EPR Properties

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Q4 2020 EPR Properties Earnings Conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instruction will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your touchtone phone. As a reminder, This conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Brian Moriarty, Vice President, Corporate Communications.

Hi. Thank you, and hi, everybody, and welcome. Thanks for joining us for today's fourth quarter and year-end 2020 earnings call. I'll start the call by informing you that this call may include forward-looking statements as declined in the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995, identified by such words as will be, intend, continue, believe, may expect, hope, anticipate, or other comparable terms. The company's actual financial condition and the results of operations may vary materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Discussion of those factors that could cause results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements are contained in the company's SEC filings, including the company's reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. Additionally, this call will contain references to several non-GAAP measures, which we believe are useful in evaluating the company's performance. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable gap measures are included in today's earnings release and supplemental information furnished in the SEC to the SEC under Form 8K. If you wish to follow along, today's earnings release, supplemental, and earnings call presentation are all available on the Investor Center page of the company's website, www.eprkc.com. Now I'll turn the call over to the company's president and CEO, Greg Silvers.

Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's fourth quarter and year-end call. We are happy to be with you as we turn the calendar to 2021, and I sincerely hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe. Joining me on the call today are company CIO Greg Zimmerman and company CFO Mark Peterson. I will start the call with an opening statement, then turn the call over to Greg and Mark, who will provide more detail. For the overview, clearly 2020 was a year unlike any other we've experienced since the company was founded in 1997. Early in the onset of the pandemic, we recognized the need to fortify the company's balance sheet to maintain sufficient liquidity for the long term. Key among early actions was to defer an anticipated gaming venue investment of approximately $1 billion, along with deferring other uncommitted investment spending of approximately $600 million. Additionally, we accessed our unsecured credit facility as a precautionary measure and suspended our monthly dividend to common shareholders. We determined that these actions were prudent due to the extremely challenging environment in which our tenants have been operating. As we speak today, our liquidity remains in a strong position with cash on hand in excess of $500 million. This large reserve of cash reflects the fact that we have to return to normalcy. However, as we announced in our quarterly disclosure on January 7th, we generated positive cash flow in the fourth quarter and anticipate this trend to continue. The recent paydown of our credit facility balance reflects this positive momentum and and demonstrates our increased confidence. Throughout 2020, our team was focused on the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, including monitoring tenant performance, assisting in reopening plans, and collaborating to develop plans that ensure long-term stability and success for both our tenants and EPR properties. We have seen the success of this strategy with our non-theater tenants, where approximately 94% are open and rent collections have improved materially. While our properties are still impacted by locally mandated closures and capacity restraints, performance and customer demand continue to improve, which we believe demonstrates our final thesis of people's desire for experiences. As Greg will discuss in more detail, our theater tenants are still primarily challenged with limited film products. which should subside as we progress through 2021. However, early indications from around the world indicate that when product is available and flowing, there is robust consumer demand. Overall, we are pleased with both the progress and trajectory of our recovery as it is reflected in a continued increase in cash collections as we enter 2021. Throughout the year, we made continuous progress, and as I've stated before, I'm very proud of how our team has responded to the substantial challenges that they have faced. Looking ahead, as we look forward in 2021, we're encouraged by the accelerated rollout of vaccines. We recognize that the reopening of the U.S. will continue to be a phased process, yet we also believe that as a society, we are more than ready to return to a sense of normalcy. We also continue to be encouraged by the resiliency displayed by many of our tenants and anticipate that theaters will follow a similar pattern when they open more widely and key titles are consistently released. As the country begins the recovery process, we look forward to getting back on the path to growth. This process requires continued improvement and stabilization of our cash collections, which will allow us to exit our existing debt covenant waivers. Upon achieving that goal, our focus will turn to reinstituting our common dividend and reinitiating our investment spending program. The timing of achieving these milestones is highly dependent on a number of variables, including an effective vaccine deployment. However, as today's results indicate, our progress has measurably improved in the early months of 2021, and we are optimistic that our goals are achievable during the second half of 2021. With that, let me turn it over to Greg Zimmerman, discussion of our portfolio and its performance. Greg?