Dan G.
Analyst · Scotiabank. Please go ahead
Thank you, Don, and hello, everyone. Reporting a company record FFO per share of $1.67 is very satisfying, particularly given the interest rate headwinds we faced and is a testament to the continued strength of our business model. To reiterate Don's earlier comment, we beat our previous record of FFO in the quarter last year by 5% when adjusting for the outsized term fees that we had last year and also posted 5% sequential growth versus the first quarter, again, a strong indicator of the health in our underlying business. With respect to this record performance, which significantly exceeded our expectations, we can point to the following drivers: higher property-level POI than was forecast driven by continued strength in rents, parking, specialty leasing and percentage rent, coupled with lower operating expenses as well, as a continued focus on cost controls at the corporate level resulting in lower G&A. This was offset by the aforementioned higher interest costs. As you can see, a very strong quarter. With respect to our comparable metric, POI growth was 4.6%, excluding the impacts of term fees in the prior period rent. On a cash basis, comparable POI growth, excluding term fees and prior period rent was even better, 4.7%. Term fees in the comparable pool this quarter were down significantly to $1.6 million versus $5.5 million in the second quarter of last year and prior period rent this quarter was $1.2 million versus $2.2 million in the second quarter of 2022. Again, please note, all of these figures are disclosed in detail in our supplemental 8-K on Pages 10 and 11. Year-over-year occupancy showed continued progress with our overall occupied metric growing 80 basis points year-over-year from 92 to 92.8 and our lease percentage increasing 20 bps from 94.1% to 94.3%. Small shop momentum continued year-over-year with a 90.2% rate being up 90 basis points over the previous year with a targeted lease rate for small shop of 92%. Our signed not occupied percentage in total stands at approximately 3% or $34 million, comprised of roughly $17 million of incremental total rent in our existing portfolio and an additional $17 million of total rent in our non-comparable pool, where leases are signed and the space is to be delivered. Our non-comparable signed non-occupied pool is an important differentiator of Federal's business plan, which is often overlooked. Total comparable leasing volume for the quarter of 576,000 square feet, a federal record for a second quarter and the second highest volume for a quarter ever on a comparable basis. The rollover at 7% on a cash basis and 19% on a straight-line basis highlights the straight-line growth that's driven by sector-leading contractual rent bumps, which for our entire portfolio averaged roughly 2.25% blended across both anchor and small shop. Now, to the balance sheet. At June 30, we stood with $1.3 billion of total available liquidity comprised of $1.2 billion available under our revolver and $100 million of cash. During the quarter, we successfully demonstrated access to the unsecured market at attractive levels with a $350 million, 5 3/8% green bond, our second green bond, highlighting our focus on sustainability and our commitment with respect to our overall ESG strategy. Make sure to check out our annual corporate responsibility report on our website that was published in early June. With respect to leverage, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio continues to improve each quarter, and we fully expect to be back to our targeted level in the mid-five times in 2024. Our in-process $750 million pipeline of active redevelopments and expansions has only $220 million remaining to spend against our $1.3 billion of available liquidity, with a large chunk of that remaining figure being leasing capital, which is good news when deployed. Now on to guidance. We are increasing our forecast for FFO per share for 2023 by $0.04 per share at the midpoint to $6.52 from a range of $6.38 to $6.58 per share to a new range of $6.46 to $6.58 per share. Guidance now reflects 2023 FFO growth over 2022 of about 2% to 4% or 3.2% at the midpoint. We have managed through bankruptcies to date in the retail sector extremely well, collecting more rent from Bed Bath than we had forecasted and having relatively small exposure to other retailer fold out. As the Bed Bath bankruptcy winds down, we expect it will result in a 31 basis point hit for the year versus our initial credit reserve of 25 to 60 basis points. With respect to the balance of our tenancy, we are setting that reserve at 50 to 75 basis points. We will see a dip in occupancy next quarter as the impact of our lost Bed Bath locations and one Christmas Tree Shops become fully reflected but expect to finish the year back in the low to mid-92% range. Also keep that impact in mind for the cadence of FFO per share for the balance of the year, with third quarter forecasted at $1.61 at its midpoint and the fourth quarter at $1.65 at its midpoint. From a comparable growth perspective, given a solid first half of the year, we are affirming the 2% to 4% range for comparable POI growth, as well as our 3% to 5% range on a cash basis adjusting for prior period rents and term fees. Given our focus on cost controls, we lowered our G&A forecast from $54 million to $52 million -- $52.5 million at the midpoint, and we increased our forecast for contributions from redevelopments and expansions to $16 million to $19 million, up from the previous range of $15 million to $18 million. We have provided an updated summary of these key assumptions on our guidance on Page 27 of our 8-K. Before I close my prepared remarks, allow me to highlight that for the 56th consecutive year, Federal's Board of Directors increased our dividend, a REIT industry record. As the sole dividend king in the real estate sector, we are extremely gratified to have stayed the course through yet another challenging economic cycle and continued providing our shareholders with comfort in reliably growing stream of cash flow. Please note that the CAGR over these 56 years is 7% compounded. And now I'm finished with my prepared remarks, and let me turn it back to Don Wood for the completion of his remarks.