CT Real Estate Investment Trust

Thank you for standing by. My name is Lauren Cannon, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to CTREIT's Q3 2025 Earnings Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star 1 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1. The speakers on the call today are Kevin Salzberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of CT REIT, Jody Spiegel, Senior Vice President, Real Estate, and Leslie Gibson, Chief Financial Officer. Today's discussion contains information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although the REIT believes that the forward-looking information in today's discussion is based on information, estimates, and assumptions that are reasonable, such information is necessarily subject to a number of risks uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. For information on these material risks, uncertainties, factors, and assumptions, please see the REIT's Q3 2025 and Annual 2024 MDNA, as well as the 2024 AIF, which are available on our website and filed on CEEDAR. The REIT does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, whether written or oral, except as is required by applicable laws. I will now turn the call over to Kevin Salzberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of CTREIT. Kevin?

Thank you, Lauren. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on CTREIT's quarterly investor conference call. I am happy to report that Q3 2025 was another strong quarter for CTREIT, as we delivered growth in net operating income of 5.5%, growth in AFFO per unit of 2.9% and continue to maintain our portfolio occupancy above 99%. CTREIT's stable portfolio and reliable growth have, for more than a decade now, provided our investors with an opportunity to participate in a real estate strategy that leverages our privileged relationship with Canadian Tire in order to deliver value for all of our unit holders. In the quarter, We acquired a strong performing Canadian Tire Anchor Shopping Centre in Calgary from a third party, completed the redevelopment of an enclosed mall that we own in Winkler, Manitoba, and began construction on the Canadian Tire head office retrofit at Canada Square. And subsequent to the quarter end, we bought out the underlying freehold interest in a property that we had previously land leased in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. While each of these projects is different and unique in terms of geography, asset type, and real estate intervention, they collectively tell a story about CTREIT's ability to find new ways of deploying capital and source different avenues of growth. We continue to work closely with Canadian Tire on their development requirements and the real estate components of their True North strategy as we continue to build our own pipeline of deals with over 1 million square feet of development projects currently expected to be delivered between now and the end of 2028, including the newly announced expansion of a Canadian tire store in Collingwood at a property that we acquired from a third party several years ago. Whether from organic growth derived from our existing portfolio of properties, new CTC-related development opportunities, or strategically consolidating the ownership of third-party-owned CTC-related assets, CT REIT's growth prospects continue to look bright. And with a conservative and prudently managed balance sheet, we have the financial flexibility to lean into these opportunities so that CT REIT can continue to deliver strong, reliable, and durable results and create value for our stakeholders as we look to the road ahead. I will now turn it over to Jody and Leslie to provide some additional details on the quarter, our results, and our leasing, investment, and development activities.

Jody? Thanks, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. As highlighted in our press release yesterday, we are pleased to announce two new investments this quarter. Our first new investment involves the acquisition of the freehold interest underlying an existing ground lease along with an adjacent multi-tenant commercial retail building in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Additionally, we are expanding the Canadian Tire store located in Collingwood, Ontario that Kevin mentioned earlier. These new investments require a total of $19 million to complete and are projected to earn Agonian yields of 6.45%. Combined, they will add approximately 50,000 square feet of high-quality GLA to our portfolio. In the third quarter, we completed two previously announced projects, the acquisition of a Canadian Tire anchored property in Calgary, Alberta, that we discussed last quarter, and the redevelopment of our existing enclosed mall in Winkler, Manitoba. Since acquiring Southland Mall in Winkler, Manitoba in 2016, the REIT has made substantial improvements to the property, including the expansion of the Canadian Tire Store in 2018, as well as a significant demalling and renovation that has allowed us to introduce new retailers to the mall, including Winners, Anytime Fitness, Stack Pancake House, and a relocated and expanded Marks. Part of the rationale for acquiring this property originally was was based on the strength of the Canadian Tire Store and the steps that we have taken since that time illustrate how the REIT has been able to create value in an asset that we decided to invest in based on the insights that we gleaned through our relationship with Canadian Tire. The Calgary acquisition and the Winkler redevelopment totaled $72 million and have added over 350,000 square feet of additional GLA to our portfolio. our development pipeline overall remains strong with 20 projects at various stages, seven of which are expected to be completed by the end of this year and the remainder expected to be completed in 2026 and beyond. These developments, including Canada Square office retrofit projects, represent a total committed investment of approximately 427 million upon finalization, 113 million of which has already been spent, and 148 million of which we anticipate will be spent in the next 12 months. Once built, these projects will add a total incremental GLA of just over one million square feet to the portfolio, approximately 90% of which has been leased. With respect to our leasing activities, During the third quarter, CTREIT completed four Canadian Tire store lease extensions, and as at the end of Q3, the weighted average lease term for our portfolio was 7.3 years, which remains one of the longest in the sector. At the end of the quarter, CTREIT's occupancy rate remains strong at 99.4%. I will now turn it over to Leslie to discuss our financial results. Leslie.

Thanks, Jody, and good morning, everyone. We were pleased with the results delivered by the REIT again this quarter. This quarter, same-store NOI increased 2.0% or $2.3 million, mainly driven by contractual rent escalations averaging 1.5% per year as contained in the Canadian tire leases. Same-property NOI saw a rise of 2.6% or $3 million compared to the previous year. This increase was largely due to the same-store NOI growth mentioned earlier, along with approximately $700,000 of additional contribution from intensifications completed in 2024 and 2025. Overall, in the third quarter, NOI experienced robust growth of 5.5%, or $6.2 million. This was fueled by the $3.2 million contribution from the four acquisitions completed in 2024 and 2025, as well as the development completions over that time. In the third quarter, excluding fair value adjustments, G&A expense as a percentage of property revenue was 2.5%. which was higher than the same period in the prior year of 2.2%. This increase was due to the timing of a deferred income tax provision in 2024 that reversed by the end of the year. On a year-to-date basis, G&A expenses as a percentage of revenue are running at a consistent 2.9%. The fair value adjustment of $36.7 million in the quarter was primarily driven by contractual rent increases, leasing renewals, and change to certain valuation metrics and assumptions. as well as the development completions within the property portfolio. In the quarter, diluted FFO per unit was up 2.1% to 33.8 cents, compared to 33.1 cents in the third quarter of 2024. AFFO per unit on a diluted basis was 31.7 cents, up 2.9% compared to Q3 of 2024. Cash distributions paid in the quarter increased 2.5% compared to the same period in the previous year due to the increase in distributions which became effective with the monthly distributions paid in July 2025. With the increase in AFFO per unit outpacing the rate of the monthly distributions, the AFFO payout ratio for Q3 was 74.8%, a slight improvement from 75.0% in the period last year. Turning to the balance sheet, our interest coverage ratio for the current quarter was 3.37 times compared to 3.52 times in the same quarter of 2024. This decrease is due to a combination of increased interest costs resulting from the resetting of the interest rate on the Series 3 and 16-19 Class CLP units effective June 1, 2025, higher utilization of the credit facilities to fund acquisitions, intensifications, and developments in 2024 and 2025, as well as the issuance of the $200 million Series J unsecured debentures in June of this year. The indebtedness to EBIT fair value ratio was 6.61 times during the quarter, improved from last year's ratio of 6.81 times. Our indebtedness ratio this quarter was 39.8%, down from 40.7% at the end of last year. This improvement is mainly attributable to the continued increases in the fair value of investment properties and higher total assets from acquisitions and developments, partially offset by the increased use of the credit facilities. The ratio has consistently trended low over recent years, giving us ample financial flexibility for future growth. Lastly, with respect to liquidity, we ended Q3 with $5 million of cash on hand. $298 million of that remains available through our committed credit facility, and a further $186 million is also available on our uncommitted facilities to the entire corporation. And with that, I will turn the call back to the operator for any questions.

At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, please press star 11, then the number on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Lauren Calmar with Desjardins. Your line is now open.

Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Just on the Canada Square retrofit, I was wondering, what is the progress on tendering costs? I mean, obviously, you guys have started work there. And have you guys seen any reprieve on the cost side with sort of the slowdown in development activity more broadly?

Good morning, Lauren. It's Jody. Thanks for the question. So the retrofit just started this quarter, effectively. So it really starts to – pick up the pace in 2026 and beyond. So it's in the initial stages so far. Oxford, of course, is managing this on behalf of the co-owners. They are in the process of tendering and securing their various contracts and trades. They have their CM in place. I don't think there's been any noticeable difference in terms of tendering versus budget at this stage. However, I would say it's early on in the retrofit. So that could be a case as we move forward.

Okay, lovely. And then just on the intensification development side, obviously, you know, Canadian Tire is a large chunk of that. But one thing we've been hearing is there's a lot of opportunity out there to intensify for other retailers. I was just wondering if you guys are seeing any demand and if that's something you look to focus the pipeline a little bit more on as dynamics, you know, call for it.

Yeah. Hi Lawrence, Kevin. We definitely have inbound interest from retailers. We don't have a lot of large pad opportunities that can accommodate the users who are expressing interest, grocery, pharmacy, liquor. Most of our pad opportunities are smaller and we've actually affected quite a few of them to date. But that doesn't mean we're not out selectively looking for alternative sites or opportunities to work with the retailers who are looking to expand. You know, our Lloyd Minster redevelopment is a good example of where we can take advantage of opportunities like that. So, yeah, we're trying to, you know, find a balance between the demand side, finding opportunities that we can make financial sense of, and obviously where it complements existing assets.

Okay. Thank you so much. I'll turn it back.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sam Damiani with TD Securities. Your line is now open.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Maybe just to get into the leasing side of the business, maybe, Jody, if you could just comment on leasing spreads in the quarter, both to Canadian Tire and third-party tenants.

Good morning, Sam, Jody. So on third-party renewals, typically our volumes are on the lower side just because of our the high occupancy rate and the bulk of our activities with Canadian Tire. So it is at the lower end. I'd say the spreads, though, are consistent with what we see in every other quarter, so we're pleased with that. In terms of the related party, we had quite a number this quarter, as noted. Obviously, we don't comment on the specifics, but the escalations that we achieve have been continuing on these ones.

And, Sam, as we talked about before, as we look at the escalations, we are looking at market specific dynamics and whereas on average certainly 1.5% is the number for the entire portfolio, there are selective opportunities within each set of renewals to address that and possibly get that number a little higher. And we also continue to have discussions with Canadian Tire about, as we, I guess, enter into some of the meatier years in terms of the number of renewals that we'll be dealing with, what the best collective situation is for both the REIT and for CTC in terms of continuing on with the annual rent escalations or looking at more conventional fixed five-year rent numbers. As of right now, we're still playing with the same rhyme scheme, but that could be subject to change in the future, as we've discussed before.

Thank you both. And, Kevin, your comment on, you know, looking at other alternatives versus the annual escalations. I mean, what would be the benefit for the REIT in looking at, you know, a different structure?

Well, like you guys, we can, you know, forecast out the next five to ten years based on our and obviously looking to if there's any spread between one versus the other. The fixed contracts, to recall, have a floor and a ceiling in terms of the renewal rate. They can't be less than the amount they were paying in the preceding term, and it's capped out at 112%. So just based on where we forecast the market to be and where it might be going, If there is a difference financially for us, that's a benefit to look at one version versus the other. To date, there hasn't been a big difference, but that might not always be the case.

Got it. Appreciate that. And just on the macro, it's a little more challenging. Do you see any retailers start to feel some pain? Do you have any known move-outs in the portfolio? Any problem tenants, bad debt expense, any of that sort of getting a little bit – coming into focus these days?

That hasn't been our experience. We don't have any real bad debt that's any different than in any preceding periods. I don't think the major retailers seem to be showing any signs of weakness at this point. Certainly with the base stores coming back to some of the major landlords out there, there could be a little bit of distraction in terms of other opportunities. There's a lot of square footage to be addressed in the market. Not all of it, obviously, you know, reusable or appropriate to the tenants that we deal with, but I don't – I think the only indication of potentially them slowing down with respect to our discussions would be based on other alternatives in the market that they're considering.

Okay, pretty helpful. And last one for me, just in Kelowna with the new store, I guess, ready to be and I believe the REIT owns the other store that's going to be vacated in that market. Are there plans to backfill that? What's the plan there?

We're working on that right now, Sam. We do have a couple different alternatives for the site, so we're thinking our way through options, so stay tuned.

All right. Good luck with that. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 1 on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Markettis with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Two quick ones for me. I guess just first on Winkler, just a modeling question here. I guess it's a redevelopment that came on stream in the third quarter. Presumably there was – it's now substantially complete, but presumably there was some income tied to it before. So how should we be thinking of the increment from that delivery that came on stream going forward?

With that particular one, Mike, we had at one point the Canadian tire store in Chubb because we were expanding it, and the mall wasn't. and then the store went back in and the mall went into PUD, I would say maybe 60% is attributable to the mall versus 40% to the CT store, if that helps.

Okay, so the total amount delivered is just with respect to what was completed, not the entire project? That's right, the mall, redevelopment component of it. Okay, thank you for that. And then just with respect to the $148 million of capital that you guys have to spend or are committed to spend over the next 12 months, I'm obviously opportunity dependent, but given where your balance sheet is, where your cost of capital is, what's your appetite if the opportunities presented themselves to ramp that up materially further? How much capacity do you see yourselves as having?

I think we have a strong appetite to ramp it up. I don't know if I would describe that appetite as material. We see some opportunities in the market, and I think we're in a good spot. We've talked about our dry powder in past quarters, and certainly we have the financial capability and flexibility to go hunting a little bit. But retail is still among the most sought-after asset classes. The type of assets we're looking at are are well leased with good tenants. So there's competition for that, but we try to pick our spots. And I think we've got a nice pipeline on the development side. We're showing all the different ways we can affect our growth through our investment program. And I think we'd like to do a little bit more as we look to 2026, if possible.

Okay. Actually, just one more from you before I turn it back. With respect to hunting out there for retail, is the acquisition criteria such that if it doesn't, from third parties, if it doesn't have a CT in the entire store in it, that it would potentially, that would be the goal is to have something like that? Or would you ever purchase something that would just be a third-party retail property and so be it?

We would definitely purchase third-party retail property unaffiliated with Canadian Tire. Now, there's two versions of what that could look like. Something that's a little bit more strategic, so adjacent lands, adjacent assets, something that we think long-term we can bring Canadian Tire into. So I'll say unaffiliated with Canadian Tire in its current form, but potential strategic rationale for why we'd be acquiring it. The other ones that we would look at is things like what we've done in the past with our bank branch portfolio, just third party, single tenant, net lease, long-term leases, good credit type assets, portfolios preferably. But it's been a long time since we've seen something like that that we're interested in, that the pricing works for us. I mean, it's gotten quite expensive in that space, especially when you're talking about tenants like banks or you know, certain QSR restaurants or pharmacies. So, you know, again, we've always looked at that opportunistically. We like it. We'd like to own more of it, but we're only going to do that if it, you know, makes sense for us. Thank you for the call. We'll be right back.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Pam Eber with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thanks. Maybe just one for me. Along the lines of acquisitions, can you maybe just comment on perhaps the timing of when we may see additional vendings from CTC? If I recall, I think there's maybe 15, 20 properties left at that level. And then secondly, if you have any comments on the potential value of those remaining assets.

Hi, Tommy. Yeah, there's probably closer to 15 now. You know, we've always looked at the bend-ins as, you know, a lever we can pull when maybe there isn't as much development or as much third party that's ongoing to continue our, you know, steady pace of investment activity generally. So, I think you'll see us continue to do, you know, a couple a year. You know, I think the total size of the entire portfolio that we would be interested in buying is probably somewhere between $150 and $200 million today.

Got it. That's all I had. Thanks very much, Kevin.

Thanks, Colin.

Thank you. As there are no further questions at this time, I will turn the call over to Kevin Salzberg, President and CEO, for closing remarks.

Thank you, Lauren, and thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again in February after we release our Q4 results. Have a good day.

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.