DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter 2013 Results

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE: DFT) is reporting results for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.  All per share results are reported on a fully diluted basis.

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Highlights

• As of December 31, 2013, our operating portfolio was stabilized at 94% leased and commenced.
• Quarterly Highlights:
  • Normalized Funds from Operations ("Normalized FFO") of $0.57 per share representing a 50% increase over the prior year quarter and a 12% increase sequentially.
  • Adjusted Funds from Operations ("AFFO") per share of $0.56 representing a 51% increase over the prior year quarter and an 8% increase sequentially. 
  • Commenced one lease totaling 1.14 megawatts ("MW") and 5,500 computer room square feet.
  • Renewed two leases scheduled to expire in 2014, each for five years, totaling 1.17 MW and 9,760 computer room square feet.
  • Repaid the remaining 24% of the $550 million 8.5% Senior Notes due 2017.
  • Exercised the accordion on the unsecured term loan, increasing its total capacity from $195 million to $250 million.
• Subsequent to the Fourth Quarter 2013:
  • Declared first quarter 2014 dividend of $0.35 per share, an increase of 40% over the prior quarter. 

Hossein Fateh, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "DFT enters 2014 with a strong balance sheet poised for new growth.  We had record lease commencements of 33 megawatts in 2013 which resulted in 32% growth in Normalized FFO per share as compared to 2012.  We continue to focus on the lease up of our existing available inventory and our two new developments to fuel our future growth."

Fourth Quarter 2013 Results

For the quarter ended December 31, 2013, earnings were $0.18 per share compared to earnings of $0.11 per share for the fourth quarter of 2012.  The $0.18 per share of earnings includes an $0.11 per share loss on early extinguishment of debt related to the call of the remaining 8.5% Senior Notes due 2017.  Excluding the $0.11 per share loss on early extinguishment of debt, earnings were $0.28 per share, an increase of 155% over the prior year quarter.  Revenues increased 16%, or $13.5 million, to $99.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2013 over the fourth quarter of 2012.  The increase in revenues is primarily due to new leases commencing. 

Normalized FFO is FFO with the loss on early extinguishment of debt added back.  Normalized FFO for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 was $0.57 per share compared to $0.38 per share for the fourth quarter of 2012.  The increase of $0.19 per share, or 50%, from the prior year quarter is primarily due to the following:

• Higher operating income excluding depreciation of $0.16 per share and
• Lower interest expense of $0.03 per share from lower interest rates and higher capitalized interest.

Full Year 2013 Results

For the year ended December 31, 2013, earnings were $0.32 per share compared to $0.41 per share for 2012.  Earnings of $0.32 per share includes losses on the early extinguishment of debt of $0.50 per share from our refinancing of the 8.5% Senior Notes Due 2017 and the ACC5 Term Loan.  Excluding the $0.50 per share loss on early extinguishment of debt, earnings were $0.82 per share, an increase of 100% over 2012.  Revenues increased 13%, or $42.7 million, to $375.1 million for 2013 versus 2012.  The increase in revenues is primarily due to new leases commencing.

Normalized FFO for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $1.96 per share, compared to $1.48 per share for 2012.  The increase of $0.48 per share, or 32%, from 2012 is primarily due to higher operating income excluding depreciation.

Portfolio Update

During the fourth quarter 2013, we:

• Renewed one lease at VA3 for five years totaling 0.60 MW and 7,060 computer room square feet and one lease for five years at ACC5 totaling 0.57 MW and 2,700 computer room square feet. 

In 2013, we:

• Signed five leases and a pre-lease with a weighted average lease term of 5.5 years totaling 15.71 MW and 106,130 computer room square feet that are expected to generate approximately $16.0 million of annualized GAAP base rent revenue which includes $1.0 million of management fees. 
• Commenced 14 leases totaling 33.31 MW and 201,225 computer room square feet. 
• Renewed five leases by a weighted average of 3.8 years totaling 5.72 MW and 31,460 computer room square feet.

Development Update

We are currently under development at ACC7 Phase I (11.9 MW) and SC1 Phase IIA (9.1 MW).  Both of these developments are on time and on budget, with completion expected in mid-2014.  SC1 Phase IIA is 50% pre-leased.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

In September 2013, we issued $600 million of Senior Notes due 2021 at par bearing an interest rate of 5.875%.  The proceeds from this issuance were used to retire our 8.5% Senior Notes due 2017.  Bondholders tendered $418.1 million of these notes outstanding and we settled this tender on September 24, 2013 for $443.4 million which included a premium of $25.3 million.  On October 24, 2013, we redeemed the remaining bonds for $139.0 million which included a premium of $7.1 million.

In September 2013, we entered into a $195 million senior unsecured term loan.  This loan bears interest at LIBOR plus 1.75% and matures on February 15, 2019 with no extension option.  In October 2013, we exercised the accordion feature of this loan which increased its total capacity by $55 million to $250 million.  This loan includes a delayed draw feature, and as of December 31, 2013 we had drawn $154.0 million of the total $250 million. The remaining $96.0 million was drawn in January 2014.

In September 2013, the Company's Board of Directors approved a new common stock repurchase program that commenced in November 2013 and expires on December 31, 2014.  The new program allows purchases of up to $142.2 million.  In the fourth quarter of 2013, we did not repurchase any shares.

As of December 31, 2013, we had $39 million of cash, $96 million of available capacity on our unsecured term loan and $400 million of available capacity under our revolving credit facility.

Dividend

Yesterday, we announced that our first quarter 2014 dividend is $0.35 per share which is a 40% increase from the fourth quarter 2013 dividend of $0.25 per share.  The increase is due to a forecasted increase in taxable income in 2014 as the Company's policy is to pay out 100% of taxable income as a dividend.  Jeff Foster, Chief Financial Officer, said, "We are pleased to announce our fourth dividend increase in the last two years. The 2014 annualized dividend of $1.40 per share represents an estimated Normalized FFO payout ratio of 60 percent at the midpoint of our 2014 guidance."  The Normalized FFO payout ratio in 2013 was 48% and the AFFO payout ratio was 51%.

First Quarter and Full Year 2014 Guidance

Our Normalized FFO guidance range is $0.56 to $0.58 per share for the first quarter of 2014.  The midpoint of this range is equal to our fourth quarter 2013 Normalized FFO per share of $0.57.

Our 2014 Normalized FFO guidance range is $2.28 to $2.38 per share and the lower end of this range assumes no additional leases will be executed through the end of this calendar year. The assumptions underlying this guidance can be found on page 15 of this earnings release.  The $0.37 per share, or 19%, increase between our full year 2013 Normalized FFO per share of $1.96 and the mid-point of the 2014 guidance range is primarily due to:

• Higher operating income excluding depreciation of $0.25 per share primarily from new leases commencing in 2013 and 2014 and
• Lower interest expense of $0.12 per share of which $0.07 per share is due to higher capitalized interest and the remainder is due to decreasing the average interest rate of our debt by 185 basis points in 2014, partially offset by an increase in our average outstanding debt of $198 million. 

Fourth Quarter 2013 Conference Call and Webcast Information

We will host a conference call to discuss these results today, Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. ET. To access the live call, please visit the Investor Relations section of our website at www.dft.com or dial 1-877-870-4263 (domestic) or 1-412-317-0790 (international).  A replay will be available for seven days by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (domestic) or 1-412-317-0088 (international) using passcode 10039043.  The webcast will be archived on our website for one year at www.dft.com on the Presentations & Webcasts page.

About DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.

DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE: DFT) is a leading owner, developer, operator and manager of enterprise-class, carrier neutral, multi-tenant wholesale data centers.  The Company's facilities are designed to offer highly specialized, efficient and safe computing environments in a low-cost operating model.  The Company's customers outsource their mission critical applications and include national and international enterprises across numerous industries, such as technology, Internet content providers, media, communications, cloud-based, healthcare and financial services.  The Company's ten data centers are located in four major U.S. markets, which total 2.5 million gross square feet and 218 megawatts of available critical load to power the servers and computing equipment of its customers.  DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), is headquartered in Washington, DC.  For more information, please visit www.dft.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  The matters described in these forward-looking statements include expectations regarding future events, results and trends and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond our control. We face many risks that could cause our actual performance to differ materially from the results contemplated by our forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risk that the assumptions underlying our full year and first quarter 2014 guidance are not realized, the risks related to the leasing of available space to third-party customers, including delays in executing new leases and failure to negotiate leases on terms that will enable us to achieve our expected returns, risks related to the collection of accounts and notes receivable, the risk that we may be unable to obtain new financing on favorable terms to facilitate, among other things, future development projects, the risks commonly associated with construction and development of new facilities (including delays and/or cost increases associated with the completion of new developments), risks relating to obtaining required permits and compliance with permitting, zoning, land-use and environmental requirements, the risk that we will not declare and pay dividends as anticipated for 2014 and the risk that we may not be able to maintain our qualification as a REIT for federal tax purposes.  The periodic reports that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 and the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended September 30, 2013, June 30, 2013 and March 31, 2013, contain detailed descriptions of these and many other risks to which we are subject.  These reports are available on our website at www.dft.com.  Because of the risks described above and other unknown risks, our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from the results, performance or achievements contemplated by our forward-looking statements.  The information set forth in this news release represents our expectations and intentions only as of the date of this press release.  We assume no responsibility to issue updates to the contents of this press release.

(1)  Effective this quarter, we reclassified the management fee that we collect from customers from "Recoveries from tenants" to "Base rent."  All periods presented were conformed to this change.  We believe that this change more accurately reflects the true nature of our management fee which is equivalent to additional rent for the Company with no offsetting direct expenses.  We continue to recover all of our property management expenses under our triple net lease structure and these recoveries are still reported in "Recoveries from tenants."

(1)  Funds from operations, or FFO, is used by industry analysts and investors as a supplemental operating performance measure for REITs. We calculate FFO in accordance with the definition that was adopted by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or NAREIT. FFO, as defined by NAREIT, represents net income determined in accordance with GAAP, excluding extraordinary items as defined under GAAP, impairment charges on depreciable real estate assets and gains or losses from sales of previously depreciated operating real estate assets, plus specified non-cash items, such as real estate asset depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. We also present FFO attributable to common shares and OP units, which is FFO excluding preferred stock dividends. FFO attributable to common shares and OP units per share is calculated on a basis consistent with net income attributable to common shares and OP units and reflects adjustments to net income for preferred stock dividends.

We use FFO as a supplemental performance measure because, in excluding real estate related depreciation and amortization and gains and losses from property dispositions, it provides a performance measure that, when compared period over period, captures trends in occupancy rates, rental rates and operating expenses. We also believe that, as a widely recognized measure of the performance of equity REITs, FFO may be used by investors as a basis to compare our operating performance with that of other REITs. However, because FFO excludes real estate related depreciation and amortization and captures neither the changes in the value of our properties that result from use or market conditions nor the level of capital expenditures and leasing commissions necessary to maintain the operating performance of our properties, all of which have real economic effects and could materially impact our results from operations, the utility of FFO as a measure of our performance is limited.

While FFO is a relevant and widely used measure of operating performance of equity REITs, other equity REITs may use different methodologies for calculating FFO and, accordingly, FFO as disclosed by such other REITs may not be comparable to our FFO. Therefore, we believe that in order to facilitate a clear understanding of our historical operating results, FFO should be examined in conjunction with net income as presented in the consolidated statements of operations. FFO should not be considered as an alternative to net income or to cash flow from operating activities (each as computed in accordance with GAAP) or as an indicator of our liquidity, nor is it indicative of funds available to meet our cash needs, including our ability to pay dividends or make distributions.

We present FFO with adjustments to arrive at Normalized FFO.  Normalized FFO is FFO attributable to common shares and units excluding gain or loss on early extinguishment of debt and gain or loss on derivative instruments.   We also present FFO with supplemental adjustments to arrive at Adjusted FFO ("AFFO"). AFFO is Normalized FFO excluding straight-line revenue, compensation paid with Company common shares, below market lease amortization net of above market lease amortization, non real estate depreciation and amortization, amortization of deferred financing costs, improvements to real estate and capitalized leasing commissions.  AFFO does not represent cash generated from operating activities in accordance with GAAP and therefore should not be considered an alternative to net income as an indicator of our operating performance or as an alternative to cash flow provided by operations as a measure of liquidity and is not necessarily indicative of funds available to fund our cash needs including our ability to pay dividends. In addition, AFFO may not be comparable to similarly titled measurements employed by other companies. We use AFFO in management reports to provide a measure of REIT operating performance that can be compared to other companies using AFFO.

(1)      Stabilized operating properties are either 85% or more leased and commenced or have been in service for 24 months or greater.

(2)      Gross building area is the entire building area, including computer room square footage (the portion of gross building area where our customers' computer servers are located), common areas, areas controlled by us (such as the mechanical, telecommunications and utility rooms) and, in some facilities, individual office and storage space leased on an as available basis to our customers.

(3)      Critical load (also referred to as IT load or load used by customers' servers or related equipment) is the power available for exclusive use by customers expressed in terms of megawatt, or MW, or kilowatt, or kW (1 MW is equal to 1,000 kW).

(4)      Percentage leased is expressed as a percentage of critical load that is subject to an executed lease totaling 205.3 MW. Leases executed as of January 1, 2014 represent $275 million of base rent on a GAAP basis and $283 million of base rent on a cash basis over the next twelve months. Both amounts include $17 million of revenue from management fees over the next twelve months.

(5)      Percentage commenced is expressed as a percentage of critical load where the lease has commenced under generally accepted accounting principles.

DUPONT FABROS TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Lease Expirations
As of January 1, 2014

The following table sets forth a summary schedule of lease expirations at our operating properties for each of the ten calendar years beginning with 2014. The information set forth in the table below assumes that customers exercise no renewal options and takes into account customers' early termination options in determining the life of their leases under GAAP.

(1)      Represents 33 customers with 96 lease expiration dates. Top four customers represent 62% of annualized base rent.

(2)      Computer room square footage is that portion of gross building area where customers locate their computer servers. One MW is equal to 1,000 kW.

(3)      Annualized base rent represents the monthly contractual base rent (defined as cash base rent before abatements) multiplied by 12 for commenced leases totaling 205.3 MW as of January 1, 2014.

(1)     Gross building area is the entire building area, including computer room square footage (the portion of gross building area where our customers' computer servers are located), common areas, areas controlled by us (such as the mechanical, telecommunications and utility rooms) and, in some facilities, individual office and storage space leased on an as available basis to our customers.  The amount listed for CH2 is an estimate.

(2)     Computer room square footage is that portion of gross building area where customers locate their computer servers. The amount listed for CH2 is an estimate.

(3)     Critical load (also referred to as IT load or load used by customers' servers or related equipment) is the power available for exclusive use by customers expressed in terms of MW or kW (1 MW is equal to 1,000 kW).  The amount listed for CH2 is an estimate.

(4)     Current development projects include land, capitalization for construction and development and capitalized operating carrying costs, as applicable, upon completion.  Capitalized interest is excluded. Future development projects/phases other than SC1 Phase IIB include land, shell and underground work through Phase I opening only.  SC1 Phase IIB also includes a portion of the electrical and mechanical infrastructure. 

(5)     Amount capitalized as of December 31, 2013. Future development projects/phases other than SC1 Phase IIB include land, shell and underground work through Phase I opening only.  SC1 Phase IIB also includes a portion of the electrical and mechanical infrastructure. 

Note:      We capitalized interest and deferred financing cost amortization of $2.4 million and $4.0 million during the three months and year ended December 31, 2013, respectively.

(1)     The 5.875% Unsecured Notes are due September 15, 2021.

(2)     The ACC3 Term Loan matures on March 27, 2018 with no extension option. Quarterly principal payments of $1.25 million begin on April 1, 2016, increase to $2.5 million on April 1, 2017 and continue through maturity.

(3)     The $250 million Unsecured Term Loan matures on February 15, 2019 with no extension option.  In January 2014, we drew the remaining $96.0 million. 

(1)   These selected metrics relate to DuPont Fabros Technology, LP's outstanding unsecured notes.  DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. is the general partner of DuPont Fabros Technology, LP.