Bob Barton
Analyst · Rich Hill of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open
Good morning and thank you, Ernest. Last night we reported third quarter 2018 FFO of $0.53 per share and net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.22 per share for the third quarter. Third quarter results are primarily comprised of five highlights which are as follows. Number one, FFO exceeded consensus by approximately $0.03 in Q3 primarily from A) Approximately $0.01 from retail, B) Approximately $0.01 from office and C) Approximately $0.01 from multi-family. Number two, our cash basis releasing spreads for retail were approximately 18% in Q3 and 10% for the trailing 4 quarters. For office, cash basis releasing spreads were approximately 11% in Q3 and 12% for the trailing 4 quarters. Straight-line basis releasing spreads are even higher. Number three, we increased the 2018 guidance by $0.01 at the midpoint as a result of Q3 results and our expectations for Q4. Number four, as Ernest mentioned, we've increased the quarterly dividend by a $0.01 per share beginning on December 27, 2018 to stockholders of record as of December 30, 2018 approximately a 4% increase. And number five, 2019 guidance range midpoint of $2.16 is approximately a 3% increase over the revised 2018 guidance midpoint. However, excluding 2018 non-recurring termination fees of approximately $3.9 million in the second quarter, the 2019 guidance midpoint would be approximately a 6% increase over 2018 at the revised midpoint. Let's take a deeper dive into the details behind these highlights. Our retail portfolio ended the quarter at 98.5% leased, combined with the highest annualized base rents amongst our peers. On a year-over-year basis, our retail occupancy was up approximately 154 basis points from the third quarter of 2017 leaving approximately 44,600 square feet vacant in our 3 million plus square foot retail portfolio. Our office portfolio ended the quarter at approximately 91.4% lease, an increase of approximately 145 basis points on a year-over-year basis primarily due to the reclassification of Oregon Square into construction and progress as of January 1, 2018. Combined with an increase in occupancy at the newly constructed Torrey Point in San Diego, and our Torrey reserve campus in San Diego leaving a vacancy of approximately 8.6% or 229,000 square feet of our 2.6 million square foot office portfolio. Let's talk about same-store NOI for a moment. Same-store retail cash NOI increased in the third quarter to 5.2%. The increase primarily relates to increased rents at our Loma Santa Fe Plaza, Solana Beach Town Center and Alamo Quarry shopping centers. Combined with the incremental NOI from the acquisition of the Forever 21 building in Q3 '17 at our Del Monte center on the Monterey Peninsula. We owned the land and acquired the building at Del Monte center that we did know in Q3 '17. The incremental NOI from the Forever 21 building is approximately 109 basis points. Absent the Forever 21 building, the same-store NOI is still a healthy 4.1%. Same-store office cash NOI decreased 3% in the third quarter primarily due to the following; number one, at City Center Bellevue, cash NOI is lower on a year-over-year basis as a result of rent abatements associated with the five floors that were released in Q1 2018. CCB or City Center Bellevue is approximately 97% leased today and we expect to see the increased cash NOI beginning in late Q4 '18. Number two, at Lloyd District, cash NOI is lower in Q3 primarily due to the termination of the Family Care lease for which we received the termination fee in Q2. However, concurrent with the family care termination, a new lease agreement was entered into with Genentech for the space previously occupied by family care at higher rents. Tenant improvements are currently underway and are expected to be completed in late 1Q '19. The lease will commence upon completion of TI's when Genentech takes possession of the space. The decrease in office cash NOI described above are partially offset by base rent increases at both landmark and One Beach. Same-store multi-family cash NOI increased 9.3% primarily due to improved operating results at Pacific Ridge, which was originally acquired in Q2 2017, and is included for the first time in same-store results for Q3 '18. Rental expenses at Pacific Ridge decreased by approximately 23% which can be mainly attributed to improved operations including significantly lower bad debt expense combined with increased efficiency of staff by doing more with less headcount and elimination of third-party management fees. In addition Pacific Ridge's total revenue increased approximately 5% primarily due to increased base rent. The remainder of multi-portfolio performed well with an increase of cash NOI for approximately 3% primarily attributable to the renovation of the 21 units at Loma Palisades that came back on line in the beginning of 2018. Waikiki Beach Walk or mixed use property consisting of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Waikiki Beach Walk retail reported a combined decrease and same-store cash NOI of 4.3% for the third quarter. Broken down further this represents the Embassy Suites Hotel down approximately 4.9% and Waikiki Beach Walk retail down about 3.5%. Embassy Suites was impacted primarily from a lower ADR year-over-year combined with significant increase in real estate taxes. At our Waikiki Beach Walk retail property, the decrease in same-store cash NOI was primarily due to a reduction in percentage rent as well as a reduction in parking revenues. Nevertheless, tenant sales remain high at $1,107 per square foot for the rolling 12 months. As our tenants continue to benefit from the excellent location and good economy. Turning to our third quarter results FFO decreased approximately $0.05 to$0. 53 per FFO share compared to the second quarter. The third quarter results include the following activity. Number one, we had one time termination fees recorded in 2Q '18 decreased which decreased FFO by approximately $0.05 per FFO share. Number two, at our Waikele property, the Kmart lease terminated at the end of 2Q '18 contributing to a decrease in FFO from the Waikele property of approximately $0.02 per FFO share. And third, our Embassy Suites seasonality and operations increased third quarter FFO by approximately $0.01. And number four, straight line rent revenues increased third quarter FFO by approximately $0.01 primarily due to new leases signed at Torrey Reserve, Torrey Point and City Center Bellevue. Now as we look at our balance sheet liquidity at the end of the third quarter, we had approximately $384 million in liquidity comprised of $56 million of cash and cash equivalents of [Technical Difficulty] availability on our line of credit. Our leverage which we measure in terms of net debt to EBITDA was 6.5x although our continued focus is to get our net debt to EBITDA back down to a 5.5x or below. Our interest coverage and fixed charge coverage ratio ended the quarter at 3.7x. Let's move on and discuss our updated 2018 guidance. We are revising our guidance for our full year 2018 FFO per share to a range of $2.09 to $2.11 per FFO share with the revised midpoint of $2.10 per share from our guidance of $2.05 to $2.10 per FFO share that had a prior midpoint of $2.08. The increase in our midpoint of approximately $0.02 is primarily attributable to the improved NOI performance from all three sectors of retail, office and multi-family. Let's begin our talk about our 2019 guidance. We are introducing our 2019 FFO per share guidance range of $2.12 to $2.20 per share with a midpoint of $2.16 per share which is approximately a 3% increase in FFO over the revised 2018 midpoint or an increase of approximately 6% excluding non-recurring termination fees received in 2Q '18 that totaled approximately $3.9 million or $0.06 of FFO per share. Let me walk you through what makes up our 2019 guidance. Same-store guidance includes the following; number one, same-store retail cash NOI is expected to remain relatively flat for 2019; number 2, same-store office cash NOI is expected to decrease approximately $1.6% or approximately $0.02 of FFO. This is primarily due to Genentech at Lloyd district not commencing paying cash rents until late in Q4 2019, after the burn-off of rent abatements though we expect to begin recognizing revenues in the second quarter of 2019. Number three, same-store multi-family is expected to increase approximately 2.5% or $0.01 per FFO share. Our non same-store guidance includes the following four properties. Number four would be Waikele Center in Hawaii which we have already demolished a former Kmart building during Q3 and our working with prospective tenants as we rebuild that building. The loss of rent in 2019 compared to 2018 at Waikele is expected to reduce FFO by approximately $0.05 per FFO share. Redevelopment is not expected to be finished until late Q4 2020. Number five, our mixed use property consisting of the Embassy Suites combined with Waikiki Beach Walk retail will be taken out of same-store metrics in 2019 due to the exterior painting and spalling repair that is expected to take all of 2019 combined with the room refresh that we do approximately every five to seven years to maintain a high level customer experience that keeps us embassy suites as the number one performing Embassy Suites in the world. Spalling is something that is common and done every 20 years or so. It refers to the cracking below the concrete service of balconies that could cost slabs of material to spall off. The moisture from the ocean air can also impact the spalling. We expect this will reduce FFO approximately $0.05 per FFO share. Six is Oregon Square, which will continue to be at the same-store metrics in 2019. We are currently in the process of renovating one of the existing concrete buildings on the site into creative office space that we hope to get leased up in 2019. Oregon square will have no impact on 2019 FFO. Number seven, Torrey point in San Diego is expected to increase FFO by approximately a $0.01 of FFO per share with the ongoing lease up of that property. The property is currently approximately 32% leased and for guidance purposes we have expected approximately one half of the remaining 62,000 square feet to be leased in 2019. Number eight, G&A is expected to increase to approximately $22.8 million, which will decrease FFO by approximately $0.01 per FFO share. Number nine, interest expense is expected to increase by approximately $1.3 million and reduce FFO by approximately $0.02 cents per FFO share due to A) Refinancing our existing $100 million term loan that matures at the beginning of 2019 at a higher rate. B) Additional usage on our existing line of credit in 2019. C) Reduction of interest being capitalized. D) Reduction in interest expense related to mortgage debt that was or will be repaid in 2018 and those expected to be repaid in 2019. Number 10, 2019 straight line revenue adjustments in the office portfolio are expected to increase FFO by approximately $12.2 million or $0.19 cents per FFO share as follows; A) At our landmark in One Market Street building, we are cautiously optimistic with existing and prospective leasing activity and we believe that it is more likely than not that such activity as landmark will ultimately increase FFO by approximately $0.08 per FFO share in 2019. B) Our City Center Bellevue building in Bellevue Washington is expected to increase that straight line revenue in 2019 that will increase FFO by approximately $0.05 per FFO share. C). Our Lloyd Center tower in the Lloyd district of Portland, Oregon is expected to increase its straight line revenue that will increase FFO by approximately $0.04 per FFO share. And D) Our Torrey Reserve campus in San Diego is expected to increase straight line revenue that will increase FFO by approximately $0.02 per FFO share. These adjustments should approximately reconcile our revised mid-18 or revised 2018 midpoint guidance of $2.10 with our 2019 midpoint guidance of $2.16. Retail same-store occupancy is expected to end 2019 at $97.2%, office same-store occupancy is expected to end 2019 at 96.4%. Operational capital expenditures are expected to increase from our typical $30 million to $40 million a year to approximately $80 million to $85 million in 2019 with at least half of that related to tenant improvements and leasing commissions related to our speculative leasing assumptions. As always our guidance excludes any impact from future acquisitions, dispositions, equity issuances, or repurchases, future debt refinancings, or repayments other than what we've already discussed. We will continue to do our best to be as transparent as possible and share with your analysis interpretations of our quarterly numbers. Operator I'll now turn the call over to you for questions.