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spk01: Good day and welcome to the first quarter 2024 Alexander and Baldwin earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, April 25, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Jessica Welch, Senior Manager of Financial Reporting and Technical Accounting.
spk04: Thank you. Please go ahead.
spk00: Thank you. Aloha, and welcome to Alexander and Baldwin's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Jessica Welch, and I am a Senior Manager on our Financial Reporting and Technical Accounting team. With me today are A&B's Chief Executive Officer, Lance Parker, and Chief Financial Officer, Clayton Chen. We are also joined by Kit Millen, Senior Vice President of Asset Management, who is available to participate in the Q&A portion of the call. During our call, please refer to our first quarter 2024 supplemental information available on our website at investors.alexanderbaldwin.com slash supplements. Before we commence, please note that statements in this presentation that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the relevant forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, growth opportunities, and competitive positions. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements were made and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to prevailing market conditions and other factors related to the company's REIT status and the company's business, the evaluation of alternatives by the company related to its non-core assets and business, and the risk factors discussed in the company's most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information in this presentation should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors. We do not undertake any obligation to update the company's forward-looking statements. Management will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures during our call today. Please refer to our statement regarding the use of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations included in our 2024 First Quarter Supplemental Information materials. Lance will kick off today's presentation with an overview of the order, then hand it off to Clayton for a discussion of financial matters. To close, Lance will return for some final remarks, then we will open it up for your questions. With that, let me turn the call over to Lance.
spk08: Thank you, Jess, and aloha, everyone. I'm pleased to say that we started the year strong. Total NOI growth was 4.4%, and we achieved same-store NOI growth of 4.1%. Same-store NOI growth, excluding collections of previously reserved amounts, was 3.9%. Same-store lease occupancy was 95%, 20 basis points higher than the same period last year, but down 70 basis points from last quarter, due primarily to a move out at Wai'anae Mall. Same store economic occupancy at quarter end was 93.3%, down 10 basis points from last year and 70 basis points from last quarter. We executed 44 leases in our improved property portfolio for approximately 212,000 square feet and on a comparable lease basis achieved blended spreads of 7.8%, with spreads for new leases at 11.8% and spreads for renewal leases at 7.2%. In our land operations segment, we sold more than 300 acres of land holdings, which exceeded our initial target for 2024. We recognized nearly $7.9 million of operating profit in the first quarter of 2024 compared to selling one acre and recognizing an operating loss of $92,000 in the same period last year. The disposition of remaining non-core assets remains a priority, but the sale of land holdings will vary period to period. and will be opportunistic in nature, and this quarter was an example of just that. The majority of the land that was sold at the end of March was not factored into our initial outlook provided in February, and we will therefore be raising our guidance to reflect the impact of this land sale occurring. Finally, on our last call, I mentioned that the sale of grace would enable us to simplify our reporting metrics. You'll notice changes in our supplemental information package that improves period over period comparability and is presented in a way that will enable you, our analysts and investors, to more easily evaluate our performance. I'd like to thank Jess and our financial reporting team for leading the initiative to make those enhancements. Turning to the economic environment in Hawaii, unemployment was 3.1% at the end of February versus the national average of 3.9%. Hawaii saw 1.5 million visitor arrivals in the first two months of 2024, flat compared to 2023. Visitors from the mainland U.S. continued to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the first two months of 2024, and visitor arrivals from Japan were more than 80% higher compared to the same period in 2023, and about half of their pre-pandemic levels. We believe our portfolio of primarily grocery-anchored neighborhood centers has and will continue to benefit from the strength of our underlying economy. And now, I'll turn the call over to Clayton for financial details. Clayton?
spk09: Thanks, Lance, and aloha, everyone. Starting with our consolidated metrics for the first quarter of 2024, net income available to shareholders was $20 million, or 28 cents per diluted share. Income from continuing operations available to shareholders was $20.2 million or $0.28 per diluted share. FFO was $29.2 million or $0.40 per diluted share, which compares to $18.6 million or $0.26 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. Land operations related FFO was 11 cents per diluted share during the first quarter of 2024, primarily reflecting the land sales that Lance previously mentioned. This compares to the first quarter of 2023 where land operations contributed no FFO. FFO related to commercial real estate operations and corporate was 29 cents per diluted share compared to 26 cents per diluted share in the same quarter of 2023. The $0.03 improvement was due primarily to higher rental revenue, lower bad debt expense, and lower G&A compared to last year. As we mentioned on our last call, with grace now sold and our business activity made up primarily of commercial real estate and land operations land sales, we are no longer reporting core FFO. Instead, we are now reporting AFFO. AFFO was $25.5 million or $0.35 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2024. This compares to $16 million or $0.22 per diluted share in the same period last year. The increase in AFFO was due primarily to the land sales previously mentioned, higher net operating income in our commercial real estate portfolio, and lower G&A compared to last year. Each of these metrics for the first quarter of 2024 benefited from collections of amounts reserved in previous years of approximately $800,000 or a penny per diluted share. For comparative purposes, in the first quarter of 2023, collections of amounts reserved in previous years was $700,000 or a penny per diluted share. G&A expenses decreased by $1.5 million or 17.1% to $7.2 million, which compares to $8.7 million in the first quarter of 2023, largely reflecting cost reductions due to our simplification and streamlining efforts as well as favorable timing differences. We will continue to manage our G&A overhead costs and are targeting a run rate for 2024 that approximates the $7.8 million that we reported for the fourth quarter of 2023. For additional details on our results and comparisons to prior periods in 2023, please see our earnings release and supplemental information package. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity metrics, at quarter end, total debt outstanding was $458 million, and we had total liquidity of $470 million made up of approximately 16 million in cash and $454 million available on a revolving credit facility. Approximately 90% of our debt is fixed rate. Net debt to trailing 12 months consolidated adjusted EBITDA was 3.8 times, which compares to 4.2 times at 2023 year end. With respect to our dividend, We paid a first quarter dividend of 22 and a quarter cents per share on April 5th, and our board declared a second quarter dividend of 22 and a quarter cents per share that is payable on July 8th. We have $58 million of debt secured by our Laulani Village asset, which matures on May 1st. We intend to pay off the mortgage with proceeds from the previously announced eight-year private placement note that we issued on April 15th. In addition, we intend to use one of our two forward starting interest rate swaps to hedge the floating interest rate on a revolver debt once it becomes effective on May 1st. We expect the combined impact of the refinance together with the interest swap to be approximately 10 to 15 basis points on our overall cost of debt on a pro forma basis. As Lance mentioned, given our overall performance in the first quarter, we are raising our guidance. We now expect same-store NOI growth in the range of 1.1% to 2.1%, and same-store NOI growth excluding collections of amounts reserved in prior years of 2.1% to 3.1%. We are guiding to FFO in the range of $1.05 per share, to $1.16 per share, and AFFO in the range of 89 cents per share to $1 per share. Our revised outlook primarily reflects the strong results we achieved in the first quarter. As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, there are a few timing-related items to point out. First, while there may be quarterly fluctuations, We expect our retail and industrial assets to continue performing at levels consistent with what we had anticipated in our initial guidance. Second, you may recall that we had significant ground lease renewals during the second quarter last year that provided an ADR increase of $1.1 million. As part of that renewal, we also received one quarter's worth of retroactive rent in the second quarter of 2023. We are not expecting any significant fair market value resets this year. And as a result, we are expecting ground lease NOI growth to be slightly negative in the second quarter of 2024 and flat for the remainder of the year. Third, we also expect certain office properties to be impacted by tenant move outs later in the year as we look to reposition them. Last, as we have mentioned throughout the call, we sold more than 300 acres of land in the first quarter of 2024. We plan to sell the majority of that land in 2025, so the benefit of selling these lands was not factored in our initial 2024 guidance. As a result of the land sales in the first quarter, we are increasing our 2024 land operations FFO per share range by $0.09 per diluted share on the low end and $0.10 per diluted share on the high end. We are also raising FFO per share attributable to CRE and corporate by another penny on the low and high ends, reflecting our stronger than expected CRE performance in the first quarter. With that, I will turn the call over to Lance for his closing remarks.
spk08: Thanks, Clayton. The first quarter demonstrated the strength of our outstanding team and quality of our assets. Our portfolio is performing well, our balance sheet is strong, and we have taken steps to limit our exposure to rising interest rates. With these accomplishments, we are well positioned to grow our business. We continue to make progress on internal growth initiatives, and I am encouraged by the pace and types of external investment opportunities we have been underwriting in the first three months of this year. On that note, we'll now open the call up to questions.
spk04: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session.
spk01: Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. And should you wish to cancel requests, please press star followed by the 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys.
spk04: One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Rob Stevenson from Janie.
spk01: Please go ahead.
spk05: Good afternoon, guys. Clayton, in terms of the FFO from land sales, how much was that in the first quarter and how much does that represent of the 5 to 11 cent guidance for the year?
spk09: So the 11 cents, what we did for purposes of our revised guidance, it was updated to reflect the actual impact of our first quarter performance and so the 11th census built into the overall revision. I'm not sure if that answers your question.
spk05: So the rest of the year is flat to negative six?
spk09: So we, I guess I should just start off by saying that we have mentioned in the past that non-core land sales remain a priority for the company. And so we're going to continue to pursue every opportunity to to monetize and simplify what's left in this non-core portion of our business. But with respect to what's incorporated into our forecast for the balance of the year, we are having or we've been in some discussions with potential buyers of additional parcels. But at this point, it's too early for us to indicate whether or not those will occur or not. And so from that perspective, we've simply updated our overall guidance for the year to reflect the actual results related to land ops.
spk05: Okay. And then the, and I'm going to butcher it, but the YNA mall, you had, I guess, roughly a 17,000-foot user move out of there. What is the plans for that space and the timing? Is it going to need any sort of redevelopment? Is it just going to be released more or less as is? How are you guys thinking about that space?
spk02: Hi, this is Kit. How are you doing? All right. Good. So, yes, it's actually about 20,000 square feet overall if you talk about the adjacent spaces. And we're really happy that we are in discussions for a backfill with a high-credit tenant. And we're optimistic about being able to get that deal done.
spk05: okay and how material was the rent that you did get from the tenant in the first quarter or was that all out of the first quarter in order in other words what do we need to strip out of any sort of stub uh revenue in order to get to the current run rate so they moved out in late january so one-third of the quarter was in there um what i will say though is that our our original guidance
spk02: It still stands relative to the retail portfolio. Okay.
spk05: All right. And then I guess the last one winds up being is that you guys announced in the release about the new industrial development that you guys are in the planning stages for. How much is behind that and is anything else at this point likely to be started in 2024 or anything else that you guys are planning is likely to be a 25 or later start?
spk08: Hey, Rob, this is Lance. You know, we continue to be opportunistic in terms of, you know, potential transactions and build the suits at Maui Business Park. And so, you know, while there has been some interest in terms of firm deals, it's really just the one that we announced earlier in the year. But I think it's important, you know, maybe a couple of things. One, in our S&O, that we have about a million dollars in S&O attributable to that deal that we expect to come economic late next year. That is not currently in our number. So I just want to make sure that, you know, people are aware of that. And then maybe just, you know, speaking a little bit more broadly, because of course we think about growth opportunities both internally as well as externally. So whether it's development at Maui Business Park, repositioning of some of our retail assets, it falls into the same bucket, you know, as acquisitions. And, you know, what I would say on the acquisition front is that although the market remains tight from a marketed deal standpoint, Our investment team, which is led by Jeff Pauker, they're actively out there working all of our existing Hawaii relationships looking for off-market transactions for us. And while it would be probably premature to give insight into specific deals or even a dollar amount for 2024, just based on what we're seeing at the top of the funnel, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, I am encouraged that we'll be able to place some investment capital in 2024. Okay.
spk05: That's great. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the time.
spk04: Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Connor Mitchell. Please go ahead.
spk06: Hey, thanks for taking my question. I guess just kind of following that line of question and answering, you guys are looking at some acquisitions. We talked about the development of Maui Business. Can you just speak to how you guys think about your balance of industrial and retail and other lines of revenue, other property types as well? We've been hearing about, you know, maybe some industrial developments pulling back or slowing down just due to the broader economic outlook and environment. So, yeah, if you guys could just talk about how you see the mix of your property types, whether it's acquisitions or developments.
spk08: Yeah. Hey, Connor, it's Lance. You know, maybe from a market perspective, we still view all of the existing asset classes that we're in as favorable. So whether it's retail, whether it's industrial, whether it's our ground lease portfolio, we're still seeing market conditions that are very encouraging to us. And, you know, maybe unlike other domestic industrial markets, we're still at a very, very low vacancy rate. and feel strong about the near-term prospects for that. So all of that being said, I would say in terms of, you know, this is really kind of a capital allocation question, whether it's internal or external, I think we're really more agnostic. And whether it's a specific asset class versus another, similarly, we're pretty agnostic. It's really more opportunistic in terms of return profile, risk-adjusted return profile. And as long as it fits within, you know, a box that we're comfortable with, it's certainly something that we'll take a look at. And of course, you know, we've acknowledged that in the past. Given the fact that we're geographically focused here in Hawaii, you know, we will get creative in terms of opportunities within the state to invest capital.
spk11: Okay, I appreciate that.
spk06: And then maybe going back to the land operations and the sale, it sounded like you guys were saying that you're expecting the majority or all of the remaining land operations and sales to take place by the end of 2025, but you're not really baking any expected transactions in 2024. Did I get that correct?
spk08: Maybe I can just sort of reiterate some of the maybe bigger picture, more strategic, and then have Clayton talk a little bit about specific guidance. Yeah. So, you know, as Clayton mentioned, We had a great, obviously a great quarter in land ops in Q1. It really was opportunistic in terms of some land transactions, primarily on Maui. And we will continue to pursue those types of transactions. It is difficult for us from a timing perspective to really forecast what that looks like. And, you know, clearly we sort of blew through our guidance and took advantage of a a good buyer relationship that we had on one deal in particular. They were able to move very quickly and we were as well. And so to the extent that those types of transactions come up, we will definitely be ready to execute on them.
spk09: Then with respect to the guidance portion of your question, I think it's important to note that the land sale that we were talking about that really moved the needle for the segment FFO for the quarter, That was not factored into our 2024 guidance because that was assumed to occur at a later period, so 2025 timeframe. That is not to say that we expect to have everything monetized by 2025. As Lance had indicated, we're prioritizing the non-core land sales and are going to continue to pursue every opportunity to monetize and simplify the non-core aspects of the business. But with respect to that specific question, we did not have that factored into our 2024 guidance.
spk06: Hope that helps. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate the clarification. And then maybe one more just on the land sales as well. We talked about in the past the overhead expense attached to the land operations. provide an update on maybe how that was affected with this land sale that took place in the quarter and maybe how much more there is attached to the remaining land operations. Yeah.
spk09: So as we have mentioned in the past, as we're able to monetize this non-core portion of our business, it also provides us an opportunity to simplify overall And so, in the case of this quarter's land sales, we're expecting that there will be approximately a few hundred thousand dollars of carrying costs that will be eliminated as part of the simplification that comes along with that sale. And so, as I said before, we're going to continue to opportunistically on any other monetization opportunities that come about. But with respect to that particular transaction, you can expect about a few hundred thousand dollars for annualized run rate purposes.
spk11: Okay. Appreciate it. That's all for me. Thank you.
spk04: Thank you. And your next question. Calls on the line of Mitch Germain from Citizens JMP. Please go ahead.
spk03: Hey, thanks for taking my question. It seems like same store. It sounds like ground lease in office is going to be a bit of a drag here in the back part of the year, which is why the 4% is going to be closer to a 2% number. Is that the way to think about it here?
spk09: Yeah, so what we were indicating in the scripted remarks is that there's a couple factors in play here with respect to the same store NOI guidance. So in the case of the ground leases, you may recall that in the second quarter of last year, we had a large rent step up with Windward City Shopping Center, and so that amounted to approximately 1.1 million in ABR increase that came about with that renewal. And so we're not expecting any significant fair market value resets to occur in 2024. And so that is factoring into the guidance and probably what you're seeing with respect to your question. The other thing that we wanted to point out was, on the office side of things. Although it's a smaller portion of our overall portfolio, we do have some, the move outs that are occurring that frankly are allowing us to reposition those assets. And so that's also weighing into our overall guidance for the commercial real estate results.
spk03: Okay.
spk09: That's helpful.
spk03: Just overall balance sheet, you know, excuse me, some of the language around your swaps. I didn't fully hear it. So maybe if you can just talk about specifically, you said around 10 or 15 basis points, I believe, on the credit facility. Maybe just talk about that strategy and the recent notes offering that you did and how that versus your expectations.
spk09: Yep. So we have a mortgage note related to the Laulani Village asset that is maturing in May. And so what we did during the quarter was we entered into a 60 million private placement note that has a duration for eight years, comes with a 6.09 coupon. And so what we did in addition to that was utilize one of the two forward starting interest rate swaps that we have. And so what What we're doing with respect to that is applying it against to our variable rate debt on the revolver. So the swap itself is for $57 million. And between the two, so the private placement as well as the utilization of the swap, in total, our overall cost of debt for across the board is going to be impacted by the 10 to 15 basis points.
spk11: Higher or lower? Higher. Higher. Okay. That's what I thought.
spk03: And then if I'm not mistaken, you have another slug of debt coming due later on this year, correct?
spk09: We do. Yeah. That's related to our Pearl Highlands mortgage, which is coming due in December.
spk03: Got you. So you don't have a swap that's currently in place for that mortgage, correct?
spk09: So that's That mortgage is currently fixed rate. What we do have, though, is a, that's the other forward starting interest rate swap, which is for a notional amount of 70 million. And so where we stand right now is we are considering a number of options. We've been in discussions with banks. And so at the end of the day, what we could pursue is either a refinance with the existing lender so effectively having a form of secured debt. We could also pursue unsecured debt. And so at this point we're in discussions and we'll provide more additional information as we proceed down this path and are able to do so.
spk03: Got you. Last question. The move out that was referenced in late January, What type of space is that or what type of tenant?
spk02: So I would, it's more a mid-box type space. The previous tenant was more of a community type use. And so our goal is to reposition that with more of a traditional mid-box space. Gotcha. I was just curious if it was a restaurant or something like that.
spk11: That's what. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thanks, Mitch.
spk04: Thank you. And your last question comes from the line of Brendan McCarty from CDOT. Please go ahead.
spk07: Hey guys, congrats on the results and thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to start off with the 300 acre sale to the owner of NAN. I guess, are you able to disclose the financial details of that sale and I guess the cost basis?
spk08: We have not disclosed the specifics of the deal for competitive purposes, but obviously that along with a couple of other land sales, you can see the results from an FFO standpoint. And my comments earlier in reference to a buyer that we had a strong pre-existing relationship, they were the buyer of Grace Pacific late last year. And so we were able to really parlay that relationship into another opportunity for us.
spk07: Got it. Probably fair to assume that relationship was what caused that sale to, I guess, maybe get pulled forward a little bit from a timing perspective.
spk08: It was. And quite frankly, another driver as to why it happened so quickly.
spk07: Yeah. Okay. And then looking at the balance sheet, you know, nice move down in net leverage 3.8 times, I believe. Can you just talk about, you know, what, you know, leverage number you're comfortable with. I think I remember seeing a five to six times range as might be a target, but, um, yeah, maybe just, just kind of your outlook there for, uh, for 2024.
spk09: Yep. Hi, Brendan Clayton. Uh, so you have a right that in terms of our long-term target, we are, uh, shooting for five to six times net debt to, uh, EBITDA. And so we're in really good shape from a balance sheet perspective. And what this does is provide us the dry powder for, uh, growth opportunities, so.
spk11: Got it. That makes sense. That's all for me. Thank you. Thanks, Brendan.
spk10: Thank you.
spk04: That concludes our question and answer session for today.
spk01: I will now hand the call back to the management for closing remarks.
spk09: Thank you, Operator, and thank you all for joining us today. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to call us at 808-525 Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you all for participating. You may all disconnect.
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