Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to the Plaza Retail REIT second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star zero for the operator. I would like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Kim Strange, Plaza's General Counsel and Secretary. Please go ahead, Ms. Strange.
Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our Q2 2023 results conference call. Before we begin this morning, 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 that 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 31st, 2022, and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the six months ended June 30th, 2023, 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 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 similar titled measures reported by other real estate investment trusts or entities. They should be considered as supplemental in nature and not as a substitute for related financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. For definitions of these financial measures and where to find reconciliations thereof, please refer to part seven of our MD&A for the six months ended June 30th, 2023, under the heading explanation of non-GAAP Measures. I will now turn the call over to Michael Zakuta, Plaza's President and CEO. Michael?
Thank you, Kim. Good morning. Plaza's business and tenants focused on essential needs, value, and convenience retail in open-air centers remain strong and resilient and continue to perform well. This second quarter served as a building block for future growth, with a record committed occupancy level, healthy renewal spreads, and robust development pipeline, which will contribute incremental income and value over the next two years.
Our development program is progressing well. In the past quarter, we substantially completed redevelopment projects in Cambridge and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and started construction of Atlantic Superstore and Shoppers Drug- anchored centre in Dieppe, New Brunswick. We opened new Winners stores in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Construction is underway on Winners/ HomeSense in Bedford, Nova Scotia and Granby, Quebec, and a Princess Auto in Drummondville, Quebec, with store openings anticipated before year-end.
As we focus on delivering on our most robust development pipeline ever, we expect to announce more major retailer signings and openings across our geography as our projects advance. We are experiencing fewer delivery delays for critical building components, and we are seeing better construction pricing. Despite the changing nature of the retail industry, we have successfully maintained strong occupancy rates across our portfolio.
This achievement is testament to our strong tenant relationships and the attractiveness of our well-located retail spaces. Renewal spreads have remained healthy, contributing to stability and growth of our rental income and highlighting the value and desirability of our properties. Interest rates remain a subject of ongoing attention. Plaza has limited exposure to floating rates, which are generally reserved for operating line and interim debt facilities.
The majority of our debt is at fixed rates with a well-balanced maturity ladder, which provides stability and insulation against interest rate fluctuations. Our conservative and prudent approach ensures that we can effectively manage impacts from higher interest rates. Despite increasing interest rates, investor demand for our non-core assets remains high.
During the quarter, we sold two non-core QSR assets in Ontario, eight non-core QSR assets in Quebec, one non-core QSR asset in Nova Scotia, and one non-core strip in Prince Edward Island at above IFRS values. The sale of these assets, coupled with our ongoing development and redevelopment program, improves the overall quality of our portfolio as we sell our least attractive assets, and we replace them with shiny, new, relevant properties.
Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the future of the retail industry and our business. While challenges persist, we believe that our strong financial position, high occupancy rates, disciplined approach to financing will continue to serve us well. Our developments are poised to contribute to our growth, and we will continue to capitalize on opportunities as they arise. I will now turn the call over to Jim Petrie, Plaza CFO. Jim?
Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. Although our results for the quarter were somewhat muted, we are continuing to set Plaza up for future growth. NOI and same-asset NOI for the quarter were consistent with last year, with rent increases and incremental NOI from developments, offset by operating expense increases and properties sold. FFO for the quarter on a dollar basis was up CAD 495,000 over last year due to incremental NOI from developments and higher other income, partially offset by properties sold. FFO per unit for the quarter, at CAD 9.06, was down slightly versus last year as a result of the equity raise and 8.5 million trust units issued in March.
Of note, interest expense for the quarter, in a higher interest rate environment, was consistent with last year, a result of the repayment of our CAD 47 million convertible debentures in March. AFFO per unit for the quarter at CAD 0.07, was down versus last year due to higher leasing costs with additional leasing, higher maintenance, capital expenditures, and as a result of the trust units issued in March.
For our development program, during the quarter, we completed the redevelopment of Tri-City Centre in Cambridge, Ontario, and transferred CAD 23 million to income-producing properties. We also made significant progress on a number of other developments and anticipate additional completions this year. These will all continue to contribute to earnings growth going forward. On the leasing front, overall committed occupancy remained at 97.6%, and we are continuing to see improvement in our lease renewal spreads.
Year to date, lease renewal spreads were 5.6%, or 7.6%, excluding the renewal of one enclosed mall tenant and excluding an automatic renewal of an anchor tenant in a strip plaza at the same terms. On the balance sheet, our debt-to-assets ratio remained generally consistent with last quarter, down significantly since last year, at just under 50%, excluding land leases. We have only CAD 8 million of mortgages rolling for the remainder of this year and a very manageable CAD 37 million rolling in 2024, with overall loan-to-values of 36% and 46% respectively. Although current interest rates remain a bit high, the market for secured debt is healthy, and we continue to see strong interest in our mortgage offerings.
We are currently seeing fixed rates in the mid-5% range, with longer-term Government of Canada bond yield stabilization, possibly compression, anticipated later this year and into next. Liquidity is always tighter in Q2, with annual property tax and land lease payments due during the quarter. This is a timing issue only. Liquidity at quarter end totaled CAD 59 million, including cash, operating line, and unused development and construction facilities. We also had CAD 14 million of unencumbered assets at quarter end. Finally, on cap rates and valuations, we continue to see strong demand for essential needs and convenience assets such as ours.
Year-t o- date, our sales of non-core assets were at prices that exceeded IFRS values by over 15%, and the weighted average cap rate for those sales was in the low 5% range. The cap rates used for our valuations were essentially flat quarter-over-quarter, and we took a CAD 800,000 write-down this quarter, mainly due to minor cost overruns on certain projects. Our weighted average cap rate is now 6.74%. Those are the key points relating to the quarter. We will now open the lines for any questions. Operator?
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now conduct a question-and-answer session. If you have a question, please press the key, the star key, sorry, followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear one tone prompt acknowledging your request. Your questions will be polled in the order they're received. If you'd like to decline from the polling process, please press star two. Please ensure you lift the handset if you're using a speakerphone before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Gaurav Mathur from iA Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Just firstly, on the dispositions, that you've done during the quarter, could you provide some color on what the buyer pool looks like and where do bidder spreads generally lie?
If the, the buyers are, are private, you know, smaller private investors in some cases, and in other cases, actually, we sold to our QSR tenant. Again, we're, we're very, very happy with, with demand for that type of, of, of product. I'm not sure if that answers your question?
It does, but it does lead me to my next question as well, where, you know, we've, we've heard some amount of strife among the smaller tenant base, you know, just given the macroeconomic headwinds, and that's across both sides of the border here. Are you seeing any of that sort of come through in your portfolio just yet? Or are there no tenant concerns at this time?
Very, very few tenant concerns at, at this time. You know, in our portfolio, it's very much dominated, you know, by, by large national retailers. You have the franchised QSRs, which are obviously important to us. That seems to be holding up, you know, quite, quite nicely. Perhaps, you know, we think that because people are, are trading down, looking for a less expensive offering, and that seems to be driving, you know, fast food sales, you know, across our, our geography. That's our perspective, to date. We haven't seen, you know, real, real distress. There's always somebody that has some issues with a franchisee. That's normal business in, you know, within the retail world.
Okay, great. Just last question on the CapEx front. I, I mean, you know, we've seen the spend in, say, the first half of the year. Would it be fair to say that would be the same run rate for the second half as well, or do you see CapEx increasing as, as we move forward?
We're probably front-end loaded, in Q1 and Q2. On the leasing front, as we mentioned, we don't have a lot of vacancy left.
Mm-hmm.
That spend will probably die down a little bit over the rest of the year. Same with the maintenance CapEx. We generally spend the majority of that in the first half of the year, that should tamper for the rest of the year as well.
Okay, great. Thank you for the color, gentlemen. I'll turn it back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, press star one. Your next question comes from Alexander Augimeri from CIBC. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thanks for taking my question. I just had a quick one about your asset sales. Are you anticipating further excess land or non-core asset sales in the coming quarters?
Yes. I mean, it's. There's, there's two types of asset sales. There's the, we call the non-core, non-core sales. Yeah, we'll, we'll continue on with that. It's quite productive. It, it hurdles very well, and it really does ultimately strengthen our portfolio. We're actually, you know, I'm, I'm quite excited about that. You know, we're, we're, we're trading our least, really our least attractive assets for, for, for much better properties in, in, in our opinion. Then there's excess land. Excess land is part of a strategy on a per development basis. For example, we buy 15 acres of land, but our property only, our development only requires 10 acres.
The 5 acres is sold off, and we're in the process of doing that in, in one particular market right now, with a sale to a residential developer, which then completes our, our development. The residential, the selling rate per square foot or per acre is higher than our, than our purchase price, therefore, it reduces the cost of our retail land. That's also an interesting opportunity for us that we are pursuing in, in several locations. Again, part of, part of developing, sometimes you're buying more land, and then that's a good way to improve your returns by, again, selling off the excess land, to people that are specialists in, in residential development.
Okay, great. Thanks for the color on that. I can hand it back now.
Mr. Zakuta, there are no further questions at this time.
Well, thank you for taking the time to participate in this morning's call. Operator?
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines. Thank you.