IRET Announces Financial and Operating Results for the Year Ended December 31, 2019 and Provides 2020 Financial Outlook

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IRET (NYSE: IRET) announced today its financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2019.  Net income and Funds from Operations ("FFO") per share for the transition period ended December 31, 2019, are detailed below.  Core FFO adjusts FFO for certain non-routine items, and both FFO and Core FFO are reconciled to net income in the tables accompanying this earnings release.

Net operating income ("NOI"), funds from operations ("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.

Financial Highlights for the Year Ended December 31, 2019

• Grew earnings per share to $6.00 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to a net loss of $1.83 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2018.
• Increased FFO year-over-year from $3.29 per diluted share to $4.05 per diluted share and increased Core FFO from $3.41 per diluted share to $3.72 per diluted share.
• Increased same-store revenue year-over-year by 3.7% driven by 3.0% growth in rental revenue and 0.7% growth in occupancy, while same-store operating expenses grew 3.8% year-over-year, primarily due to real estate taxes and insurance. The combination of 3.7% same-store revenue growth and expense control initiatives that limited same-store controllable expenses growth to approximately 1.8% over the same period in 2018, led to same-store NOI growth of 3.6% for the year ended December 31, 2019.
• Acquired three new apartment communities in the key growth markets of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Denver, Colorado, consisting of 696 homes, for an aggregate purchase price of $169.3 million.
• Exited slower-growth, less efficient markets in Topeka, Kansas, Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and sold five apartment communities in Bismarck, North Dakota, consisting of a total of 21 apartment communities, two commercial properties, and three parcels of land for an aggregate sale price of $203.1 million.
• Originated a $29.9 million construction loan and a $15.3 million mezzanine loan, in December 2019, for the development of a multifamily community located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The loans are secured by mortgages and mature on December 31, 2023. We have an option to purchase the development.
• Registered an ongoing at-the-market ("ATM") offering and sale of up to $150.0 million in common shares under our 2019 ATM program, from which we issued 308,444 common shares at an average price of $72.29 per share, net of commissions. Total consideration, net of commissions and issuance costs, were approximately $22.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2019.
• Repurchased and retired approximately 465,000 common shares and Units for an aggregate cost of $26.2 million, including commissions, at an average price per share of $56.24, in the year ended December 31, 2019.
• Entered into a $150.0 million private shelf agreement. Of the $150.0 million available under the private shelf agreement, we funded $75.0 million of Series A unsecured senior notes and $50.0 million of Series B unsecured senior notes. Proceeds from this private placement facility were used to repay outstanding amounts on IRET's credit facility and retire mortgage debt. Following the funding of the Series B Notes, our average debt maturity duration increased to 6.0 years from 4.6 years while our weighted average interest rate of debt decreased from 4.3% at December 31, 2018 to 4.0% at December 31, 2019. The Company's debt has decreased from 69% secured at December 31, 2018 to 51% secured at December 31, 2019.

Balance Sheet

At December 31, 2019, we had $226.5 million of total liquidity on our balance sheet, including $199.9 million available on our line of credit.

2020 Financial Overview

We are providing the following guidance for our 2020 calendar year performance.

Additional assumptions:

• Same-store capital expenditures of $825 per home to $900 per home
• Value-add expenditures of $10.0 million to $15.0 million
• Investments of $66.0 million to $72.0 million

FFO and Core FFO are non-GAAP measures. For more information on their usage and presentation, and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to "2020 Financial Outlook" in the Supplemental Information below.

Quarterly Distributions

On December 5, 2019, our Board of Trustees declared a regular quarterly distribution of $0.70 per share/unit (NYSE: IRET), payable on January 15, 2020 to common shareholders and unitholders of record on January 2, 2020. IRET has paid cash dividends to common shareholders and unitholders every quarter since its initial dividend payment in 1971. It represents an annualized rate of $2.80 per share/unit.

On December 5, 2019, our Board of Trustees also declared a dividend of $0.4140625 per share on the 6.625% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (NYSE: IRET-PC), payable on December 31, 2019, to holders of record on December 16, 2019.  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 year ended December 31, 2019 ("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. Non-GAAP financial measures and other capitalized terms, as used in this earnings release, are defined and reconciled in the Supplemental Information, which accompanies this earnings release.

About IRET

IRET is a real estate company focused on the ownership, management, acquisition, redevelopment, and development of apartment communities. As of December 31, 2019, IRET owned interests in 69 apartment communities consisting of 11,953 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 are based on our current expectations and assumptions, and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements do not discuss historical fact, but instead include statements related to expectations, projections, intentions or other items related to the future. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," and variations of those words and similar expressions. 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. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact should be deemed forward-looking statements. As a result, reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors beyond our control and could differ materially from our actual results and performance. Such risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, 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 subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, 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

Jonathan Bishop
Vice President - Finance
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 Expense Comparison

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

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.

Due to the limitations of the FFO definition adopted by Nareit, we have made certain interpretations in applying the definition. We believe that all such interpretations not specifically provided for in the Nareit definition are consistent with the 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 the main business.

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 excludes depreciation and amortization expense on real estate assets, thereby providing an additional perspective on our operating results. We believe that GAAP historical cost depreciation of real estate assets is not correlated with changes in the value of those assets, whose value does not diminish predictably over time, as historical cost depreciation implies. 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.

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 that should not be considered a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP.