Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:APR.UN) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Automotive Properties Real Estate's twenty twenty six First Quarter Results Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all lines are in a listen only mode. Following management's remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please be aware that certain information discussed today may be forward looking in nature. Such forward looking information reflects the REIT's current views with respect to future events. Any such information is subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking information. For more information on the risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to forward looking information, please refer to the REIT's latest MD and A and annual information form, which are available on SEDAR plus.

0:49 Management may also refer to certain non IFRS financial measures. Although the REIT believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please refer to the REIT's latest MD and A for additional information regarding non IFRS financial measures. This call is being recorded on 05/14/2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Milton Lamb, President and CEO. Please go ahead, Mr. Lamb. That's great. Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. With me is Andrew Calera, our Chief Financial Officer. Our strong first quarter performance reflects the positive impact of the 13 property acquisitions we completed in 2025 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $200,000,000

1:43 and the partial contributions of the two additional property acquisitions completed during the quarter. Compared to Q1 of last year, our property rental revenue has increased by 21.7. Cash NOI was up 19% and AFFO per unit diluted increased to $0.02 $62 from $0.02 $47 This represents a record quarterly AFFO per unit amount for APR, demonstrating the positive impact of our acquisitions and the embedded growth from contractual fixed or CPI adjusted annual rent increases in our net lease structure. This is further reflected in a reduced AFFO payout ratio of 78.6% in the quarter, even after our 2025 distribution increase.

2:38 The two acquisitions we completed during the quarter, a full service Hyundai dealership located in Quebec City and a Rivian tenanted sales delivery and service facility in Vista, San Diego County, California. Subsequent to quarter end, on April 7, we completed our second property acquisition in Southern California, consisting of two Penske Automotive dealership properties in Santa Ana in Orange County. The dealerships are situated on parcels of land totaling approximately six acres within the Santa Ana Auto Mall, one of the area's premier dealership corridors. The dealerships include Audi South Coast, a 32,000 square foot full service Audi dealership and South Coast Volkswagen, a 29,000 square foot full service VW dealership, both operated by Penske Automotive Group.

3:34 We expect our acquisitions from last year and to date in 2026 to drive continued growth in our AFFO per unit going forward. At this point, I'd now like to turn it over to Andrew Kalraud to review our financial results in greater detail. Andrew? Thanks, Milton, and good morning, everyone. Our property rental revenue for the quarter increased to $29,100,000 from $23,900,000 in Q1 a year ago, reflecting growth from the properties acquired during and subsequent to Q1 last year and contractual annual rent increases. Total cash NOI and same property cash NOI for the quarter totaled $23,800,000 and $20,400,000 respectively, representing increases of 192.1% compared to Q1 last year.

4:26 Interest expense and other financing charges for the quarter were $7,300,000 an increase of $1,300,000 from Q1 last year, reflecting additional debt incurred to fund our acquisitions. Our G and A expenses were $1,600,000 for the quarter, an increase of $100,000 from Q1 last year and in line with our expectations. Net income and other comprehensive income was $25,300,000 compared to $7,600,000 in Q1 last year. The increase was primarily due to higher NOI changes in non cash fair value adjustments for investment properties and interest rate swaps, partially offset by higher interest costs and the change in non cash fair value adjustments for Class B units and unit based compensation.

5:23 FFOAFFO increased by 20.419.1% respectively compared to Q1 last year, reflecting higher rental revenue from the acquisitions and contractual rent increases. On a per unit basis, FFO increased to $0.02 $68 diluted, up from $0.02 $51

5:44 in Q1 last year and AFFO increased to $0.02 $62 up from $0.02 $47 We paid unitholder distribution totaling $0.206 per unit in the quarter, representing an AFFO payout ratio of 78.6%. This compares with total distributions of $0.21 per unit in Q1 last year for a payout ratio of 81.4%. The decline in our payout ratio despite the increase in our monthly cash distributions effective last 2025 demonstrates the positive impact of the properties we acquired and subsequent to Q1 last year and contractual rent increases.

6:33 The cap rate applicable to our portfolio was 6.75% at quarter end, which was flat compared to 2025 year end, up slightly from 6.7% at the end of Q1 last year. We continue to be proactive with our debt strategy, limit with our exposure to interest rate fluctuation and enhance our financial flexibility. During the quarter, we entered into floating to fixed interest rate swaps within Facility 3 totaling $45,000,000 for terms of five to seven years at rates between 4.454.59%. We also increased the amount of revolving portion of Facility 1 by $25,000,000 extended the maturity to June 2029 with the same credit spread.

7:24 At quarter end, we had a debt to GBV ratio of 46.3 providing further acquisition capacity. As at 03/31/2026, 77% of our debt was fixed with a weighted average interest rate of 4.48%, a weighted average interest rate and mortgages remaining of four point two years. And a weighted average term maturity of debt of two point eight years as we continue to increase and extend our credit facilities. As at May 13, we had approximately $32,500,000 of undrawn capacity under our credit facilities, 13 unencumbered properties valued at approximately $195,400,000 I'd like to turn the call back to Milton for closing remarks. Thank you very much.

8:18 Great. Thanks, Andrew. Following our entry into The U. S. Market last year, we're pleased with the increased geographic and tenant diversity we've established through our latest acquisitions out to the border. We now own properties in Ohio, Florida and California, representing leading automotive brands including Tesla, Rivian and Penske Automotive with their Audi and VW properties. We continue to position APR as an attractive partner to major automotive dealerships, groups and OEMs in Canada and The United States. Following a highly active year of acquisitions in 2025 and a solid start to 2026, we're now approaching just under 100 properties in total of our portfolio, with tenant leases with leading automotive groups and OEMs contributing to our cash flows in support of unitholder distributions.

9:17 We are successfully executing on our key objectives, including driving AFFO per unit and to build value for unitholders. We look forward to building our positive momentum in the year ahead, supported by growing property portfolio featuring high quality tenants providing essential retail and services, 100% occupancy and rent collection, locations in prime metropolitan markets featuring GDP and population growth, with attractive net lease structures and embedded fixed or CPI adjusted rental growth. That now concludes our remarks. I'd like to open up the line for questions. Jillian, please go ahead. Thank you.

10:06 In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Thank you. Our first question comes from Jonathan Kelcher from TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Thanks. Good morning. Good morning. Question is just on the on what sort of drives the activity in The U. S. I guess in Canada, a lot of your deals are sort of driven by dealer M and A. How does that compare to The U. S?

10:40 A, The U. S. Just has more metropolitan markets that have GDP and population growth. But B, whether it's the underlying 1031s tax structure, big beautiful bill, there just tends to be a higher velocity of trading. People are more willing to take profits and losses, where in Canada, people tend to buy assets and hold on to them for significant amounts of time, if not perpetuity. That's a lot of the reason why we end up being more active when it is a transaction related to M and A, where we stand beside dealers as they do the operations acquisition. Okay. And then do you see that opportunity with some of the groups you're talking to in The U. S?

11:27 I think that M and A side will be in common on both sides of the border. But there's just a lot more velocity in The States and there's just larger markets. But the M and A theme that we've been active in growing and built a good portfolio working with dealers, that I think will occur on both sides of the border. Okay, thanks. I'll turn it back. Our next question comes from Sairam Srinivas from Cormark. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Hi, everybody. Guys, obviously, very much the question on The U. S. Acquisitions. When you kind of put that in line with OEM requirements and capital requirements in the business, do you find the dealers in The U.

12:13 S. Came a lot more intense in terms of, you know, all in capital and actually investing a lot of capital into their assets

12:20 versus in Canada, it's probably not as much. Is that something you've seen? No, I'd actually say it's flipped a bit. Canada has a bit of a higher cost component to both the underlying land, depending on the market, but it's certainly in the markets we're looking at on the Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary.

12:40 And the construction costs are greater in Canada. So the OEM requirements are pretty similar, but the cost to complete those requirements, I would say, often are higher in Canada.

12:56 Fair enough. Thanks, Manjul. Turn back. Our next question comes from Brad Sturges from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Hey, good morning. Good morning, Brad. Just on the Orange County acquisition, I think the rent growth, the contractual rent growth is based on California CPI, but there's a cap. I'm just curious if you give a little more color what how the cap would work?

13:27 We can't and don't get into specifics, but it's similar to other caps where you've got a maximum. And that is CPI kicks in on the renewal. So it's a roll up formula at that point, similar to what we have with DaySource, the one we recently did as well. So it's not that uncommon in the market where you get a bit of a floor and a cap. Got you. Okay.

13:54 I guess my other question is, is there any update at this point on Vaughan, whether strategically you're looking at re leasing or a potential asset sale?

14:03 Yes. Talked about it not that long ago when we did the end of year call. It's amazing how quickly this Q1 creeps up on us. But the short answer is we're trying to balance the fact three acres of land there has got great high density potential, but it's also got great retail value. So it's where how much do we want to invest for a long term tenancy? Can we get a termination option to allow us to potentially access that density sooner?

14:34 Or do we do a shorter term deal that has immediate access to that when we want it? As you can imagine, it's a bit of a balancing act. The good news is it's a great property. So we're doing some head scratching in a good way. Okay. Turn by. Thank you. Our next question comes from Jimmy Sean from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

15:03 Thanks. So we we saw last quarter the W. P. Carey deal with Go Auto. Obviously, they have, you know, a little bit lower cost of capital. Do you see them or any new entrants sort of changing the the competitive landscape in getting deals? Do you see change in pricing on deals? Any thoughts there? Yes. It's interesting. I mean, that was a very large deal.

15:30 And certainly, where we're trading right now at a discount to NAV has some implications. GoAuto is an existing tenant of ours. So obviously, we know them. The lower cost of capital on access to bonds for a few groups, they have to be larger transactions or often would be larger transactions. But there is also drainage because of Canada's tax system when you're bringing that money into The States. That's the first deal in a while that we've seen someone come up and play in our sandbox.

16:06 Is there going to be competition? Sure. It's something that makes us worry. We've been very active on our pipeline.

16:16 So in some ways, conformational, it's in other ways it just shows that we continue to have discipline and continue to have access to markets to place money in attractive real estate. Okay. And sorry, my follow-up would be just a different question, basic question, Sequentially, maybe for the interest expense declined from Q4 to Q1,

16:40 balance went up. I'm just curious what's the dynamic there? The dynamic there is there's more floating in Q1 and the floating rates considerably lower. So we did buy the acquisitions, we bought them on revolving And that's basically the difference there. Okay. And so we should expect that to going to keep it floating? Yes. The strategy has always been to use the revolver for the acquisitions and then to place swaps. We did that at the beginning of the year and we were probably averaging, let's say,

17:17 between four point five to five year to six year money. And since the conflict, we've seen the five to seven year go up about 50 basis points. The anticipation is that we'll hope to taper off by the end of the year and we'll see the long term swap rates come down to where we're averaging.

17:40 The opportunity with our credit facility is that we can react relatively very quickly and place swaps and move that floating to fixed. So it provides us with considerable amount of flexibility. Okay, makes sense. Thanks. Okay. Our

18:02 next question comes from Zeman Liu from J. J. A. Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Hi, good morning. So I just want to turn to Canada, like how does the DeLore acquisition pipeline looks like?

18:19 They continue to be we continue to have a strategic alliance with them. As they continue to grow, we anticipate and hope that we'll do more deals with them. But again, they are the largest group and we certainly have good relationship with them. But unlike grocery and other industries within Canada, we have to work with a large number of dealership groups. So the very nature of the largest being 3% market share and we already own the

18:49 vast majority of the real estate, we anticipate there's going to be as many or probably a lot more outside of the DeLaurey Group that we'll continue to be active with. Okay, that's very helpful. So another question is that I'm just wondering whether there's any other leases rolling in 2026?

19:11 And also can you remind us of the NOI impact of the staff lease expiry?

19:20 I don't think we've been specific on the NOI impact, but a little scratching and I'm sure everyone around this call can figure it out approximately. That is the only outstanding 2026 lease expiration. And we have very little that has in 2027 as well. Okay. That's good. Yes. I'll turn it back. Thank you. Thank you.

19:47 And we have no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Milton Lamb for any closing remarks. That's great. Thank you, everyone. We look forward to getting back on a call for Q2. Enjoy the long weekend. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.