Robert Foley
Analyst · JMP Securities. Please proceed with your question
Thanks, Doug, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining. Three quick data points. Book value per common share declined quarter-over-quarter by $1.75 to $14.28 from $16.03 due to the $132.3 million increase in our CECL reserve. Diluted distributable earnings per share for the three quarters just ended covered our $0.24 per share quarterly dividend at a ratio of 1.1x. We earned $0.19 per share in the quarter for the quarter. Our current quarterly dividend of $0.24 per common share generates an annualized yield of 6.7% to book value and 11.4% to yesterday's closing stock price of $8.44. I'll cover five topics this morning. First, changes to our CECL reserve, net interest margin and our return during the third quarter to being 100% interest rate sensitive on both sides of our balance sheet, our capital strategy, our leverage and our liquidity. First, regarding the CECL reserve. We recorded a net increase in our CECL reserve of $132.3 million to $225.6 million. or 390 basis points as compared to 180 basis points for the preceding quarter. This expense is unrealized noncash and does not reduce distributable earnings. The increase was comprised of $71.1 million relating to the general CECL reserve and $61.2 million related to four individually assessed office loans, all with risk ratings of five. In management's judgment, this significant increase was warranted by the rapid and material weakening of the debt capital markets and the investment markets for office properties, which we have observed since we downgraded eight office loans at the end of the first quarter of this year, and that pace is especially accelerated during the past four months. We are cognizant of market reality, but this morning's message should not ignore some positive trends. For example, Office is a share of our total office of our total portfolio has declined 28% of commitments from 43% one year ago due to loan repayments, asset management and targeting new loan investments in multifamily and industrial profits. Of our year-to-date loan repayments of $1 billion, a full 45% were office loans. In the past 12 months, our office borrowers have infused $204 million into their loans via partial principal repayments, replenishments of interest reserves and borrower funded interest payments, capital improvements and leasing commissions. Included in this amount is a $62 million partial principal repayment on our largest office loan and office property here in Midtown Manhattan. For the office loans that contributed most to the general reserve increase, all are performing and have a risk rating of four or better. Approximately 82% of our four and five risk-weighted loans to which much of our CECL reserve increase relates are financed on a non-mark-to-market basis. We believe our current CECL reserve accurately reflects our risks based on what we currently know, observe and expect from the economy, capital markets and the performance of our loans. Regarding net interest margin, in September 2022, we again became 100% rate sensitive on both sides of our balance sheet as the last of our high rate floor loans became out of the money or the related loan was repaid. Quarter-over-quarter net interest margin did decline $7.6 million because growth in interest income lagged growth in interest expense due to loan repayments that occurred early in the quarter, new loan investments that occurred late in the quarter and a few high rate floors that didn't become out of the money until the August reset date. During the quarter, LIBOR surged to 3.14% from 1.79%. At quarter end, our weighted average rate floor was 0.85%, and the rate on our highest floor was 2.3%. Turning to capital strategy, low-cost non-mark-to-market financing from a diversity of counterparties remains the foundation of our financing strategy. At quarter end, non-mark-to-market financing comprised 75% of our financing, consistent with prior quarters and our long-standing policy target. We've revived our old-school pre-CLO-era approach to loan syndications. And since the beginning of the year, we have arranged senior financing with four new counterparties. The result, 100% of our third quarter investment activity was financed on a non-mark-to-market basis. We've continued to diversify our debt funding base, and only 25% of our funded liabilities have any sort of mark-to-market feature with which one exception is limited to credit-based marks. During the quarter, we extended the maturities of one credit facility. The majority of our remaining maturities fall in 2025 and beyond. Our two CLOs with open reinvestment periods are extremely valuable to us. The current weighted average spread is 179 basis points, which by our estimate is roughly 120 basis points tighter than comparable new CRE CLO issuance today. The maturities of those CLOs are tied to the maturities of the underlying loans, which is a helpful hedge against loan extension risk. Our target leverage remains at 3.75:1 as compared to our actual debt-to-equity ratio of 3.1 as of September 30. This leaves room to increase leverage in prudent fashion and suitable investment opportunities are sourced by our team. We have $1.8 billion of financing capacity under existing secured credit agreements, an additional $286.6 million of reinvestment capacity in our CLOs. That leverage is already reflected in our debt-to-equity ratio of 3.1:1. Plus we have the proven ability in the current market to source non-mark-to-market financing from new and existing counterparties. We remain comfortably in compliance with our financial covenants. Regarding liquidity at quarter end, cash on hand was $236.1 million, and reinvestment capacity in our CLOs was $286.6 million. The latter requires no paired equity or debt to fund new investments. We're well positioned to simultaneously play offense and defense, which our team capably demonstrated in the third quarter. And with that, we'll open the floor to questions. Operator.