ARTIS REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST RELEASES THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

In This Article:

REPORTS DEBT TO GBV OF 39.8% AND AFFO PAYOUT RATIO OF 71.4%

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust Logo (CNW Group/Artis Real Estate Investment Trust)
Artis Real Estate Investment Trust Logo (CNW Group/Artis Real Estate Investment Trust)

WINNIPEG, MB, Nov. 7, 2024 Artis Real Estate Investment Trust ("Artis" or the "REIT") (TSX: AX.UN) (TSX: AX.PR.E) (TSX: AX.PR.I) announced today its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024.  The third quarter results in this press release should be read in conjunction with the REIT's consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the period ended September 30, 2024.  All amounts are in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per unit amounts or otherwise noted.

"During the third quarter we made significant progress towards our key objective of reducing overall leverage and strengthening the balance sheet," said Samir Manji, President and Chief Executive Officer of Artis.  "We completed $616.0 million of asset sales during the quarter and used the proceeds primarily to reduce debt.  As a result, our total debt to gross book value decreased to 39.8% at September 30, 2024, compared to 49.8% at June 30, 2024 and 50.9% at December 31, 2023.  Including the impact of realized gain (loss) on equity securities, FFO and AFFO per unit increased to $0.31 and $0.21, respectively, for the third quarter of 2024, compared to $0.25 and $0.13, respectively, for the third quarter of 2023, and we are very pleased to have our payout ratio at 71.4% of AFFO this quarter.  As we have conveyed throughout the implementation of our strategy, we expect our income, and correspondingly our FFO and AFFO metrics, to be lumpy from one quarter to the next and we anticipate that this will continue to be the case going forward.  Further, our belief that holding a percentage of variable rate debt is prudent in managing risk has positioned Artis well to benefit in a decreasing interest rate environment.  With improved leverage, our near-term debt maturities dealt with and the benefit of lower interest rates, we are now in a position to explore growth opportunities that we believe will increase our net asset value per unit and narrow the gap between the intrinsic value and market price of our units."

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

Portfolio Activity

  • Disposed of two office properties and a parking lot located in Canada, and 14 industrial properties and one office property located in the U.S., for an aggregate sale price of $616.0 million.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

  • Utilized the NCIB to purchase 1,630,500 common units at a weighted-average price of $7.30 and 149,868 preferred units at a weighted-average price of $19.81.

  • Reported NAV per Unit (1) of $13.77 at September 30, 2024, compared to $13.96 at December 31, 2023.

  • Improved Total Debt to GBV (1) to 39.8% at September 30, 2024, compared to 50.9% at December 31, 2023.

  • Improved Total Debt to Adjusted EBITDA (1) to 5.4 at September 30, 2024, compared to 7.7 at December 31, 2023.