Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

TSX:CHP.UN

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q2

[Operator]

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Doris Baughan, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Please go ahead.

[Doris L. Baughan, Senior VP, General Counsel & Secretary]

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Choice Properties Q2 2021 Conference Call. I'm joined here this morning by Rael Diamond, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mario Barrafato, Chief Financial Officer; and Ana Radic, Executive Vice President, Leasing and Operations. Before we begin today's call, I would like to remind you that by discussing our financial and operating performance and in responding to your questions, we may make forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Choice Properties' objectives, strategies to achieve those objectives as well as statements with respect to management's beliefs, plans, estimates, intentions, outlook and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or exceptions that are not historical facts. These statements are based on our current estimates and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the conclusions in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on the material risks that can impact our financial results and estimates and the assumptions that were made in applying and making these statements can be found in the recently filed Q2 2021 financial statement and management discussion and analysis, which are available on our website and on SEDAR. I will now turn the call over to Rael.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Thank you, Doris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join our Q2 conference call. We are pleased to report another strong quarter with stable financial and operating results. Our business model and disciplined approach to financial management has positioned us well throughout the pandemic. In addition to our strong results, we're advancing our development programs. driving meaningful net asset value appreciation to our existing portfolio and improving our balance sheet. I'll provide an update on our development program shortly, but first, Mario will provide you with an update on our financial results for the first -- for the second quarter. Mario?

[Mario Barrafato, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Rael, and good morning, everyone. As Rael mentioned, we are pleased with our second quarter results. I'd like to begin with a brief overview of our rent collections and then speak to our financial results and balance sheet activity. Rent collections for the second quarter were stable at 98%. And we reported a bad debt expense of $1.8 million. Our 98% collection rate is consistent with the prior 3 quarters and reflects the combination of our stable portfolio and the overall health of our tenant base. The uncollected rents relate to tenants that have been most impacted by the lockdowns, including fitness users and sit-down restaurants. And as these tenants are beginning to reopen across the country, we're optimistic that we will further improve our cash collections for the balance of the year. Our reported funds from operations for the second quarter was $172 million. This was a relatively clean quarter apart from the $1.8 million bad debt expense I referred to earlier, being offset by approximately $1.2 million of nonrecurring revenue related to lease surrender income. When compared to the second quarter of 2020, FFO increased by $31 million due primarily to a decline in bad debt expense of $12.7 million and $14.6 million of nonrecurring items incurred in Q2 2020 related to a credit loss on a specific mortgage receivable and the early redemption of unsecured debentures that were set to mature in 2021. On a per unit diluted basis, our Q2 FFO was $0.238 per unit compared to $0.201 in the second quarter of 2020. Despite the challenging operating environment with the third wave of pandemic related closures, occupancy has held up, declined by only 10 basis points sequentially from Q1 to 96.9%. We actually did see positive absorption for the quarter of approximately 12,000 square feet, highlighted by the leasing in our Ontario industrial portfolio. This was offset by the transfer of some vacant units in our development properties completed in the quarter which will soon be leased. Same-asset cash NOI increased by 6.1% compared with the second quarter of 2020, primarily due to a decline in bad debt expense. When excluding these bad debts, total same-asset cash NOI was relatively flat, increasing by 0.1%. By asset class, retail same asset cash NOI increased by 0.3% while industrial increased by 2.2%. These increases reflect the combination of higher renewal rates and contractual rent steps. Office, same asset cash NOI decreased by 6.1%, primarily due to a reduction in occupancy and lower parking revenues. We're pleased we've been able to maintain stable occupancy and consistent same asset results over the last 4 quarters. Turning to the balance sheet. For the fourth consecutive quarter, we reported an increase to our net asset value. We reported a total increase to NAV of $323 million, including an increase to the fair value of our investment properties of $278 million. Of this, $238 million relates to our industrial portfolio. The increase in value in our industrial segment is in line with market sentiment. Recent market transactions and robust demand in logistics and distribution space especially in the GTA industrial market, has contributed to further cap rate compression and improving valuation fundamentals. We had very little new financing activity in the quarter though we did improve both our leverage ratios and our liquidity profile with 2 key transactions. First, we early redeemed our $200 million series 9 nonsecured debenture that was maturing in September of 2021 with no penalty or fee. This was repaid primarily using our cash on hand, resulting in further improvements to our debt metrics. In the quarter, our leverage ratio improved from 42.3% to 41% and our debt-to-EBITDA improved from 7.6x to 7.3x. The second transaction was the extension of the maturity date of our $1.5 billion credit facility to June of 2026. As part of this extension, we paid $1.8 million of debt placement costs. Our credit facility is a critical component of our financial strategy and taken collectively with our $12.6 billion of unencumbered assets, we have ample liquidity and significant financial flexibility. So overall, with our ability to drive meaningful net asset value growth through many avenues, our low debt levels and high liquidity levels, we believe we are well positioned. I'll now turn the call back to Rael to address our development and investment activities. Rael?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Thank you, Mario. On the development front, we continue to deliver exceptional assets to our portfolio and are making steady progress on the rezoning of our longer-term pipeline. For the quarter, we completed and transferred 4 development projects of approximately 149,000 square feet of GLA at our share and a total development cost of $63 million. Included in the assets transferred this quarter was a new 48,000 square foot Loblaw Superstore and our Harvest Hills retail development in Southeast Edmonton. The final phase of the retail component of our West Block development advances in Lakeshore in Downtown Toronto and the first building of our rental residential development to Brixton located in the Queen West neighborhood of Toronto. The first building includes 72 rental residential units at our ownership share. The leasing program is progressing well with approximately 50% of the building leased and a considerable pickup in activity in recent weeks as COVID restrictions have continued to lift. We expect that the construction of the remaining 2 buildings at Brixton will be complete in the coming months, and tenants will begin taking occupancy towards the end of the year. Construction is also well underway at Liberty House and Liberty Village with an expected completion in the fourth quarter. We are about to commence pre-leasing and expect that tenants will begin taking occupancy early next year. In addition to our active residential projects, we kicked off several new commercial developments in the quarter, including a greenfield industrial project in Surrey, BC. The 17-acre site is vacant land owned by Choice that is directly adjacent to our existing Loblaw distribution facility in the Campbell Heights Industrial node. We are planning a 350,000 square foot new generation logistics facility [indiscernible]. We're designing the building with sustainability in mind and we'll be pursuing a LEED silver certification on completion of the project. We are well underway with detailed designs and engineering and are actively working through the municipal approval process. We expect to break ground on the project next year. This is an exceptional opportunity for us to add new product to one of the best industrial markets in the country. This project will drive significant value and highlights our ability to continue growing our existing industrial platform. Looking forward, we are busy working on our longer-term planning projects to advance the next phase of development. In the quarter, we submitted applications on 2 large-scale residential and mixed-use projects here in Toronto. The first application is for large mixed-use development on a 6.5 acre parcel of vacant land located south of the intersection of St. Clair Avenue and Warden Avenue in Toronto. The land is exceptionally well located from a transit perspective approximately 500 meters from the Warden TTC Subway Station. The site was originally acquired in Q2 2020, and we have made significant progress on envisioning the future potential. The application includes over 1,500 residential units, 1 million square feet of GFA and a proposal for a new public park. The second application is for mixed-use redevelopment at our existing retail site at 25 Photography Drive in Toronto. The approximately 8 acres site is located southwest corner of Eglinton Avenue West and Black Creek Drive across from the Mount Pleasant -- sorry Mount Dennis Transit Hub, which is set to open in 2022. The transit hub will connect the GO Line, the Union Pearson Express and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, making this site an exceptional location from a transit perspective. The current redevelopment plan proposes a vibrant, mixed-use inclusive community where people can live and access amenities, services, transit and a grocery store, all within walking distance. The project will include 7 mixed-use buildings, including 2,400 residential units and over 2.1 million square feet of GLA. Both projects are in early stages. So we expect that things will continue to evolve as we refine our plans. Taking collectively with other -- with our ongoing planning projects we have over 11,000 units and nearly 10 million square feet of GLA either zoning approved or with zoning applications underway. And with more projects ongoing and more submissions expected we believe we're one of the best development pipelines that will provide significant opportunity for us to deliver long-term net asset value appreciation. With that, I would like to turn the call back to the operator for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from the line of Mark Rothschild with Canaccord.

[Mark Rothschild, MD & Real Estate Analyst]

Maybe just picking up Rael on what you're talking about in the development, some new projects. Do you have a range of a budget, how much you expect to spend in development, maybe over the remainder of this year and looking into next year as well. Obviously, some of the larger projects still don't appear to be at the point where you can be investing significant capital.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Yes, you're correct, Mark. Some of the larger projects are still in the rezoning process. But we would expect about $150 million to $200 million over the next couple of years. The only thing that could flex that a little bit is some of these industrial developments as we get zoning, particularly on our Tullamore industrial land. It's pretty quick to ramp up development as there's strong leasing demand. But right now, we would foresee $150 million to $200 million.

[Mark Rothschild, MD & Real Estate Analyst]

Okay. And moving to the balance sheet, leverage has obviously come down a decent amount over the past year. To what extent is reducing that further a priority? Or are you in the range now where you're comfortable?

[Mario Barrafato, Chief Financial Officer]

Mark, yes, we were in the range, even before, like our goal was to get it down to 7.5x, and we thought that would give us a lot of flexibility. We happen to sell assets and have some cash on hand. And when the opportunity came to repay the debenture coming due without a penalty, we decided to take it rather than force an acquisition that didn't meet our criteria. So it was just a good use of proceeds. So we're really comfortable where we are right now and really don't have any intention to lower it. But again, if opportunities come up, it gives us flexibility and if we can retain more, we will, but it's not in our plans right now.

[Mark Rothschild, MD & Real Estate Analyst]

Okay. Great. And maybe just lastly, parking revenue was down in the quarter. Last year, this quarter also was pretty quite. So I'm just curious what happened. Was it memberships that people canceled parking memberships, people canceled through the quarter last year? Or I would expect that it's already been pretty low last year?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

It is, yes, a function of actually -- we did have a drop in vacancy in one of our buildings. So that had a small impact. And as people have not been coming into the office and that also resulted in a lower parking revenue.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

And Mark, just to remember, people last year in Q2, no one expected it to last this long. So people were slow to cancel their spots.

[Mark Rothschild, MD & Real Estate Analyst]

Yes. No, that's what I thought I might be.

[Operator]

Your next question is from the line of Mike Markidis with Desjardins Capital Markets.

[Michael Markidis, Real Estate Analyst]

Two questions on my end. Number one, I was just wondering if you could comment on the leasing environment, any step changes that you've seen since the restrictions have been lifted. I realize it's only been a short period of time and your expectation for occupancy, particularly in the retail and office segments over the next 12 months?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

So we've had strong retail demand from a leasing perspective throughout the pandemic, interestingly enough, our occupancy stayed stable, but we are seeing more tour activity as restrictions are being lifted. And that's picking up across all areas of retail with certain tenants being really, really active and wanting to grow their footprint like in the pet sector discount department stores and so forth and Dollarama as another discount and a lot of activity. QSRs really weren't as impacted during the pandemic because they had heavy off-premises sort of like takeout business and so forth. So that's another sector that's growing. So we hope occupancy will increase over the next 12 months. I think on office, the tour activity has been very much correlated with the lockdowns. And as lockdowns are lifted, we've seen tour activity pick up. And if that's just happened in Ontario, where it's starting, in Alberta we've definitely seen a pickup in tour activity, which we're optimistic about. But I think retail office occupancy will take longer to improve before relative to retail.

[Michael Markidis, Real Estate Analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. And then my second question would just be with respect to the Industrial segment, and it would appear that liquidity in secondary and tertiary markets is improving. There are several types of portfolios that have recently been listed. And you guys happen to own some industrial land in Canada. I was just wondering what your thoughts were with respect to those legacy assets as a potential disposition candidate in your group?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Yes. Look, we did sell a few assets, I think it was about 2 years ago. The assets that we own are really well located. It's a strong industrial market right now, low vacancy. We're getting good rent lift. So right now, we're quite happy and comfortable owning them just given the lack of supply in the market.

[Operator]

Your next question is from the line of Sam Damiani with TD Securities.

[Sam Damiani, Director, Institutional Equity Research]

Just a follow on the leasing discussion. Maybe just to give us an update on what you're seeing in the Alberta market. It seems to be a bit of a rebound happening in the latest quarter.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

I'm sorry, do you mean office or...

[Sam Damiani, Director, Institutional Equity Research]

Sorry. Sorry, I meant industrial. I meant industrial. Yes.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Yes. I think the retail, definitely logistics demand is very strong in Alberta as well. Amazon is one of the tenants that's definitely been very active. And we've even seen a little bit of a pickup in Eglinton, which is great. We just did a 40,000 square foot logistics deal there. That's a future lease deal, it doesn't commence in the quarter. So it is improving.

[Sam Damiani, Director, Institutional Equity Research]

That's great. And on the retail side, it sounds like you're increasingly optimistic about a near-term sort of rebound for occupancy to go back towards where it was in pre-pandemic. Do you have any stats on the percentage of your tenants that are open now versus, let's say, Q1 or expected to be opened in August, anything like that to sort of give us an indication on those kinds of trends?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Well, right now, actually, Mark, most of our tenants are open because we have open air retail. So we're not restricted the way the malls are restricted. So I would say the majority of our retail is open.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

And the tenants that were closed to us with some of the personal services at gyms -- and gyms and restaurants, as Ana mentioned, and those -- the majority of those are now open.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Absolutely. I walk -- I drove by Orangeville and saw a long line outside GoodLife. So they are definitely open.

[Sam Damiani, Director, Institutional Equity Research]

Great. And what would be the next sort of major redevelopment to take place? And what are -- like what's the backup plan for the Loblaw store that would be impacted there in terms of temporarily relocating or just temporarily closing or closing a location in that trade area?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

So I'll say the next major redevelopment is Golden Mile, and there's enough -- we have enough land that we can accommodate building a new store before we ever have to take down the old store or the existing store. The other one would be Woodbine and Danforth and we're actively working with Loblaw. The store is very time, but we're going to time it and do it make sense for overall.

[Operator]

Your next question is from the line of Jenny Ma with BMO Capital Markets.

[Jenny Ma, Analyst]

Thanks, and good morning, everyone. I saw in the MD&A that you mentioned in the retail discussion that there were some leases that were transitioned from net to gross. And I'm just wondering if that was something that was material, the reason behind those changes and whether it related to any Loblaw leases.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

No, it didn't relate to any Loblaw lease. I think we did have a few SAQ, which is the Quebec liquor store in -- well, in Quebec that did move to a gross lease. But that's the material.

[Jenny Ma, Analyst]

So is that just a discussion that was had at the time of renewal? Or what was the thinking behind that? Is that thing we could see more of down the line?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

No, definitely not. I think it's just -- the SAQ has been moving to this model. I mean, they're like run by the government -- the provincial government of Quebec. And so they prefer to have a gross lease, and we set that at a sort of at a higher number to give us cushion so that we do have full recovery.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

And Jenny, it's not material on its own, but given the lower level of growth, it was more magnified this quarter. But really, it's part of our business, it's not a big issue right now.

[Jenny Ma, Analyst]

Okay. Great. And then could you give us an update on what you're seeing in the acquisition or disposition pipeline? I think last quarter, you had talked about potentially selling some assets sort of in the second half. Is that still something you're looking to do? Not sure if that was sort of driven by looking at the asset itself or a desire to reduce leverage. How should we think about transaction activity in the second half of this year?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Jenny, so we've been very active on capital recycling, as you know. On the acquisition side, there are some venues that we're working with Loblaw on, nothing that significant. And then the dispositions is just the normal capital recycling going to sell down. We've just listed a small portfolio in Edmonton -- sorry, Calgary industrial is just a few assets, but nothing significant. We won't be as active as we were last year.

[Jenny Ma, Analyst]

Okay. Great. And now that you mentioned that small industrial portfolio in Calgary, are these some of the smaller assets that you would consider to be noncore?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Yes. It's just normal capital recycling.

[Operator]

Your next question is from the line of Sumayya Syed with CIBC.

[Sumayya Syed Hussain, Associate]

Just wanted to touch on the fair value changes in industrial. I'm just wondering if the cap rate changes were sort of level across the board? Or did you speak to any differences by market?

[Mario Barrafato, Chief Financial Officer]

Yes. Sumayya, yes, I mean, definitely GTA large Bay industrial had the larger gains. Small bay had some gains probably at half the cap rate compression as the large they did. And then also, we had a bit of growth in value of Vancouver as well. So spread across, but really GTA large Bay was the driver. And as Rael said in his opening, you're seeing strength in the property markets. You've seen strength in the capital markets. The industrial REITs are performing well, and they're doing well in the credit market. So there's really value in industrial and it's reflected in these numbers.

[Sumayya Syed Hussain, Associate]

All right. And the way you are seeing in the transaction market for grocery anchored centers and any cap rate indications on a more recent time period?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Sumayya, we don't have much to update further than what we spoke about last quarter. Still lots of liquidity. Cap rates have held in and continue to be strong for grocery-anchored centers. They really differentiated themselves since the start of the pandemic. We continue to be inbound calls, but I'd say no major changes on the cap rates.

[Sumayya Syed Hussain, Associate]

Okay. And then lastly from me on the office side. Just curious what you're hearing from your tenants in terms of the plans for returning to the office and how that's playing out in leasing conversations?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Yes, the plans are varied. And we do have actually quite a few smaller tenants who are -- who have remained in their offices other than when they were in force shutdown. So some of our smaller 5,000 -- unless tenants plan to return sooner are already there, and some of our larger ones have indicated sort of phased in returns in September and a few and then other ones are waiting to make some decisions to see how the summer progresses. Now that restrictions have been have been lifted. So those are kind of the themes we're hearing from our tenants. So no single theme.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from the line of Tal Woolley with National Bank Financial.

[Tal Woolley, Research Analyst]

Just for Brixton and Liberty House now that you're sort of into the leasing process, can you give a sense of what the sort of gross per square foot rents you were up or you're asking?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

They around $4 a foot.

[Tal Woolley, Research Analyst]

Okay. And are you at the time going to be offering any incentives on top of that?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

So we have been offering incentives and we probably likely start peeling them back on the Brixton just given the activity. But we've been offering 2 months free rent. And therefore, I think the first 100 leases we offered gift card program as well of about $1,000.

[Tal Woolley, Research Analyst]

Okay. And just 1 last question, like, I can sort of see how the kind of target asset mix -- or sorry, how the asset mix is going to evolve like over time. You're obviously going to see the resi portion increase, the industrial portion increase. I guess like longer term, like I'm thinking further out, like is there kind of like a target asset mix you ultimately want Choice to be at?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

So we are not targeting a specific asset mix. Our real focus is on quality and durability of cash flows. And you're right. Just -- we're always going to be a necessity-based REIT. Naturally, just given the land holdings we own, we're going to be investing more and more capital into residential. Just again, given some of the industrial development lands we own, we're going to be investing more and more into industrial. We will obviously continue to buy gross related sites and particularly where we can facilitate an opportunity for Loblaw although small opportunity set in the first 2 we just spoke about and office will really be a function of some mixed-use developments. So the portfolio will naturally reshape as you just discussed.

[Tal Woolley, Research Analyst]

Okay. And then just lastly at the West Block site. Do you have like an early read like on how the performance of the retail portion is and how Loblaw is looking at it right now?

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Yes. I mean the store itself is performing incredibly well, obviously. It's -- and then our other 2 tenants, our anchors are open. Shoppers Drug Mart. Joe Fresh was just able to open with the latest restrictions being lifted. So that's fully occupied. Our office building is leased. And so we expect our other ancillary retail. We have a big deal with the LCBO and they're open. So now we just have small pockets of retail that will open, hopefully, later in the year and interest from a bank and some good tenants.

[Tal Woolley, Research Analyst]

Okay. So the -- yes, the productivity there and early on is there like it in the mark or what your tenants were hoping for.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Yes. Yes, absolutely. Traffic has been very, very strong. yes, much needed in the neighborhood.

[Operator]

Our final question comes from the line of Pammi Bir with RBC Capital Markets.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst]

Just maybe coming back to the office environment. Can you maybe just comment on how rents are holding up in your portfolio and maybe the mark-to-market spread and your thoughts on the leasing costs.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

So Pammi, Ana will speak to it in a moment, but you have to remember, there's been a lot of -- there's been very little activity. And so any -- it's not really indicative of our conviction in the sector. But we think things are going to start improving. We are even seeing improvements in our own offices. What I mean by that is just we've opened office recently. We haven't asked staff to come back. And today, we've hit essentially the capacity that we've internally set, which is roughly 30%. So -- So we're starting to see employees wanting to come back, and we think that will translate to the office leasing environment. And now Ana can maybe give you a little bit of specifics. We have a very small volume that we're using to give you lease stats.

[Ana Radic, Executive Vice President of Leasing & Operations]

Yes. As Rael said, I mean, we had 8,000 square feet of renewals in the quarter. So -- and one being in Alberta, which was a tenant that was rolling from a lease done pre-2017. So -- and most of our tenants in Alberta have -- we've rolled those rents down. So -- so now -- so it was about 20% -- we had a decline of about 20%. And -- but again, a very small segment and none of that was in Ontario. So where -- Ontario, I think rents are going to hold up. There may be a little bit more inducements offered. But generally, we're optimistic.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Yes. So the Alberta is not -- it's not indicative of market as a whole.

[Pammi Bir, Analyst]

Got it. And maybe just sticking to the discussion earlier on the portfolio mix, maybe thinking about it long term. Frankly, about the office portfolio is not a significant piece of the overall business at this point in any case. But what are your thoughts on perhaps reducing the exposure further over the long term through -- possibly through dispositions? Or will it just naturally happen through growth in the other segments of the business?

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Look, we think that would happen through growth in the other segments. And then just as normal capital recycling, then may be 1 or 2 of the assets that we sell over time.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That concludes our Q&A session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Rael Diamond.

[Rael Lee Diamond, President & CEO]

Thank you so much. I want to thank everyone for joining us on today's call. Please do all that you can to stay healthy and be safe. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.