Wilson Eglin
Analyst · KeyBanc. Please go ahead
Thanks, Heather. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining our second quarter 2017 earnings call and webcast. During the second quarter, we continued to make progress on multiple fronts, including high-quality industrial investment activity, portfolio simplification through asset sales, continued headway on addressing lease expirations, and maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet. These are larger themes you will continue to see in the coming quarters as we actively improve and reposition our existing portfolio. During the quarter, acquisition and build-to-suit activity progressed and we had the opportunity to sell a good portion of non-core low revenue generating assets. Our portfolio was 98.1% leased quarter on strong leasing volume of 1.4 million square feet and our balance sheet remains in excellent shape with leverage at 5.4 times and nothing drawn on our credit line at June 30. We generated net income of $0.02 per diluted common share and adjusted company FFO of $0.23 per diluted common share for the quarter. And we are reaffirming our 2017 adjusted company FFO guidance, within the range of $0.94 to $.98 per diluted common share. Now, let's take a closer look at the quarter and how we are positioned moving into the second half of the year. Starting with dispositions, we sold $60 million of property during the quarter at GAAP and cash cap rates of 5.2% and 5.3% respectively. These asset sales, which included a mix of short-term leased, multi-tenanted and vacant properties further simplified our portfolio and helped to improve our overall portfolio lease term. Additionally, the sales created liquidity to accretively redeploy into new investments as the sold properties were generating low revenue in relation to the sales price. Total disposition volume of approximately $247 million through June 30 included $152 million of wholly-owned properties at average GAAP and cash cap rates of 7.6% and 7.8% respectively, $6 million related to a non-consolidated property and approximately $89 million in loan sales. We sold an additional $8 million of assets subsequent to quarter-end, which included one retail property and one vacant office property. With only approximately $100 million to $150 million left to sell of our announced 2017 property disposition plan, each quarter, we have consistently made further progress towards a higher-quality single tenant industrial and office portfolio. On the investment front, we closed on approximately $166 million of investments at average GAAP and cash cap rates of 8.1% and 7.2% respectively during the quarter. This brings our completed investment volume for the first half of the year to $284 million at GAAP and cash cap rates of 8.1% and 7.2% respectively. Industrial purchases included two large warehouses, one of which is located in Cleveland, Tennessee and leased to GE for seven years and the other located in San Antonio, Texas leased to Carrier Corporation for ten years. The third industrial asset was a previously announced build-to-suit located in Grand Prairie, Texas leased to O'Neal Metals for 20 years. We also completed an office build-to-suit for AvidXchange, a key player in the automated accounting solutions industry in Charlotte, North Carolina for a 15-year term. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, in early August, we purchased an industrial facility for $67 million located in McDonough, Georgia leased to Georgia-Pacific for 10.5 years. An additional $124 million of industrial build-to-suit projects at average GAAP and cash cap rates of 7.9% and 6.8% respectively are expected to come online in the third quarter of 2017. Assuming all of these transactions closed, new portfolio investments in 2017 will have an average weighted lease term of 14.6 years and add an additional 5.6 million square feet to our portfolio. Our investment strategy continues to emphasize build-to-suit industrial projects and the purchase of high quality warehouse and distribution facilities leased to good credit tenant in mainly secondary markets, with less focus on office transactions. While we have yet to see much change in overall pricing for industrial assets, we're still finding relatively attractive pricing in the market for properties with seven to ten years of lease term. We expect higher-yielding investments will be originated in the build-to-suit market, including specialized industrial or office properties where we can secure a 15 to 20-year lease commitment, although our preference remains on the industrial sector. We continue to see opportunities in the industrial area and we believe that, longer-term, a higher percentage of industrial assets versus office assets will allow for improved earnings growth, lower capital expenditures and potential multiple expansion over time. Today, investment volume, including closed transactions and commitments, totals $475 million at estimated GAAP and cash cap rates of 7.7% and 6.7% respectively. We believe, with our strong balance sheet position, cash on hand, and active disposition program, we are well-positioned to fund our current commitments and act on new opportunities. Turning to leasing, we had an active quarter, having leased approximately 1.4 million square feet and sold 1.1 million square feet of vacancy during the second quarter. On renewals, GAAP and cash rents for industrial properties increased approximately 5% and 1% respectively, while office renewal rents increased approximately 4% on a GAAP basis and decreased 14% on a cash basis. The decrease in cash office rents was primarily the result of a rent reset for our Herndon, Virginia property leased to the government, as well as a change in the lease structure from gross to triple net for our 15-year lease renewal with Arrow Electronics in Centennial, Colorado. The Arrow lease renewal was an extremely positive transaction for us as Arrow's previous annualized gross rent of $22.06 per square foot when netted for expenses was approximately $13.06 per square foot. The new net lease rent per square foot totaled $18.50, allowing us to collect a higher overall net rent, which encompasses savings of approximately $1.2 million in annual property expenses for this asset. We were 98.1% leased at quarter-end, a 190-basis-point increase compared to the first quarter of 2017 and both second quarter property sales and new investments coming online helped to increase our weighted average lease term from 8.8 years at March 31, 2017 to nine years at the end of the second quarter. Significant lease renewals for the quarter included the 15-year office lease renewal with Arrow Electronics in Centennial, Colorado and the four-year office lease renewal with our government property we just mentioned, as well as a five-year industrial lease renewal with Clearwater Paper Corporation in Shelby, North Carolina, which extends their lease out to 2036. With only limited lease expirations left to address this year, we remain in negotiations with New Cingular and have begun negotiations with the tenant in our 640,000-square foot industrial facility in Statesville, North Carolina, whose lease is set to expire at the end of the year. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we extended 2018 lease maturities for two industrial assets. This included a 247,000-square foot, ten-year lease renewal with Tenneco Automotive in Marshall, Michigan and a 772,000 square-foot two-year lease renewal with ODW Logistics in Columbus, Ohio. Briefly touching on some of our properties with 2017 vacancies, we were able to sell our Des Moines, Iowa property very shortly after coming off lease and we continue to be active in marketing both our Fishers, Indiana and High Point, North Carolina properties for sale or lease. Our vacant square footage to lease or sell represented approximately 1.9% of the overall portfolio at quarter-end and we continue to make progress whittling down this segment of the portfolio. In summary, through June 30, we've been a net acquirer with current acquisition and completed build-to-suit volume exceeding property disposition volume. We continue to be well-positioned to act on opportunities that may arise in the second half of the year. Investment activity will remain focused on industrial purchases and build-to-suits with select opportunities in the office sector. Leasing activity was strong in the second quarter and the majority of 2017 lease expirations have been addressed. We expect that the concentrated period of elevated office rollover we have been managing through will end by mid-2019. Our multi-year disposition program will be substantially completed over the remainder of 2017, with a relatively modest amount left to sell in 2018. And the addition of new assets over this time period will continue to improve the quality of our portfolio. We believe these three factors will significantly influence our longer-term growth potential and provide for an improved valuation. Our efforts have begun to pay off and we will continue to proceed diligently to finish the job. With that, I will now turn the call over to Pat who will review our financial results in more detail.