Pam Kessler
Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead
Thank you, Wendy. Before I discuss our quarterly results, I would like to explain the impact of recent accounting changes specifically the adoption of ASC 842 that became effective on January 1st. Of note, that the impact that the new lease accounting guidance reduced the comparability of results between quarters. New lease accounting guidance requires that we record the property escrows we collect from our tenants as revenue with the corresponding expense. Accordingly, first quarter 2019 results include property tax revenue and expense while the prior year comparative period does not. Under the new guidance, straight-line rent is written off to contra revenue rather than expense as under previous guidance. During the quarter, we transitioned the senior living communities operated by Frontier to a new operator and wrote off $1.9 million of straight-line rent related to the terminated Frontier lease to contra revenue in accordance with the new lease accounting guidance. The new guidance also sets higher collectability thresholds for recording straight-line rent. Under the new guidance, we performed an analysis of the collectability of all rent owed to us on our leases through maturity and determine that it was not 65% to 75% probable, that we would collect 90% to 95% or substantially all of the lease obligations due from Anthem, Thrive, Senior Care, and Preferred Care through the end of their respective leases. Accordingly, we wrote off the straight-line rent and lease incentive balances associated with these leases. Further, the new guidance does not provide for general reserves for straight-line rents. So, we wrote off our 1% general straight-line rent reserve. These balances totaled $42.8 million and were written off to equity effective January 1st as required by the transition guidance. Under the new lease accounting guidance, collections of rent subsequent to the straight-line rent write off are considered recoveries of amounts previously written off and are recognized as a contra expense rather than rental revenues until the cumulative amount of the recovery recognized equals the amount of the straight-line rent written off. Thus, we recognized $9.6 million of cash rent received from Anthem, Thrive, Senior Care, and Preferred Care as contra expense on the income statement. Now, I'll get into our quarterly results. Revenues decreased $6 million this quarter compared to a year ago due to $9.6 million of rent received from Anthem, Thrive, Senior Care, and Preferred Care recognized as a contra expense rather than revenue. A $1.7 million reduction due to property sold in 2018, $1.9 million of straight-line rent written off due to the Frontier lease termination, and $1.6 million due to Thrive's failure to pay first quarter 2019 rent. These decreases were partially offset by $4.3 million in property tax revenue, $2.3 million in revenue from acquisition, completed developments in capital improvement projects, $777,000 in increased rent from Anthem, Preferred Care, and Senior Care, and $1.4 million in deferred rent received from Thrive. During the first quarter, Thrive paid $1.4 million of deferred rent and $740,000 of past due rent that was accrued in outstanding as December 31, 2018. Additionally, they paid property tax impounds for the first quarter that paid rent to date in 2019. NAREIT FFO was $0.75 per diluted share in the 2019 first quarter compared with $0.75 last year. Excluding onetime item, FFO was $0.77 per diluted share this quarter compared with $0.75 last year. The increase was primarily due to higher contra expense, representing recoveries of amounts previously written off and a $454,000 increase in unconsolidated joint venture income resulting from additional interest related to the payoff of a mezzanine loan on a property in Fort Myers Florida, as well as lower interest expense partially offset by lower revenues. Net income available to common shareholders was flat compared to the prior-year first quarter due mainly to changes in revenues contra expense and unconsolidated joint venture income previously discussed, and lower interest expense offset by property tax expense. The contra expense line item titled Recoveries of Amounts Previously Written Off represents $9.6 million of cash rent received from Anthem, Thrive, Preferred Care and Senior Care that under the new lease accounting guidance is considered a recovery of straight line rent that was written off as of January 1, 2019 in accordance with the transition guidance. Interest expense decreased $362,000 from the prior year related to the repayment of debt under our senior unsecured notes. In the 2019 first quarter, as I mentioned we recognized $4.3 million in property tax expense in accordance with the new lease accounting guidance. In the prior year, property tax growth were not required to be recognized as income and expense. G&A decreased $226,000 due to lowering accrued incentive compensation partially offset by an increase in performance based stock compensation vesting, legal expense and higher payroll taxes in 2019. We are currently estimating G&A to be in the $4.5 million to $4.6 million range per quarter through the remainder of this year. During the first quarter of 2019, we funded a mezzanine loan that was originated in the fourth quarter of last year for the development of an independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Atlanta and acquired an assisted living and memory care community in Abington, Virginia. Clint will provide additional details shortly. We also funded $7.2 million in development and capital improvement projects on properties we own and $1.5 million under mortgage loans. During the first quarter, we received $3.4 million related to the prepayment of the mezzanine loan I discussed earlier which was accounted for as an investment in unconsolidated joint ventures. We borrowed $34.9 million under our line of credit to fund acquisitions and capital commitments, paid $4.2 million in scheduled principal pay downs on our senior unsecured notes and continue to fund LTC's $0.19 per share monthly dividend. At March 31, we owned two properties under development with remaining commitments totaling $15.3 million and two properties under renovations with remaining commitments totaling $4.9 million. We also have remaining commitments under mortgage loans of $15.7 million related to expansions and renovations on seven properties in Michigan and $1.7 million remaining under a preferred equity commitment. Our balance sheet remains strong and provides us with substantial flexibility and the capacity to fund our current and long-term growth initiatives. We have just over $453 million available under our line of credit, $98 million under our shelf agreement with Prudential and $200 million under our APM program providing LTC with total liquidity of approximately $751 million. We expect to remain true to our conservative capital allocation strategy which has served us well. Our long-term debt to maturity profile remains well matched to our projected free cash flow helping moderate future refinancing risk and we have no significant long-term debt maturities over the next five years. At the end of the first quarter, our credit metrics remained well-matched to the Health Care Week industry average with debt to annualized adjusted EBITDA for real estate up 4.4 times and adjusted and annualized adjusted fixed charge coverage ratio of 4.9 times and a debt to enterprise value of just over 27%. Now I'll turn the call back to Wendy.