Yahoo Finance Phillips Edison & Co Inc (PECO) (Q1 2024) Earnings Call Transcript Highlights: Strong ...
Same Center NOI Growth: Increased by 3.7%
NAREIT FFO: Increased 4.9% to $80.1 million, or $0.59 per diluted share
Core FFO: Increased 4.5% to $81.7 million, or $0.60 per diluted share
Occupancy Rate: Remained high at 97% leased
Acquisitions: Acquired 2 shopping centers and 1 land parcel for a total of $56 million
Guidance for 2024: Affirmed core FFO guidance range, projecting year-over-year growth of 3%
Net Income Guidance for 2024: Updated to $0.51 to $0.55 per share
Interest Expense Headwinds: Estimated to be a headwind of $0.07 to $0.11 per share for the year
Acquisition Guidance for 2024: Expecting $200 million to $300 million in net acquisitions
Same Center NOI Growth Guidance: Projected at 3.25% to 4.25% for 2024
Release Date: April 26, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Hi, everyone. Maybe just following up, John, on that last point on the bad debt headwinds. So I know the guidance was 60 to 80 basis points, and you mentioned now it could come in at the high end granted it's still early in the year. It sounds like your neighbors are performing generally very well. So just wondering what's driving the updated view and the 1Q results? And if anything is kind of PICO driven, can you go through that nuance? A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: Well, hi, Caitlin, it's Jeff. Thanks for the question. Our As we look at the operating environment, when we get to levels of occupancy that we're at right now, we're taking a very aggressive stance on getting property getting back neighbors who are not paying. That has some impact on what we're talking about here. But we're generally going to continue to be really aggressive at getting spaces back on a go forward basis and that will have an impact. And but we are not seeing anything sectorally that's happening that is changing those numbers and we do think they will more normalize over as the year goes through. John, did you have any additions to that?
Q: Hi, everyone. I was just hoping you if you guys could talk a little bit more about the 2 centers acquired in the Q1. Both seemed pretty well leased at the point of acquisition. So just wondering on the opportunity set that you see at each of those centers. And then just wondering on plans for the land parcel that was acquired. Thanks. A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: Why don't I I'll cover the 2 properties. Bob, you can talk through the land parcel that we purchased. The first project we bought, Lake Mary, was a center that we have actually been looked at for a long time It is a Publix anchored center. It's one of the best Publixes in its trade area. We really like that particular market outside of Orlando. And so we and we did find that there was some very good mark to market opportunities there. I think our underwriting was sort of in the between 9% and 9.5% on an unlevered IRR basis. So we felt pretty good about that acquisition.
Q: Hey, just my first quick one was. I remember back at the Investor Day, you talked about sort of asset management partnerships and so forth. Just wondering. Was there any update on that and what the thinking was? A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: I -- we do. We are making progress there, and I think in the second quarter, we should be at a point where we will be more openly discussing -- giving a lot more detail on what they are. But our goal here is do we -- we want to have projects but into these projects -- into these funds it -- before we make any public announcements. So we continue to progress and we hopefully will have more news for you in the second quarter.
Q: Hi there. This is Roger Dave on the line for Haendel. Hope you guys are doing well. Just curious, if you were to issue 10-year money today, what would it cost? And I guess, what is your interest in doing any alternative financing arrangements, can be a convertible debt deal or short-term debt. Just, what's your appetite for these different options? A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: Great question. Um, we are looking at all of them and the primary focus at this point is to get into the public -- the longer-term public debt markets. And so, the alternatives, though interesting and something that we could -- that could work for us, we have not sort of actively pursued those yet, but we are reviewing them because they are -- there are some pretty attractive options there that we will -- that we're continuing to look at. But John, any additions to that?
Q: Yeah, hi. Just a quick occupancy question. Where do you see anchor and overall economic or physical occupancy ending up the year? A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: Bob, do you want to take that? Bob, we're missing you. Robert Myers - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - President: Sorry, Jeff. Looking at our anchor pipeline and the demand we're seeing, I definitely believe that our in line and our anchor occupancy will be elevated and it's hard to exactly know what that is, but I would certainly think that we would be at the higher range of the 98.8 or 98.9 on the anchor and in the in-line, I certainly think that will be north of the 94.8 that we're seeing today given the demand. So at this point, I'd say it will certainly be elevated, but it's really hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it will be.
Q: Hi. Good afternoon. Just hoping you could give a little bit more color on the bad debt. It sounds like it's not driven by national tenants. Is it being driven more by some of the smaller mom and pop in mind. And just curious if you could break it out how much of that bad debt was related to just tenant closures or bankruptcies versus you guys been proactive in trying to get higher leases upon renewal or re-leasing of that space? A: Jeffrey Edison - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer: John, do you want to take that one? John Caulfield - Phillips Edison & Co Inc - Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer: Sure. Good afternoon, Juan. As we look at the bad debt, it is not -- when I say it's not related to national, I would say it could be disputes as well. So I was saying it's not national bankruptcy. So when you're looking at those names that are going, that's not impacting. There was contribution to the bad debt from national, from regional, and from local neighbors.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
