Plaza Retail REIT

Good afternoon. I would like to welcome everyone to the Plaza Retail REIT fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star zero for operator assistance at any time. I would now like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Kim Strange, Plaza's General Counsel and Secretary. Please go ahead, Ms. Strange.

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q4 2022 Results Conference Call. Before we begin today, we are legally obliged to advise you that in talking about our financial and operating performance and in responding to questions today, We may make forward-looking statements, including statements concerning plaza's objectives and strategies to achieve them, as well as statements with respect to our plans, estimates, and intentions, or concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, or performance that are not historical facts. These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the conclusions in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on the risks that could impact our actual results and the expectations and assumptions we applied in making these forward-looking statements can be found on Plaza's most recent annual information form for the year ended December 31st, 2021 and management's discussion and analysis for the period ended December 31st, 2022. which are available on our website at www.plazaca and on CDAR at www.cdar.com. We will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures widely used in the Canadian real estate industry, including FFO, AFFO, NOI, and Same Asset NOI. Plaza believes these financial measures provide useful information to both management and investors in measuring the financial performance and financial condition of Plaza. These financial measures do not have any standardized definitions prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other entities. For definitions of these financial measures and where to find reconciliations thereof, Please refer to Part 7 of our MD&A for the period ended December 31, 2022, under the heading Explanation of Non-Gap Measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to Michael Zacuta, Plaza's President and CEO. Michael?

Thank you, Kim. Good afternoon. Our business continues to show great strength and resilience in face of remarkable challenges. In the last three years, we have navigated a pandemic with lockdowns that materially affected business operators, an economic resurgence that created supply chain challenges and boosted inflation, and a series of aggressive interest rate hikes. Recent discussions with our tenants indicate that customers are trading down to more essential needs and value goods and services, offerings that dominate our portfolio and have proven time and again to be steady and reliable in a softening economy. We finished 2022 with our most robust development pipeline ever. Our focus coming into 2023 is to execute and deliver these new developments. In 2024, we will reap the rewards our development work of 2022 and 2023. Demand from leading national retailers remains very strong and pre-leasing for our projects is progressing well. Recent volatility in construction pricing is calming, and project schedules are increasingly predictable. Healthy retailer demand has allowed us to push renewal spreads, and occupancy in our existing portfolio is at an all-time high. Leasing vacancies comes with a cost, but the positive impact from having new and relevant retailers at our centres and increasing our NOI outweighs the short-term impact on AFFO. Most of Paz's debt is in the form of longer-term fixed-rate mortgages with well-laddered expiries, which has been our debt strategy since inception. Mortgages expiring in 2022 were renewed at similar rates, which minimized the impact of increasing interest rates on our business. Further, mortgages expiring in 2023 are expected to be renewed at similar and, in some instances, lower rates. However, we are not immune to increasing interest rates as they have an impact on our operating and development lines, as well as construction financing for new developments. While we expect interest rates to continue to stabilize, we are being prudent in discerning about our sources and use of capital. Plaza remains active, selling non-core assets above our book values. We are reinvesting the proceeds in new value-added projects anchored by Canada's leading essential needs and value retailers. The result is a newer, more relevant portfolio that generates return from quality, stable tenants. Plaza established itself over two decades ago by identifying and executing development and redevelopment opportunities for grocery, pharmacy, and value retailers. One project at a time, we developed these open-air centers in dominant locations within primary and strong secondary markets in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, and Ontario. Plaza knows these markets well and has an established track record of securing the best locations for retailers. As a result of our strategy, we have irreplaceable assets, leads to strong covenant retailers. Our portfolio has never been stronger. We are very excited about the future of our business. Our solid and resilient portfolio and growing pipeline, supported by our entrepreneurial operating development platform and our value-add business strategy, will continue to generate solid results and future growth. I will now turn the call over to Jim Drake, Plaza CFO. Jim?