mart, you mentioned CAD 1.3 million of annualized NOI. Was that for combined the Red Deer property and the London property?
Sorry, say that again, Jimmy?
1.3 million of NOI. Yeah. I think I heard combined of annualized NOI. For which Peavey?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that's just for the so Clarke Road is about 1- 1.2. I mean, I can give you the numbers. The Clarke Road one is 220,000 sq ft at CAD 6 a sq ft gross. And the Red Deer property at 40 Avenue is 190,000 sq ft, and it's currently at CAD 7 a sq ft net. So combined, they're kind of in the order of CAD 2.5 million if you're looking on a net basis.
Okay. Perfect. Thanks.
This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kelly Hanczyk for any closing remarks.
Thank you, everybody, for attending, and we'll be chatting next quarter.
This brings to an end today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.