Newlake Cap Partners Inc

Good morning and welcome everyone to the New Lake Capital Partners second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Walter Pinto, Managing Director of KCSA Strategic Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome everyone to the New Lake Capital Partners second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by Gordon Dugan, Chairman, Anthony Coniglio, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Meyer, Chief Financial Officer, and Jared Annenberg, Senior Vice President and Head of Investments. 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 and filed with the SEC on Form 8K, as well as the company's 10-Q 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 using 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, the FFO and the FFO, and definitions and 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 the risks and uncertainties more fully described in the company's filings with the United States 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 today. 2024 is shaping up to be an important year for the cannabis industry. Front and center is the DEA's proposal to federally reschedule cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. And at the state level, there are important catalysts, such as Ohio launching adult use sales earlier this week and the vote in Florida for adult use this coming November. While these catalysts are exciting to think about, I'd like to focus my comments today on New Lake in the context of the broader REIT industry. I think what often gets lost is how much this company has achieved and how it fits into the broader landscape as a REIT. Since New Lake's IPO three years ago, the company has raised its dividend eight of the last 11 quarters, capped by our most recent increase to 43 cents per share for the second quarter of 2024. The dividend has grown from 24 cents a share for our first quarters of public company to this 43 cents. an 80 percent increase over the past three years. So, tremendous progress. Of the more than 200 publicly traded REITs, New Lake ranks among the top tier in terms of dividend increases over this period of time. I would also like to talk a little bit about our profit margin and cash flow. With annualized revenue of roughly $50 million and annualized AFFO of approximately $44 million, New Lake has some of the best profit margins among publicly traded REITs. Our profit margins compare very favorably to other REITs in any other industry, whether they're highly regulated like cannabis or gaming or not. You'll see that our margins are superior to other net lease REITs and other REITs in general, and that's something that we're very proud of. Furthermore, we have only 7.6 million of debt outstanding with only a .2 times debt to EBITDA, significantly below our peer group average. And with 82 million of available credit capacity, we have one of the best balance sheets in the industry with ample capacity to continue to grow revenue and AFFO. As the cannabis industry continues to evolve, real estate will continue to be central to operators' growth strategy, and New Lake is very well positioned to capitalize on that demand. In summary, we have a great business model supplying the picks and shovels to the cannabis industry. And we're doing it with a keen focus on shareholder value while maintaining a very large amount of liquidity and dry powder going forward. Now I will turn it over to Anthony.