Bob Foley
Analyst · Raymond James. Please proceed with your question
Thanks, Greta, and good morning, everyone. A quick review of operating results. For the second quarter we generated GAAP net income of $42.9 million or $0.52 per diluted common share, net income available to TRTX common shareholders was $40.1 million, also $0.52 per common share and core earnings was $17.5 million or $0.23 per diluted common share. Our net interest margin was $44.2 million, up 2.1% from the prior quarter. We had no loans on non-accrual at June 30. We paid on July 14th, the $0.43 per share dividend relating to the first quarter of this year and we paid last week on July 24th, the $0.20 per share dividend declared on June 16th. Book value at quarter end was $16.55 per share, an increase of $0.49 per share, due primarily to the issuance of warrants in connection with the Series B Preferred Stock we issued on May 28th to a fund managed by Starwood Capital Group and GAAP earnings in excess of our $0.20 per share common dividend. Our second quarter results had seven -- several drivers. First, net interest margin, NIM grew quarter-over-quarter by 2.1%, due largely to the positive benefits of our in the money LIBOR floors on 100% of our loans, combined with non-zero LIBOR floors on only 5% of our liabilities, and that combination remains an important driver of our net interest margin. All of our assets and liabilities are floating rates. At quarter end, our weighted average LIBOR floor was 1.67%. In comparison, LIBOR at quarter end was 16 basis points. We continue to explore strategies to cost effectively preserve this positive margin against fluctuations in rates. Expenses were up 26% quarter-over-quarter, due primarily to non-recurring COVID-related expenses of approximately $2.9 million. We continue to manage tightly our controllable expenses but we recognize the need for professional services to help us manage the business. The base management fee was virtually unchanged from the first quarter. We paid no incentive management fee in the second quarter, nor did we in the first and we will not until we earn back over time the loss sustained in the first quarter. Loan loss expense was actually a benefit or income during the second quarter of $10.5 million, because the decline in our CECL reserve of $24.3 million net outstripped the loss on sale of $13.8 million incurred from the sale of that first mortgage loan that Greta described. In summary, the loans realized loss was materially less than its CECL related loss reserve that we booked at March 31. We held higher than normal cash balances during the quarter for defensive purposes, ending the quarter with roughly $300 million of available liquidity, including $173 million of cash on hand, net of cash we are required to hold for covenant compliance, $46.2 million of immediately available funds under our credit facilities and $81.3 million available for reinvestment from our second CLO FL2. It was a very busy quarter for us on the capital markets front, where we raise $225 million of preferred stock, deleveraged aggregate borrowings under our existing secured credit facilities by $157.7 million or roughly 7.7% of the outstandings. We extended maturities on three existing credit facilities, while simultaneously rightsizing the commitment amounts of two of those three facilities. We moved certain existing loans to our CLOs, and borrowed and repaid regularly with our repo lenders in the normal course of business. We issued $225 million of Series B 11% cumulative preferred stock and we hold an option to issue up to $100 million more before year end in two tranches of $50 million each. This capital buttresses our capital base during these uncertain times, with size to address our expected capital needs and aligns us with Starwood Capital Group, one of the strongest investors in the commercial real estate space. The voluntary deleveraging payments we made in late May, which totaled $157 million, reduced our average advance rate on repo borrowings to 68% from 76%, which implies a lender look-through LTV of a very modest 44%. In exchange for these payments, we will have a holiday for margin calls for certain defined periods and our work continues to increase from 51% share of total borrowings that are non-mark-to-market, non-recourse and equal or longer dated than our loan investments. We exercise existing extension options on our credit facilities with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to add at least 12 months of term to each arraignment -- arrangements, excuse me. Additional extensions are available to us. With Goldman and Bank of America, we reduce the financing commitments to avoid unnecessary fees, but we did retain options to increase each facility to $500 million at a future date. The weighted average final maturity of our secured credit facilities is now 2.3 years and these facilities represent 49% of our current borrowings. Non-recourse, non-mark-to-market borrowings represent 51% of our borrowings. Our two CLOs represent almost 48% of current borrowings have final rated maturities of 2034 and 2037, but their true maturity dates are tied to the repayment behavior of the underlying loans. Across both CLOs, the weighted average extended maturity of the loan so financed is about 4.3 years. During the quarter we borrowed a total of $23.5 million from four of our repo lenders in connection with the funding of $62.5 million of preexisting loan commitments to our borrowers. During the quarter we recycled $64.6 million of CLO reinvestment capacity, generating $22.6 million of cash for TRTX net of debt repayment on the loans contributed. That capacity was created by a partial principal payment of $15 million on one of our hotel loans, and the removal and refinancing outside of our CLOs of an existing loan. This recycling will remain available to us until the CLO reinvestment periods expire in the fourth quarter of 2020 for FL2 and the fourth quarter of 2021 for FL3, all subject to loan repayments that create the capacity I just mentioned. And finally, with respect to leverage, at quarter end, our debt-to-equity ratio was 2.8 to 1, which is consistent with our long-term historical trends and comfortably below our financial covenants. Regarding CECL, at June 30th, our CECL reserve was $58.7 million or $0.76 per share, a net reduction of $24.3 million over the prior quarter. The principal cause of the decline was the sale in early June of a $99.3 million first mortgage loan that created a realized loss of $13.8 million. The removal of that loan from our portfolio and its related CECL estimates of loan loss reserves resulted in a reduction in the CECL reserve of $24.8 million. The net impact of these offsetting factors, plus a net increase in the general CECL reserve of $0.5 million was to increase our net income by $10.5 million. Expressed in basis points against the total commitment amount of our portfolio, the CECL reserve was 104 basis points, as compared to 144 basis points at March 31st. On the same-store basis, our CECL reserve is slightly higher than the 101 basis points at March 31, which reflects our continuing caution regarding the COVID impacted economy and its impact on commercial real estate performance and values. We independently assess one of our 65 loans, which is a hotel loan that Greta described earlier, because it met the GAAP guidance for doing so. This collateral dependent loans contribution to the CECL reserve was less than $2 million and was estimated using discounted cash flow analysis. The macroeconomic assumptions embedded in our CECL analysis remained very conservative. We’re three months deeper into this COVID crisis. Our analysis assumes we’re no closer to a recovery. We do expect quarter-over-quarter changes and those reserve may continue to change materially in responses to COVID macroeconomic assumptions, observe transactions in the investment sales and loan sales markets and the actual operating performance of our loan collateral. Our weighted average risk rating measured on the amortized cost declined quarter-over-quarter to 3.1 from 3.2, reflecting the sale of one 5 rated loan, classification to 5 from 4 of the hotel portfolio loan Greta described and the upgrade to 2 from 3 of the multifamily loan based on performance that exceeds underwriting. We modified six loans during the second quarter to allow, among other things, borrowers to accrue 50% of interest due for up to six months. At June 30th, we accrued approximately 551,000 of payment-in-kind or PIK interest. Interest collections during the quarter were strong and we had no non-accrual loans at quarter end. Future performance will depend on many factors, especially the pace and the strength of the reopening of our national economy. And with that, we’ll turn the floor, excuse me, we’ll open the floor to questions. Operator?