InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the InterRent REIT Q1 2025 Earnings Webcast Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during the call you will require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Friday, May 16, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Renee Wei. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Interim Reads Q1 2025 earnings call. My name is Renee Wei, Director of Investor Relations and Sustainability. You can find the presentation to accompany today's call on the investor section of our website under investor presentations. We're pleased to have Brad Cutsey, President and CEO, Kurt Miller, CFO, and Dave Nevin, COO on the line today. As usual, the team will present some prepared remarks and then we'll open up to questions. Before we begin, I want to remind listeners that certain statements about future events made on this conference call are forward-looking in nature. Any such information is subject to risk, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially. For more information, please refer to the cautionary statements on forward-looking information in the news release and MDNA. dated May 15, 2025. During the call, management will also refer to certain non-IFRS measures. Although the REIT believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about its financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please see the REIT's MD&A for additional information regarding non-IFRS financial measures, including reconciliations to the nearest IFRS measures. Brad, over to you.

Thanks, Renee, and good morning, everyone. During the first quarter, we continue to see resilience in the rental market, even as broad macro and political uncertainties remain and short-term supply-demand dynamics continue to play out in certain markets. Our high-quality portfolio performed well, with occupancy holding steady at 96.8% for the total portfolio and improving by 10 basis points to 96.9% for the same property portfolio. These reflective, proactive steps we took early on to position ourselves heading into the peak leasing season, which partially contributed to higher operating costs this quarter. We'll touch on that later in the call. We also delivered consistent year-over-year AMR growth of 6.2% for the total portfolio and 5% for the same properties during the month of March. Healthy occupancy and steady AMR gains drove another quarter of solid revenue growth. Total portfolio proportional operating revenues grew by 1.7% year-over-year, though that growth was impacted by dispositions completed during the past 12 months, which only contributed partially, or not at all, to Q1 2025 top line. Year-over-year growth in the same property was 4.7%. After a relatively mild winter in Q1 2024, this past winter was notably colder across the core markets. Average heating degree days across the portfolio were up 18% year-over-year, well above the five-year average. Colder temperatures and heavier snowfall drove an increase in utility, snow removal, and other weather-related expenses. We also made the proactive decision to increase marketing spend and invest early in preparing our communities for the upcoming leasing season. These factors contributed to higher operating costs, which partially offset revenue gains and put pressure on NOI margins for the court. Same property NOI margins dipped by 110 basis points from last year but remained at a healthy 64.1% compared to Q1 levels in previous years. We earned a solid same property NOI growth of 3.1% for the quarter. Despite the impact of dispositions, the resulting smaller portfolio delivered FFO of $21.8 million for the quarter, reflecting a 3.3% year-over-year improvement. On a per-unit basis, FFO was $0.15 and an increase of 4.2% from the same period last year. On our last earnings call, we shared the next phase of our value-enhancing disposition strategy following our annual portfolio review, which is anticipated to generate net equity proceeds of $125 million to $140 million. We're progressing well. So far this year, we've already generated $39 million in net proceeds through three dispositions. We'll share more details on those later in the call. These dispositions have not only strengthened the quality of our portfolio, but also allowed us to repurchase $4.8 million for 3.2% of our diluted outstanding units in Q1. Post Q1 and through end of April, we repurchased an additional 1.2% of our outstanding units, representing a 4.4% total reduction in our unit count. We executed these buybacks at a significant discount to our IFRS NAV, directly delivering value to our investors. In addition, these proceeds further strengthen our balance sheet, increasing our interest coverage ratio to 2.6 times. With total debt to growth spurs value standing at a healthy 40.9% and $236 million in available liquidity, we will continue to take a disciplined approach to capital recycling, always prioritizing the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet. We will continue to build on our track record of prudent capital allocation with the lens of balancing near-term opportunities and long-term value creation. We view the current market environment as requiring a balanced approach, including opportunistic unit repurchases in a volatile public market environment and preserving liquidity for long-term capital strategies. Now, I'll let Dave take it from here to look at some of the operating highlights.