IRET Reports Second Quarter 2020 Financial and Operating Results

MINOT, N.D., Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IRET (NYSE: IRET) announced today its financial and operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.  The tables below show Net Income (Loss), Funds from Operations ("FFO"), and Core FFO, all on a per share basis, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020; Same-Store Revenues, Expenses, and Net Operating Income ("NOI") over comparable periods; and Same-Store Weighted-Average Occupancy for the three months ended June 30, 2020, March 31, 2020, and June 30, 2019.

NOI, FFO, and Core FFO are non-GAAP financial measures.  For more information on their usage and presentation, and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, refer to "Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliations" below.

Second Quarter 2020 Highlights

• Our Net Loss was $(0.44) per diluted share for the second quarter of 2020, compared to Net Income of $0.11 per diluted share for the same period of 2019;
• Core FFO increased 2.3% to $1.81 per diluted share for the six months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $1.77 per diluted share for the same period of 2019;
• Core FFO increased 1.1% to $0.91 per diluted share for the three months ended June 30, 2020, compared to $0.90 for the three months ended March 31, 2020;
• Total collections were 99.1% for the second quarter of 2020, compared to 99.6% for the same period of 2019;
• Same-store controllable expenses (which exclude taxes and insurance) decreased 4.3% for the second quarter of 2020 as compared to the same period of 2019, resulting in NOI growth of 1.1% for the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019;
• Same-store NOI increased 3.4% for the three months ended June 30, 2020, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2020;
• We continued to strengthen our balance sheet by issuing approximately 624,000 common shares under our 2019 ATM Program for net proceeds of $44.8 million;
• We announced that we will include Nashville as one of our target markets; and
• We were recognized as a Minnesota Top Workplace for 2020 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which is based on several factors, including employee engagement, company leadership, pay, benefits, and workplace flexibility.

Operations Update

Our operating results for the month ended July 31, 2020, included the following:

• Total collections for same-store communities for the month ended July 31, 2020 were 99.0%.
• We entered into eight deferrals agreements in July, representing 0.1% of revenue at all communities. As of July 31, 2020, a total of approximately $40,000 remained outstanding under resident repayment plans.
• Physical occupancy for same-store communities as of July 31, 2020 was 95.2%, compared to 93.8% as of July 31, 2019 and 96.1% as of March 31, 2020.

Acquisitions and Dispositions

During the quarter, we disposed of our sole remaining parcel of unimproved land for a total sale price of $1.3 million. We did not have any acquisitions during the quarter.

Balance Sheet

At the end of the second quarter, we had $239.7 million of total liquidity on our balance sheet, including $187.0 million available under our line of credit and cash and cash equivalents of $52.7 million.

2020 Financial Outlook

On March 27, 2020 we issued a press release indicating that in light of the impact of COVID-19 on our business and results of operations, we were withdrawing our 2020 Financial Outlook. Given the ongoing impact of COVID-19, we are not providing an updated 2020 Financial Outlook at this time.

Upcoming Events

IRET is scheduled to participate in the BMO 2020 Real Assets Conference, which will be held virtually on September 2-3, 2020.

COVID-19 Developments

The COVID-19 pandemic, including the associated economic disruptions, has continued to impact our business and operations since March 2020. Our first priority continues to be the health and well-being of our residents, team members, and the communities we serve. In the second quarter, we began to implement a re-opening plan in the common spaces in our communities and offices while continuing to adhere to state and local guidelines. We are prepared to suspend re-opening plans in any markets in which an increase in COVID-19 cases and other factors make it unsafe to do so in accordance with state and local guidelines.

COVID-19 continues to impact our residents, our team members, and the economy. The safety and health of people we serve and our team has remained our priority in these uncertain times. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we acknowledge the potential effects on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, including the following:

• reductions in economic activity and rising unemployment that potentially could impact our residents' ability to pay rent on a timely basis or their desire to seek lease deferment payment plans or rent reductions, which in turn could result in increases in our uncollectible receivables and reductions in rental income and reduce our NOI and cash flow;
• the potential financial impact of the pandemic on the credit market and our future compliance with financial covenants contained in our credit facility and other debt agreements;
• weaker economic conditions that could cause us to recognize impairment in the value of our tangible or intangible assets; and
• rising costs related to our COVID-19 response that could cause us to record loss contingencies and increased expenses.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our operations and those of our residents will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the scope, severity, and duration of the pandemic, the actions taken to contain the pandemic or mitigate its impact, and the direct and indirect economic effects of the pandemic and containment measures, among others.

For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting our business, see the risk factors presented in  our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, as updated under Item 1A of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, and in our subsequent current and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

Quarterly Distributions

Effective June 5, 2020, IRET's Board of Trustees declared a regular quarterly distribution of $0.70 per share/unit, which was paid on July 10, 2020, to common shareholders and unitholders of record on June 30, 2020.  IRET has paid cash dividends to common shareholders and unitholders every quarter since its initial dividend payment in 1971.

Effective June 5, 2020, IRET's Board of Trustees also declared a distribution of $0.4140625 per share on the 6.625% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (NYSE: IRET-PC), which was paid on June 30, 2020, to holders of record on June 15, 2020.  Series C preferred share distributions are cumulative and payable quarterly in arrears at an annual rate of $1.65625 per share.

Earnings Call

Supplemental Information

Supplemental Operating and Financial Data for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 included herein ("Supplemental Information"), is available in the Investors section on IRET's website at www.iretapartments.com or by calling Investor Relations at 701-837-7104.

About IRET

IRET is a real estate company focused on the ownership, management, acquisition, redevelopment, and development of apartment communities.  As of June 30, 2020, we owned interests in 70 apartment communities consisting of 12,135 apartment homes. IRET's common shares and Series C preferred shares are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE symbols: "IRET" and "IRET PC," respectively).

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release and the accompanying Supplemental Operating and Financial Data are based on our current expectations and assumptions, and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results of operations, financial conditions, or plans expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be achieved.  Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to those risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, including the COVID-19 risk factors set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, and in other public reports. We assume no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue due to subsequent events.

Investor Relations Contact Information

Emily Miller
Investor Relations
Phone: 701-837-7104
E-mail: IR@iret.com

IRET
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES AND RECONCILIATIONS (unaudited)

This release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). The definitions and calculations of these non-GAAP measures, as calculated by us, may not be comparable to non-GAAP measures reported by other REITs that do not define each of the non-GAAP measures exactly as we do.

We provide certain information on a same-store and non-same-store basis. Same-store apartment communities are owned or in service for the entirety of the periods being compared, and, in the case of development properties, have achieved a target level of physical occupancy of 90%. On the first day of each calendar year, we determine the composition of our same-store pool for that year as well as adjust the previous year, which allows us to evaluate full period-over-period operating comparisons for existing apartment communities and their contribution to net income. We believe that measuring performance on a same-store basis is useful to investors because it enables evaluation of how a fixed pool of our communities are performing year-over-year. We use this measure to assess whether or not we have been successful in increasing NOI, renewing the leases on existing residents, controlling operating costs, and making prudent capital improvements.

Reconciliation of Operating Income (Loss) to Net Operating Income

Net operating income, or NOI, is a non-GAAP measure which we define as total real estate revenues less property operating expenses, including real estate taxes. We believe that NOI is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for real estate because it provides a measure of operations that is unaffected by depreciation, amortization, financing, property management overhead, casualty losses, and general and administrative expenses. NOI does not represent cash generated by operating activities in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to net income, net income available for common shareholders, or cash flow from operating activities as a measure of financial performance.

Same-Store Property Operating Expense Comparison

Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Available to Common Shareholders to Funds From Operations and Core Funds From Operations

We believe that FFO, which is a standard supplemental measure for equity real estate investment trusts, is helpful to investors in understanding our operating performance, primarily because its calculation does not assume that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time, as implied by the historical cost convention of GAAP and the recording of depreciation.

We use the definition of FFO adopted by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Inc. ("Nareit"). Nareit defines FFO as net income or loss calculated in accordance with GAAP, excluding:

• depreciation and amortization related to real estate;
• gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets; and
• impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity.

The exclusion in Nareit's definition of FFO of impairment write-downs and gains and losses from the sale of real estate assets helps to identify the operating results of the long-term assets that form the base of our investments, and assists management and investors in comparing those operating results between periods.

Due to the limitations of the Nareit FFO definition, we have made certain interpretations in applying this definition. We believe that all such interpretations not specifically identified in the Nareit definition are consistent with this definition. Nareit's FFO White Paper 2018 Restatement clarified that impairment write-downs of land related to a REIT's main business are excluded from FFO and a REIT has the option to exclude impairment write-downs of assets that are incidental to its main business.

While FFO is widely used by us as a primary performance metric, not all real estate companies use the same definition of FFO or calculate FFO in the same way. Accordingly, FFO presented here is not necessarily comparable to FFO presented by other real estate companies. FFO should not be considered as an alternative to net income or any other GAAP measurement of performance, but rather should be considered as an additional, supplemental measure. FFO also does not represent cash generated from operating activities in accordance with GAAP and is not necessarily indicative of sufficient cash flow to fund all of our needs or our ability to service indebtedness or make distributions.

Core Funds from Operations ("Core FFO") is FFO as adjusted for non-routine items or items not considered core to our business operations. By further adjusting for items that are not considered part of our core business operations, we believe that Core FFO provides investors with additional information to compare our core operating and financial performance between periods. Core FFO should not be considered as an alternative to net income as an indication of financial performance, or as an alternative to cash flows from operations as a measure of liquidity, nor is it indicative of funds available to fund our cash needs, including our ability to make distributions to shareholders. Core FFO is a non-GAAP and non-standardized measure that may be calculated differently by other REITs and should not be considered a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP.