Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.

Good day, everyone, and thank you all for joining us to discuss equity lifestyle properties first quarter 2021 results. Our featured speakers today are Marguerite Nader, our president and CEO, Paul Seavey, our executive vice president and CFO, and Patrick Waite, our executive vice president and COO. In advance of today's call, management released earnings. Today's call will consist of opening remarks and a question and answer session with management relating to the company's earnings release. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Certain matters discussed during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements in the meanings of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements are subject to certain economic risks and uncertainty. The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any statements that become untrue because of subsequent events. In addition, during today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, our supplemental information, and our historical SEC filings. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Marguerite Nader, our President and CEO.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to report the results for the first quarter of 2021. Our performance shows the increased demand for our properties. We continued our record of strong core operations and FFO growth with an 8.1% growth in normalized FFO per share in the quarter. New customer growth in both our RV and MH business contributed to the positive results in the quarter. Our new home sales grew by 24%, contributing to the high quality of occupancy at our MH communities. We ended the quarter with core portfolio occupancy of 95.4%. Home sale leads from websites increased by 37% in the quarter. Within our RV platform, we were successful in offsetting some of the loss in seasonal business with significant growth in transient business for the quarter. We ended the quarter with a 15% increase in transient revenue. Our subscription-based Thousand Trails Camping Pass showed strength this quarter. Over 5,000 new members purchased a Camp Pass, which was an increase of 64% over the first quarter of 2020. In the quarter, we saw an increased demand for upgrades in the Thousand Trails system. Our members were looking for expanded access to our portfolio and we saw an increase of $5 million in sales. We now have 117,000 members with access to the thousands of trails footprint. We are approaching our summer RV season and are encouraged by the reservation pace and the feedback we have received from our customers. We recently completed a customer survey and the results support our view that our customers are looking forward to spending time outdoors and at our properties. The survey results show that 98% of respondents who were new to camping last year planned to camp again this year. The respondents indicated that they chose to camp because it felt like a safe choice and they were able to safely travel with their family and friends. The survey indicates a plan for increased camping adventures with 65% of those responding indicating an intention to camp more this year. The survey also showed that 70% of those responding do not plan to travel by plane this year. In 2020, to help support the safety of our guests and members, we launched a new online check-in option for our RV guests. Since launch, over 160,000 guests completed the online check-in process, allowing them to get to their site more quickly and with less direct interaction. In addition, we provided our guests an added way to communicate with our on-site teams during their visit by launching a text message program to reduce the number of in-person interactions. Our guests reported high satisfaction levels based on the experience provided by our teams at our properties. Based on the first quarter survey results, guests responded to customer experience questions with a rating of 4.5 out of 5. We continue to protect and enhance the environments where we live, work, and play, and encourage our residents, members, and guests to do the same. Our annual sustainability report will provide updates on our partnerships with conservation-focused organizations. We have increased our efforts through partnerships with leading organizations focused on water conservation, supporting the reforestation movement, and ocean conservation. Our team members did a wonderful job ensuring the safety and well-being of our snowbird residents and guests. Our COVID response team has been instrumental in arranging 39 vaccination events at our properties that supplied vaccinations for approximately 8,700 individuals. Our operating team will now turn their attention toward the summer season properties and will focus on delivering excellent customer service to our residents, members, and guests as they explore our properties this summer. I will now turn it over to Paul to walk through the numbers in detail.

Thank you, Marguerite, and good morning, everyone. I will provide an overview of our first quarter results and walk through our guidance for second quarter and full year 2021. I will also discuss our balance sheet before the operator opens the call for Q&A. For the first quarter, we reported 64 cents normalized FFO per share. The outperformance to guidance in the quarter resulted from better than expected transient performance, membership upgrades, and expense savings. In addition, our guidance did not assume the net contribution from our Southern Marinas portfolio acquisition. Core MH rent growth of 4.7% includes 4.1% rate growth and approximately 60 basis points related to occupancy gains. Core RV and Marina rental income from annuals was in line with expectations for the quarter. Annual RV rental income represents 90% of the combined RV and Marina rental income from annuals, and it increased 3.5% with 3.4% from rate. Within the Core Marina portfolio, Marina rent from annuals represents approximately 99% of total Marina rental income. Core RV and marina rental income from seasonal and transient customers outperformed our expectations. Included with our guidance assumptions imposed in January, we estimated a $10 million decline from combined seasonal and transient revenues compared to first quarter 2020. The actual decline was approximately $6 million. The main factors driving this favorable result where increased customer confidence in travel given declining COVID case counts and increased vaccine availability, as well as the cold weather pattern in February that increased customer demand for stays in warmer climates. Transient revenues represented approximately two-thirds of the combined outperformance. First quarter membership subscriptions, as well as the net contribution from upgrade sales, outperformed our expectations. The main contributor to outperformance was strong demand for our upgrade products. Upgrade sales volume increased by 640 units compared to first quarter 2020. The price of upgrades sold increased approximately 10% compared to last year. In addition to strong demand for upgrades, our camping pass sales volume increased more than 60% during the quarter. First quarter core property operating maintenance and real estate tax expenses increased 2.3% compared to prior year. Utility expense, payroll, real estate taxes, and repairs and maintenance combined represent more than 80% of our core expenses in the quarter, and the average increase across these categories was 2.3%. In summary, first quarter core property operating revenues increased 2.8%, and core NOI before property management increased 1.9%. Property operating income from the non-core portfolio, which includes assets acquired in 2020 and during the first quarter of 2021, was $3.3 million. Overall, the acquisition properties performed in line with expectations. Property management and corporate G&A were $25.9 million, flat to first quarter 2020. A key contributor to the year-over-year comparison is lower travel expenses in 2021. Other income and expenses were approximately $3.1 million higher than first quarter 2020, mainly from home sale profits and ancillary income. Interest and related amortization was $26.3 million, slightly higher than prior year. The first quarter 2021 results include the interest expense resulting from debt used to fund our acquisition activity, offset by the accretive refinancings we closed in the first and third quarters of 2020. The press release provides an overview of second quarter and full year 2021 earnings guidance. As I provide some context for the information we've provided, keep in mind my remarks are intended to provide our current estimate of future results. All growth rates and revenue and expense projections represent midpoints in our guidance range and are qualified by the risk factors included in our press release and supplemental financial information. A significant factor in our guidance assumptions for the remainder of 2021 is the level of demand for transient stays in our RV communities. We have developed guidance based on our current customer reservation trends. While macro indicators suggest we're heading in a favorable direction relative to the impact of COVID on daily life, our experience over the past year has shown that circumstances can change. We intend to continue to monitor the situation closely and we'll manage our business accordingly. We provide no assurance that our actual results will be consistent with our guidance and we assume no obligation to update guidance as conditions change. Our full year 2021 normalized FFO guidance is $2.38 per share at the midpoint of our range of $2.33 to $2.43. Normalized FFO per share at the midpoint represents an estimated 9.7% growth rate compared to 2020. Core NOI is projected to increase 5.3% at the midpoint of our range of 4.8% to 5.8%. The core NOI growth rate increase from our prior guidance is mainly the result of our first quarter outperformance. Our expectation for the second through fourth quarters is consistent with our budget. As a reminder, our core portfolio changes annually. You'll find our definition of core on page 19 of the earnings release and supplemental information. Our guidance for the full year and second quarter includes the impact of the acquisition activity we've closed in the first quarter, with no assumptions for additional acquisitions during the year. We've also included the impact of the financing activity we've disclosed, including the recast of our unsecured credit facility, which I'll discuss after highlighting some of our second quarter guidance assumptions. We expect second quarter normalized FFO at the midpoint of our range of approximately $103.5 million with a per share range of 51 cents to 57 cents. We expect the second quarter to contribute 22 to 23% of full year normalized FFO. We project a core NOI growth rate range of 6.9 to 7.5%. Keep in mind, our second quarter 2020 transient RV business was significantly impacted by COVID-related travel restrictions and shelter-in-place orders. MH and RV annual rate growth assumptions for the second quarter and full year remain consistent with our prior guidance. As Marguerite mentioned, we anticipate continued strong demand across our RV platform. We've built our transient RV revenue assumptions for the second and third quarters using factors including current reservation pace compared to both 2020 and 2019. Our guidance for the second quarter assumes a growth rate of approximately 14% compared to 2019. This represents a core transient RV revenue increase of approximately $8.8 million compared to 2020. Before opening the call up for questions, I'll discuss our year-to-date refinancing activity, highlight current secure debt market conditions, and provide some comments on our balance sheet. During the quarter, we closed the previously disclosed $270 million 10-year secured loan with a fixed interest rate of 2.4%. In April, we closed on an amended unsecured credit facility, including a $500 million revolver and a $300 million fully funded term loan. The term loan proceeds were used to repay an acquisition loan we originated in early February. The revolver matures in four years, and we have two six-month extension options. The term loan matures in five years, and we've executed a fixed rate swap that locks in the interest rate at 1.8% for three years. Current secured debt terms available for MH&RV assets range from 55% to 75% LTV, with rates from 2.5% to 3% for 10-year maturities. high-quality, age-qualified MH assets will command best financing terms. RV assets with a high percentage of annual occupancy have access to financing from certain life companies as well as CMBS lenders. Life companies continue to quote competitively on longer-term maturities. We continue to place high importance on balance sheet flexibility, and we believe we have multiple sources of capital available to us. Our debt to EBITDA RE is 5.7 times, and our interest coverage is 5.2 times. The weighted average maturity of our outstanding secure debt is almost 13 years. Now we would like to open it up for questions.