Good day, and welcome to the Realty Income Corporation 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the call over to Mike McKee. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Realty Income Corporation. My name is Mike McKee, and I am the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. We are really pleased you could be with us today. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. Copies of the agenda and the rules of conduct for the meeting are available electronically in the meeting portal. In order to conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants follow the rules set forth in the rules of conduct. Also, it is possible that certain statements made during the meeting, which are not historical facts, will be forward-looking, and the company's actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences are detailed in our SEC filings.
The company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as expressly required by law. I hereby call the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Realty Income Corporation to order. I appoint Bianca Martinez, our Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Assistant Secretary, to act as secretary of the meeting, and Cynthia Skoglund of Broadridge as inspector of elections to count the votes on any matters presented at this meeting or any adjournment thereof. Ms. Martinez, would you please advise the meeting as to the mailing of notice of the annual meeting to stockholders and report on a presence of a quorum?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Inspector of Elections has filed her oath of office with me. I have received and am delivering for inclusion in the company's records an affidavit of distribution from Broadridge, stating that a notice of annual meeting of stockholders was mailed beginning on March 25th to all holders of company common stock as of the record date for this meeting, which was the close of business on March 2nd, 2026. There are present in person or by proxy at this meeting holders of approximately 84.9% of the outstanding shares of company common stock, which confirms the presence of a quorum. Only holders of common stock as of the record date are entitled to notice of and to vote at the meeting.
A quorum is present, and this meeting is duly constituted for the transaction of business. It's my pleasure to introduce the other directors present today. Sumit Roy, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Priscilla Almodovar, Larry Chapman, Reginald Gilyard, Mary Hogan Preusse, Kim Hourihan, Priya Cherian Huskins, Jeff Jacobson, Gerald Lopez, and Gregory McLaughlin. Also in attendance are the following executive officers: Neil Abraham, President, Realty Income International, Executive Vice President, and Chief Strategy Officer. Michelle Bushore, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Secretary. Mark Hagan, Executive Vice President, Chief Investment Officer. Shannon Keel, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer. Jonathan Pong, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer, and Greg Whyte, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. In addition, Brandon Wilcox and Lauren Flores with KPMG, the company's independent auditor, are also in attendance today. Today, we have three proposals for the stockholders.
The election of 11 directors, each to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders in 2027 and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified. The ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st, 2026, and a non-binding advisory proposal to approve the compensation of our named executive officers as described in the company's proxy statement. The proposals are identified and described in the proxy materials previously mailed and made accessible electronically. At this time, we will pause to see if there are any questions just specifically on any of these four proposals. If not, we will move on to voting.
If you have a question and have logged in using your control number, please submit your question now by clicking on the questions box in the bottom left of the webcast page. The polls will be open for voting by anyone who wishes to vote online with respect to these proposals. There are no questions submitted relevant to any of the proposals. We'll move on to the voting. The polls are now open. You may vote electronically. Any stockholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change his or her vote and has logged in using a control number may do so by clicking on the Voting button in the meeting portal and following the instructions. Any stockholder who has sent in a proxy or voted via telephone or internet and does not want to change his or her vote does not need to take any further action.
I now declare the polls closed. At this time, we will pause for a minute to allow the Inspector of Elections to tally the votes and give the information to Ms. Martinez.
Mr. Chairman, the Inspector of Elections has advised me that the preliminary voting results are as follows. Each of the 11 director nominees named in the proxy has been reelected. The selection of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm has been ratified for the year ending December 31st, 2026. The non-binding advisory proposal to approve the compensation of the company's named executive officers, as described in the proxy statement, has been approved. The final tabulation results will be attached to the minutes of this meeting and disclosed in the Form 8-K, which will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
I declare the meeting to be officially adjourned. This concludes the official portion of the meeting. At this time, I will turn the meeting over to Sumit Roy, our President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an overview of the company and our operating performance. We'll then accept questions that are consistent with the rules of conduct. It is now my pleasure to introduce Sumit to begin his presentation.
Thank you all for joining today's annual stockholder meeting. We appreciate your interest in Realty Income and value your ongoing support. Unless otherwise noted, the information presented today is as of March 31st, 2026. I'll begin by providing an overview of our business and the unique value proposition we provide to stockholders. We will discuss Realty Income's recent accomplishments and expectation for the rest of the year. We will open up the meeting for questions which stockholders can submit through the virtual meeting portal. Realty Income remains a global net lease leader with an $87 billion enterprise value, more than 15,500 properties, and balance sheet strength, including A- A3 ratings at S&P and Moody's. This robust platform is deliberately structured to deliver stable income across market cycles. We believe Realty Income's strong long-term performance benefits from scale and diversification.
Our business spans the U.S. and Europe, where we serve nearly 1,800 clients across more than 90 industries. Our 2025 performance demonstrated the benefits of our discipline and global reach while positioning Realty Income for its next chapter of growth. Looking ahead, our 2026 outlook reflects an anticipated acceleration from 2025 as we leverage our scale, data, and robust platform to deliver consistently strong operational returns for our shareholders. Since our 1994 New York Stock Exchange listing, Realty Income has delivered equity-like returns with bond-like volatility, reflecting a business model designed to compound capital while managing downside risk. Our long-term total stockholder return has outpaced broader benchmarks by a factor of 2x, supported by contractual rent, long lease terms, and disciplined capital allocation anchored by a highly diversified portfolio.
Importantly, as a monthly dividend company, dividends are a meaningful and consistent total return proposition for our shareholders, reflecting our longstanding focus on delivering reliable income that grows over time. As of May 2026, we have declared 671 consecutive monthly dividends, and since our listing in 1994, we have increased our dividends 134 times. This proudly places us as one of 69 companies in the exclusive S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index. Our long-term performance demonstrates the ability of our platform to perform consistently through ever-changing interest rate and economic cycles. Realty Income has, on average, sustained mid to high 98% occupancy for more than two decades of varying interest rate and economic environments, which speaks to the durability of net lease assets through cycles. Our occupancy advantage begins at acquisition with underwriting focused on long lease terms and real estate that is integral to our clients' operations, not discretionary uses.
From there, we actively manage the portfolio throughout the lease term using diversification, asset management, and predictive analytics to monitor performance and identify risk early. That life cycle approach allows us to protect rent collections, support renewals, and selectively recycle capital when assets no longer meet our standards. A conservative A-rated balance sheet remains central to our strategy, with leverage and strong coverage ratios that have been maintained deliberately over time. Our balance sheet discipline is reflected in our first quarter 2026 results, where we reported net debt to annualized pro forma adjusted EBITDAR of 5.2x . The vast majority of our debt is unsecured, fixed rate, and well-laddered, which reduces refinancing risks and limits exposure to interest rate volatility. Our disciplined capital management philosophy gives us financial flexibility without compromising credit quality, even in a dynamic rate environment.
This balance sheet strength allows us to invest selectively and prudently while continuing to protect stockholder capital through the cycle. Our results reflect the unique value available to investors in Realty Income's differentiated global operating platform. Throughout our history, external volatility has not disrupted Realty Income's ability to perform, and we don't expect that to change. We are continuing to thoughtfully grow our business and remain focused on creating durable long-term value. As a monthly dividend company, we have consistently returned capital to our shareholders, underscoring our commitment to creating predictable, reliable income streams. We remain steadfast in our mission to pay these monthly dividends that increase over time by executing our strategy as real estate partner to the world's leading companies. On behalf of Realty Income, I thank you for your loyal support. We can now open it up for questions from our stockholders.
There's one question regarding compensation in 2025. The two main drivers for the compensation was an earnings growth, as measured by AFFO per share of north of 2% in a very challenging rate environment. The outperformance of our stock of circa 12% on a total shareholder return basis vis-a-vis the NAREIT Equity Index. Those are the two reasons, and this question was centered around the compensation and how did we arrive at the numbers that we did. That was the only question. With that, we conclude the meeting. Thank you.
The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.