Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (CLW) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT 2024 Full Year Results Briefing. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded today, Thursday, 8th August 2024. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Mr. Avi Anger, Diversified CEO. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT results presentation for the financial year 2024. Presenting with me today is Scott Martin, Head of Long WALE REIT Finance. I would like to commence today's presentation with an acknowledgment of country. Charter Hall acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work and gather. We pay our respects to elders past and present and recognize their continued care and contribution to country. The format for today's presentation is that I will start with an overview of CLW and key highlights for the year. You will then hear from Scott, who will provide an overview of the financial performance of the REIT. I will then return to provide an operational update and portfolio overview and provide guidance for FY '25. We will then offer the opportunity for questions. Turning now to Slide 4. Today, CLW has a best-in-class $5.8 billion diversified real estate portfolio with a long WALE or average lease term across the portfolio of 10.5 years. Our portfolio has an occupancy level of 99.9% and continues to be diversified by tenant, industry, geography and property type, which contributes to the stability of our cash flow. Over the past year, our portfolio has delivered strong like-for-like net property income growth of 4.7%. As at 30 June 2024, CLW had 55% of income from triple net lease properties. This is an important feature of our portfolio given that under a triple net lease structure, the tenant is responsible for all outgoings, maintenance and capital expenditure. The security of income of the REIT is also reinforced by the high-quality income stream generated from blue-chip tenants with 99% of the tenants of the REIT consisting of government, ASX-listed multinational or national businesses. Our largest tenants are Endeavour Group, federal and state governments, Telstra and BP. Turning now to Slide 5 and the key highlights for the year. I am pleased to report that we delivered operating earnings per security of $0.26 for the full year, in line with FY '24 guidance provided. Our NTA at 30 June is $4.66 per security. The portfolio delivered 4.7% like-for-like net property income growth, benefiting from the 51% of income of the REIT being CPI linked. During the year, we completed $762 million of divestments, with the proceeds received being used to reduce debt. The portfolio is sitting at a very high occupancy level of 99.9%. And CLW has a long WALE of 10.5 years, providing security and continuity of income to our investors. We remain focused on prudent capital management. Balance sheet gearing after completion of the current divestment program is at 30.1%, in the middle of our target range of 25% to 35%. 72% of drawn debt of the REIT is hedged, providing protection against interest rate volatility. And in July, Moody's reaffirmed its Baa1 investment grade credit rating for CLW, demonstrating its support of CLW's credit profile. Turning now to Slide 6. We are pleased to announce the completion of CLW's strategic asset divestment program. In totality, CLW has now completed $762 million of property sales, strengthening the REIT's balance sheet and delivering capacity for capital management initiatives. The disposed properties represent approximately 11% of the portfolio with some of the properties disposed having near-term lease expiries, reducing the near-term expiry risk for our investors. The remaining portfolio delivers investors high exposure to prime quality assets in core markets, low capital-intensive triple net leases and CPI-linked rent reviews. The majority of the proceeds of asset sales will be used to repay debt, thereby reducing gearing. Today, we are also announcing a buyback of up to $50 million of CLW securities. We see this as an important capital management initiative to take advantage of CLW's current attractive trading price, significant discount to NTA and an opportunity to deliver earnings accretion to our investors. Moreover, we have taken the opportunity to enter into a 0 cost hedge restructure to increase the REIT's hedging profile beyond FY '25. Turning now to Slide 7. This slide provides a review of CLW's portfolio sector cap rates over the past 4 years. On a like-for-like basis, across CLW's diversified real estate portfolio, portfolio value is, on average, 14% higher in 2024 compared to 2020, driven by contracted and market rental growth, underpinned by CLW's best-in-class diversified tenant base. Notwithstanding recent cap rate movement over the past 2 years when viewed over the long time horizon, CLW's portfolio cap rate is similar to what it was 4 years ago. For all the concerns around recent cap rate movements on a like-for-like basis, CLW's portfolio is higher than it was 4 years ago. I would now like to hand over to Scott, who will provide an overview of the financial performance of the REIT.

Thank you, Avi, and good morning to everyone on the call. Turning to Slide 9, which provides a summary of the REIT's earnings for the FY '24 full year. Net property income has increased by 2.5% compared to the prior reporting period, which has been driven by like-for-like rental growth of 4.7%, which was partially offset by divestment activity, which has occurred through the current and prior periods. Finance costs have continued to increase, driven by a 0.9% increase in the REIT's weighted average cost of debt from 3.1% in FY '23 to 4% in FY '24. Both operating earnings per security and distributions per security for the year were $0.26 per security, in line with our guidance released to the market. Turning to Slide 10 and the REIT's balance sheet position. During the current reporting period, the REIT settled a total of $463 million of property divestments with an additional $299 million exchanged with settlement to occur post balance date. The balance sheet has been presented on a pro forma basis to include the settlement of the exchange properties. The proceeds from property divestments have been utilized to retire debt, with the drawn debt balance of balance sheet debt facilities reducing to $1.5 billion post the settlement of all contracted property divestments. The REIT independently revalued 100% of its investment property portfolio in the current reporting period with a net property valuation decrement of $626 million recognized as of 30 June 2024. The net property valuation movement has been the main driver of the movement in NTA, which has decreased by 17.2% from $5.63 per security at 30 June 2023 to $4.66 per security as at 30 June 2024. Turning to Slide 11, which provides a summary of the REIT's capital management initiatives. All debt metrics presented on this slide are as at 30 June 2024 pro forma adjusted for the settlement of the $299 million of exchange divestments with settlement to occur post balance date and the cancellation of $500 million of debt facilities outlined earlier in Avi's presentation. The execution of the asset divestment and deleveraging program over the past 12 months has strengthened the balance sheet with all gearing metrics materially reduced. Balance sheet gearing now sits at 30.1% and look-through gearing sits at 37.6% compared to 34.5% balance sheet gearing and 41.2% look-through gearing reported at December 31, 2023. The deleveraging program provides material headroom to our debt gearing covenant of 50% with portfolio cap rates needing to expand by an average of 136 basis points or a further valuation decline of 20% needing to occur for gearing to reach the covenant threshold. The REIT has total facilities calculated on a look-through basis of $2.5 billion with a weighted average debt maturity of 4.1 years with staggered maturities over a 6-year period from FY '27 to FY '32. The REIT has $344 million of cash and undrawn balance sheet debt capacity. Moody's has also reaffirmed its Baa1 investment-grade credit rating for the REIT. As at 30 June 2024, the REIT's weighted average cost of debt was 4% based upon look-through drawn debt of $2.1 billion and look through hedging of $1.5 billion at an average rate of 1.5%. The REIT has 72% of its look-through debt hedged with a weighted average hedge maturity of 2 years, which has benefited from a 0 cost hedge restructure, which has increased FY '26 hedging. I will now hand back to Avi to provide an operational update and portfolio overview.

Thank you, Scott. Turning now to Slide 13. In the following slides, I would like to provide an overview of our portfolio, outlining some key attributes of the portfolio. Slide 13 is our portfolio overview. At 30 June, the REIT consists of a portfolio of 540 properties valued at approximately $5.8 billion, with 100% of the portfolio independently valued during the past 12 months. The portfolio average cap rate is 5.4%. This compares to a cap rate of 4.4% in June '22, a change of 100 basis points over the past 2 years. The portfolio is virtually fully occupied with an occupancy of 99.9% and a long-dated WALE of 10.5 years at year-end. The properties in the portfolio feature a blend of annual lease review structures, both fixed and CPI-linked, resulting in a weighted average rent review for FY '24 of 4.3%. Turning now to Slide 14 and an outline of our tenant customers and the tenant diversification of the REIT. Our portfolio of long WALE properties is leased to high-quality tenants, including Endeavour Group, government, Telstra, BP, Coles and Metcash. The REIT's largest tenant exposures are to government tenants and best-in-class pub and bottle shop operator, the $10 billion Endeavour Group. In the telecommunications sector, we have a partnership with another best-in-class operator, the $44 billion Telstra Corporation, which includes our portfolio of 37 exchange properties on long triple net leases. Our BP Australia and New Zealand portfolio of 290 properties on long triple net leases provides us with exposure to the resilient, fuel and convenience retail sector. We also have a high proportion of tenants operating in the nondiscretionary grocery and food sectors such as Woolworths, Coles, Metcash and Arnott's. Turning to Slide 15 and the industry diversification of our tenant customers. Within our overall portfolio, approximately 99% of tenants are ASX-listed, government, multinational or national corporations, with the vast majority of these tenants operating in nondiscretionary defensive industries. The REIT's major sector exposures are to pubs and bottle shops, government, telecommunications, grocery and fuel and food manufacturing. Turning to Slide 16. As can be seen from the chart on this slide, the REIT's portfolio has a long-dated lease expiry profile and reflects a low-risk position relative to our peers in the sector. Our portfolio WALE is a long-dated 10.5 years. We have minimal lease expiries in the near term, and we are in discussions with a number of tenants with expiries in FY '26 and beyond regarding lease renewals and extensions. We continue to work to push out our expiry profile as far as possible to the right of this chart, both through portfolio curation and negotiating lease extensions with our valued tenant customers. Turning now to Slide 17 and environmental, social and corporate governance. We remain focused on implementing sustainability initiatives across our portfolio and consider ESG as a driver of long-term value for our investors and tenant customers. As a business, we've taken accelerated climate action. CLW is pleased to announce we have achieved net 0 Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for assets that fall under the operational control of Charter Hall. Additionally, CLW has been focused on clean energy generation with 6.5 megawatts of solar installed across its portfolio, an increase of 4.5 megawatts over the past year. There is a further 3.8 megawatts of onsite solar planned or committed across CLW's industrial portfolio. CLW's predominantly modern office portfolio features high environmental credentials, including 5.3 star NABERS Energy and 5 star NABERS Water ratings. CLW remains committed to aligning with best practice frameworks to support transparency and disclosure. The fund achieved a score of 77 in the 2023 GRESB assessment, which ranks CLW first amongst its peers, demonstrating our commitment to transparency and continual improvement in the ESG performance of the fund. These proceeding slides demonstrate the resilience and strength of our portfolio. Our portfolio WALE, quality of tenants and proportion of triple net leases provides better downside protection and more resilient income streams to our investors. Turning now to Slide 19. I would now like to provide earnings and distribution guidance for FY '25. Based on information currently available, and barring any unforeseen events, CLW is forecast to deliver FY '25 operating earnings guidance of $0.25 per security and distribution guidance of $0.25 per security. Based on yesterday's closing price, this represents a distribution yield of 7.2%. Finally, I would also like to acknowledge and thank the teams of people across the Charter Hall platform that contribute to the performance of CLW and the results delivered today. Charter Hall Group provides the REIT with access to a high-caliber team of experts across all areas of the REIT's management and provides CLW with access to a best-in-class management platform. That concludes the presentation and I would now like to invite questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Lou Pirenc with Jarden.

Yes. I mean, clearly great progress with the asset divestment program. Can you maybe talk a little bit more about how you kind of decided which assets to sell and what to keep? And is it fair to say that this is it? Or are you still looking to potentially sell more in order to maybe start buying more assets as well?

Yes. Lou, thanks for your question. Look, the assets we sold was a combination of assets. Some of them were some short WALE office assets that we were happy to sell. The Inghams portfolio, as we've noted, and then there was a few others in that mix. But it was across the board, and we just took the opportunity to sell assets that we thought we could get good outcomes on, that we saw as not being critical for our portfolio going forward. That's it for now. We don't have anything further planned for asset sales. We'll continue to curate the portfolio as we move forward, but there's no further asset sales plan at the present time.

Great. And then one follow-up. I mean, clearly, I think in your announcement in June, you talked about 6.1% was the average income yield on the assets sold. Do you think that kind of suggests more risk to cap rates? Or is that -- is it just because the assets are very different between what you've kept?

Absolutely, yes. When you look at what we sold, some of those were high-yielding assets. We've got the core of our long WALE high-quality portfolio still in our portfolio. And obviously those trade on lower cap rates than some of the short WALE high-yielding assets.

Our next question comes from the line of David Pobucky with Macquarie Group.

I hope you're all well. Maybe just in terms of the FY '25 guidance, please. Are you able to dig into that any deeper for us in terms of expectations for NPI growth over the coming year, interest expense, cost of debt, please?

Look -- Dave, thanks for the question. Look, in our guidance, we've -- all announced asset sales are in the guidance, current WALEs are in our guidance. The hedges, which we've disclosed in the pack is -- reflects our hedge book and the interest rates are based on the current market curve. So that's what's in our guidance for FY '25. Buyback is not in our guidance. So that would be upside and, yes, that's sort of where it sits.

And just the second question, maybe following up from one of the prior questions just around your expectation for potential further cap rate expansion over the coming 12 months, please.

Look, I think we sort of see this year as a trough year for valuations. We've seen a 100 basis point increase in our cap rates across the portfolio, particularly in the current environment where we think rates look like they've -- they may have peaked. I think that any further devaluations is going to be a lot smaller, if at all, depending on where rates go.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Richard Jones with JPMorgan.

Hopefully you make a quick recovery. Avi sounds a little under the weather. Just wondering -- a couple of questions, if you don't mind. Just at a high level, can you talk about your thoughts on transaction markets and perhaps with reference to your asset sale program, just how competitive the sale programs were? And maybe if we can compare that to how things were 6 months ago?

Yes. I'd say there's definitely more activity in the market. There has been increasingly more activity, I think. As potential buyers sort of have better visibility on where rates are going, I think it's -- there's more confidence coming back into the market all the time. We had good outcomes. We sold more than we originally set out to to sell, which is a reflection of, I think, the quality of the assets that we have and then what we're able to sell. But, yes, look, we had a good response on the assets that we were selling. And I think we've got a good outcome on all of those. And the market, as you know, Richard, it's mixed out there. Industrial, particularly short lease industrials, very well sought after. Shopping centers are trading well up to about $300 million. There's -- the buyers, syndicators, institutional, et cetera, and office, particularly the smaller office, like what we've sold, we had a good outcome in those assets. So there's definitely a market there for those type of assets as well and it's improving as people return to the office and as rates, I think, peak.

Okay. And can I just ask also just around the thinking of selling part stakes in what were already part ownership positions in Myer Melbourne and at telco exchanges. Can you just kind of work us through the thinking there?

Yes. So the vast majority of what we sold was 100% owned assets. We did sell down an interest in the Telstra exchanges portfolio. We still have a large stake in that. We sold down some of that. And as you know, we sold down some of our interest in Myer Melbourne as well. But that was relatively small. Most of the assets we sold were 100% owned assets. And, yes, it goes to show also that there are buyers for stakes as well as wholly owned assets.

Can we talk about who the buyers of those 2 asset sales were, so Myer, Melbourne and telco exchanges?

I can't disclose Myer. I can tell you the telco exchanges was a -- it was a Charter Hall fund that was established and raised money on for that stake through our direct business.

Okay. And Myer was external to the platform, was it?

Yes.

Our next question comes from the line of Cody Shield with UBS.

Avi and Scott, just a question on the '25 guidance here. If I think about '25 hedging, first half '24, it was 68% hedged on drawn debt of $2.7 billion. So let's say, $1.8 billion hedged. Today, it's still 67% hedged, but that's on $2.1 billion drawn debt. So around $1.5 billion hedged. What am I missing here for that '25 hedging?

Yes. Look, as we called out, we've taken the opportunity to do a -- move there in the money hedge position around and extend that benefit into FY '26. So what that means is there's, I suppose, some of the hedging that was there in '25 now finds its way into '26, where we've gone from an average hedge position of 25% reported at December, now at 50% and the rate is sort of broadly in line with what we previously quoted. But it's really just moving the hedge profile from '25 to '26 to give us longer cover.

Right. Okay. So I mean, if I look at that step down from '24 to '25 earnings, the disposals, it's largely a wash once you think about the savings on finance costs. So would you say that the big delta there is really the change in the hedge profile?

Yes, in respect -- yes, look there is -- yes, there is a material change there. So yes, yes. Yes, as you pointed out, the bridge is at the back there, which gives you a breakdown of it. But yes, the hedge cost has changed from where we previously were.

Okay. Perfect. And just leasing maintenance CapEx. Can I ask how much you spent there over the period?

Yes. Look, it was about $11 million of maintenance CapEx. I think we say that's what the annual run rate is. So that's what it's coming at for FY '24.

Our next question comes from the line of Steven Tjia with Barrenjoey.

Just [ seeking ] some clarity on guidance. If I just look at the footnote on Slide 21, the earnings bridge said it does not include Ingham's portfolio and Red Cross. Could you please clarify?

It does include them? Yes. Yes, the earnings bridge does include those. So...

Because it says with the exception of the Ingham's portfolio and Red Cross, or am I just reading that incorrectly?

Because they are -- yes, because they're partial year. So that's what it's trying to say. We can run you through that when we catch up on the one-on-one. But they're included in that number. The disposals are included in $0.25.

Okay. And just maybe some feedback on the valuation process. Did you see much change in, I guess, discount rates and the growth rates across the portfolio?

Yes. I mean, we saw a change in discount rates and cap rates across the portfolio, which led to the valuation declines, which we've reported. So that's sort of typical across the market.

Can you comment on the quantum?

I'll have to come back to you on that one.

Okay, no worries.

Our next question comes from the line of Simon Chan with Morgan Stanley.

My first question, Avi, was you mentioned before [ Chet ] went to another buyer within the Charter Hall family. Of the $760-odd million of assets you sold, what percentage went to someone within the Charter Hall family [indiscernible]?

That was the only one, Simon. So that was $152 million of the $762 million.

Okay. Cool. Great. Next question. Telstra, Canberra head office, can you give -- just give me a bit of background to that one because I think that one is your next big -- big by your standards, big expiry. Like, what's the background to that one? How long has the tenant been there for? What's the age of the office building, et cetera? Can you give me -- just give me a quick one-on-one on that?

That still got a couple of years to run on that lease. You're right. It expires during FY '26. Telstra has been in occupation for a little while. The building has undergone major refurbishments recently. And there's no real update at this stage in terms of their future occupation. And we're in dialogue with the tenant about their future requirements and it's probably too early to be able to report on what that outcome is at this stage.

Okay, no worries. That's all I have got. Mate, you sound like you need some cough syrup, by the way.

Thanks, [ Chan ].

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to Avi for closing remarks.

Thanks, everyone, for joining today. Sorry, a bit hoarse. I'm hitting the lemon tea. But thanks for joining and we'll look forward to catching up with all of your one-on-ones in the coming weeks. Thank you.