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spk00: Assets in Indianapolis completed last year have grown from 52% occupancy at close to nearly 90% currently highlighting our ability to quickly integrate and improve performance of communities. We take over and introduce our systems and operating model. I'll briefly provide commentary on a few key drivers behind operating performance and Kevin will go into further detail around specific financial and operating metrics. We are still seeing the benefits from our rate growth initiative. with both in-place rate increases and positive market rate adjustments contributing to overall rate elevation. We believe the sustainability of our rate profile combined with an ongoing increase in occupancy demonstrate the value we are providing to our residents. The combination of tenured, high-performing local leadership and high occupancy levels will allow for further rate growth in 2024. To complement revenue expansion, we continue to identify expense management opportunities and efficiencies. Investments and utilization of technology supporting more informed labor management practices at the local level combined with continued rollout of our market-specific talent sharing program remain paramount to controlling total cost of labor. As referenced in Q2, the expansion of dynamic staffing pools in dense markets and the implementation of monitoring technology to staff based on resident needs has contributed to an 80% year-over-year decline in contract labor while limiting direct labor increases to approximately 3.5%. Our team is not only focused on addressing lower performing communities, but also enabling our strongest performing communities to reach their full potential. During the quarter, nearly half of our owned communities averaged occupancy of 90% or greater, with these communities consistently achieving the highest marks in customer experience and employee engagement. The company delivered cash flow from operations exceeding $10 million for the first nine months of the year. a $7.8 million improvement from the same period in 2022. The resulting improvement in run rate cash flows from operations, coupled with the comprehensive restructuring of our mortgage loans, position the company to generate positive cash flow in 2024. I'll quickly touch on two exciting internal investments in our people and product that will further enhance our resident experience and clinical capabilities for the long term. In 2022, we designed and launched a comprehensive memory care program, Magnolia Trails. Over the course of the past year, we have seen exceptional outcomes for our residents and their family members through this program, which has translated to improved operations and memory care occupancy of approximately 88% at the end of October, as compared to an average of 83% in 2022. Beginning in Q1 2024, we will launch Joyful Living, our enhanced independent living offering in 14 communities with each of our independent living communities offering the product by mid-year. Joyful Living encapsulates Sunita's person-centric approach to wellness and life enrichment, emphasizing well-rounded programming that supports physical and emotional health, intellectual stimulation, individual purpose, social engagement, and spirituality. Our goal is to provide residents with a variety of opportunities to achieve their desired potential and enjoy full, meaningful lives. On the quality front, we continue to invest in our clinical leadership team as reflected in the recent hiring of a Chief Clinical Officer, Tabitha Obenauer. The addition of a talented, experienced leader will further expand our clinical offerings and tailor our services to the needs of our residents. From a clinical outcome perspective, our average monthly move out volume has remained consistent with 2022 as has our average length of stay. Each of our communities will complete the offering of both COVID and flu vaccine clinics with our national pharmacy partners in Q4 with the goal of encouraging safe and social living environments throughout the higher risk winter months. Turning to the overall market, stability on the labor front and increases in average occupancy nationally bode well for the ongoing industry recovery. We also support the thesis shared by other leaders in the industry that demand continues to rise and both supply coming online and planned new construction metrics remain quite favorable. As previously referenced, we are diligently working towards identifying a creative growth opportunities for that when coupled with our strong operating trajectory have the potential to create significant value for our investors. The uncertainty and volatility in the current capital markets driven by the reduction of capital available and the rapid rise in its cost should yield opportunities for those with a creative approach to investing across the capital structure. In summarizing Q3, our teams across the business continue to deliver on our 2023 operating plan. The results this year have shown significant progress each quarter, with Q3 delivering the highest level of occupancy, revenue, and operating margins since 2019. The ongoing retention and development of our leadership teams and the effective rollout of new resident programming and technology remain paramount to continuing the growth trends achieved in 2023. Our team is excited to continue building a best-in-class operating platform to achieve the full potential in each of our 71 communities. I'll now turn it over to Kevin for discussion of the financial results.
spk02: Thanks, Brandon. I will drill down into some of the quarterly highlights that you touched upon, picking up with slide six and seven. I am happy to report that we have executed on the second and final step to formally modify all Fannie Mae loan agreements. with terms provided for in the forbearance agreement executed this summer. As previously discussed, this modification significantly improves the company's long-term debt structure and run rate liquidity. Specific terms of the debt modification on all 37 Fannie Mae loans include extending loan maturities to December 2026 or beyond, deferring required principal payments for a minimum of three years, and permanently abating a portion of interest for the 12-month period ending in June 2024. All of this will result in nearly $40 million of cash savings over the revised maturity dates. As a reminder, two other significant components were completed in connection with this debt restructure. Ally Bank granted a one-year waiver of its minimum liquidity test with a phased-in liquidity minimum restored by December 2024. And on the equity front, our largest individual shareholder, Conversion Capital, provided an equity commitment of $13.5 million to further bolster operating liquidity. This additional access to equity provides an important bridge for the company as its all-in run rate cash burn has quickly reduced to levels that support near-term cash flow generation. Just as important, the availability of equity allows the company to settle its non-recurring liabilities, the most significant of which are two required $5 million principal payments on the Fannie Mae loans, one that was paid on the date of the forbearance this year and one that is due in June 2024. Again, I want to thank Fannie Mae, Ally Bank, and Conversant for their collaborative roles in this holistic and successful process, which addresses more than 80% of the company's mortgage debt. Moving to slide eight, where I will quickly hit on a few important trends. On our two previous quarterly earnings calls, we've discussed the company's programmatic approach to push rental rates to levels that reflect the increased cost to care for our residents and provide enhanced engagement activities. Today, we are pleased to report a meaningful 100 basis point jump and our third quarter average occupancy to 84.9%. We're even further encouraged by what we achieved in the last month of the quarter with same store average occupancy settling north of 85% and spot occupancy on the last day of the quarter at 86.9% as seen on slide nine. These new levels of census are particularly meaningful heading into 2024 as we continue to be successful in increasing average rental rates at the same time. From Q2 to Q3, REVPOR and REVPAR increased 13 and 18% on an annualized basis, respectively. We believe this accretive mix of increased occupancy and rate was only attainable because of the continued excellence and stability in our community leadership teams. Their dedication and ability to deliver on resident satisfaction instill confidence that the company can drive further top line performance. Using the same quarter-over-quarter comparison, the company's NOI of 14.7 million reflected a margin increase of 100 basis points to 24.9% and represents 59 million of annualized run rate NOI. In comparison to Q3 2022, NOI increased 4.7 million and NOI margin increased nearly 600 basis points on an absolute basis from its 2022 low watermark of 19%. On an adjusted basis excluding non-recurring state grants, this year-over-year adjusted NOI margin increase still exceeded 5%. In a few slides, I will walk through the underlying operating expense trends, which should continue to support margin expansion. Moving ahead to slide 10, I will detail some of the positive sustained trends on our rate profile. We realized another strong quarter of rent renewals, which yielded a 9% increase on a year-over-year basis. The in-place lease rate success is complemented by a releasing spread increase of two percent for the quarter, which already contemplates an elevated average rate in its base. During the quarter, we saw the composition of Medicaid revenues as a percentage of total revenues increase from nine percent to eleven percent. This mixed shift is a direct result of substantial Medicaid rate increases recently passed through legislation that came online during the quarter. Specifically in Indiana, eight owned communities qualified for the Indiana Health Coverage Program's recent rate increase based on the level of care and acuity services being provided by our community teams. Finally, with 97% of our residents having been formally reassessed and re-rated to reflect the care services currently provided, we are now approaching a higher stabilized base for this ancillary revenue stream. This 2023 level of care initiative has contributed an additional $2 million to our annual run rate revenue base. Diving into more of the margin drivers, we will move ahead to slide 11 to discuss recent labor trends. We are extremely pleased that in this tight labor market and hyperinflationary period, we've been able to control our labor costs. With another quarter behind us, we are seeing further stabilization of our labor base. For the first two quarters of the year, labor as a percentage of revenue pushed down from its 2022 average of 48% to 46%. In the third quarter, this percentage was 46.4%, which included an extra calendar day as compared to Q2, as well as the one-time bonus payout in connection with the company's summer sales rally. Excluding the impact from these items yields a sub 46% labor to revenue comparison. Finally, contract labor continues to be limited to a handful of communities where market-specific labor constraints persist. Moving ahead to all other expenses on slide 12, our non-labor expenses have remained flat over the last 15 months, despite the headwinds of elevated inflation over the same period and an occupancy increase of 150 basis points. As a percentage of revenue, year-to-date non-labor expense decreased 200 basis points from the same nine-month period in 2022. Continued steadying of both labor and non-labor costs should yield even more opportunity to strive margin expansion due to reduced incremental expenses required to support additional occupancy beyond the company's already healthy base level. Moving ahead to the final slide of our deck, I want to walk through a few debt updates beyond the holistic modification described earlier in the presentation. In the third quarter, Two loans securing three communities within the Protective Life portfolio were sold to two third-party lenders. One of these communities was one of the four communities with noncompliant mortgages as of June 30, 2023. To secure its ownership in this community, the company made a $700,000 payment to Protective Life to become current and compliant prior to the sale of the loan. Overall, our debt is comprised of 80% fixed rate debt with the remaining variable rate debt fully hedged, yielding a weighted average interest rate of 4.9% for the portfolio. Finally, as of today, the company is in compliance with all financial covenants required under its mortgages, with the exception of three communities mortgaged with protective life as more fully described in the 10Q to be filed later today. Hitting on a few observations from our earnings release this morning, G&A, excluding the non-cash amortization stock of SOCCOMP continues to decrease as a percentage of revenues. For Q3, excluding non-recurring transaction costs primarily related to the debt mod, G&A as a percentage of revenue remains below 10%, down from 14.5% in prior year. Finally, in Q3, the company recognized a non-cash gap impairment loss of $6 million related to one community in the protective life loan portfolio. In summary, the company continues to be encouraged by the consistent improvement across all significant KPIs over the last 12 months. This operating trajectory, combined with the company's modified debt structure, has Sunita firmly positioned to take advantage of both organic and inorganic opportunities in the marketplace to drive shareholder value in 2024. Back to you, Brandon.
spk00: Thanks, Kevin. I'll conclude today's presentation by once again recognizing and thanking our leadership team throughout Sunita. I have the utmost confidence in this group of leaders to continue delivering high quality service and care to our residents while running a sound business. It's my privilege and honor to share the success they are achieving as we built Sunita into an industry leading company. As we approach the end of 2023, I remain optimistic that continued revenue and margin growth, coupled with a strengthened capital structure, will deliver meaningful earnings growth in 2024. Camilla, please open the line for questions. Thank you.
spk01: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. And you may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we pull for questions. We have no questions at this time. And with that, this will conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
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