Earnings Call Transcript - ARE Q3 2010

Rhonda Chiger, Investor Relations

Thank you, good afternoon. This conference call includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27-A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21-E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our 2010 earnings per share diluted attributable to Alexandria Real Estate Equities common stockholders, 2010 FFO per share diluted attributable to Alexandria Real Estate Equities common stockholders, the business plans of certain tenants and the expected impact of the retirement or conversion of our unsecured convertible notes. Our actual results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, our failure to obtain capital, debt construction financing and/or equity or refinance debt maturities, increased interest rates and operating costs, adverse economic or real estate developments in our markets, our failure to successfully complete and lease our existing space held for redevelopment and new properties acquired for that purpose and any properties undergoing development, our failure to successfully operate or lease acquired properties, decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates or failure to renew or replace expiring leases, defaults on or non-renewal of leases by tenants, general and local economic conditions and other risks and uncertainties detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this call and we assume no obligation to update this information. For more discussion relating to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements and risks to our business in general, please refer to our SEC filings. And now, I would like to turn the call over to Joel Marcus. Please go ahead.

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

Thank you, Rhonda, and welcome everyone to the third quarter conference call. I am joined by Dean Shigenaga, Krupal Raval, and Steve Richardson. Before we discuss the quarter, I would like to share some macro observations. One of the most striking divides between main street and Wall Street in our country's history is apparent in the ongoing recovery, which has not fulfilled expectations. A notable example is Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot, who stated in the Wall Street Journal on October 15th that if we attempted to start Home Depot today, it would face overwhelming challenges and likely fail. This is a discouraging message in the current environment. The takeaway from yesterday's election is clear: we need to support businesses, create jobs, reduce taxes, and ensure compliance. Given the ongoing challenging macro landscape, Alexandria's establishment of mission-critical lab space in the insurance sector, along with our unique strategy, has proven beneficial in both prosperous and difficult times. We have effectively launched and consistently executed our multitask strategy, focusing on several key areas. This includes achieving positive same-property growth and favorable market adjustments on leases to secure our cash flow stability. We are making strides in leasing vacant spaces, managing both general and administrative, as well as capital expenditures, while maintaining a strong emphasis on return on invested capital from redeveloping both lab and non-lab spaces. Moving forward, we anticipate a slower pace of redevelopment and development on a speculative basis. The landscape has changed significantly, as has our business plan. Our long-term performance reflects our disciplined risk management strategy, focusing on high-quality facilities located in the best AAA adjacency areas, favored due to supply constraints and significant barriers to tenant exit. Regarding our unique and consistently executed strategy, we will continue to selectively acquire strategic assets to enhance our presence in chosen markets, thereby increasing our net operating income with solid returns where suitable and adding value where possible. We consciously avoid lower-quality assets in secondary markets and steer clear of above-market leases with imminent lease expirations, questionable tenant concentrations, and properties priced significantly above market rates. We have transitioned from speculative development before the financial downturn to build-to-suit projects with quality tenants afterward. Additionally, we continue to market non-income generating land parcels, maintaining a robust and diversified tenant portfolio in the industry capable of managing reduced overall healthcare costs. This is crucial. Our aim remains to secure the stability and growth of our dividends while enhancing our balance sheet and diversifying our capital sources. Lastly, it is worth noting that big pharma is currently succeeding in the challenges posed by patent expirations and pipeline gaps. Research and development is showing signs of improvement, and the productivity in late-stage development is increasingly favorable. There is now over a one in three chance for late-stage developments to reach the market, compared to one in four in 2007, and an increased reliance on process outsourcing is expected to significantly boost returns. Therapeutic discovery tax credits have also been increasingly allocated to support local businesses. Now, moving on to our third quarter operational and financial results, we reported $1.11 in funds from operations per diluted share, excluding the debt extinguishment loss. As mentioned before, the company is making good strides on its debt payoff strategy and will continue operating at a lower leverage level moving forward. Dean will provide an update regarding our line of credit during this call. We are also engaged in important discussions around joint ventures that will offer additional funding for our diverse growth initiatives. Despite the tough environment, we achieved positive internal growth metrics, reporting a 0.1% positive GAAP on same property, demonstrating that while many companies have faced difficulties, we have successfully maintained a positive trajectory in this area.

Dean Shigenaga, CFO

On the balance sheet, we continue to operate at a lower leverage level than we’ve been conservative on over time. We will update you on the amendment process to our line of credit. On occupancy, our properties remain stable at about 94% of occupancy while overall occupancy across all properties stands at 89.3%. Historically, our operating properties have averaged 95.2% occupancy. In San Diego, we had a nice pickup in occupancy and remain optimistic about the long-term future there as we establish ourselves as the dominant landlord in the life sciences sector. Importantly, San Diego is transitioning into a med-tech and biotechnology cluster with significant new enterprise growth. In the Bay Area, we saw additional strong leasing activity, and Eastern Mass shows a positive trend, while we expect continued solid pickup in New York, New Jersey, and suburban Pennsylvania. Our leasing efforts have yielded 640,000 square feet signed this quarter at a strong over 8% in GAAP rents. Looking at our redevelopment projects, we are focused and disciplined with minimal capital expenditures associated with leases. Our tenant base continues to be strong, and we remain optimistic about future growth opportunities in these locations.

Steve Richardson, SVP Regional Market of the San Francisco Bay Area

Hello, this is Steve. I will touch on both the life science and broader technology region. The technology companies in the Great Silicon Valley have been doing well. Notable companies in the sector now include San Francisco-based firms such as Zynga, Twitter, and Salesforce.com. Alexandria was pleased to announce that Salesforce.com has identified Mission Bay as a uniquely intellectual center and we completed an all-cash purchase of $278 million comprising approximately 2 million square feet of entitlement including associated parking spaces and related infrastructure with Salesforce.com establishing their iconic headquarters campus. Alexandria will maintain its dominant market position in the Mission Bay life science sector and currently retains three facilities totaling approximately 555,000 square feet, which is nearly fully leased. The company continues to have the ability to develop nearly 300,000 square feet in Mission Bay. The core San Francisco Bay Area life science markets are now experiencing single-digit vacancy rates, and our Class A facilities in this cluster have attracted many industry leaders. We are excited about our continued leasing with significant positive momentum and are optimistic about maintaining a high occupancy rate moving forward.

Dean Shigenaga, CFO

Let me dive deeper into our very recent sales of land parcels. We identified land parcels in Mission Bay for sale, including a parcel adjacent to the future UCSF Hospital campus. Our expected value was significant relative to our cost basis, and we have completed sales of several parcels aggregating approximately 2 million square feet for an estimated total purchase price of about $278 million. This will be utilized primarily for reducing our outstanding debt. The sales will result in a gain of approximately $60 million, improving our balance sheet and reducing capitalized interest expenses. We intend to continue our strong focus on debt reduction and capital management moving forward. Our net debt to gross profits was about 38%, and we anticipate continued improvement of this metric through growth of EBITDA and reduction of outstanding debt. We are maintaining compliance with our facility covenants and are optimistic about potential future acquisitions.

Michael Bilerman, Analyst, Citi

Dean, you talked a little bit about this 12% return on Mission Bay. If you were to look at just the return on what you’ve developed on your investment net of the proceeds from the land sale, what would that return be?

Dean Shigenaga, CFO

Michael, I didn’t run that analysis. I don’t have the answer handy but the simple answer is that it will impact the yields that I provided. Assumptions for these calculations include total investments while considering the impact of reduced net profits from the sale of land.

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

With regards to future initiatives, we are taking a conservative approach. We continue to assess opportunities for re-positioning and evaluating market demand for potential redevelopment. We are actively monitoring the acquisitions landscape as well and are exploring opportunities that match our strategic goals.

Anthony Paolone, Analyst, JPMorgan

Dean, on the Biogen space, do you guys expect them to leave or was this something that was anticipated based on your thoughts?

Dean Shigenaga, CFO

Well, the lease was structured for 15 months so we anticipated they were likely to depart given their reorganization plan.

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

Let’s clarify, we are not deploying out of Mission Bay. We are utilizing proceeds primarily for debt reduction, and the acquisition strategy in San Diego reflects an expansion of our existing footprint there.

Jamie Feldman, Analyst, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

Thank you, Joel. Can you elaborate a bit more about the healthcare IT opportunities and what kind of returns you would think you could achieve?

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

The integration of technology firms within our life science clusters presents significant opportunities as we begin to leverage IT within healthcare. This convergence allows for efficient operations that can fundamentally enhance the services we deliver as landlords. The potential returns appear promising at this junction.

Sheila McGrath, Analyst, KBW

Regarding the land sale at Mission Bay, could you provide insights on the returns versus your original projections?

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

Overall, we believe our performance continues to align positively, as our returns and value realization have exceeded initial estimates across many of the segments we have analyzed. Our strong position in the market reflects both our strategic acquisitions and effective management.

Dean Shigenaga, CFO

Our focus remains toward ensuring that we manage our leverage effectively while observing market opportunities for careful acquisition, land sales, and overall capital deployment tailored to enhance overall NOI growth.

Joel Marcus, Chairman, CEO and President

Finally, thank you all for your ongoing support. We encourage positive momentum within our company and look forward to future discussions. Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you for your participation, this concludes today’s conference call.