SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc.

during this time simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad if you'd like to withdraw your question again press the star and one please limit comments to one question and one follow-up I would now like to turn the call over to David Korak senior vice president of corporate finance and strategy you may begin Thank You operator before we begin I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during today's call

including statements about our future plans, prospects, and expectations, may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties as described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and these risks could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by our comments. Forward-looking statements in our earnings release that we issued last night, along with the comments on this call, are made only as of today. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. In addition, we will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information regarding our use of these measures and a reconciliation of these measures to GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release and supplemental disclosure that we issued last night and are available for download on our website at investors.smartsoftselfstorage.com. In addition to myself, today we have H. Michael Schwartz, founder, chairman, and CEO, as well as James Berry, our CFO. Now, I'll turn it over to Michael.

Thank you, David. Thank you for joining us today for our second quarter earnings call to discuss our inaugural quarter as a New York Stock Exchange listed company. I'll start with some introductory remarks on SmartStop and the industry before I hand it over to James to discuss the quarter. After that, we'll open it up for Q&A with James, David, and myself. Before we dive into high-level remarks, a few highlights of our second quarter results. We posted a strong second quarter with our same-store revenue growth of positive 40 basis points, average occupancy 93.1%, and FFO as adjusted per share of 42 cents, all largely in line with our expectations. We maintained our full-year 2025 same-store NOI guidance of 1.1% and raised our FFO as adjusted per share guidance by a penny on the midpoint. We had an exceptionally robust quarter, both in terms of performance and activity. We raised approximately $1.3 billion of capital during the quarter. First, we raised $931 million in April with our initial public offering. Second, we raised $500 million Canadian with our inaugural maple bond in June at a sub-4% coupon. These transactions dramatically improved our balance sheet, setting us up for future growth. In June, we received an inaugural rating from DBRS Morningstar of BBB mid with a stable trend. And in July, we received an upgrade from Kroll to BBB flat with a stable outlook. During the quarter, we acquired approximately $150 million of Class A storage properties on balance sheet, another $75 million in the managed REITs, and put under contract a $97 million Canadian portfolio in Alberta. These on-balance sheet acquisitions are primary Class A properties located in top markets with going-in yields in the mid-five range with management upside, while the deals into the managed REITs are modern stabilized, consistent with our communicated acquisition strategy. On the managed REIT front, we grew AUM by $78 million during the quarter, and entered into a new retail distribution partnership with Orchard Securities, who we feel is a best-in-class distribution partner for our managed REIT products. We opened three new developments in Canada, all within our managed REITs, including the first purpose-built self-storage property in Montreal in nearly two decades. We also funded loans of $41 million to the managed REITs. Between these loans and our on-balance sheet acquisitions, we deployed about $200 million of accretive capital during the quarter. Additionally, we're proud of SmartStop's inclusion as a member of the Russell 3000 Index in late June. Lastly, but certainly not least, we bolstered our board of directors by adding Laura Gotcheva, who's an extremely experienced portfolio manager and REIT investor. Needless to say, it was quite an active quarter. With these accomplishments, we believe we are off to a strong start as a publicly traded company, executing on the story we laid out on our IPO Roadshow in March. We feel SmartStop is well-positioned to succeed and deliver on double-digit FFO share growth this year with a reasonable leverage profile. Turning to the industry. On the operational front, we continue to believe that 2025 will be incrementally better than 2024, but not as strong as a more normalized year in storage. Likewise, we believe we will see more normalized rental season as compared to the past two years, but again, still not quite a typical rental season. The recovery in storage is happening, but the choppiness in demand continues. As we saw during the quarter, we had a tough April, strong May, and then a weaker than anticipated June. Industry move-in rates continue to stabilize, but are largely still negative year over year, though significantly less negative than the previous two years. Occupancies of large operators are in line or better than historical averages, but small operators have lost market share and now are operating at lower occupancies. Our customers' health remains strong to date. We've seen little to no impact from recent economic volatility in the U.S. and Canada. Website visits are up significantly. Reservations remain strong. Delinquencies remain at below average levels. And ECRIs remain healthy without a change in attrition. Canada continues to experience a more positive dynamic despite a softening economy. With less supply per capita, lower institutional competition, and strong demographic growth and slightly different demand drivers in the U.S., the GTA has become an outperformer versus the U.S., and that trend continues in 2025. In the second quarter, our Toronto portfolio posted 2% same-store revenue growth on a constant currency basis, with an ending occupancy of about 93%. With our year-to-date results through the busy season paired with an improving supply picture and steady demand, we remain optimistic on the sector's slow and steady recovery, creating momentum as we head into 2026. Now I'll turn it over to James to discuss the quarter.