Canadian Net Real Estate Investment Trust (NETUN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to Canadian Net REIT's 2023 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ben Gazith, Canadian Net REIT's Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead Mr. Gazith?

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q4 2023 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 Canadian Net'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 the assumptions we applied in making these forward-looking statements can be found in Canadian Net's most recent annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2022, and management's discussion and analysis for the period ended December 31, 2023, which are available on our website at www.cnetreit.com and on SEDAR+ at www.sedar+.com. We will also refer to non-IFRS financial measures today, which are widely used in the Canadian real estate industry, including FFO, AFFO and NOI. Canadian Net believes that these financial measures provide useful information to both management and investors in measuring the financial performance and financial conditions of Canadian Net. 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 the section non-IFRS financial measure of our MD&A the period ended December 31, 2023. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Henley, Canadian Net REIT's President and CEO. Kevin

Thank you, Ben, and good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter of 2023, our key dedicated efforts to lease renewals, refinancing and property dispositions. We are happy to report that we sold a single-tenant restaurant property operator under the Pizza Hut banner in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, for $1.65 million in October. This brings our total number of dispositions for the year 2023, unlocking more than $2 million for the REIT. These transactions, exceeding our IFRS values continue to show our ability to create value while enhancing our capital structure. Higher financial expenses for Q4 2023 compared to Q4 2022 were offset by higher rents, allowing CNET to maintain this FFO per unit at [ $16.2 ]. On an annual basis, we were also able to maintain FFO per unit at $0.635 compared to $0.636 in 2022. At the end of the quarter, Canadian Net REIT maintained its 100% occupancy rate with a conservative payout ratio of 54%. 100% of lease expiring in 2023 were renewed. We completed most of the 2024 lease renewals during 2023. We had 12 leases for renewal in 2024, representing around $1.7 million of NOI and only 2 of them representing approximately $60,000 to remain to be renewed. The weighted average renewal spread on the 2024 renewed leases is 5.2%. Looking ahead to 2025, we have 6 leases to renew, which collectively generate around $2.4 million in net operating income. Notably, one of these leases contributing approximately 90,000 NOI has been renewed at a 32% premium. This increase in real rent highlights the widening gap between current rents on our properties and the prevailing market rates. Although these renewal spreads are realized only upon lease expiration, they signify inherent value within the REIT. On the financing front, we renewed 2 loans in Q4 2023, generating approximately $1.5 million of liquidity, which were used to pay down our facility and lower our overall cost of capital. As of today, the transactional market remains quiet, thanks to continued volatility in rates. With that in mind, our goal continues to be to recycle capital and optimize the REIT's balance sheet, positioning ourselves to seize opportunities as they arise. I will now turn the call back over to Ben Gazith, who will review our Q4 results in more detail. Ben?

Thank you, Kevin. We had another solid quarter. As Kevin mentioned, for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2023, we generated FFO per unit of $0.635 consistent with the same period in 2022. FFO for the period ended December 31, 2023, was $13.1 million and was also consistent with the same period last year. FFO was impacted by rental revenues of newly acquired properties and contractual rent step-ups, which was offset by higher interest charges on mortgage renewals, variable rate mortgages and credit facilities. During the same period, property rental income was $26.6 million, an increase of 7.4% compared to $24.7 million in the same period last year. NOI was $19.4 million, up 5.8% from $18.4 million for the same period in 2023. These increases were also primarily due to rental revenues of newly acquired properties and partially offset by property disposition. The IFRS value of our adjusted investment properties, which is the total of our wholly owned investment properties and our proportionate share of the investment properties held in joint ventures was $331 million as at December 31, 2023, an increase of 1% compared to $326 million a year earlier. We continue to maintain a prudent approach with respect to our leverage and our payout ratio, having a debt-to-gross assets ratio of approximately 57% at year-end compared to 59% at the same time last year. Excluding convertible debentures, debt to gross assets was 53% compared to 55% last year. Our FFO payout ratio for Q4 2023 was 54%, a slight increase from 53% for the same period last year. Our properties are typically financed with fixed rate amortizing mortgages. As of December 31, 2023, the REIT's exposure to variable rate debt is composed of 2 variable rate mortgages and its credit facilities. In addition, bridge loans on our development projects are at variable rates until converted to takeout financing. We have $12 million of mortgages rolling over in 2024, excluding mortgage in our JVs and the bulk of our renewals are now before 2028. Included in the mortgages rolling over or $2.8 million of mortgages associated with properties held for sale. The current average term to maturity on or mortgages is 4.6 years, and that summarizes our key results for the quarter. We will now open the line for any questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Zachary Weisbrod with Canaccord Genuity.

Rental income was up quite materially sequentially from Q3. Were there any significant lease renewals during the quarter? Or was this more a function of contractual escalations?

Well, rental income in Q4 is impacted mostly by -- the first thing is the year-end recoveries. We got higher percentage rents this year. And obviously, the entire rent step-ups of the year impacted Q4.

Okay. And on capital allocation with a relatively conservative payout ratio, where are you prioritizing allocating free cash flow in 2024.

So in 2024, our goal is really to pay down the line, mostly to position ourselves better as we see more and more deals coming to market. And so the main point will be paying down the line.

Okay. And can we expect continued use of the NCIB?

As we free up capital, yes.

Got it. And last question for me. Looking at the properties held for sale balance, I saw it increased slightly from Q3, while noting that there was properties sold during Q4. So what type of cadence can we expect for disposition activity in 2024 relative to 2023?

It's hard to tell. As I mentioned in previous calls, the properties we have for sale, we've seen an increase in traction over the last quarter. I feel like, generally speaking, mortgage rates decreased slightly over the last few quarters. So transaction and interest has been increasing for smaller transactions that is. And so obviously, we're always disposing of assets on an opportunistic basis as long as it's accretive, that it allows us to redeploy capital. So I wouldn't -- it's early in the year to confirm how much or when we expect more dispositions to come, but it is a priority this year.

[Operator Instructions]. Our next question comes from David Chrystal with Echelon.

At your 2 remaining 24 leases and out to the 2025s, are there any nonrenewals expected or anything you're worried about there?

No, not particularly. Those are tenants that -- so one of the two leases renewed on an annual basis. And so it's at least we just renewed in December, pushed down to December 2024. So we expect the same thing coming forward. And the other lease has very low rent to QSR. So we don't expect them to be better. So I would -- I strongly believe we will be renewing those 2 leases as time comes.

And looking to the 2025, you mentioned the one lease was a 32% spread, but do you have a sense of the overall expected spread for 25.

Yes, the overall would probably be around 5%. Most of those leases expiring have options. And so as historically, our options in the necessity-based space tend to be between 5 and 10 and so we expect closer to 5 on this bunch of renewals.

Okay. Great. And then maybe just on the debt side, your line, I believe, is in the kind of high 7%, low 8% range depending on whether it's VA or spread over prime, what's the rate on the floating mortgages? And are those on hospice held for sale?

So the variable mortgage rates are at 8.2%.

And are those tied by the assets held for sale? Or is the idea to term those out on fixed rates?

No. It's guaranteed by the assets held for sale. We renew them annually, but there's no repayment penalties or whatsoever on those variable rates. That's why we keep those properties with those variable mortgages in order to be able to sell them when the opportunity arises.

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Kevin Hanley for closing remarks.

Well, thank you, everyone, for being here with us on our call this morning, and we will be with you in May for our AGM and our call afterwards. Thank you very much.

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