Newlake Cap Partners Inc

Good morning. I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the New Lake Capital Partners third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Val Serpinto, managing director of KCSA Strategic Communications. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome, everyone. to the New Lake Capital Partners Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Gordon Dugan, Chairman of the Board, Anthony Coniglio, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Meyer, Chief Financial Officer, and Jared Annenberg, Director of Acquisitions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during today's conference call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and actual results may differ materially due to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors. For a detailed discussion of some of the ongoing risks and uncertainties in the company's business, I refer you to the press release issued yesterday evening and filed with the SEC on Form 8K, as well as the company's PENQ and other reports filed periodically with the SEC. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. FFO and AFFO are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures used in the real estate industry to measure and compare the operating performance of real estate companies. A complete reconciliation containing adjustments from GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders to FFO and AFFO and definitions of terms are included at the end of our press release. Please refer to that press release for more information. The company's guidance is based on current plans and assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties more fully described in the company's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This outlook reflects management's view of current and future market conditions, including assumptions such as the pace of future acquisitions and dispositions, rental rates, occupancy levels, leasing activity, uncollectible rents, operating and general administrative expenses, weighted average diluted shares outstanding, and interest rates. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Gordon Dugan. Gordon, please go ahead.

Thank you, Walter, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call. As we near the conclusion of 2022, I'm very happy with the performance of our business through a challenging macroeconomic environment, and I continue to be bullish on the long-term opportunities for New Lake and our shareholders. We had another strong quarter delivering significant year-over-year growth and declaring our sixth consecutive quarterly dividend increase, announcing a 2022 third-quarter dividend of $0.37 per share or $1.48 annually. As many of you know, the cannabis industry has a number of headwinds, including delays in federal legalization, price compression, and lack of capital availability, to name a few. Some of these favor New Lake, acting as a moat around our business, while some are natural ebbs and flows of an industry maturing and getting to scale. Our belief in the growth of the cannabis industry remains steadfast, and operators will continue to require access to non-dilutive capital to fuel the projected growth of the cannabis industry for many years to come. Earlier this year, I told you our long-term success will be built upon the discipline we continue to exercise when making investment decisions. and that we are focused on quality, not quantity. These continue to be our guiding principles as they have allowed us to have one of the highest quality portfolios in the industry today. We are proud of the rigorous underwriting process we have established and the results it has delivered for our shareholders, as reflected by our very strong third quarter financial results. Additionally, our team has worked diligently to build relationships across the industry and source transactions for strategic cannabis real estate, resulting in a very high quality pipeline. Having said that, we are being cautious in our deployment of capital today as we watch and evaluate the various forces at play in the cannabis industry to make the best investment decisions possible. There is no doubt that converting the estimated $80 billion licit and illicit cannabis market into a federally legal market will take time, but our conviction remains unwavering toward the industry having tremendous attractive long-term value. We do not think about this opportunity in months or quarters as the cannabis sector is still today in its infancy. It will have peaks and valleys like all other nascent industries that experience rapid growth. For example, in the data center industry, we saw early movers with quality transactions reap significant value appreciation, even as the industry experienced the volatility associated with rapid growth. Similarly, we believe our focus on high-quality operators and properties in limited licensed states will serve us well as we continue to execute only the best transactions. Our collective experience in real estate, financial services, and cannabis, in our opinion, sets us apart in the industry and gives us a significant competitive advantage as we navigate these volatile times and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. I would now like to turn the call over to Anthony Coniglio, our Chief Executive Officer.