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11/14/2025
and Executive Vice President Investments of Ciena Senior Living Inc. Please be aware that certain statements or information discussed today are forward-looking and the actual results could differ materially. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement or information. Please refer to the forward-looking information and risk factors section in the company's public filings, including its most recent MD&A and AIF, for more information. You will also find a more fulsome discussion of the company's results in its MD&A and financial statements for the period, which are posted on CDAR Plus and can be found on the company's website, vianaliving.ca. Today's call is being recorded and a replay will be available. Instructions for accessing the call are posted on the company's website and the details are provided in the company's news release. The company has posted slides which accompany the host's remarks on the company website under Events and Presentations. With that, I will now turn the call to Mr. James. Please go ahead, Mr. James.
Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The third quarter set the stage for a strong finish to this year. There's positive momentum across every part of our company. We achieved strong operational results in both lines of our business, successfully completed two development projects in Ontario, and continue to grow through acquisitions. We're on track to make 2025 a year that marks the next stage of Ciena's growth journey. Both operating platforms delivered strong results in the third quarter. Same property NOI increased by 13.2% in the retirement segment and by 6.7% in long-term care. Key drivers of the double-digit increase in the retirement segment were a strong occupancy increase and rental rate growth as well as higher care revenue. Average same property occupancy was up 230 basis point year over year and has reached 94.1% in the third quarter. Following the quarter, monthly occupancy increased to 94.7% in October, putting us well on our way to achieve a 95% target by the end of this year. Our results also reflect an increase in care revenue. We increasingly apply our expertise in clinical care at our retirement platform, which allows residents to stay with us longer as their care needs change. Additional key drivers behind the strong performance in our retirement segment are our robust sales platform and focused marketing campaigns. Our call center leads remain high, and the number of tours in our properties have significantly increased each quarter this year. Our Q3 leads have increased by 37% year-over-year compared to the same period last year, and we are also encouraged by the results of our recently hosted National Open House in October. We generated a much stronger double-digit increase of new leads compared to our previous event in July. In addition, we maintain a robust focus on hospital outreach and excellent relationships with healthcare and business partners in the communities we operate in. All of these initiatives are expected to drive increasing lead generation and future movements. Beyond the strong same property performance and retirement segment, we are pleased with the results of our optimization efforts in five of our properties. Occupancy increased by 970 basis point year-over-year in Q3 in the optimization portfolio and supported NOI growth of over 40%. Our initiatives to better position these assets within the local markets are clearly delivering results. With respect to our long-term care operations, our fully occupied homes with growing wait lists, high revenue from private accommodations, and annual government funding increases all added to the strength of our results. Our government-funded long-term care operations add significant value to our business and as they provide stability and are largely insulated from market volatility or economic uncertainty. In the coming quarters, we will also start to see the contributions from our recently opened redevelopment projects. Moving to slide six, in September we opened our redeveloped long-term care community in North Bay, followed by a campus of care in Brantford in October. These large-scale projects are complex, require deep expertise and trusted partnerships. And we're especially proud to have delivered them on time and on budget. Once fully stabilized, each of our long-term care redevelopment is expected to grow Ciena's AFFO per share by about 3%. With long wait lists, we expect to see the homes to be fully occupied within 60 days after they open. We are also on track to complete our next redevelopment project in Keswick in 2027. With respect to our development pipeline, we are encouraged by the funding improvements announced by the Ontario government this summer. Improvements for projects in the Greater Toronto Area are especially important to us, given that over 80% of our remaining redevelopment pipeline is, in fact, in the GTA. As a result of these improvements, we expect to start construction of one to two projects next year. Since the beginning of the year, we have also been very active on the acquisition front. The majority of the properties we acquired in 2025 are less than 10 years old and are strategically located in large urban centers. During the third quarter, we strengthened our footprint in the greater Toronto area with the addition of a previously announced 133-suite retirement residence and a 192-bed long-term care home. Since the end of the quarter, we are also entered into two additional acquisition agreements in Ontario. Last week, we signed a purchase agreement for Highgate on Lexington, a 216-suite retirement residence in the city of Waterloo. We will acquire the property in this desirable market for approximately $93.3 million. Highgate also includes a 4.7-acre development site, which is zoned for a retirement residence or residential condominium. Two days ago, we signed a purchase agreement for LaSalle Park, a 123-suite retirement residence in Burlington. A suburb in GTA, we will initially acquire a 78.2% interest in the property for approximately $67.2 million, followed by an additional 10.9% in January 2026, and the final 10.9% in five years. This is our third high-quality acquisition in the Greater Toronto Area this year. where we already have a significant presence and continue to build scale. Collectively, we have added over $800 million of assets through acquisitions and developments to our platform in 2025, and our pipeline continues to stay very strong. Investing in our team members, as we grow and scale our operations, investing in our team members is fundamental to the success of Ciena. With over 15,000 employees, we recognize the importance of programs focused on learning and development, leadership skills, recognition and rewards, all designed to attract and retain a highly engaged workforce. The positive impact of these initiatives is reflected in our most recent employee engagement survey, which was completed in September. The participation rate reached an all-time high of 86%, and the team member engagement score rose for the fifth consecutive time. We're extremely proud of this achievement, which is crucial for the continued success of Ciena. Our investment in our team members was also recognized by Time Magazine, who named Ciena one of Canada's best companies in 2025. With that, I'd turn it over to David for an update on our financial results. Thank you, Nitin, and good morning, everyone.
I will start on slide 10 for financial results. In my commentary, in accordance with our MD&A disclosure, I will make reference to our operating results excluding one-time items. In Q3 2025, revenue on a proportionate basis increased by 16.4% year-over-year to $261.7 million. This increase was largely due to occupancy and rental rate growth, as well as increased care revenue in the retirement segment. Adding to the increase were the contributions from our long-term care platform, including higher flow-through funding for direct care, higher private accommodation revenue, and additional revenue from acquisitions completed in 2025. Same property NOI increased by 9.7% to $46.4 million in Q3 2025, including by 13.2% in our retirement segment and by 6.7% in the long-term care segment. In the retirement segment, same property NOI increased by $2.6 million in Q3 2025 compared to last year, largely as a result of improved occupancy and rate growth. These improvements, in addition to generating higher care revenue and maintaining a strict focus on operating expenses, supported the year-over-year 220 basis point improvement of our same property operating margin. In addition, we are making good progress with respect to our asset optimization initiatives, which includes five assets in the company's retirement portfolio. Q3 NOI in the optimization portfolio increased by over 40% year-over-year with an average margin increase of approximately 540 basis points compared to the same period in 2024. In the long-term care segment, NOI increased by $1.5 million. Fully occupied homes with growing wait lists and continued improvements in private occupancy supported the year-over-year growth. During Q3 2025, operating funds from operations increased by 33.3% to $31.8 million compared to last year, primarily due to higher NOI. Adjusted funds from operations increased by 36.1% to $27.7 million compared to last year. The increase was mainly due to higher OFFO offset by an increase in maintenance capital expenditures. On a per share basis, OFFO and AFFO increased by 9.6% and 12% respectively in Q3 2025. Our Q3 2025 AFFO payout ratio was 78.7% compared to 91.3% in Q3 2024. This significant improvement highlights Ciena's strong operating results and our successful initiatives of deploying capital we raised to fund our growth. In the coming quarters, we also expect to see contributions from our recently completed redevelopment projects reflected in our AFFO. Each redevelopment is expected to contribute on average an additional $4.7 million to Ciena's annual AFFO once it is fully operational. This represents an approximate 3% increase in ASFO per share for each project. In addition, these projects will enhance our balance sheet and further elevate the quality of our asset pool. Throughout the third quarter, we maintained our strong financial position and balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $464 million of liquidity and $1.3 billion of unencumbered assets. On August 21st, we issued $175 million in unsecured debentures at an interest rate of 4.112% to finance our growth initiatives. The significant demand for the debenture resulted in the offering being multiple times oversubscribed. With respect to Ciena's upcoming debt maturities, including the maturity of our $175 million Series B unsecured debenture in Q1 2026, We have multiple attractive financing options available to us. With that, I will turn the call back to Nitin for his closing remarks.
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