Industrial Logistics Properties Trust Q2 FY2021 Earnings Call

Good morning, and welcome to Industrial Logistics Properties Trust Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Kevin Barry, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. With me on the call are ILPT’s Chief Executive Officer, John Murray; Chief Financial Officer, Rick Siedel; and Chief Operating Officer, Yael Duffy. In just a moment, they will provide details about our business and our performance for the second quarter of 2021, followed by a question-and-answer session with sell-side analysts.

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to ILPT’s second quarter earnings call. I’ll begin with a brief update on ILPT’s second quarter performance and then turn the call over to Yael and Rick for details on ILPT’s portfolio statistics, leasing activity and financial results. We reported second quarter results that were highlighted by same property cash NOI growth and strong demand for our properties with solid leasing momentum and portfolio occupancy of 99%, up 40 basis points sequentially. We generated normalized FFO of $30.6 million or $0.47 per share, which was stable year-over-year despite the deconsolidation of our joint venture. We executed 564,000 square feet of leases and rent resets, resulting in an average rent roll-up of approximately 18%. In June, we completed our acquisition of a high-quality industrial property in the Columbus, Ohio market area, one of the country’s premier distribution corridors due to its strong rental growth and central location, providing access to nearly 60% of both the U.S. and Canadian population within a one-day drive. The building is 100% net leased to Synnex Corporation for seven years and includes excess land that can accommodate a future expansion of more than 100,000 square feet.

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I’ll begin with an overview of ILPT’s portfolio and then summarize our leasing activity for the second quarter. As of June 30, 2021, ILPT’s portfolio consisted of 291 warehouse and distribution properties in 32 states totaling approximately 35 million square feet. Overall occupancy increased to 99%, a 40 basis point increase compared to the prior quarter. Our mainland portfolio includes 65 properties in 31 states totaling 18 million square feet that are 100% leased. The balance of the portfolio is comprised of 17 million square feet of industrial land and properties in Hawaii. Occupancy in Hawaii was 97.8% at quarter end, a sequential improvement of 80 basis points. The total portfolio has a weighted average remaining lease term of approximately nine years. ILPT’s portfolio remains strong with a diverse roster of credit quality tenants. Our top 20 tenants represent 45% of total annualized rental revenues with Amazon, FedEx and Restoration Hardware representing approximately 10%, 5% and 3% of total annual rental revenues, respectively. Investment-grade rated tenants or subsidiaries of investment-grade rated entities make up more than half of our mainland revenues. Looking at the total portfolio, more than 70% of revenue comes from those investment-grade rated tenants or subsidiaries or from our secure Hawaii land leases. From a geographic perspective, ILPT’s top three markets after Hawaii at 51% are Ohio, South Carolina and Indiana representing 7%, 5% and 5% of our total annualized revenues respectively.

Thanks, Yael, and good morning, everyone. Our rental income and substantially all of our expenses decreased year-over-year following the deconsolidation of the 12 properties in our joint venture during the fourth quarter of 2020. Total portfolio same-property cash basis NOI for the second quarter increased 1.4%, driven by a 1.7% increase in Hawaii and a 1.1% increase on the mainland. The increase in Hawaii was the result of new leasing activity and rent resets combined with higher occupancy year-over-year. The mainland increase was primarily driven by contractual rent steps in our leases. This same-property performance, along with decreases in general and administrative expenses and interest expense, and including our share of FFO from our unconsolidated joint venture, contributed to second quarter normalized FFO of $30.6 million or $0.47 per share. Our results were flat compared to Q2 of last year despite the deconsolidation of 9.2 million square feet in our joint venture. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $40.9 million, and we ended the quarter with a debt-to-EBITDA of 5.3 times, which is approximately two times lower than we reported a year ago. Our property portfolio had minimal capital requirements during the second quarter. We spent approximately $1.1 million on capital expenditures, including $1 million related to recurring CapEx for building improvements and leasing costs. Earlier this month, we declared our regular quarterly distribution to shareholders of $0.33 per share. This equates to an annualized dividend yield of approximately 4.9% based on yesterday’s closing price. Our dividend remains well covered at a 70% normalized FFO payout ratio. As of June 30, we had approximately $537 million in total liquidity, including cash on hand of $31 million and availability on our revolving credit facility of $506 million. We are well positioned to continue to grow our industrial portfolio, increase cash flow, and enhance returns to our shareholders over the long term. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open up the line for questions.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. We take our first question from Bryan Maher from B. Riley Securities.

Good morning. A couple of questions from me, and they relate to Hawaii. About a year ago, I think that there was a little bit of tenant stress for those who had kind of a hospitality-centric business. Has that effectively abated at this point with travel to Hawaii resuming? And are you seeing any pushback on rate increases as those renewals come up?

Hi, Bryan, not at all, actually. We’ve, as you mentioned, starting July 8, Hawaii took away the mandatory quarantine for vaccinated travelers. We’re seeing that there’s been increased air passenger counts, and I think retail spending is up. So I think our tenants are well positioned, and we haven’t seen any pushback on the rental increases.

Okay. Great. And then maybe we can touch a little bit upon the land parcel you purchased in Dallas. That combined with at least one or couple expansion potentials you have at existing sites. John or Yael, can you talk a little bit about the appetite of ILPT and the Board to pursue development on those sites, given how competitive cap rates are? And if you were to pursue that, what kind of dollars and what kind of timeline would we be looking at?

I’ll begin. Yael, feel free to add your thoughts. We would not have purchased the land in Mesquite, Texas, located in the Dallas submarket, if our Board did not support the possibility of development. However, it's not a large piece of land, so it won't contribute significantly to our portfolio when we choose to develop it. Nonetheless, the potential yields from developing in certain markets or expanding existing properties with excess land far exceed the yields available from acquisitions at this time. The RMR group has a development and construction division. We have built in various sectors, including expanding some of our industrial properties already, and we plan to continue this for some of our current tenants. I do not anticipate rapid development on the Mesquite property. We are currently working on zoning, so it is likely more than a year away from actually starting construction, but it is a project we intend to pursue.

And maybe just last for me on that note. Given how tough it is to find developed sites already at acceptable cap rates, how easy is it to find these types of development sites around the countries in high-profile, strong markets like you’ve seen in Columbus and others? Is there a good bit of availability to continue to acquire land for development?

Our main focus has not been on searching for sites. Instead, we are primarily concentrated on acquiring existing properties. Regarding your question, I can provide a partial response. For instance, we consider TravelCenters of America, which has locations along the U.S. Interstate highway system, situated near nearly every major market in the country. Their travel centers typically cover an average of 20 acres of land.

Good morning, thank you. I was hoping that maybe you can dive in a little bit into the 28% that you mentioned of pipeline in advanced stages. Where are the properties, potential yields and timing on closing?

We are still in negotiations, so nothing is final until executed. The 28% I mentioned is primarily in Hawaii, with a few renewals being worked on the mainland. We expect to see a 15% to 20% increase in rent in Hawaii, similar to what we've seen in the past two to three quarters. The situation on the mainland is less clear since negotiations are still early, but we are hopeful for a 5% to 10% increase.

Are you able to share the cash roll-up in those as opposed to the GAAP roll-up?

So we report everything based on GAAP, I mean, I guess, for your modeling purposes, we could say, I think in Hawaii, annual increases between 2% and 2.5% on the mainland and 2.5% to 3% in Hawaii.

Okay, thanks. And then I know you bought the land parcel, but do you think that over the last few years, you haven’t been as aggressive on acquisitions? I mean, cap rates have compressed tremendously, specifically over the last year. So how are you thinking about buying land that’s not sort of delivering income today but could deliver income and yield in the future versus perhaps buying assets that are actually income producing?

The Mesquite purchase was only a couple of million dollars, so it doesn't significantly affect our investment activities. We are actively looking for acquisition opportunities, but many groups are also doing the same. We have a specific cost of capital, and we won't make aggressive purchases just to maintain our position or go backward. We will pursue deals aggressively when we find cap rates that align with our desired risk-adjusted returns. In some markets, this approach works well, while in others, we might feel hesitant due to tenant credit quality or concerns about development timelines and upcoming rent renewals. Therefore, we may not be as aggressive as other buyers, but we strive to make the best decisions possible.

Thanks, John. And just one more for me. How much of cap rates moved on sort of the acquisitions that you were targeting, call it two years ago, a year ago versus today?

I’d say we did some deals in the sixes in 2018 and 2019 time frame. And cap rates are regularly in the low fours, occasionally sub-four, depending on the market. But I’d say over 200 basis points.

If I could follow up, you mentioned that you're hesitant about taking on leasing risk with some deals, but you have a strong RMR structure that can facilitate leasing. The market is quite active and demand is solid, so why not consider being a bit more aggressive?

We assess the possibility of expanding our reach, but given our strong market presence nationwide, we are aware of the risks involved. Sometimes knowing the market too well can elevate perceived risks, as we understand the timeline for renewals and the true local market rents compared to what brokers might present in offering documents. We have confidence in our team's qualifications in asset management and real estate services, and we trust the information they provide, as well as the data from third-party sources. We approach risks that we deem acceptable.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. The next question is from Tom Catherwood from BTIG. You may go ahead, please.

Thank you, and good morning, everybody. Just to kind of follow-up on Elvis’ question. John, your opening remarks, you kind of alluded to having a strong acquisition pipeline. And you then kind of sounded a little more cautious on kind of what’s happening in the market right now, which is understandable, given cap rate compression and all the interest in industrial right now. But can you kind of provide us some more color on what’s in your pipeline, kind of what you’re looking at, how you’re sourcing deals now? And kind of what’s your level of confidence that you’ll be able to close on some of the deals you’re looking at right now?

I’d rather not go into too much detail there. But we do have transactions we’re pursuing that where purchase and sale agreements are being negotiated and due diligence is being conducted. We have other transactions where we’ve advanced past the first round. I think we have one where we’ve gone through a buyer interview round, but have not gotten feedback yet on where we stand. So, and then we have a long list of properties in our acquisition pipeline report where we’re currently doing our underwriting. So, we have a big funnel and like every funnel, it gets narrower as you get closer to finding out if you won or lost. And so we have a few properties that we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to talk about in more detail on our next call when we complete them, and we have others that we’re working hard on it, and we’ll see what happens.

Got it. Thanks, John. And then, Yael, last quarter, you had mentioned bringing in some brokerage firms in Hawaii to help assist with the leasing and the reset process in 2022? And then in your prepared remarks, you mentioned kind of setting up a plan to both maximize rent upside and minimize downtime or tenant loss. Can you provide maybe a little bit more detail on kind of what the approach is there? And maybe is the approach now different than you typically do or different than you’ve done before in that market?

Yes. So we’ve historically handled all of the renewals direct without engaging brokers, but where we have just so much volume in 2022, we devised a plan. I think the ratio is about 40% we’re handling direct and 60% we’ve engaged third-party brokers. So we’re working with three different groups. And it really depends on the different parts is how we’ve broken it up. But so far, I think we’ve only signed four of the leases we’ve done so far for expirations in 2022 with brokers. So I think that we kind of frontloaded our own renewals that we thought we’d be able to handle direct and then maybe some of the tenants who were either more reluctant in responding to our initial proposals we’ve engaged brokers to help us, and I think we’ve actually seen a lot of momentum as we’ve engaged brokers. I think the tenants are taking the renewals a little more seriously and worry that they might have competition for their parcel. So it’s been – we feel good, we have as I mentioned a pretty healthy pipeline in Hawaii. So I think we’ll be able to get a lot tackled before the leases come up in 2022.

Makes sense. Thank you for that. And then just one more question for me. In the JV portfolio and I know this doesn’t have a huge impact on earnings. But one expiration left in 2021, and then nothing really rolling until 2024. What are your expectations on that one lease that’s still coming due this year?

So we actually executed that last week. So five-year renewal on that one.

Rent roll-up?

Yes.

That’s it. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Murray, President and CEO, for any closing remarks.

Thank you for joining us on the call today. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in person at the upcoming NAREIT conference. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, we conclude this conference call. You may all now disconnect. Thank you.