Jerry Sweeney
Analyst · SunTrust
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for participating in our second quarter earnings conference call. On today’s call with me as usual are George Johnstone, Executive Vice President of Operations; Tom Wirth, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Dan Palazzo, our Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to beginning, certain information discussed during our call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities law. Although we believe estimates reflected in these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot give assurance that the anticipated results will be achieved. For further information on factors that could impact our anticipated results, please reference our press release as well as our most recent annual and quarterly reports that we file with the SEC. So, to kick off, as we normally do, I will provide an overview of our three key business plan components, George will then discuss 2016 leasing and operating efforts and then will turn the call over to Tom to review our financial and balance sheet results. So looking at the quarter some significant distribution activity in quarter one, second quarter was relatively quiet for us. Our focus for the quarter remained on operational performance and executing our 2016 business plan. That focus is paying off, as we’ve had a very strong year thus far in 2016. During the first half of this year, we made significant progress on our business plan and advanced our investment and balance sheet objectives. On the investment front, we have executed 97% of our $850 million disposition target with the potential to exceed this level. Our 2016 dispositions will substantially complete our portfolio repositioning strategy and going forward it’s really fine tuning our submarket positioning to drive value creation. Just as a frame of reference, since early July 2015, we have sold approximately $1.2 billion of assets at an average 6.9% cap rate thereby really transforming the operating portfolio of the Company, and those efforts have produced a stronger forward growth profile, reduced recurring capital spend, and achieved our intermediate balance sheet targets. We are now just beginning to see the impact of these efforts on our operating performance. And looking ahead, we believe we are exceedingly [ph] well-positioned for future growth as an urban and town center operator and developer. In looking at operations, as the numbers indicate, we are well on track to achieving our 2016 key business plan goals. We had another strong quarter of leasing over 1.2 million square feet with 2.4 million square feet executed year-to-date, which exceeds the same store numbers achieved last year. We ended the quarter at 92.1% occupied and 93.5% leased, up 40 basis points and 50 basis points respectively from prior year levels, but as we expected, down 70 basis points from Q1, primarily due to known move-outs that we had incorporated to our business plan. Our mark-to-market on both new and renewal leases for the quarter was very strong with 13.1% on a GAAP basis and 5.8% on a cash basis, both well in excess of our targeted ranges. Our speculative revenue plan is 97% executed and 86% executed on a square footage basis. Given the strong performance thus far, we are increasing our 2016 revenue target to $28.3 million. So, our revenue target is 14% from our initial 2016 business forecast at the beginning of 2016. Tenant retention for the quarter was a strong 73%. Our same store numbers for the quarter were 2.9% on a GAAP basis and 1.1% on a cash basis, again, as our business plan projected, a below range quarter result for this metric, primarily due to several move-outs in King of Prussia and the expiration of some free rent periods. We expect Q3 and Q4 to return to range levels. So, for the year, we are maintaining our guidance range of 3% to 4% on a GAAP basis and a cash range of 4% to 5%. Leasing capital for the quarter came in at $1.59 per square feet, significantly below our targeted range of $2.25 to $2.75 per square feet, but that’s primarily due to IBM’s as is renewal in our Austin market. Due to expected Q3 and Q4 activity, our full year number will be will within our existing range. For the quarter and the balance of 2016, we are now posting numbers that demonstrate our improved portfolio and operating approach to drive strong same-store growth and positive mark-to-market. In looking quickly at our balance sheet that Tom will amplify, our 2016 disposition plan has generated ample liquidity and driven improvements in all of our leverage metrics. We have reduced our net debt to EBITDA from over 7 to down to mid 6 at the quarter end. We have reduced our net debt to total assets from over 42% at the end of 2015 to about 37% at quarter end. We have reduced our weighted average cost of debt from just shy of 5% at year end ‘15 down to about 4.5% at quarter end. And we also paid off our 2016 bonds in cash of $115 million that were due in April 2016 and retired that debt that had a 6% rate. We also refinance about $87 million of secured debt, extending that maturity by four years and lowering the rate from about 7.6% down to just below 4%, resulting in an annual interest savings of $3.1 million. As Tom will amplify, we have no further debt maturities in 2016. So, after all these debt payoffs, we ended the quarter with the net cash balance of $266 million with zero balance on our $600 million line of credit. We anticipate having a cash balance at the end of the year of approximately $155 million. We further anticipate continued EBITDA improvement as FMC comes on line and anticipate ending the year around mid 6.5 times. On the investment front, we did sell about $61 million of properties during the second quarter, which increased our 2016 total to $824 million of sales, or as I mentioned earlier, 97% of our $850 million target at an average cap rate of 7.1% cash and 7.3% GAAP. Including sales accomplished to-date, we are maintaining our 2016 disposition guidance of $850 million and have about $25 million of future sales under contract planned in the third quarter at an average cap rate of 7.5%. We also currently have several properties under letter of intent and more properties on the market in both, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. As you get more visibility on the sales efforts over the next several months, we will certainly relook at our $850 million target. And as I mentioned last quarter, if the market presents an opportunity for us to exceed that target, we will. These transactions, our development pipeline and operating performance put us on track to reduce our overall debt levels to our long-term target in the low 30% range and our EBITDA target to be 6.6 times in the next six to eight quarters. Just some quick notes on several development projects. 1919, as you know is our joint venture project with CalSTRS and LCOR. That project is now open for business. The office and retail component is 100% leased. The 2015 car garage, which recently opened is already averaging 63% occupancy daily. The first residential units were delivered in March of 2016. We are already 45% leased and 31% occupied. Substantial completion occurred during the early weeks of July. We still anticipate a 7% return on this project and are very pleased with the reception by the market, the leasing acceleration and the rent levels thus far. Our interior renovations at 1900 Market are substantially complete. We still anticipate some exterior improvements over the next several quarters upon obtaining some additional approvals. We had the AmeriHealth division of Independence Blue Cross move into their first phased occupancy that will ultimately aggregate 228,000 square feet. Project is 89% leased currently, very strong pipeline of transactions, and we are projecting a stabilized free and clear return of over 11%. During the quarter, we also commenced development on 110,000 square foot, 100% leased build-to-suit property in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania markets with single tenant on a 12-year lease. That project is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2017. Total construction costs are estimated just slightly more than $29 million, resulting in a 9.5% projected free and clear return. FMC Tower continues on schedule. The office component is completed and FMC moved into their space in May, slightly earlier than planned. Other tenants are scheduled to move in starting in August through Q4. The office component remained 75% leased with a strong pipeline of deals in play on the remaining 150,000 square feet. That pipeline is very strong. And given the timeline of some of those projected occupancies, we have looked at moving the stabilization date on that property to Q4 2017. On the residential front, those units will start delivering in Q3, extending into Q4, the marketing campaign is well underway. Design and approval work on our Schuylkill Yards project continues. As you may recall, this development site is located in University City adjacent to Amtrak’s 30th Street Station and in close proximity to Cira Centre and Cira Centre South, structured as a long-term option with milestone dates. This transaction provides us with significant structuring flexibility and the ability to bring in other development and financial partners. Page 14 of our supplemental package outlines this opportunity in more detail. We also refinanced our evo joint venture in the second quarter, paid off an existing construction loan of $94 million and replaced with $105 million term loan with the additional ability to provide $12 million more financing based upon project performance. Brandywine received $6.3 million recovery of our capital base as part of that refinancing. The project is currently 98% leased and 90% leased for the upcoming school year. We also continue to advance our planning and predevelopment efforts on several of our development sites in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia suburbs, Washington DC, and Austin including finalizing approval process at 405 Colorado in downtown Austin and commencing the master planning process at our Broadmoor Campus in Northwest Austin. Marketing and preleasing efforts are underway on a number of these predevelopment projects, and we’re also seeing an increasing number of build-to-suit opportunities in several of our markets, further evidencing customer-driven demand towards higher quality, more efficient, flexible office locations. Our key objectives remain growing cash flow and net asset value. The dispositions and developments we executed are a compelling step in the right direction, and as evidenced this quarter, will be translated into improved operating results going forward. Narrowing the gap between FFO and cash flow remains a key strategic objective. Our portfolio trend lines are encouraging, reflecting a better asset mix, portfolio stabilization, continued control on capital and increasing our average lease term and annual rent escalations. Our sale transactions have raised cash, reduced debt, improved our portfolio and generated more cash flow. Along these lines, we were delighted to have the Board increase our dividend on May 24th by 6.7% to $0.64 a share annually. With this in the consideration, we’re projecting our CAD range at $0.80 to $0.90 per share or about a 70% payout at the midpoint, which is a very well covered dividend. At this point, George will provide an overview of our second quarter operational performance, some color on our 2016 business plan, talk briefly about market conditions and then turn it over to Tom for review of our operational performance.