Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust (OTC:PMREF) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
Date: May 2, 2024
Time: 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants:
- Alex Avery – Chief Executive Officer
- Pat Sullivan – President, Chief Operating Officer
- Rags Davloor – Chief Financial Officer
- Leslie Buist – Senior Vice President, Finance
- Morde Bobrowsky – Senior Vice President, Legal
- Graham Procter – Senior Vice President, Asset Management
- Claire Mahaney – Vice President, Investor Relations & ESG
Conference Call Participants:
- Mark Rothschild – Canaccord
- Lorne Kalmar – Desjardins
- Brad Sturges – Raymond James
- Matt Kornack – National Bank Financial
- Sam Damiani – TD Securities
- Sumayya Syed – CIBC
- Mario Saric – Scotiabank
Operator: Good morning everyone. And welcome to Primaris REIT’s First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute. After the prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. You may ask one question and a follow-up, at which point you may return to the queue. I will now like to turn the call over to Claire Mahaney, Vice President of Investor Relations & ESG. Please go ahead.
Claire Mahaney: Thank you, operator. During this call, management of Primaris REIT may make statements containing forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Primaris REIT’s control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information about these assumptions, risks and uncertainties are contained in Primaris REIT’s filings with securities regulators. These filings are also available on Primaris REIT’s website at www.primarisreit.com. I will now turn the call over to Alex Avery, Primaris’ Chief Executive Officer.
Alex Avery: Thank you, Claire. Good morning. Thanks for joining Primaris REIT first quarter 2024 conference call. Joining me today are Pat Sullivan, President and COO; Rags Davloor, CFO; Leslie Buist, SVP Finance; Morde Bobrowsky, SVP Legal; Graham Procter, SVP Asset Management; and Claire Mahaney, VP, IR & ESG. We are pleased to report continued growth in our business in the first quarter spanning same property NOI growth, occupancy and conversion of preferential lease structures back to standard leases. We have maintained and slightly increased our guidance measures, reflecting a strong start to the year and see several more years of above average growth ahead. From a platform perspective, the acquisitions completed in 2023, our larger national footprint and high asset quality continues to increase our relevance with both existing tenants and new and exciting new-to-market retailers. This dynamic is a positive feedback loop that we expect to continue to accelerate as we leverage our platform and new investments. We continue to be very active in discussions on several acquisitions and dispositions. Following our $400 million unsecured bond offering in November and the upsizing of our undrawn $600 million credit facility, we have robust liquidity and are finding lots of attractive opportunities. We have capacity for more than $1.5 billion of acquisitions and require no financing conditions in our deals. This profile is a well-capitalized, incredible counterparty in the market and a real differentiator in what is a currently challenging transaction market for many participants. Subsequent to quarter end, we entered into an agreement to sell Garden City in Winnipeg, Manitoba for $31 million. This is our first non-core income-producing property disposition entered into since the spin-off and aligns with our strategy to focus on owning a growing high-quality portfolio of market-leading and closed shopping centers in Canada. This disposition improves our overall portfolio quality and growth profile and further demonstrates Primaris’ ability to transact. We are currently engaged in discussions with prospective purchasers for further dispositions. Our capital recycling program is a key pillar supporting our profile as a buyer of market-leading malls and positions us well to capitalize on future opportunities. I now turn the call over to Pat to discuss operating and leasing results followed by Rags who will discuss our financial results.
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