Plaza Retail REIT

Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to Plaza Retail LEED first quarter 2025 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 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 like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded today. 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 morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q1 2025 results conference call. Before we begin, 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 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 in Plaza's most recent annual information forum for the year ended December 31st, 2024, and management's discussion and analysis for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2025, which are available on our website at www.plaza.ca and on CDARplus at www.cdarplus.ca. We will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures widely used in the Canadian real estate industry, including FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, 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 the trust. These financial measures do not have any standardized definitions prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar titled measures reported by other real estate investment trusts or 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 first quarter ended March 31, 2025, under the heading Explanation of Non-Gap Measures. I will now turn the call over to Jason Paravano, Plaza's President and CEO. Jason?

Thank you, Kim. Good morning. We appreciate you joining us today as we review our financial performance and key achievements for the first quarter of 2025. We're pleased to report that 2025 is off to a solid start. We entered the year with strong momentum and have made meaningful progress in executing our strategy to optimize, intensify, and consolidate our portfolio. In Q1, we successfully increased our ownership interest in Tacoma Plaza, a grocery and pharmacy anchored open-air center located in Halifax from 50% to 100%. This acquisition positions us to fully capture the value creation opportunity at this asset. Subsequent to quarter end, I'm also pleased to announce we have entered into an agreement to increase our ownership in three already owned and managed shoppers drug market locations in ontario from 25 to 100 we expect this transaction to close later this month the ifrs value of the properties is approximately 23 million at 100 ownership we delivered strong shame property performance with same property noi increasing 1.5 percent year over year driven by solid leasing activity and disciplined expense management despite a more challenging winter. Leasing fundamentals remain robust with blended leasing spreads of 15.4% over the renewal term. Our occupancy remains at all-time high levels, underscoring sustained tenant demand and the strategic positioning of our portfolio in markets with constrained retail supply. As renewals take effect during the year, it will continue to positively affect our same property, NOI. We are beginning to see intensification and optimization initiatives materialize as retailers respond to the growing mismatch between supply and demand. We commenced the conversion of approximately 40,000 square feet of existing space into grocery use, expected to generate 1 million of incremental NOI, approximately 600K at our share. We also signed a lease and will begin the construction on a new grocery store on excess land at one of our properties, which will contribute an additional $700,000 of NOI upon completion, with our share at 50%. While space conversions require significant capital, the resulting return on cost and NAV creation fully justifies these investments. However, since these costs are capital in nature, they will impact our ASFO in the short term. We also continue to advance towards a Q2 2026 delivery of our 96,000 square foot Longo's anchored new development in Welland, Ontario, a project that we launched in Q4 2024, where we hold a 50% interest. As part of our 2025 recycling program, we listed several properties for sale during Q1. This initiative is in line with our ongoing efforts to increase the average property size, reduce the average age of assets, and enhance the overall portfolio quality. We are encouraged by the strong purchaser demand and remain optimistic about execution. During the quarter, we also completed the sale of our 50% interest in a parcel of development land in Barrie, Ontario. As Plaza's focus has always been retail, we know it very well. We remain focused on being a best-in-class owner and operator of retail properties. We only read on the TSX offering investors access to pure play essential needs, value, and convenience of retail. I'll now turn the call over to Jim Drake, our CFO.