Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to the Plaza Retail REIT first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer sessions, and instructions will be provided at that time.
If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star zero for operator assistance at any time. I would like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kim Strange, Plaza's General Counsel and Secretary. Please go ahead, Ms. Strange.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q1 2022 results conference call. Before we begin today, we are obliged to advise you that in talking about our financial and operating performance and in responding to questions today, we may make forward-looking statements, including statements concerning Plaza's objectives and strategies to achieve them, as well as statements with respect to our plans, estimates, and intentions, or concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, or performance, which are not historical facts. These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the conclusions in these forward-looking statements.
Additional information on the risks that could impact our actual results and the expectations and assumptions we applied in making these forward-looking statements can be found in Plaza's most recent annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2021, and management's discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31, 2022, which are available on our website at www.plaza.ca and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
We will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures today, which are widely used in the Canadian real estate industry, including FFO, AFFO, NOI, and same-asset NOI. Plaza believes these financial measures provide useful information to both management and investors in measuring the financial performance and financial condition of Plaza. These financial measures do not have any standardized definitions prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other entities. For more information, please refer to part eight of our MD&A for the period ended March 31, 2022. I will now turn the call over to Michael Zakuta, Plaza's President and CEO. Michael?
Thank you, Kim. Good morning. In the first quarter, our positive momentum continued. Leasing activity is very strong for new and existing assets. We attended our first ICSC deal-making trade show in two years at the end of March. We met 50 retailers or their representatives over a two-year period, and the mood was very, very positive.
There continues to be strong demand for essential needs, value, convenience, and QSR locations across our geography. This demand is fueling our pipeline as we have a number of projects in planning and seven land acquisitions under contract. This increased demand is not without new challenges, as we are dealing with higher construction costs and material delivery delays. Higher costs will lower returns on projects where rents were set in advance of this pricing pressure. We are rapidly adjusting to these challenges.
We are achieving higher rents from retailers in response to higher costs. Last quarter, we talked about our business strategy of identifying and executing development and redevelopment opportunities for grocery, pharmacy, and other essential needs-oriented open air properties. We made the point that as a result of our strategy, we have irreplaceable assets leased to strong covenant retailers in primary, secondary, and tertiary markets throughout Eastern Canada.
These assets have long been underappreciated and have taken an unprecedented pandemic to highlight their value. Over the last 20 years, Plaza has been developing new retail projects and transforming tired, outdated retail centers into modern, relevant properties. Before and after photos of more recent transformations are posted in the Q1 2022 presentation on our website. We are opportunity-driven, and we deliver.
Our growth is reflective of this and has largely been generated in two ways, retailer demand for new development and repositioning assets that we purchase for redevelopment. Our pipeline for new development project is very healthy and is being driven primarily by growth requirements for major grocers and other essential needs retailers.
In addition, we are evaluating a number of income-producing assets that would benefit from Plaza's vision, experience, execution, and abilities. We are very excited about the diversity and quality of our new development and redevelopment pipelines. Our credibility with major retailers continues to grow in this post-pandemic era. In essence, we are supplier to the retail industry, and we have built our business and reputation by helping essential needs, value, and convenience retailers grow throughout our geography. We take pride in fulfilling our commitments to retailers, and we continue to prioritize this customer service approach.
As a result, we are very active with a growing number of institutional quality essential needs retailers. Our team works hard to deliver for our retailers and stakeholders and grow the business. We are not passive investors seeking acquisition opportunities of finished product that is marginally accretive for unitholders.
We want to create real unitholder value by actively working with retailers to help them expand their business, as opposed to just buying properties and collecting rent. We anticipate continued growth in response to increasing demand for Plaza's platform and services. I will now turn the call over to Jim Drake, Plaza's CFO. Jim?
Thank you, Michael. We had another great quarter, and our key indicators provide evidence of that. Overall committed occupancy and same-asset committed occupancy are both at 96.3%, up 50 basis points and 90 basis points respectively over last year. Leasing demand and activity remain strong, and we leased 396,000 sq ft across the portfolio during the quarter, including 268,000 sq ft of renewals, 46,000 sq ft of new leasing, and 82,000 sq ft of backfilling vacancies. Same-asset NOI is also up 2.7% over last year, and FFO and AFFO per unit are up 7% and 5% respectively over last year, resulting in improved payout ratios at 71% of FFO and 79% of AFFO.
Our debt-to-total assets ratio has improved to 55%, down 350 BPS over last year. Under our development program, we continue to advance a number of projects, and during the quarter, we completed a small strip redevelopment and a few pads. As Michael mentioned, our pipeline of projects is very solid, and we have a number of sites under contract for grocery and essential needs retailers.
To partially fund our development program, we sold a few non-core QSRs where there is still strong demand at attractive pricing, resulting in very low hurdle rates on these sales. Our liquidity is also solid and at quarter end totaled CAD 60 million, including cash, operating line, and unused development and construction facilities. We also have CAD 16 million of uncovered assets.
For debt, at quarter end, we had CAD 34 million of long-term mortgages maturing for the remainder of the year, and subsequent to quarter end, we refinanced CAD 14 million of these. CAD 15 million of the remaining mortgages relate to freestanding pharmacies, where the existing loan-to-value is approximately 30%.
We will refinance these assets at 60%-65% loan-to-value to generate capital for our development program. Given the existing weighted average rate on these mortgages is 4.76%, which is similar to or above current all-in rates, there is nominal interest rate risk on these rollovers. We also have CAD 6 million of mortgage bonds maturing in June, July, and we anticipate renewing approximately CAD 3 million of these for three to five years at market terms.
There has been a lot of discussion around interest rate movement, and although rising rates do obviously have an impact on real estate, we have mitigated our interest rate risk through a number of actions. First, we generally limit our floating rate exposure to our operating line and construction and interim facilities.
Next, our individual debt issues and mortgages are relatively small, so exposure on any given renewal is reduced. We also have a well-staggered debt maturity ladder, so our exposure in any given year is balanced. As mentioned, our exposure on rollovers for the remainder of this year is minimal, and given the high existing rate, interest rate risk on these rollovers is nominal. Our long-term mortgage maturities in 2023 are also relatively light and at a weighted average rate of 4.88%, so interest rate risk on these rolls is also nominal.
Finally, for new projects, we have always included sufficient contingencies, and we underwrite using appropriate interest rates to mitigate our risk. Rising rates can also impact cap rates, but much of this has already been priced in. The increase in demand for our essential needs, value, and convenience assets also helps offset any impact. As well, there are still some predictions that yields on longer-term Government of Canada bonds will moderate or potentially even decrease later this year.
As a result, we recorded a CAD 12 million gain on investment properties during the quarter, arising from cap rate compression and appraisals obtained, with our weighted average cap rate now at 6.73%. Those are the key points relating to our results for the quarter. We will now open the lines for any questions. Operator?
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by the number two. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Lorne Kalmar of Laurentian Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
A couple of questions from me. Just regarding your same-asset NOI, your portfolio continues to show resiliency. What are your expectations for 2022 for the remainder of the year on a quarterly basis? Can you remind us how we should view the year-on-year impacts from factors including, you know, COVID-related bad debt expenses, write-offs, and lease buyouts going forward?
I'll start. Last year, Q1, we did have some bad debt that brought us down. That's part of the reason for the increase year-over-year this quarter. We've also seen an increase in revenue year-over-year. We don't necessarily provide guidance on future same-asset NOI growth. I think we're pretty safe to say that we should see continued growth going forward.
Okay, great. Last one for me. Just in terms of your internal goal to achieve your unlevered returns, on the developments and redevelopments, I think it's between 7%-9%, do you see the size of your pipeline fluctuating to achieve this yield, or could you become more flexible just given the current environment?
I think our volume will go up based on opportunities. The returns will be within the range. As I mentioned, some of the projects, you get stuck between when you set your rents and you actually finish your costs. You might lose 50, 75 basis points, maybe 100 basis points on your return if you go into the low end of our range. We expect to have a busy year in 2022.
Okay, great. That's it from me. I'll stand by. Thank you.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Kyle Stanley of Desjardins. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, guys.
Morning.
Morning, Kyle.
Just, I mean, through the depths of the pandemic, we never really saw much in terms of distressed asset sales. I think we talked about it on previous calls here. You know, you guys didn't see it. In your opinion, you know, just given your knowledge of the markets you operate in this higher rate environment, is this something that we could see and then could present opportunity for Plaza or other, you know, more well-capitalized real estate operators?
We haven't seen a lot of distressed opportunities. We're seeing more opportunities based on maybe larger landlords wanting to exit certain markets. That's creating opportunities. We're not seeing those distressed opportunities that we would have seen you know many years ago when real estate was really out of favor. Because interest rates are still very low.
You know, we get the odd phone call you know of something where clearly somebody's underwater, and usually it's an enclosed mall of some sort. We're interested if we have a clear vision on how to convert it to an open air center. But the ones that I'm thinking of didn't meet the clear vision requirement. I can't say that that's what's driving our opportunities. I think it's more repositioning, people repositioning, not being good at retail, deciding that they should be focusing on other areas of real estate investments.
Okay, that makes sense. I guess this kind of piggybacks on that, but I guess as you're looking to, you know, buy or sell assets, have you noticed a change in the composition of buyers or sellers, recently?
No. You know what, I can't say that. When we look at selling, we're selling very, very small assets, those we call our non-core assets. There's still strong demand. It's, you know, a private investor who can, you know, wants to own a small, a very small, you know, single tenant building and will, you know, pay a very good price to do so. That's on the selling side. You know, from the buying side, you know, who's selling to us? Again, it's all over the place.
Again, it's typically larger investor, institutional or more institutional style landlords that won't or don't have the ability or do not want to invest in the type of assets that we're looking at that require investment and a lot of hard work to transform and fix. You know, it takes a special skill set, as I mentioned, to fix something, to have a vision, to reorganize a broken retail asset or a retail asset that's not broken yet, but will be broken in the future, meaning it has a lot of vacancy and that has to be addressed. You have to be organized to do that. Again, a lot of owners are not organized to do that.
Okay, maybe just a quick update on the Northern Plaza redevelopment. You know, how is it progressing relative to your expectations? I think it's about 30% leased at the moment. Or sorry, 70% leased. Just wondering, you know, your thoughts on leasing up the remaining space there.
You're referring to Sault Ste. Marie?
Yes.
Yes. Yeah, we have basically all of the lots committed, two leases out of three signed. The other deal is just about to be signed, so we're in very good shape there. We'll have a couple of little CRU units that are left over, and we plan to build a small, you know, QSR-oriented pad building. We're going through municipal approvals now, and we're working to lease it. All of the lot space is spoken for. It's just not. The last deal is not. The lease is not firm. We're there. We're very happy. It's gonna be a great asset when it's all completed and a wonderful transformation, you know, from a tired strip, you know, with an empty hardware store into something really dynamic. Very excited about that.
Okay, great. Just the last one for me, I think this one's probably for Jim. Can you just remind us of what is contained in the other income line? And then, you know, maybe just a little bit of color on the sequential decline and, you know, your thoughts on how that progresses through 2022.
Other income is generally fees that we are billing to our partners on co-owned developments. That would be management fees, development fees, financing fees, et cetera. Year-over-year decline, last year, we had some insurance proceeds, about CAD 300,000 went through that account. That's why you see the year-over-year decline. Going forward, this quarter would represent a relatively stable quarter. It's probably a little bit light compared to what we'll see for the rest of the year. Because as we ramp up developments, obviously we see more income from the development side.
Okay, great. That's it for me. I'll turn it back. Thanks.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Jenny Ma of BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hey, gents. Good morning.
Hi. Morning, Jenny.
I'm gonna caveat my question by saying it's probably a bit too early, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. We saw the cap rate on the IFRS come down a bit more, so it's been a nice downward trend, and obviously we know what's happening in the broader market. Have you seen anything of late come across your desk in terms of indications of whether, you know, there's volume coming down or more coming to the market as sellers wanna get these off their books? You know, do you see any, I guess, plateauing or upward pressure on cap rates recognizing that, you know, in the mid-sixes, seven range, there's still quite a bit of room on the investment side?
Yeah. Maybe I can start, Jim, an answer.
Yes.
I think it depends very much on the product that one is looking at. Some of the really simple single-use stuff, demand is very strong. I think that our freestanding, our pharmacy properties, there's still downward pressure on cap rates. Maybe it's going to be a little bit slowed down that downward pressure, you know, by increases in interest rates.
There appears to be demand in the market. You know, we expect that there'll be a little bit of stall as people try to figure out where interest rates are going to settle, and that's gonna impact cap rates. I think as you said, I think it's very early, and I think it's very dependent on the type of product and the type of location for the property. Jim, I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.
I'll just add that obviously we're very comfortable at 6.73% for our weighted average cap rate. It may be too early, but I think Michael said it correctly. There's still huge demand for a number of our assets, whether that's pharmacy or grocery anchored. I think that, you know, that wall of capital chasing that product is certainly gonna help maintain those cap rates down. We'll see.
Okay. Are you seeing any changes in the volume of deals come across your desk?
I don't know if I can say the volume. I mean, there's been strong volume of deals over the last, say six months. I can't say that we're seeing more or less right now. We'd anticipate, again, a little bit of a stall just because we have to figure out, you know, what is the proper pricing. It's very much business as usual, so we're not looking at finished product at all, which is probably the bulk of the market.
You know, we're buying land to assemble, to build new strips, or we're buying buildings to tear down to build new strips, or we're buying the really challenged retail, which is a very specific product. That cycle just goes up and down for all kinds of reasons. Doesn't necessarily follow the cycle of finished product offerings.
Okay. Now Michael, when you say stall, do you mean that in the broader market sense, or does that include Plaza's approach to reviewing deals as well?
I'm talking the broader market. You know, we're loaded. Our pipeline is pretty full. I don't see that we're stalling in any way. You know, we're driving forward. Again, we're not pricing the deals the same way as a finished product investor would look at a deal. So if we're buying something with some revenue, there's gotta be a ton of vacancy, there's gotta be a serious redevelopment play.
Then that. So that's a whole different approach to looking at the business. I'm referring, I referred to stall. I'm really referring to investment style of dealings. If, you know, if I was a finished product buyer today, I'd be saying, "Okay, how's the market going to shake out?" That's what I'm referring to. For our business, it doesn't matter.
That's very helpful. Thank you. Just turning over to debt. I think, Jim, you mentioned what you're seeing is about 4.75% on your remaining debt for the year. I'm just wondering if that reflects any change in the spread on your debt or if that's just characteristic of the assets that the debt is underwritten against.
The 4.75% is the weighted average rate on the existing debt. Market today, we're probably seeing around 4.75% for 10-year term.
Okay. 10-year, okay.
Yep, that's 10-year term.
Okay.
Would be, say, 20 basis points lower.
Okay. Gotcha. I thought it was a little bit higher when you said it was a bit similar. I guess on that note, since you quoted the 10-year, are you inclined to push it out longer for, you know, extra 20 BPS? Or would you be looking to sort of maximize your or minimize your interest rate and kind of go forward with a slightly lower one?
We're always trying to minimize interest rate, obviously, but we also wanna match debt term with weighted average lease term remaining whenever possible. You know, although somebody may look at a 4.75% rate today and look at it as, you know, high relative to the last year, historically, that's still a pretty attractive rate. It really depends on the asset. If we can lock in a 10-year rate and it makes sense for the asset and it makes sense for our overall debt ladder schedule, we'll lock in long.
Okay. I mean, I guess the 20 basis points differential between five and 10 years really isn't that substantial relative to what we've seen in recent history. Is that correct?
That's correct. Depending on the product and depending on the lender community, there's often a lot more five-year money chasing that product. In certain cases, you can even see a slightly tighter spread on the five-year.
Okay, great. Thank you very much. I'll turn it back.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Patrick Keeley of Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Hi there. Good morning.
Morning.
Patrick Keeley here, just on behalf of Chris Koutsikaloudis. Just looking at the seven land assemblies under purchase agreement, just wondering if you can give us some more color on, you know, geography and kind of potential development timeline for those.
Yeah. The majority of the geography is Ontario, and some in Atlantic Canada. Timelines will vary from two to four years for the development cycle. It's early.
Of course. Thanks.
What you will see is when you know, I'm assuming when we close, we may not close on all seven, but as we close on them, they'll go on into our planning and development, and then you'll see a product size and clear timeline for completion.
Got it. Appreciate it.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one at this time. Mr. Zakuta, there are no further questions at this time.
Thank you, operator. That concludes our call.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for this morning. We would like to thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.