Cousins Properties Incorporated

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cousins Properties first quarter 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 30, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Pamela Roper, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Cousins Properties First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Collin Connolly, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Hickson, our Executive Vice President of Operations, Kennedy Hicks, our Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, and Greg Edzima, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The press release and supplemental package were distributed yesterday afternoon, as well as furnished on Form 8K. In the supplemental package, the company has reconciled all non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in accordance with Reg G requirements. If you did not receive a copy, these documents are available through the quarterly disclosures and supplemental SEC information links on the investor relations page of our website, cousins.com. Please be aware that certain matters discussed today may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal security laws, and actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors, including the risk factors set forth in our annual report on Form 10-K and our other SEC filings. The company does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The full declaration regarding forward-looking statements is available in the supplemental package posted yesterday.

a detailed discussion of some potential risk is contained in our filings with the sec with that i'll turn the call over to colin connolly thank you pam and good morning everyone we had an excellent start to 2026 at cousins on the earnings front the team delivered 73 cents a share in ffo during the quarter which was two cents a share above consensus in addition We increased the midpoint of our FFO guidance by 2 cents a share to $2.94 a share for the full year in 2026, which represents 3.5% growth over 2025. This would be our third consecutive year of FFO growth and represents a 3.9% compounded annual growth rate since 2023. Cousins Earnings The earnings growth during this three-year time frame is unmatched among traditional office REITs. Leasing remained robust. We completed 932,000 square feet of leases during the quarter, which is one of the highest quarterly volumes in the history of the company. Our cash rent roll-up on second-generation leasing was 15.2%, which marks 48 consecutive quarters of positive rent roll-ups. Significant leasing wins included a large renewal with our largest customer of the domain in Austin and new leases with Oracle at Newhoff in Nashville and KPMG at Presidium in Midtown Atlanta. These results underscore the strength of our portfolio and depth of customer demand for high quality lifestyle office space. I'll start with a few broader observations on the trends driving the office market. First, Most major companies are phasing out remote work. Yesterday, Fidelity became the latest to announce a five-day-a-week office mandate. At Cousins, we call it the return to normal, and it is boosting demand across all of our markets. Second, the flight to quality is unrelenting. Customers are prioritizing high-quality, well-amortized, and well-located buildings to promote engagement and collaboration. According to JLL, Nearly all of the positive net absorption in the office sector since the onset of COVID has occurred in buildings that delivered from 2010 to present. Third, the Sunbelt migration has reaccelerated. We have seen a significant uptick in relocation activities as proposals to meaningfully increase personal and business taxes in New York, California, and Washington have advanced. Starbucks recently announced a major East Coast headquarters in Nashville. Apollo is looking for a second headquarters in Texas or Florida. Capital Group announced a major hub in Charlotte. Each of these companies specifically state access to the growing talent pools in these markets is a major reason for their decisions. These are not back of house or support jobs that they are creating. We believe that we are still in the early innings of this migration trend and expect these announcements to continue. Lastly, record high office conversions combined with record low new development starts, are leading to shrinking inventory of office properties. Given the three- to four-year lead time to deliver a new project, this is unlikely to change until 2030 at the earliest. Simply stated, demand is increasing while supply is decreasing. The net result is an emerging shortage of premier lifestyle office space in the best submarkets of the Sunbelt, and one that will become increasingly acute over the next several years and favor landlords. Cousins is uniquely positioned to benefit from these trends. Before moving on, I want to briefly address a topic that has received a lot of attention recently, and that's artificial intelligence. While AI is shaping how companies operate internally, we are not seeing evidence that is reducing long-term demand for high-quality office space. In fact, many of the companies most actively deploying AI are also prioritizing collaboration, talent density, and physical presence, which aligns well with our lifestyle, office portfolio, and the Sun Belt. Ultimately, space decisions are still being driven by people, culture, and access to talent. And in that respect, these trends we're seeing in our leasing activity remain very encouraging. Turning to our strategy, As we outlined in prior earnings calls, our focus remains unchanged. We are sharply focused on driving sustainable earnings growth while maintaining our best-in-class balance sheet and continuing to enhance the quality of our Sunbelt lifestyle office portfolio. Our team's ability to drive both internal and external growth is key to this effort. During the quarter, we advanced that strategy First, we increased occupancy to 88.9% across the portfolio as a result of robust leasing activity. Second, we closed on the acquisition of 300 South Tryon, a 638,000 square foot trophy office asset in Uptown Charlotte for approximately $317.5 million. Third, we repurchased 3.9 million shares of our own stock at a weighted average price of $23.36. Lastly, we sold Harborview Plaza in Tampa for $39.5 million and entered into an agreement to sell 111 Congress in Austin. Looking ahead, the number one priority for Cousins is to continue to grow occupancy. We have modest lease expirations this year and a robust late-stage leasing pipeline that will support this effort. More broadly, we remain focused on optimizing our portfolio, maintaining flexibility, and creating optionality in our capital allocation decisions. As I mentioned earlier, everything we do is guided by a disciplined approach that prioritizes earnings accretion, balance sheet strength, and continuous improvement in our portfolio quality. We are excited about what lies ahead for Cousins. The office market is rebalancing. New construction is virtually nonexistent. and high-quality lifestyle office space is becoming increasingly scarce. Despite ongoing macro concerns and volatility in the public markets, Cousins continues to outperform, supported by a strong operating platform, a highly efficient G&A structure, and one of the strongest balance sheets in the office REIT sector. Before turning the call over to Richard, I want to thank our talented Cousins team, Their commitment to excellence and to serving our customers is the foundation of all of our success. Richard.