Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust

Good morning and welcome to primary streets fourth quarter 2024 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, you may ask one question and one follow up, at which point you may return to the queue, I will now hand over the call to Claire Mahoney Vice President investor relations and ESG please go ahead.

Thank you operator. During this call, management of Primaris READS 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 Primaris READS control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information about these assumptions, risks, and uncertainties are contained in Primaris REIT's filings with security regulators. These filings are also available on our website at primarisreit.com. I'll now turn the call over to Alex Avery, Primaris' Chief Executive Officer.

Good morning. Thanks for joining Primaris REIT's fourth quarter 2024 conference call. Joining me today are Pat Sullivan, President and COO, Rags DeGluer, CFO, Wesley Bust, SVP Finance, Morty Bobrowski, SVP General Counsel, Graham Proctor, SVP Asset Management, and Claire Mahaney, VP IR and ESG. We are very pleased with our 2024 results, particularly our strong growth in same property NOI and FFO per unit. In 2024, FFO per unit was up 6.5%, committed occupancy is approaching 96%, and importantly, we saw continued and material improvement in our recovery ratios. Rising recovery ratios were a key driver in our 2024 financial performance, and there is considerable further room to drive tax recoveries into the low to mid 90s percentage range and CAM recoveries into the high 90s percentages. This should continue to be a key driver for NOI and FFO over the next few years. In addition to our strong financial and operating results, we have been very active leveraging our disciplined capital allocation model, recycling capital from dispositions into acquisitions of leading enclosed shopping centres in growing Canadian markets. On January 22nd, we announced the $585 million acquisition of Oshawa Center in Oshawa, Ontario, and a 50% interest in Southgate Center in Edmonton, Alberta. We are increasing our relevance with retailers and building on Primaris' profile as an attractive buyer of large high-quality assets. Consistent with prior acquisitions, these additions to our portfolio are designed to deliver higher internal growth, driving NAV per unit growth, FFO per unit growth, and ultimately distribution per unit growth. Since December 31st, 2021, Primaris has acquired $2.4 billion of leading enclosed shopping centers from five of Canada's 10 largest pension plans. with the vendors taking back equity and exchangeable preferred equity investments in the REIT. With the transactions announced last month, we have improved the overall quality of our enclosed shopping center portfolio, driving the portfolio's annual same-store sales productivity from $684 per square foot as at September 30th, 2024, to $749 per square foot on a Q4 pro forma basis. These properties enhance the REITs value proposition with retailers and offer a significant income growth opportunity consistent with the growth we see ahead for our existing assets. We continue to be very active in discussions on several acquisitions and dispositions. We have capacity for well more than $1.5 billion of acquisitions and require no financing conditions in our deals. This profile, as a well-capitalized and credible counterparty, is a real differentiator in what is currently a challenging transaction market for many. I'll now turn over the call to Pat to discuss operating and leasing results, followed by Rags, who will discuss our financial results.