Plaza Retail REIT

Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to the Plaza Retail REIT first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at the 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 like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Kim Strange, Plaza's General Counsel and Secretary. Please go ahead, Ms. Strange.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q1 2023 Results Conference call. Before we begin today, we are 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 which are not historical facts. These statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risk 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 in PLASA's recent Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2022, and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2023, 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 similar titled measures reported by other entities. They should be considered as supplemental in nature and not as a substitute for related financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. For definitions of these financial measures and where to find reconciliations thereof, please refer to Part 7 of our MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2023, under the heading Explanation of Non-GAP Measures. I will now turn things over to Michael Zacuta, Plaza's President and CEO. Michael?

Thank you, Kim. Good morning. Plaza's business and tenants focused on essential needs, value, and convenience offerings in open air centers remain strong and resilient and will continue to perform well. This quarter is a building block for future growth with record committed occupancy level, healthy renewal spreads, and robust development pipeline, which will contribute incremental income and value over the next two years. We completed 2022 with the most robust development pipeline in our history, and our focus for 2023 is the execution and delivery of these projects. During the first quarter, we began seeing the results of these efforts, with Marks opening a new store at our project in Bedford, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Princess Auto opening stores at our centers in Chicoutimi, Quebec, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Dollarama opening at our center in Cambridge, Ontario. Further construction is underway with new grocery anchored centres in Stuyak, Nova Scotia, a community just outside of Halifax, in Dieppe, New Brunswick, and Oshawa, Ontario. We have delivered new winter stores in Sault Ste. Marie and Rouen-le-Rando, Quebec, that will be opening soon. We're also in the final stages of planning new grocery anchored centres in Barrie, Ontario, and Welland, Ontario, both of which we expect to start constructing within the next 12 months. Demand from grocery and other essential needs, as well as value retailers, remain strong, and our development projects have generated significant pre-leasing activity. Our existing portfolio continues to benefit from strong demand, which is reflected in our widening renewal spreads and the highest occupancy level in our history. In the quarter, excluding the renewal of one larger size enclosed mall tenant, rents for renewals increased by 7.3%. Over the last year, we continued to face inflation in construction costs and supply chain challenges that delayed delivery of new stores and their resulting revenues. Our last two construction tenders that recently closed, showing much better pricing than anticipated, 10% and 6% below budget respectively. leading us to believe that we have finally turned the corner on construction inflation for open-air style centres. We are still experiencing delivery delays for certain critical building components. However, we anticipate that these delays will dissipate as demand for construction materials softens through 2023. Our underlying business remains very strong. It is interesting to note that our portfolio quality is improving in a meaningful way, We have and continue to successfully shed non-core assets at robust selling prices. We are then redeploying the capital from these sales to develop new high-quality grocery anchored essential needs and value open-air centers across our geography. We are very confident that our business strategy and our tenants will withstand the macroeconomic challenges that everyone is facing. I will now turn the call over to Jim Drake, Plaza's CFO.