Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust

Good morning and welcome to Premieres REIT's first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute. After the prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. During this call, management of Premieres REIT may make statements containing forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Premier Israel's control that could cause actual results that differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained in Premieres Reit's filings with security regulators. These filings are also available on Premieres Reit's website at www.premieresreit.com. Your host for today's call will be Mr. Alex Avery, Chief Executive Officer of Premieres Reit. Mr. Avery, please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today to discuss Primaris REIT's quarterly results. Joining me on the call are Patrick Sullivan, President and Chief Operating Officer, Rags DeVleur, Chief Financial Officer, and Leslie Boost, Senior Vice President, Finance. The team and I have lots of interesting updates to share. Q1 results are strong and reflect a business running ahead of our prior expectations. Pat and Rags will provide further details on our recent performance and our prospects over the remainder of 2022 in a moment, but I'll share a few thoughts about how our team and business are progressing. Two weeks ago, we completed our first company-wide asset management conference since becoming a standalone company, bringing together general managers and property managers from across the country with our asset management team to review and assess business plans for each of our assets. This was the first asset management conference that I've participated in since joining Primaris, and I was struck by how passionate our team is about our properties. There is clear positive momentum in our business at the property level with committed occupancy rising, rental rates growing, and significant room for further growth. As we explore the opportunities embedded within our portfolio, It was clear that by transitioning from a subsidiary of a larger company where we represented 20% of the asset base to becoming a standalone company where our business represents 100% of management's focus, we now have five times the attention being paid to each asset. And that means five times the focus on opportunities embedded in our portfolio as we see the cyclical recovery unfolding over the next few years. This is reflected in our raised guidance, detailed in Section 15 of our MD&A. We continue to make progress, significant progress, finding our stride organizationally with these, our second set of financial statements now reported, our asset management conference under our belt. We're building out our financial reporting team and our financial planning and analysis team and working on continuing to expand and refine our disclosure package in keeping with investor demand and best practices. We continue to see very attractive opportunities to deploy capital and leverage our management platform. These opportunities span acquisitions of leading shopping centres from Canadian institutions and intensifications and redevelopments of our existing shopping centres to buying back our units for cancellation and deploying capital to lease up space in our owned portfolio. Pretty much everywhere we look, there are significant opportunities that we can act on to create value for our unit holders. I'll now turn the call over to Pat to discuss our platform operating and leasing results, followed by Rags, who will discuss our balance sheet, financial results, and provide you with an update on our disclosure package. Pat?

Thank you, Alex, and good morning. Our teams have diligently integrated the HOOC properties, reviewing and identifying opportunities to increase value in these new centers. We've been applying our management techniques to decentralize services by empowering our general managers to actively manage these properties. Specifically, we target lowering costs to align with the core focus of Primaris, providing affordable space for our retail partners, increasing occupancy by leveraging our relationship with retailers, and the identification of development opportunities on excess lands. During the first quarter, sales averaged 91% as compared to the same period in 2019. While January sales lagged at 78% of 2019 sales due to the uprising of the Omicron variant, portfolio-wide sales increased to 97% of pre-pandemic levels in both February and March. Food courts, typically a barometer for mall traffic, continue to show rising sales activity, with the February and March sales being at 80% compared to pre-pandemic figures. Q4 2021 portfolio food court sales, by way of example, were 75%. Leasing activity continues to be strong, continuing the trend from Q4 2021. Several large renewal transactions were completed during the quarter, specifically Sport Check at Plaster Orleans, where they occupy 68,500 square feet, and Cineplex at Devonshire Mall, where they occupy 58,000 square feet. In addition, we completed a transaction with Sephora to open a new store at Plaster O.M., a highly productive international tenant owned by LVMH. With new Sephora stores opening at Stone Road Mall in Guelph and Macalester Place in St. John later this year, Primaris has grown its partnership with Sephora to 11 locations, with several more locations currently under discussion. Overall, renewal rents were up 2.5%. CRU renewal rents were modestly lower by 3.7%, while large-format renewal rents grew by 15.4%. If we exclude four CRU tenants totaling 7.5% of the total square footage renewed during the quarter that were renewed at lower rents and on a short-term basis, CRU renewal rents would have increased by 1.5%. With sales increasing in positive absorption, we expect metrics to continue to improve. In-place occupancy for the combined portfolio was 85.9% at the end of March 2022, with the original Primaris portfolio at 87.2%, and the six acquisition properties at 83.5%. The original Primaris occupancy figure is relatively flat at Q4 2021 and Q1 2021, and includes Northland Village Shopping Centre, which is in the process of being converted to an open-air centre. If we exclude Northland Village from the in-place occupancy statistics, the original Primaris occupancy would have been 89.9% as at Q1 2021. 2021 compared to 88% in Q1 of 2021. And committed occupancy would have been 92.2% as compared to 90.6% in Q1 of 2021. Primaris properties are located on more than 900 acres of land, typically located on main commercial thoroughfares and proximate to public transit. And we continue to review options with regard to access density. We have received conditional approval at Dufferin Mall in Toronto to construct approximately 1,200 residential units as part of the redevelopment of a four-acre parcel primarily used for parking at the north end of the property. Approval is conditional on working through administrative process with the City of Toronto, and we anticipate unconditional approval by the end of June 2022. We are considering options to develop or monetize all or a portion of this land. Northland Village in Calgary is scheduled for redevelopment with plans to demolish the interior mall this spring and convert the property into a mixed-use open-air retail center. Approximately two acres of land was recently severed and sold to a residential developer for $5.8 million. The developer has commenced construction of 240 residential units, which are anticipated to be ready for occupancy Q1 of 2023. Redevelopment plans for the shopping center are conditional on pre-leasing efforts, and we expect the development to be constructed in phases over a three-year period. Additionally, we have commenced construction on several other development projects, the redevelopment of the former Sears store at Quinty Mall in Belleville. 30,000 square feet of this space has been leased to winners, and they are expecting to be open in Q1 2023. The remaining 60,000 square feet of the store is being demolished in favor of constructing out parcel retail on the periphery of the property. Pre-leasing efforts are underway. At Cataraqui Mall in Kingston, we have commenced construction on the redevelopment of the Sears store, which will incorporate a first-to-market 15,000-square-foot L.L. Bean store. At Medicine Hex, construction is commenced for a new 35,000 square foot Fresh Crow store with an anticipated opening date of Q2 2023. Lastly, we are completing the redevelopment of the former Sears at Lansdale Mall in Peterborough. SportCheck is relocated and expanding into 24,000 square feet and is expected to open in December of 2022. We are in discussions with several large format retailers to lease the remaining 20,000 square feet of space and anticipate announcing a transaction shortly. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Matt to discuss our financing and financial results.