Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (“Boardwalk”, the “REIT” or the “Trust”) today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2020.
Sam Kolias; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Boardwalk REIT commented: “We are reporting our first quarter results today, in a time where our world is adapting to a new way of living. Boardwalk’s top priority remains the health and safety of both our Resident Members as well as Boardwalk’s Team of Heroes who everyday are performing and delivering our essential service of safe and affordable housing.
Boardwalk’s commitment to providing the best product quality, service and experience has made Boardwalk a choice housing provider before and through this pandemic and have allowed us to create new long-lasting relationships with our Residents. Our Residents have rewarded us with even higher Net Promoter Scores, higher retention and higher occupancy which are positioning us well as our governments begin to ease restrictions.”
Mr. Kolias concluded: “The pandemic has allowed us to expedite many of the initiatives already planned for the year, such as our implementation of Resident-friendly technology. Our new Resident Member online self-service Yuhu portal, has seen strong adoption and allowed our team to communicate and deliver our service 24/7, while remaining physically distant. Our team has implemented many other measures to provide safe and happy homes for Boardwalk’s Resident Members.
Boardwalk’s solid first quarter results and the continued strong performance our team has delivered over the past two years is a reflection of the improved culture and quality of our portfolio as we remain committed to our product, brand and service, to provide safe and affordable homes to our Resident Members.”
FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
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$ millions, except per unit amounts |
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|
Highlights of the Trust’s First Quarter 2020 Financial Results |
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|
3 Months Mar 31, |
3 Months Mar 31, |
% Change |
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|
Operational Highlights |
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|
Total Rental Revenue |
$ |
116.0 |
$ |
111.9 |
3.7% |
|||
|
Same Property Total Rental Revenue |
$ |
114.0 |
$ |
109.8 |
3.8% |
|||
|
Net Operating Income (NOI), as reported |
$ |
64.7 |
$ |
59.9 |
7.9% |
|||
|
Same Property NOI * |
$ |
65.2 |
$ |
60.3 |
8.1% |
|||
|
Operating Margin (as reported) |
55.7% |
53.6% |
||||||
|
Same Property Operating Margin * |
57.2% |
54.9% |
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|
Financial Highlights |
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|
Funds From Operations (FFO) |
$ |
31.5 |
$ |
28.2 |
11.4% |
|||
|
Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO) |
$ |
26.4 |
$ |
22.3 |
18.5% |
|||
|
Profit (Loss) for the Period ** |
$ |
57.9 |
$ |
(7.7) |
847.3% |
|||
|
FFO per Unit (Includes $0.03 of retirement costs in 2020) |
$ |
0.62 |
$ |
0.56 |
10.7% |
|||
|
AFFO per Unit (Includes $0.03 of retirement costs in 2020) |
$ |
0.52 |
$ |
0.44 |
18.2% |
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|
Net Asset Value |
||||||||
|
IFRS Asset Value per Diluted Unit (Trust & LP B), period end |
$ |
120.04 |
$ |
121.22 |
||||
|
Debt Outstanding per Diluted Unit, period end |
$ |
(58.41) |
$ |
(58.18) |
||||
|
Net Asset Value (NAV) per Diluted Trust Unit (Trust & LP B), period end |
$ |
61.63 |
$ |
63.04 |
||||
|
Cash per Diluted Unit (Trust & LP B), period end |
$ |
0.61 |
$ |
0.69 |
||||
|
Total per Diluted Unit (Trust & LP B), period end |
$ |
62.24 |
$ |
63.73 |
||||
|
Liquidity, Debt and Distributions |
||||||||
|
Cash Position, period end |
$ |
31,000 |
||||||
|
Subsequent Committed Financing |
$ |
69,000 |
||||||
|
Line of Credit |
$ |
200,000 |
||||||
|
Total Available Liquidity |
$ |
300,000 |
||||||
|
Liquidity as a % of Period Total Debt |
10% |
|||||||
|
Debt (net of cash) as a % of Reported Asset Value |
48% |
|||||||
|
Principal Outstanding, period end |
$ |
2,854,239 |
$ |
2,830,036 |
||||
|
Interest Coverage Ratio (Rolling 4 quarters) |
2.78 |
2.69 |
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|
Regular Distributions Declared (Trust Units & LP B Units) |
$ |
12.8 |
$ |
12.7 |
0.2% |
|||
|
Regular Distributions Declared Per Unit (Trust Units & LP B Units) |
$ |
0.250 |
$ |
0.250 |
0.0% |
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|
Regular Payout as a % FFO |
40.5% |
45.1% |
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|
Stabilized Apartment Units |
32,769 |
32,968 |
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|
Un-Stabilized Units |
575 |
449 |
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|
Total Apartment Units |
33,344 |
33,417 |
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*Same Property figures exclude un-stabilized properties and sold assets
** Profit (Loss) for the period as defined by IFRS includes the changes in assets and/or liabilities carried at fair value
NOI, FFO and AFFO are widely accepted supplemental measures of the performance of a Canadian Real Estate entity; however, they are non-GAAP financial measures as they are not measures defined by International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). The reconciliation of FFO, AFFO and other financial performance measures can be found in the Management Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) for the three months ended March 31, 2020, under the section titled, “Non-GAAP Measures”, which is available under the Trust’s profile at www.sedar.com.
DELIVERING SOLID OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Occupancy within the Trust’s stabilized portfolio increased as the number of rentals exceeded the number of moveouts (as a percentage of total portfolio) each month. Boardwalk’s stabilized occupancy in April of 2020 was 96.6%
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Portfolio Highlights for the First Quarter of 2020 |
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|
Mar-20 |
Dec-19 |
Mar-19 |
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|
Average Occupancy (Quarter Average)* |
96.03% |
96.19% |
96.64% |
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|
Average Monthly Rent (Period Ended) |
$ |
1,143 |
$ |
1,132 |
$ |
1,105 |
|
Average Market Rent (Period Ended) |
$ |
1,337 |
$ |
1,341 |
$ |
1,301 |
|
Average Market Rent (Period Ended), net of incentives |
$ |
1,241 |
$ |
1,248 |
$ |
1,189 |
|
Average Occupied Rent (Period Ended) |
$ |
1,185 |
$ |
1,182 |
$ |
1,141 |
|
Loss -to-Lease (Period Ended) ($ millions ) |
$ |
58.0 |
$ |
60.8 |
$ |
61.3 |
|
Loss -to-Lease (Period Ended) ($ millions ), net of incentives |
$ |
21.4 |
$ |
24.9 |
$ |
18.4 |
|
Loss -to-Lease Per Trust Unit (Period Ended) |
$ |
1.14 |
$ |
1.19 |
$ |
1.21 |
|
Loss -to-Lease Per Trust Unit (Period Ended), net of incentives |
$ |
0.42 |
$ |
0.49 |
$ |
0.36 |
*Average occupancy is adjusted to be on a same-property basis
|
2020 Monthly Occupancy |
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|
Month |
Occupancy |
Moveouts |
Rentals |
|
January |
95.5% |
2.3% |
3.5% |
|
February |
96.1% |
2.6% |
3.3% |
|
March |
96.5% |
2.7% |
2.9% |
|
April |
96.6% |
2.5% |
2.9% |
Boardwalk’s core Alberta portfolio continues to deliver solid growth with our two largest markets, Edmonton and Calgary, delivering 8.8% and 8.1% same property NOI growth in the first quarter, respectively, as compared to the same period in 2019. The Trust’s Ontario and Quebec markets, which represent over 25% of the Trust’s portfolio, are continuing to deliver strong and stable results with record high occupancy and increasing market rents, contributing significant NOI growth of 10.5% and 11.4%, respectively, in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2019. Saskatchewan has seen improvement of housing balance with 2.4% same property NOI growth in the first quarter versus the same period last year.
Overall in the first quarter, the Trust delivered revenue growth of 3.8%, and reduced operating expenses by 1.5% resulting in portfolio stabilized NOI growth of 8.1%, each as compared to the same period in 2019.
|
Mar 31 2020 – 3 M |
# of Units |
% Revenue |
% Operating |
% Net |
% of NOI |
||
|
Edmonton |
12,906 |
4.0% |
(1.1)% |
8.8% |
37.1% |
||
|
Calgary |
5,657 |
3.9% |
(2.8)% |
8.1% |
21.8% |
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|
Red Deer |
939 |
1.5% |
10.3% |
(6.7)% |
2.1% |
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|
Grande Prairie |
645 |
8.0% |
8.3% |
7.8% |
1.6% |
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|
Fort McMurray |
352 |
0.2% |
(4.5)% |
5.0% |
1.0% |
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|
Alberta |
20,499 |
3.9% |
(0.9)% |
7.9% |
63.6% |
||
|
Quebec |
6,000 |
2.6% |
(9.0)% |
11.4% |
19.0% |
||
|
Saskatchewan |
3,685 |
3.4% |
4.6% |
2.4% |
10.3% |
||
|
Ontario |
2,585 |
6.9% |
2.2% |
10.5% |
7.1% |
||
|
32,769 |
3.8% |
(1.5)% |
8.1% |
100.0% |
PROVIDING OUR ESSENTIAL SERVICE OF SAFE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING THROUGH COVID-19
The health, safety, and well-being of our Resident Members and Associates remain our top priority; and as we continue to deliver homes to our Resident Members through this pandemic, Boardwalk remains committed to providing transparency and information to its stakeholders:
- Boardwalk has collected 97.5% of its rental revenue due in April, and is approximately 80 basis points below a typical rental collection
- Boardwalk is actively following-up with any of its Resident Members in arrears or in need of a payment plan
- Boardwalk’s rent collection to-date for the month of May is slightly ahead of the trend seen in April
- Approximately 0.5% of Boardwalk’s revenue is currently on a rent deferral program
- Boardwalk’s payment plan application, for Resident Members facing financial hardship, was made available to all of its Resident Members.
- Boardwalk’s occupancy within its stabilized portfolio at the end of April 2020 was 96.6%.
- Turnover (notices for moveout) in the month of May, to-date, have decreased by approximately 25%.
- Boardwalk has seen an increase in online / self-service payments in April and May. Approximately 40% of payments were made via pre-authorized payment, 30% in-person, and 30% online.
Q1 REGULAR MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION ANNOUNCEMENT
The Trust has confirmed its regular monthly distribution for the months of May, June and July 2020 as follows:
|
Month |
Per Unit |
Annualized |
Record Date |
Distribution Date |
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|
May-20 |
$ |
0.0834 |
$ |
1.00 |
29-May-20 |
15-Jun-20 |
|
Jun-20 |
$ |
0.0834 |
$ |
1.00 |
30-Jun-20 |
15-Jul-20 |
|
Jul-20 |
$ |
0.0834 |
$ |
1.00 |
31-Jul-20 |
17-Aug-20 |
In line with Boardwalk’s distribution policy of maximum re-investment, the Trust’s payout ratio remains conservative at 40.5% of Q1-2020 FFO; and 38.0% of the last 12 months FFO.
Boardwalk’s regular monthly distribution provides a stable and attractive yield for the Trust’s stakeholders.
FINANCIAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Boardwalk produces quarterly financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis, and a supplemental information package that provides detailed information regarding the Trust’s activities during the quarter. Financial and supplementary information is available on Boardwalk’s investor website at www.bwalk.com/investors
TELECONFERENCE ON FIRST QUARTER 2020 FINANCIAL RESULTS
Boardwalk invites you to participate in the teleconference that will be held to discuss these results tomorrow morning (May 15, 2020) at 11:00 am Eastern Time. Senior management will speak to the period’s results and provide an update. Presentation materials will be made available on Boardwalk’s investor website at www.bwalk.com/investors prior to the call.
Teleconference: The telephone numbers for the conference are 416-764-8650 (local/international callers) or toll-free 1-888-664-6383 (within North America).
Note: Please provide the operator with the below Conference Call ID or Topic when dialing in to the call.
Conference ID: 43760491
Topic: Boardwalk REIT First Quarter Results
CORPORATE PROFILE
Boardwalk REIT strives to be Canada’s friendliest communities and currently owns and operates more than 200 communities with over 33,000 residential units totaling over 28 million net rentable square feet. Boardwalk’s principal objectives are to provide its Residents with the best quality communities and superior customer service, while providing Unitholders with sustainable monthly cash distributions, and increase the value of its trust units through selective acquisitions, dispositions, development, and effective management of its residential multi-family communities. Boardwalk REIT is vertically integrated and is Canada’s leading owner/operator of multi-family communities bringing Residents home to properties located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec.
Boardwalk REIT’s Trust units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol BEI.UN. Additional information about Boardwalk REIT can be found on the Trust’s website at www.bwalk.com/investors and under the Trust’s profile at www.sedar.com
Contact Information:
www.bwalk.com
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