Slate Grocery REIT

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Slate Grocery Read Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results Call. At this time all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday August 7th 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Shivi Agarwal. Please go ahead.

Thank you operator and good morning everyone. Welcome to the Q2 2025 Conference Call for Slate Grocery Read. I'm joined this morning by Blair Welch, Chief Executive Officer, Joe Plakaitis, Chief Financial Officer, Connor O'Brien, Managing Director, Alan Gordon, Senior Vice President, and Braden Lyons, Vice President. Before getting started I would like to remind participants that our discussion today may contain forward-looking statements and therefore we ask you to review disclaimers regarding forward-looking statements as well as non-IFRS measures, both of which can be found in management's discussion and analysis. You can visit Slate Grocery Read's websites to access all of the REIT's financial disclosure including our Q2 2025 investor update which is available now. I will now hand over the call to Blair Welch for opening remarks.

Thanks Shivi and hello everyone. We are pleased to report strong second quarter financial results for Slate Grocery Read. Our team continues to achieve strong leasing volumes at double-digit rental spreads which drove another quarter of healthy net operating income growth for the REIT. The REIT completed over 423,000 square feet of total leasing throughout this quarter. Renewal spreads were completed at 13.8 percent above expiring rents and new deals were completed at 28.8 percent above comparable average in-place rent. Adjusting for completed redevelopments, same property net operating income increased by 5.7 million or 3.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis. Portfolio occupancy remained stable at 94 percent. In our portfolio average in-place rent of $12.77 per square foot remains well below the market average of $24, providing significant runway for continued rent increases. The REIT has only 172 million of debt maturing through the end of 2026 at the REIT's proportionate interest, representing 12 percent of the REIT's total debt outstanding. We continue to see appetite for high quality grocery and real estate assets in the lending space. In the second quarter, the REIT refinanced a four-property portfolio for 39 million and entered into a credit facility totaling 17 million at attractive spreads. And after quarter end, the REIT amended two of its existing interest rate swaps, extending the maturity and achieving a blended weighted average interest rate of 5 percent. Importantly, the REIT's current portfolio valuation continues to provide significant positive leverage and embedded net operating income growth. We continue to believe in the fundamentals of grocery anchored real estate and have great conviction in the ability of this asset class to perform in today's economic environment. Elevated construction costs and tight lending conditions continue to limit the pace of new development and overall retail availability. And with limited supply and historically low vacancy rates across the sector, grocery anchored real estate remains highly occupied. This dynamic, coupled with virtually no new supply, creates a favorable environment for landlords to retain existing tenants and achieve increases in rents as leases expire. We believe the positive underlying trends in the grocery anchored sector, coupled with below market rents across our portfolio, will enable the REIT to continue growing revenue and generating long-term value for our unit holders. On behalf of the Slate Grocery team and the board, I'd like to thank the investor community for their continued confidence and support. I will now hand it over for questions.