NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT

TSX:NWH.UN

Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to the Northwest Healthcare Third Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Alyssa Barry, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Alyssa Barry, executive]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Northwest Q3 2024 Conference Call. Thank you for joining us today. This call is being recorded, and a replay will be available on our website at www.nwhreit.com.

Today's discussion includes forward-looking statements. As always, we want to caution you that such statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs. These forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Please see our public filings on SEDAR+, including our MD&A and annual information form for a discussion of these risk factors.

Please note all currencies referenced today are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Presenting on today's call, we have Craig Mitchell, our CEO; and Stephanie Karamarkovic, CFO; Mike Brady, our President; and Tracy Whittall, our Chief Operating Officer, are also present and available for the question-and-answer session.

I will now turn it over to Craig for his opening remarks.

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

Thank you, Alyssa. Good morning, everyone. Q3 was a strong quarter for execution as we continue to reduce leverage, make major strides in lowering G&A expenses, and minimize near-term debt expiries, all while maintaining operational excellence. Key updates from this past quarter highlight our dedication to achieving sustainable growth and financial strength.

As noted in our Q3 2024 results news release of yesterday, demand for healthcare real estate remains strong as evidenced in our portfolio performance. We reported industry-leading key performance indicators. Same-property net operating income on a consolidated basis increased by 5% compared to the same period last year.

Our portfolio occupancy of 96% is underpinned by a weighted average lease expiry of 13.4 years with over 86% of leases subject to rent indexation. The portfolio comprised of more than 1,740 tenants on September 30. The REIT's cash flow continues to be highly diversified. Our global rent collection rate at September 30, 2024, was nearly 99%. And during the quarter, we executed 369,000 square feet of leasing deals at a retention rate of 88%.

Also, we made noteworthy progress this quarter on our asset disposition and balance sheet improvement strategies. We successfully completed the sale of our U.K. portfolio to Assura, generating $885 million in gross proceeds, using net cash proceeds to repay debt and concluding our strategic review. This major transaction results in accretive debt reduction and aligns with our objective to simplify the business and achieve a more favorable leverage level.

We also continue to actively assess our portfolio and identify further opportunities to unlock value through noncore asset sales, with the REIT having over $200 million of assets currently listed for sale or under contract. Through recent asset sales and refinancing initiatives, we've addressed more than 80% of our 2025 debt maturities, reducing our overall debt exposure. Since Q2 2024, we've repaid, refinanced or extended a total of $1.1 billion in debt, which Stephanie will discuss further in her remarks.

To further strengthen our portfolio long-term income stability, we took steps to extend key leases in Brazil. We recently renewed the 157,000 square feet leased for Sabara Hospital on a 10-year term, addressing our only major 2025 lease maturity and subsequently listed the property for sale. We also completed early lease extensions for 2 properties leased to Rede D'Or. These activities have improved the lease maturity profile of our Brazilian portfolio extending the WALE to 18.2 years with fully inflation index leases.

Through active asset management, material and early lease extensions were also achieved in Australasia, with key operators on 5 major hospital assets. These lease extensions vary between 5 and 10 years and collectively, amongst others, leasing achievements have materially increased the global portfolio WALE to 13.4 years and this compares to 12.9 years in Q2 2024, which included the U.K. portfolio of over 25 years.

Looking ahead, healthcare real estate continues to stand out as a steady asset class with strong demand. The central nature of health care facilities typically supported by government funding and long-term inflation index leases, provides investors in this sector with a unique foundation of stability and long-term cash flows. While the macroeconomic environment remains dynamic and global central banks calibrate monetary policies to balance growth and inflation, we expect that business to remain robust, bolstered by durable demand drivers such as an aging population and a sustained need for health care services.

We believe Northwest is well positioned to meet this growing demand. Our high-quality portfolio, which consistently maintains high occupancy rates and strong cash collection underscores the reliability of health care real estate even through economic fluctuations. Our achievements to date demonstrate our commitment to building a more resilient, focused and institutional quality health care REIT.

I'll now hand over to Stephanie.

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

Thanks, Craig. Our portfolio performance remained strong through Q3 2024, considering the disposition of noncore properties in the last 12 months. As a result, our Q3 revenue from investment properties decreased by 12% over the prior year. Lower revenue from dispositions was partially offset by rent escalations and indexation across all of our regions.

The REIT delivered consolidated same-property net operating income of $70.7 million, which is 5% higher than Q3 2023, driven by the expiry of a free rent period in Canada, inflationary adjustments on rents, rentalized capital spend and improved recoveries, reflecting steady growth in our underlying leases.

Q3 2024 FFO per unit was $0.11, excluding the impact of accelerated amortization of deferred financing fees as a result of significant debt repayments during the quarter. This compares to $0.14 per unit in Q3 2023. However, excluding the impact of interest rate caps that expired earlier this year, FFO in Q3 2023 was $0.09 per unit. The increase of $0.02 per unit over the prior year is mainly attributable to improvements in interest expense and G&A expenses. Q3 2024 AFFO per unit remained in line with our expectations at $0.09 per unit and represents a payout ratio of 99%.

General and administrative expenses, excluding noncash compensation and employee termination benefits were lower by $2.1 million compared to Q3 2023. The decrease over the prior year is primarily a result of the REIT's continued efforts to improve operational efficiency by streamlining and simplifying operations and reducing costs. In a strategic effort to further enhance operational efficiency, during the third quarter, the REIT made the decision to reduce its workforce by approximately 16%.

The REIT recognized termination benefit costs totaling $3.8 million for the 3 and 9 months ended September 30, 2024, which has been included in general and administrative expenses. The workforce reduction measure is expected to result in annualized cash savings of approximately $6.5 million, of which $3.7 million will flow through G&A expenses and property operating costs.

The REIT's G&A cost ratio for Q3 2024 was 6.48%, which is calculated as G&A costs, excluding noncash comp and employee termination benefits, minus base management fees divided by rental revenues. Looking ahead, we anticipate this ratio to trend between 5% and 6% in 2025, driven by our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and enhance overall efficiency.

Interest expense in Q3 2024 was $44.3 million as compared to $58.7 million in Q3 2023. The decrease in interest expense as compared to the prior year is attributable to the reduction in total debt and lower weighted average interest rates as the REIT has focused on repaying high-cost borrowings through its disposition initiatives.

The proportionate value of the REIT's investment properties on September 30, 2024, was $4.3 billion, down from $5.2 billion as of June 30, 2024. The decrease of $900 million is attributable to the disposal of the U.K. portfolio during the quarter at its IFRS carrying value and fair value adjustments in Brazil and Australasia.

The REIT's disposition activity and subsequent to the quarter -- during the quarter and subsequent to the quarter has resulted in the REIT making significant progress on capital management initiatives. Since December 31, 2023, the REIT has reduced proportionate debt from $3.6 billion to $2.7 billion and has reduced proportionate leverage by 160 basis points to 57.3% and consolidated leverage by 270 basis points to 49.2%. The REIT has a stated objective of reducing proportionate leverage below 50% in its pursuit to becoming an institutional quality REIT.

With respect to the REIT's near-term debt maturities, the REIT only has approximately $281 million of remaining 2025 maturities, including $125 million of Series G convertible debentures and $156 million of mortgages and property level borrowings across multiple facilities, which will be refinanced in the normal course. The REIT's objective is to repay the Series G convertible debentures on maturity through existing credit facility capacity and proceeds from further asset sales.

Looking ahead to the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, we expect our earnings to reflect the impacts of our asset disposition, capital management initiatives, and recent reductions in G&A expenses, we remain focused on maximizing operational efficiencies, and further strengthening our balance sheet.

And with that, I'll now ask the operator to open up the call for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Mike Markidis with BMO Capital Markets.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

And Craig, I'm not sure if you're in the Eastern Time Zone, but whatever time zone you're in, good day to you. Stephanie, just on the -- you gave a G&A expense ratio, and I was trying to scribble and get it down. Could you kind of walk us through that math again please and how you're thinking about it?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

Yes, for sure. And just for illustrative purposes, it's in the investor deck as an appendix as a full calculation in the quarterly kind of varying ratios over the quarters, I think, over the last 4 quarters. But it is G&A expenses, as reported, excluding noncash comp and severance. And then we deduct from that base management fees and divide that by rental revenue.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Got it. Okay. And I'll have a look at the deck. But is that done on a proportionate or on a consolidated basis?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

Consolidated basis.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Consolidated. Okay. Just with respect to, I think you said there's some -- I don't know if there's some sales that have been completed post Q4, anything expected to close -- or sorry, post Q3, in the near term. Just curious if you could give us sort of what your corporate liquidity would be today and how that stacks up against the $125 million convert?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

So in our press release, we noted that there was $104 million of liquidity today on existing credit facilities and cash. And then we've also continued to mention that we have over $200 million of assets in various stages of disposition of which we expect them to -- most of those to close in the next couple of quarters.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Okay. So is the $104 million, is that a -- again, is that a consolidated proportionate, does it include Vital? I'm just trying to get...

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

No, none of that includes Vital. It's essentially the cash and debt facilities we have access to at a corporate level.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Okay. So it's a corporate metric. Okay. And then of the assets that are held for sale, so what's the leverage attached to them? I guess I could go to assets held for sale, but just getting a sense of what kind of cash you could get back with that $200 million of assets for sale?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

It's less than 50%.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Less than $50 million or less than 50%?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

50% leverage, yes.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

Okay. And I guess, is there -- in the -- I mean, I hate to go down this road, but in the event, like what are the options available to you if you don't generate the liquidity on that note?

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

Yes, I think -- go ahead, Craig.

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

I think, Mike, we've got quite a few options. As you said, so you've got $100 million worth of headroom today available. You've got $200 million worth of assets, a fair chunk of that is already under contract. So just going through that due diligence. You've got our investment in our securities, whether that be AUHPT or Assura. So we have -- or we have just refinancing options in the debt markets. So I think we've actually got a lot of leaders here as you can appreciate in this market, we play all levers at all times, right, to give us maximum exposure. So I think we're feeling very, very good in where we sit here today.

[Michael Markidis, analyst]

That was actually a great point, I forgot about the Assura shares, so thank you for that. Okay. And then just maybe, Craig, if you could provide us with an update in terms of has the -- in terms of finding your successor, has that -- has the firm been engaged to conduct that search? Has the search commenced?

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

Yes. So yes, a firm has been appointed, and it's a global search firm, major office in Toronto. That was done a couple of months ago. So it is well in track. So already people reaching out to us and we're reaching out to them. So that is a process, it is well in track on process.

[Operator]

The next question is from Sairam Srinivas with Cormark Securities.

[Sairam Srinivas, analyst]

Just thinking about dispositions. I know we've talked about the Brazilian portfolio for a bit now in the last couple of quarters. Has there been any progress in terms of your vision there or in terms of any interest you're kind of seeing there?

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

I think, Sai, it's Craig here. By putting Sabara, so doing the 10-year extension with Sabara and we've put Sabara on the market with CBRE, it really gives us a sense of testing that market and what the local depth and breadth is at hospitals in downtown Sao Paolo, and that gave us a good flavor. But we're always prepared for all the options.

[Sairam Srinivas, analyst]

That's really good color. And maybe just looking at the $200 million or so of assets that are currently under -- on sale, are they mainly -- would it be safe to say they're mainly essentially North America then?

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

About $150 million of it is really Canada, Europe and North America, right? Most of it sits in the Northern Hemisphere because as you appreciate, the Southern Hemisphere in Australasia doesn't provide liquidity. And if I did the comparison between the U.S. and Canada, probably still even more weighted towards Canada. So Riley Park, which we talked about on our last call, is probably the largest asset on the market.

[Sairam Srinivas, analyst]

That makes sense. And maybe just shifting gears to the organic growth disclosures on NOI. I know the organic growth is very strong in North America this quarter, and that's because there was a tenant introduction last year. If you kind of eliminate that in the 2 years, how does that normalized growth look like?

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

Stephanie, I don't have that off the top, so over to you.

[Stephanie Karamarkovic, executive]

Yes. I think we estimate around 3.5% to 4%.

[Sairam Srinivas, analyst]

That makes sense, All right, guys. Thank you so much for this, and I'll turn it back.

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

Just one thing that -- I mean, what we're now seeing is not only getting good lease indexations, but at 88% rent retention, right? We're getting get minimal downtime. And the team is really starting to drive with the folks who are getting some leasing spreads over passing rents on renewals to really kick up that growth as well. So really getting into focusing on the basics.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Showing no further questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Craig Mitchell for any closing remarks.

[Craig Mitchell, executive]

Thank you for your questions today, everyone. As we progress our strategic initiatives during 2025, we are confident in our pathway to a successful business turnaround and the smooth leadership transition. As I announced in October I will be retiring from the REIT. We've built a strong management team and established a solid foundation with significant potential for future growth.

A structured transition process is underway to ensure continuity. And I believe the time is right for a North American-based CEO to build upon our successes. We remain focused on becoming an institutional quality health care REIT with a sustainable financial profile. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress, and thank you very much for your support today. So have a good day, everyone. Thank you.

[Operator]

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.