Jerry Sweeney
Analyst · J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead
Hilda, thank you very much. Good morning, everyone and thank you for participating in our Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. On today's call with me, as usual are George Johnstone, our Executive Vice President of Operations; Dan Palazzo, our Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer; and Tom Wirth, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial 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. Well, since our last call, our economy has seen record inflation, continued global supply chain disruption and a dramatic increase in baseline interest rate. These conditions have credit significant cost increases and uncertainty in the equity and debt financing market at least in the near term. Our portfolio stability evidence by our low forward rollover provides protection from operating expense increases on 81% of our lease, and that position us as best as possible for this changing environment. Our operating and development plan remains strong and very much on target. While overall return-to-work has been slower than we would like. We are benefiting from a decided tenant focus on quality. We continue to experience higher physical occupancy across our portfolio with the highest level of density being in our Pennsylvania suburbs and D.C. operations. Tenant interest in high quality work environments is accelerating. We see that every day in our tour levels, lease negotiations and deal execution. In fact, 32% of the new deals in our operating portfolio pipeline, our tenants looking to upgrade from lower quality, less amenitized buildings. During the call this morning, Tom and I will review second quarter results, provide an update on our 2022 business plan and our guidance. After that Dan, George, Tom and I are available to answer any questions. During the second quarter, we executed 686,000 square feet of leases, including 423,000 square feet of new leasing activity. We also posted rental rate mark-to-market at 18.4% on a GAAP basis, and 7.8% on a cash basis. Our full year mark-to-market range remains at 16% to 18% on a GAAP basis, and 8% to 10% on a cash basis. Absorption for the quarter was positive and tenant retention was 70%. Second quarter capital costs were in line with our business plan range, core occupancy and leasing targets were also within forecasted ranges, and we ended the quarter 92.1% lease and 89.6% occupied. It's further worth noting that our Philadelphia CBD University City, Pennsylvania suburbs and Austin portfolios which comprise 93% of our NOI are combined 93.8% leased and 91.9% occupied. Our spec revenue target remains in the range of $34 million to $36 million, with $33.7 million or 96% of the midpoint achieved. This speculative revenue range represents approximately 1.8 million square feet, which 1.6 million has already been leased. So 89% done on that metric. The portfolio is stable, and our forward rollover exposure through 2024, averages 7.2%, which ranks at six out of 17 office routes. Further our annual rollover through 2026 is below 10%, ranking a seven out of 17 office routes. From an FFO standpoint, we posted first quarter results of $0.35 per share, which was $0.01 above consensus estimates. And then looking at our 2022 guidance, Tom will articulate in greater detail. But the bottom line is our original 2022 business plan projected interest expense between $70 million and $72 million. We have met that assumption for the first half of the year. However, looking to the second half, due to the rapid increase in short term rates, our interest expense, including our share of joint ventures will increase by about $0.03 per share. So while our operating plan remains fully on track, based on the rise in interest rates, we are narrowing and adjusting our FFO range from 137 to 145 per share to 136 to 140 per share. And as I mentioned, Tom will articulate more detail on that in a few moments. Based on our 2022 leasing activity and development spend, we continue to project our debt-to-EBITDA range will be between 6.6 and 6.9 times. That leverage increased, the majority is transitional, coming through debt attribution particularly on the development side. So to amplify that point, our core EBITDA range remains between 6.0 and 6.3 times by limiting our joint venture and active development redevelopment projects, as we mentioned in the last call, we believe this is a more accurate measure of how we manage our core stabilized portfolio. Looking a bit ahead, despite the ongoing scepticism on forward office demand drivers, our leasing philosophy actually remains fairly encouraging. During the second quarter physical tour volume equaled first quarter levels, with overall volume up over 30% from our previous year. Virtual tour volume was up 27% from the first quarter, And our total leasing pipeline is 4.8 million square feet, broken down between 1.4 million square feet on our operating portfolio, and 3.4 million square feet on our development project. The 1.4 million square feet leasing pipeline on the existing portfolio is up 100,000 square feet from last quarter with approximately 130,000 square feet in advanced stages of lease negotiation. I should note that as an example of building velocity, out of last quarters pipeline, we executed 430,000 square feet of leases, while during the quarter adding over 500,000 square feet of new prospects to the current pipeline. Also, 32% of our new deal pipeline, our prospects looking to move up the quality curve. And we did experience this trend in terms of leases executed during the second quarter where 67% of the new leasing activity we executed replace the quality of tenant. The leasing pipeline on our development projects is a 3.4 million square feet and that did increase over half a million square feet or 28% during the second quarter. Deal conversion rates in the second quarter was up to 38% from 33%, the last quarter. And another good sign is that tenants continue to accelerate their decision timeline. This past quarter, the median deal cycle time improved by an additional week, and is now within five days of our pre pandemic levels. From a liquidity standpoint, even with our targeted development spend and absent any other financing or sales sources, we anticipate having $300 million availability under our line of credit. And along those lines during the quarter we did renew both our $600 million line of credit and our $250 million term loan on very similar terms to those that were previously existing. Our $0.76 per share annual dividend is well covered, is a very attractive yield in our current stock price is accompanied by 54% FFO payout ratio. In looking at capital allocation, we made progress on several fronts. We continue during the quarter and will continue to sell non-core land parcels. During the last quarter we sold our land parcel in the riverfront district of D.C. generating a $3.4 million gain. We also sold some nine core buildings and lands in New Jersey, generating an incremental $800,000 gain. In looking at our development opportunity set, our remaining Brandywine net funding obligation on all of our active development projects is just about $110 million. Our equity requirements on Schuylkill Yards West, and Uptown ATX. Block A is fully funded. We have $24 million to fund on our new store to 3151 Market. The balance of that remaining funding requirements really tied directly to leasing activity. During the quarter, we did commence the redevelopment 2340 Dulles Corner. That property is 85% leased under an 11 year lease, and we anticipated completing that project by the fourth quarter of 2023. 405 Colorado made incremental progress during the quarter. We're now 91% leased based upon the 22,000 square feet of leases that we signed during the quarter. We have two fund [ph] leases out for final execution that will completely fill the building. So we're happy to deliver that project at our original anticipated yield. 250 King of Prussia Road, which is our first life science delivery in the Radnor sub market, is now over 36% leased. Current pipeline totals 237,000 square feet and we're making great progress in that building approaches final delivery. In looking at our development of Schuylkill Yards and Uptown ATX, Schuylkill Yards West, which is our life science office residential tower on time, on budget for Q3, 2023 delivery. The project will continue to be delivered 7% blended yield. As I mentioned a moment ago, our entire equity commitment is fully funded. Our partners, equity investment is also fully funded. And the first funding of the construction loan recently commenced. You may recall, and Schuylkill Yards, we can develop that 3 million square feet of life science space. And it's another step towards realizing that vision. We are excited to announce the start of our 3151 Market Street project, a 440,000 square foot dedicated life science building. The building has an estimated cost of $308 million, will deliver a yield of 7.5%. And we are targeting a second quarter 2024 completion. Our leasing pipeline on that project right now is over 400,000 square feet. We have obtained an equity commitment from our existing institutional partners, Schuylkill Yards and the 3151 structure is consistent with our existing Schuylkill Yards West project, with Brandywine having a 55% ownership stake, and our partner having a 45% ownership position. Looking at Uptown ATX Block A, the first phase of our 66 acre development is underway. Construction there is also on time and on budget. And we certainly anticipate that that project will continue to generate additional leasing activity as we go through the development pipeline. In fact, even this early in the process, our leasing pipeline stands at 1.6 million square feet. In addition to those ongoing developments, we have seen an increase in tenant interest in several of our build-to-suit projects. And we are exploring several opportunities in both the Pennsylvania and Austin region. Two key points just to close out our development discussion is our on our forward pipeline is our low land bases per SAR and our product diversity. Of the 14.2 million square feet that we can build, only about 25% is office with the ability to do between three to 4 million square feet of lifestyle space and over 4000 apartment units. Furthermore, the overlay approvals we have on both of those Master Plan communities gives us a degree of flexibility to further adjust that mix to meet market demand drivers. So our key takeaways on the development pipeline is a very quantifiable for funding basis at low land bases, low carrying costs, demand driver flexibility and product diversity. And in terms of generating additional liquidity, while 2022 business plan does not incorporate any additional disposition. We do anticipate being active on these fronts. We anticipate continuing to sell select non-core land parcels. And even with the recent volatility in the debt markets in particular, we believe that we have ongoing opportunities to harvest profits from the sale of several properties. As such, we are currently testing the investment market with several assets for sale. Obviously, volatility in the debt markets over the last 45 days has slowed that process. But we remain confident of being able to generate additional liquidity over the next several quarters. We also anticipate the sales of select properties out of some of our existing joint ventures over the next four quarters. Dollars generated from these activities will be used to fund our development pipeline, reduce leverage and redeploying the higher growth opportunities. Tom will now provide an overview of our financial results.