David Hoster
Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is open
Thank you. The fourth quarter was another productive one for EastGroup. Funds from operations per share represented a strong 8.3% as compared to the same quarter last year. We have now achieved FFO per share growth as compared to the previous year’s quarter in 14 of the last 15 quarters. For the full year, FFO per share grew 7.4% as compared to 2013. This represented a 14 year in a row of increases in FFO per share as compared to the previous year's results. Continued good leasing activity resulted in a year end occupancy of 96.3% which was our highest occupancy since 2000. Same property operating, operating results were positive for the 15th consecutive quarter. We continue to expand our development program and we acquired an asset in Chino, California. At quarter end, we were 96.3% occupied and 96.7% leased. As a result, we have now extended our record of occupancy at 95% or above for the sixth consecutive quarter and we expect this trend to continue through each quarter of 2015. At December 31st, our California markets continue to be our strongest at 97.7% leased, followed by Texas at 97.3% leased. Houston, our largest market with over $6.2 million square feet was 97.6% leased and 97.1% occupied. In the fourth quarter, we renewed 94% of the overall 1.4 million square feet that expired in the quarter and signed new leases on another 4% of the expiring space for a total of 98%. We also leased $297,000 square feet that either determining at early during the quarter end was vacant at the beginning of the quarter. In addition, we have leased and renewed $295,000 square feet since December 31st. For the quarter, GAAP rent spreads were up 7.6%, which was the seventh consecutive quarter of being positive, while cash spreads were up slightly by 41%. Looking at just renewal leases, GAAP rent spreads have been positive for 11 straight quarters and cash spreads have been positive for four of the last five quarters. The weighted average lease length was 4.2 years which is in line with our recent averages for the past several years. Tenant improvements were $1.42 per square foot for the life of the lease, or $0.34 per square foot per year of the lease, which is also in line with our recent average. The average amount of tenant concessions continues to decline slowly, but leasing commissions remain elevated in many markets. As a result of our continued strong occupancy and improving rent spreads, fourth quarter same property operating results increased 5.8% on a cash basis and 3.1% on a GAAP basis. The lease termination fees are eliminated. The increases in same property were 4.3% cash and 2.1% GAAP. We expect same property results continue to be positive for both categories for each quarter of 2015. But they will be lower due to the large termination fee received in 2014 and also because occupancies for same property comparisons are above 95%. Leasing activity is good in all our markets from both organic growth from current customers and new prospects to the market and we believe this should continue for the foreseeable future. Leasing of new development space was very slow for the first two weeks of 2015, but has since picked up significantly. There are obviously a lot of unanswered questions about the effect of the price of oil on Houston's industrial real estate market. Since no one knows where the price of oil was stabilized or how long it might be with any specific level. It is difficult to project how it will directly affect our existing Houston assets for the pace of our development program there. To-date we have not experienced any push back from current finance or prospects. But we are certainly viewing new developments more cautiously and are being conservative in 2015 projections for Houston. As a result, we expect same property operating results for our Houston properties to be a negative 2.5% for 2015. Because Houston is our biggest market, we have added a Houston specific statistics page, page 18 to our supplemental data package this quarter. During the fourth quarter, we began construction of Sky Harbor 6 in Phoenix, with 31,000 square feet and ParkView in Dallas which will be a three building complex with 276,000 square feet. They are projecting to have a combined total investment of $22.7 million. Also in the quarter, we transferred West Road II in Houston with 100,000 square feet and the investment of $6.2 million into the portfolio. It is 100% lease. For the full year, we started development of 17 projects containing 1.5 million square feet with projected total cost of $112 million. Six are in three different sub-markets of Houston, three in San Antonio, three in Phoenix, two in Charlotte and one each in Dallas, Orlando and Tampa. Also in 2014, we acquired 40 acres of land for new development for a combined investment of $4.6 million. These parcels were located in Dallas, Phoenix and Charlotte. For the year, we transferred 10 properties with 949,000 square feet into the portfolio. All of these assets are currently 100% leased, 7 are in Huston and one each in San Antonio, Phoenix and Charlotte. Looking to 2015, we expect another good year for our development program. Since the beginning of the year, we have started construction of three buildings with 282,000 square feet and a total projected investment of $20.6 million. Kyrene 202 building number 6 which is actually the third building that we're calling at number 6 which is in Phoenix and with World Houston 42 and West Road IV both in Houston. World Huston 42 which will contain 94,000 square feet is 100% pre-leased. At the beginning of this month, we transferred Horizon I in Orlando to the portfolio at 68% leased. During the balance of 2015, we hope to begin development of at least an additional 10 buildings with approximately 1.3 million square feet and a total projected cost of $90 million for a total of $111 million of new starts for the full year. We have not included any potential build suits in these projections. As of today, our development program consists of 22 projects with over 1.2 million square feet in a projected total investment of approximately $145 million. EastGroup's development program has been and will continue to be a significant creator of shareholder value in both the short and longer term. To-date we have developed over 37% of our current portfolio adding although 13 million square feet of the state-of-the-art warehouse space in our core markets. These assets are currently generating approximately 40% of EastGroup's property net operating income. In December, we acquired Ramona Distribution Center in Chino, California for $9.7 million. Build in 1984, this business distribution building contains 100,000 square feet and is 100% leased to the single customer. As a part of the transaction we assumed a mortgage of $2.6 million. For the year, we acquired three different properties with the total of 635,000 square feet and a combined cost of $51.7 million. The other two acquisitions are in Charlotte and Austin. Also in December, we sold two of our three Ambassador Row warehouses in Dallas for $3.7 million. These older assets containing 132,000 square feet and required through a merger in 1998. In 2015, we planned to sell the third Ambassador building which has 185,000 square feet. Sales of operating properties for 2014 consisted of five projects was 442,000 square feet and a total sales price of $21.4 million. These are located in Oklahoma city are exit from that market, Tampa, a very small building, Houston two older properties reducing our concentration there and Dallas. These transactions resulted in total gains of $9.3 million. During 2015, we project sales of approximately $10 million. Keith will now review a variety of financial topics including our guidance for 2015.