Q2 2024 Retail Opportunity Investments Corp Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Lauren Silveira; Chief Accounting Officer, Vice President; Retail Opportunity Investments Corp

Stuart Tanz; President, Chief Executive Officer, Director; Retail Opportunity Investments Corp

Michael Haines; Chief Financial Officer; Retail Opportunity Investments Corp

Richard Schoebel; Chief Operating Officer; Retail Opportunity Investments Corp

Dori Kesten; Analyst; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Todd Thomas; Analyst; KeyBanc Capital Markets

Craig Mailman; Analyst; Citi investment Research

Juan Sanabria; Analyst; BMO Capital Markets

Andrew Rios; Analyst; Bank of America Securities

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

Hongliang Zhang; Analyst; JPMorgan

Linda Tsai; Analyst; Jefferies

Paulina Rojas-Schmidt; Analyst; Green Street Advisors, LLC

Presentation

Operator

Welcome to Retail Opportunity Investments’ second-quarter 2024 conference call. Participants are currently in a listen-only mode. Following the company's prepared remarks, the call will be opened up for questions.
I would now like to introduce Lauren Silveira, the Company's Chief Accounting Officer.

Lauren Silveira

Thank you. Before we begin, please note that certain matters which we will discuss on today's call are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities Laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and other factors, which can cause actual results to differ significantly from future results that are expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Participants should refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K to learn more about these risks and other factors.
In addition, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial results on today's call. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial results to GAAP results can be found in the company's quarterly supplemental, which is posted on our website.
Now I'll turn the call over to Stuart Tanz, the Company's Chief Executive Officer. Stuart?

Stuart Tanz

Thank you, Lauren, and good day, everyone. Here with Lauren and me today is Michael Haines, our Chief Financial Officer; and Rich Schoebel, our Chief Operating Officer.
Demand for space across our portfolio continues to be strong and we continue to work hard at making the most of it leasing space at a near record pace. In fact, year to date, we've already leased over 776,000 square feet. Additionally, we continue to achieve re-leasing rent growth, posting a 12% increase on new leases for the second quarter, representing our 50 consecutive quarter extending over 12-plus years dating back to when we first commenced reporting property statistics in 2012, when we owned just 35 shopping centers. As we've grown our portfolio nearly threefold since, we have consistently achieved re-leasing rent growth every year and every quarter.
With respect to acquisitions, as we reported on our last call, early in the second quarter through a longstanding off market relationship, we acquired for $70 million an excellent core grocery anchored shopping center. The property serves as the primary shopping center, anchoring a master plan community known as Bressi Ranch that is situated in one of the most sought after affluent submarkets in San Diego, truly irreplaceable real estate. The centerpiece is not just one but two strong supermarkets, Trader Joe's and Stater Bros., both of which are longstanding tenants of ours. Looking ahead, there are a number of opportunities for us to enhance the underlying value and grow the center's cash flow through enhancing the in-line tenant mix as well as re-leasing below market space which we're already working on.
With respect to dispositions, we recently sold a property for approximately $57 million. It's a center that we acquired back in the early days of ROIC. Over the years, we substantially merchandised and repositioned the center, significantly increasing the cash flow along the way surpassing our initial goals and projections. Notwithstanding the center being a stable property today, looking ahead, we felt the growth prospects were limited and now was an approach appropriate time to sell this particular property. From our perspective, selling this property while essentially at the same time that we were acquiring an irreplaceable asset like Bressi, no doubt enhances the long-term strength and appeal of our overall portfolio as well as our ability to continue growing cash flow going forward.
Now, I'll turn the call over to Michael Haines to take you through our financial results for the second quarter and the first six months. Mike?