RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Announces 14% Gain in Operating FFO for the First Quarter 2012
(firmenpresse) - TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/03/12 -- RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: REI.UN) ("RioCan") today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012.
HIGHLIGHTS for the First Quarter of 2012:
All figures in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. RioCan's results are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").
"RioCan continues to experience steady growth in FFO based on solid organic growth in the portfolio, as well as from acquisitions completed in the previous quarter," said Edward Sonshine, Chief Executive Officer of RioCan. "We anticipated that 2012 would be a transitional and perhaps a difficult year for some of our tenants, and with a handful that has already proven to be true. However, RioCan is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that arise to improve our centres. As well, RioCan's unique portfolio urban intensification and development possibilities in Canada provide a great avenue for growth, and the opportunity to realize additional value in RioCan's Canadian portfolio."
Financial Highlights
Operating Funds from operations ("Operating FFO")
RioCan's Operating FFO is a non-GAAP measurement that represents the recurring cash flow generated through the ownership and management of income properties. Operating FFO excludes transactional gains as well as expenditures related to development activities that are no longer capitalized under IFRS. The primary difference between net earnings and Operating FFO is the fair value gain on investment properties.
Operating FFO for the First Quarter was $103 million ($0.37 per unit) compared to $90 million ($0.35 per unit) in the first quarter of 2011. The primary reasons for this increase were: a $23 million increase in net operating income ("NOI"), which was due to acquisitions, along with same property growth of 1.6% in Canada. These increases to Operating FFO were partially offset by increased interest expense of $4 million, higher general and administrative expenses of $3 million, and higher Preferred Unit distributions during the First Quarter.
Net Earnings
RioCan reported net earnings attributable to unitholders for the First Quarter of $342 million ($1.21 per common unit) compared to $347 million ($1.33 per common unit) for the same period in 2011, a decrease of $5 million ($0.12 on a per common unit basis). The decrease is primarily the result of lower fair value gains of $242 million in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $289 million in the first quarter of 2011. Excluding the impact of fair value gains on investment properties, net earnings for the three months ended March 31, 2012 is $100 million as compared to $58 million ($85 million excluding one-time costs related to the early repayment of debt) during the same period in 2011.
Same Store and Same Property NOI
Same store and same property NOI during the First Quarter in Canada increased by 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2011, due largely to fixed rent steps, and new and renewal leasing which positively impacted NOI by $3.1 million. Same store and same property NOI were partially offset by vacancies of $1.1 million.
Sequentially, same property and same store NOI decreased 1.9% for the First Quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 primarily due to lower seasonal rental revenues further offset by vacancies, which together negatively impacted NOI by $2 million.
Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, the US same store and same property NOI during the First Quarter decreased by 0.6% when compared to the same period in 2011. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, same store and same property NOI increased 1.4% for the First Quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 primarily due to new leasing and increased renewal rates on expiring leases.
Portfolio Stability
As at March 31, 2012:
Portfolio Activity and Acquisition Pipeline
During the First Quarter, RioCan completed its acquisition of an interest in five income producing properties (four in Canada and one in the US) at an aggregate purchase price of $92 million, at RioCan's interest, with a weighted capitalization rate of 6.4%. Subsequent to the quarter end, RioCan purchased one additional property in Canada at a purchase price of $3 million north of Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto. RioCan has an additional four properties (two in Canada and two in the US) that are under firm contract that total $95.9 million dollars with a weighted average capitalization rate of 6.6% (calculated taking into account the US dollar transactions at an exchange rate of par).
At March 31, 2012, RioCan's fair value of Income Properties was $10.8 billion based on a weighted average cap rate of 6.35%, a decrease of 18 bps from December 31, 2011 ($10.4 billion based on a weighted average cap rate of 6.53%).
Acquisitions Completed During the First Quarter
Canada
United States
Acquisitions Subsequent to quarter end
Acquisitions Under Contract (Firm)
Canada
In Canada, RioCan has waived conditions pursuant to a purchase and sale agreement with respect to two properties that, if completed, represent $44.5 million of additional acquisitions at RioCan's interest with a weighted average capitalization rate of 6.1%.
United States
In the US, RioCan has waived conditions pursuant to a purchase and sale agreement with respect to two US properties that, if completed, represents US$51.4 million of additional acquisitions at RioCan's interest with a weighted average capitalization rate of 6.9%.
Acquisitions Under Contract (Conditional)
RioCan has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Orlando Corporation and Tanger Factory Outlets ("Tanger") to create a strategic alliance to develop designer outlet opportunities on lands within the Heartland Town Centre. Located in the western Greater Toronto Area with access to Highway 401, Heartland Town Centre is one of Canada's largest and most successful power centres. It is the intention of the parties to add a newly designed ground up factory outlet centre of approximately 312,000 square feet to the highly productive 2 million square feet of retail space currently at Heartland Town Centre.
RioCan and Tanger have terminated the previously announced acquisition of a 35 acre parcel land located in Halton Hills, on Highway 401 at the James Snow Parkway interchange, which was originally proposed as an outlet mall development site for the Tanger/RioCan joint venture.
Acquisition Pipeline
RioCan is currently in negotiations regarding property acquisitions in Canada and the US that, if completed, represent approximately $120 million of additional acquisitions (calculated taking into account the US dollar transactions at an exchange rate of par). These transactions are in various stages of negotiations and while efforts will be made to complete these negotiations, no assurance can be given.
Liquidity and Capital
The 12 month rolling EBITDA interest coverage for RioCan at March 31, 2012 was 2.49x compared to 2.45x at December 31, 2011. As at March 31, 2012, RioCan's indebtedness net of cash was 46.0% of total assets a decrease of 40bps from year end (46.4%). RioCan's Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA at March 31, 2012 was 7.3x unchanged from 7.3x at December 31, 2011. RioCan's Net Operating Debt to Adjusted Operating EBITDA, which excludes debt related to properties under development was 7.06x at March 31, 2012 compared to 7.04x at December 2011. As part of RioCan's capital management strategy, it is RioCan's objective to strengthen its balance sheet as well as improve its coverage ratios over time.
RioCan has the continued flexibility to generate additional funds in 2012 through financing maturing loan balances as well as repay additional balloon balances to increase the size of RioCan's pool of unencumbered assets. As at March 31, 2012, RioCan had 70 properties that are unencumbered with a fair value of approximately $865 million. RioCan's unencumbered pool is now in excess of $1 billion as a result of the early repayment of $90.3 million (at RioCan's interest) of secured debt in April 2012, that was secured by four assets that have a fair value of $143 million.
Unit Offerings
Subsequent to the quarter end, RioCan completed the public offering of approximately 8.6 million units, in total, for total gross proceeds of about $230 million.
Mortgage Financing
Canada
In the First Quarter, RioCan obtained approximately $83 million of fixed-rate mortgage financing at a weighted average interest rate of 2.7% with a weighted average term to maturity of about 5.1 years.
US
In the First Quarter, RioCan obtained approximately $33 million of fixed-rate mortgage financing at an average interest rate of 5.2% with a weighted average term to maturity of about 7.8 years.
Unsecured Debentures
As at March 31, 2012, RioCan had seven series of Debentures outstanding totalling $969 million (December 31, 2011 - six series totalling $ 822 million). On January 26, 2012 RioCan completed the offering of $150 million Series P five-year senior unsecured debentures that have a coupon rate of 3.8%.
Lines of Credit
RioCan has four revolving lines of credit in place with three Canadian chartered banks, having an aggregate capacity of $429 million against which approximately $33 million has been drawn and $25 million has been drawn as letters of credit leaving $371 million available for cash draws under the lines of credit. Subsequent to the quarter end, RioCan used its lines to repay approximately $93 million of secured financing, which was subsequently repaid with the proceeds of RioCan's Unit offering that was completed in April 2012.
Development Portfolio
As at March 31, 2012, RioCan had ownership interests in 10 greenfield development projects that will, upon completion, comprise about 8.9 million square feet (4.6 million square feet at RioCan's interest). In addition to its development projects, RioCan continues its urban intensification activities, primarily in the Toronto, Ontario market.
RioCan has waived conditions pursuant to the purchase and sale agreement with respect to one development site that, if completed, represents an acquisition of $16 million, at RioCan's interest.
RioCan's Unaudited Interim Consolidated Financial Statements, Management's Discussion and Analysis and a Supplemental Information Package for the three months ended March 31, 2012 are available on RioCan's website at .
Conference Call and Webcast
Interested parties are invited to participate in a conference call with management on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. You will be required to identify yourself and the organization on whose behalf you are participating.
In order to participate, please dial 416-340-8527 or 1-888-340-9655. If you cannot participate in the live mode, a replay will be available until June 12, 2012. To access the replay, please dial 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053 and enter passcode 4480535#.
Scheduled speakers include Edward Sonshine, O.Ont., Q.C., Chief Executive Officer, Fred Waks, President and Chief Operating Officer and Rags Davloor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Management's presentation will be followed by a question and answer period. To ask a question, press "star 1" on a touch-tone phone. The conference call operator will be notified of all requests in the order in which they are made, and will introduce each questioner.
Alternatively, to access the simultaneous webcast, go to the following link on RioCan's website and click on the link for the webcast. The webcast will be archived 24 hours after the end of the conference call and can be accessed for 120 days.
About RioCan
RioCan is Canada's largest real estate investment trust with a total capitalization of approximately $13 billion as at March 31, 2012. It owns and manages Canada's largest portfolio of shopping centres with ownership interests in a portfolio of 333 retail properties containing an aggregate of 80 million square feet, including 46 grocery anchored and new format retail centres containing 12 million square feet in the United States through various joint venture arrangements. RioCan's portfolio also includes 10 properties under development in Canada. For further information, please refer to RioCan's website at .
Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements made in this News Release (including the sections entitled "Highlights for the first quarter of 2012", "Financial Highlights", "Portfolio Stability", "Portfolio Activity and Acquisition Pipeline", "Liquidity and Capital", and "Development Portfolio"), and other statements concerning RioCan's objectives, its strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as statements with respect to management's beliefs, plans, estimates, and intentions, and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "outlook", "objective", "may", "will", "would", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "plan", "continue", or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. All forward-looking statements in this News Release are qualified by these cautionary statements.
These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or performance and, by their nature, are based on RioCan's current estimates and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described under "Risks and Uncertainties" in RioCan's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended March 31, 2012, which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this News Release. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those related to: liquidity in the global marketplace associated with economic conditions, tenant concentrations, occupancy levels, access to debt and equity capital, interest rates, joint ventures/partnerships, the relative illiquidity of real property, unexpected costs or liabilities related to acquisitions, construction, environmental matters, legal matters, reliance on key personnel, unitholder liability, income taxes, the investment in the United States of America ("US"), fluctuations in the currency exchange rate between the Canadian and US dollar and RioCan's qualification as a real estate investment trust for tax purposes. Material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making an estimate set out in the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to: a stable retail environment; relatively low and stable interest costs; a continuing trend toward land use intensification in high growth markets; access to equity and debt capital markets to fund, at acceptable costs, the future growth program to enable the Trust to refinance debts as they mature; the availability of purchase opportunities for growth in Canada and the US; and the impact of accounting principles adopted by the Trust effective January 1, 2011 under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Although the forward-looking information contained in this News Release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Certain statements included in this News Release may be considered "financial outlook" for purposes of applicable securities laws, and such financial outlook may not be appropriate for purposes other than this News Release.
The Income Tax Act (Canada) contains provisions which potentially impose tax on publicly traded trusts (the "SIFT Provisions"). However, the SIFT Provisions do not impose tax on a publicly traded trust which qualifies as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"). RioCan currently qualifies as a REIT and intends to continue to qualify for future years. Should this not occur, certain statements contained in this News Release may need to be modified.
Except as required by applicable law, RioCan under takes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
Rags Davloor
Executive Vice President & CFO
(416) 642-3554
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Datum: 03.05.2012 - 11:00 Uhr
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