EPR Properties

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the fourth quarter 2021 EPR Properties Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all attendees are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. And to ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. Thank you. Now, I would like to welcome Mr. Brian Moriarty. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Thanks for joining us today for our fourth quarter and year-end 2021 earnings call and webcast. Participants on today's call are Greg Silvers, President and CEO, Greg Zimmerman, Executive Vice President and CIO, and Mark Peterson, Executive Vice President and CFO. I'll start the call by informing you that this call may include forward-looking statements as defined 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 these forward-looking statements are contained in the company's SEC filings, including the company's report on Form 10-K and 10-Q. Additionally, this call will contain references to certain non-GAAP measures which we believe are useful in evaluating the company's performance. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release and supplemental information furnished to the SEC under Form 8-K. 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 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 2021 earnings call and webcast. As we enter 2022, I'm very proud of the significant and consistent progress we made throughout 2021. Our cash collections improved meaningfully as the year progressed and ended the year at the high end of our expectations. Additionally, during the quarter, we took several important steps to further enhance our balance sheet. This progress has given us the flexibility and liquidity to pursue attractive opportunities and drive our growth strategy in the quarters ahead. Turning to our tenant industries, we were pleased by the significant resolve demonstrated during the year by Theater Exhibition. This was highlighted by the extraordinary performance of Spider- No Way Home, which was released in December 2021. Notwithstanding the fact that the title was released during the heart of the spread of the Omicron variant, it has become the third highest grossing title of all time. Over the past two years, studios and content providers have experimented with various methods of film delivery. These include premium video on demand and day and date presentation. However, the data is clear that neither of these alternatives is an economically viable replacement for exclusive theatrical release. If we look at streaming as a competitive threat, the data is also compelling. Recent 2021 Nielsen streaming statistics again affirmed that streaming services are primarily vehicles for series-based viewing, as 85% of total minutes are spent with either acquired or original series. The reality is that theatrical exhibition will continue to play a major role in the movie release value creation. as it maximizes revenues, creates brand awareness and downstream value for studios, and is valued by the consumer, as the recent Spider-Man success demonstrates. While there can be no assurance that we will achieve 2019 box office revenues again, highly productive theater locations will endure. As society resumes its path toward normalcy, we believe that streaming services and theatrical exhibition will continue to successfully coexist just as they have for many years. We look forward to the continued recovery of theatrical exhibition throughout 2022 with a strong lineup of titles on the calendar. Our non-theater properties continue to show strong recovery throughout the year, with many tenants even outpacing 2019 performance. We believe this is strong evidence of the durability of demand for experiential properties in our portfolio. As we consider the near-term environment of higher inflation levels, we believe our portfolio of value-oriented, drive-to offerings will continue to lead in the recovery of the experienced economy. We are also excited to provide solid earnings and investment spending guidance for 2022. Our earnings guidance clearly demonstrates the productivity of our portfolio. We also understand that investment growth is the engine that drives increasing shareholder value, and we are excited about our investment pipeline as tenants are once again growing their businesses. Additionally, we are pleased to deliver a well-covered 10% increase in our monthly cash dividend to common shareholders. As we migrate from defense to offense, we believe our current valuation represents a significant discount and a compelling long-term investment opportunity. As we've stated before, we are uniquely positioned to deliver consistent growth in experiential real estate, and our guidance demonstrates this commitment. Finally, last week we announced the addition of Lisa Trimburger and Coxia Ziegler to our board. These individuals bring highly valued experience along with new and unique perspectives to the company and expand the diverse experience of our board members. I'm excited about working with Lisa and Coxia in the future as we continue to chart the path to success. Now, I'll turn the call over to Greg Zimmerman.