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Q4 2024 Sun Communities Inc Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Gary Shiffman; Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer; Sun Communities Inc

John McLaren; President; Sun Communities Inc

Fernando Castro-Caratini; Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary; Sun Communities Inc

Wes Golladay; Analyst; Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.

Jana Galan; Analyst; BofA Securities Inc.

Brad Heffern; Analyst; RBC Capital Markets LCC

Nick Joseph; Analyst; Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Jamie Feldman; Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities LLC

David Segall; Analyst; Green Street Advisors LLC

Anthony Hau; Analyst; Truist Securities, Inc.

John Kim; Analyst; BMO Capital Markets Corp.

Michael Goldsmith; Analyst; UBS Securities LLC

Presentation

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Sun Community's fourth-quarter and year-end 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, management would like me to inform you that certain statements made during this call, which are not historical facts, may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meanings of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Although the company believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the company can provide no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations are detailed in today's press release and from time to time in the company's periodic filings with the SEC.
The company undertakes no obligation to advise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Having said that, I would like to introduce management with us today. Gary Schiffman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; John McLaren, President; Fernando Castro-Caratini, Chief Financial Officer; and Aaron Weiss, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development.
After their remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. For those who would like to participate in the question-and-answer session, management asks you that you limit yourselves to one question, so everyone who would like to participate has ample opportunity. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.
I'll now turn the call over to Gary Shiffman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Shiffman, you may begin.

Gary Shiffman

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us as we discuss the fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2024 and our guidance for 2025 and our recently announced Safe Harbor transaction. We had a very productive 2024 as we advanced our strategic priorities with the primary goal of simplifying our operations, focusing on core assets, and improving our balance sheet, while positioning Sun for steady earnings growth.
Throughout the year, we successfully disposed of non-strategic assets, reduced our debt, and further enhanced our governance to afford refreshment. Operationally, we continue to increase contribution from real property and annual income streams while diligently implementing a broad repositioning strategy to maximize revenues and align expenses more efficiently, driving sustainable earnings growth.
In total, in 2024 and through the date of this call, we disposed of approximately $570 million of non-strategic assets. We also remained highly selective with development projects and acquisitions and allocated our capital towards paying down debt. As of year-end 2024, we have improved our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to six times. Over the last 12 months, we have added two new members to our Board of Directors and have announced additional planned refreshments. Additionally, the Board's Search Committee is continuing the comprehensive search process to identify and hire a new CEO.
We're excited to have meaningfully accelerated our strategic repositioning with the announcement earlier this week to sell Safe Harbor Marinas for an all-cash price of $5.65 billion to Blackstone Infrastructure. Safe Harbor was an excellent investment for Sun, and the sale at this time allows us to achieve several of our strategic objectives, most notably refocusing on our core MH and RV segments and meaningfully improving our leverage profile while realizing a very attractive return.
The sale price represents an approximately 21 times multiple on Safe Harbor's 2024 FFO and a $1.3 billion gain, which is a strong return for shareholders. We are pleased with how this transaction allows us to simplify our business and is expected to improve our margins, earnings predictability, and revenue to free cash flow conversion. Pro forma for this transaction, our core North American manufactured housing and RV NOI will increase from approximately two-thirds to above 90% of total company NOI, while also reducing our SRD&E exposure.
In terms of our financial outlook, the sale is expected to generate proceeds that we intend to use to meaningfully delever with an initial post-sale net debt to EBITDA ratio expected to be approximately between 2.5 and 3 times at closing. The management team and the Board are continuing to evaluate priority uses of the capital, which may also be used to support a combination of distributions to shareholders and reinvestment in our core businesses.
I want to thank the entire Safe Harbor team for their partnership over the past four years and look forward to continuing to follow your growth and success under Blackstone's ownership. This transaction returns Sun to being a pure-play owner and operator of high-quality manufactured housing and RV communities, supported by a strong balance sheet. We remain very confident in this business with favorable dynamics and predictable earnings. And we are particularly encouraged with our outlook as we implement the initiatives that John will discuss.
Now turning to our operations, we have maintained our focus on our best-in-class manufactured housing and RV portfolio to position Sun for sustained earnings growth. As we discussed on last quarter's call, John McLaren returned to the company on a full-time basis as President to oversee our accelerated repositioning and the execution of our operating initiatives. These measures are focused on maximizing revenue for top-line growth and driving bottom-line operational results, including diligent expense management and more effective asset management to drive efficiency.
I am pleased that we are already starting to see positive momentum. Turning to our results for the year, four FFO per share came in at $6.81. Total North American same property NOI growth was 4.1% for the year. These results reflect the increased contribution from our annual income streams, strong rental rate increases, continued high occupancy levels, and the initial impact from our expense savings initiatives.
We delivered strong results in our manufacturer housing segment, demonstrating the ongoing demand for attainable housing. On the RV side, we have remained focused on better aligning our cost structure with revenue, which was in line for expectations in the fourth quarter. We also made further progress to increase the contribution from our real property and annual income streams.
For the full year, approximately 70% of our revenue-producing site gains came from RV transient to annual conversions. And in the UK, positive momentum continued with strong unit sales, which in turn drive real property income. As we look at 2025, we are encouraged by our progress and positive momentum.
Our goal remains the same, to position Sun to deliver steady earnings growth. We have a clear strategic direction, focused on realizing the potential earnings of our best-in-class portfolio and platform. I want to thank the entire team for their unwavering effort and for continuing the hard work.
I will now turn the call over to John and Fernando to discuss their strategy, results, and guidance in more detail. John?