Partners REIT (TSX: V.PAR.UN, Stock Forum) opened their books with some disappointing news as the company announced financial results from its second quarter today noting a net income loss of $4.5 million compared to a net income of $2.4 million reported in Q2 2013.
According to the news release, the company recorded quarterly revenues and NOI increases of 17% and 9% respectively versus the matching 2013 period with FFO and AFFO decreasing 30% and 26% respectively compared to the same 2013 quarter.
The release went on to note that the company's second quarter results had been dampened by $2.5 million of one-time costs related to the proxy battle with Orange Capital, the REIT's efforts to unwind the Holyrood Transaction and the strategic review.
As a result of the quarter's performance, the company announced measures to shore up its financial position which included the reduction of the REIT's monthly distribution from $0.04166 to $0.02083 and the conditional agreement to sell a small portfolio of properties for net cash consideration of approximately $14.0 million.
Company Acting CEO and COO, Jane Domenico, commented on the results, “In order to position Partners to realize our assets' potential, it is vital that we improve our financial flexibility. This position has been constrained by a variety of factors, including our recent proxy battle, near-term cash requirements, and the need to make critical investments in our property portfolio.”
She went on to illustrate, “Furthermore, the uncertainty regarding the outcome of our attempts to unwind the Holyrood acquisition has limited our ability to access traditional sources of capital. As a result, we have elected to reduce our monthly distribution and sell a small portfolio of our Ontario assets. These decisions were not made lightly. However, improving our liquidity and financial flexibility is necessary for our future.”
Then she added, “We believe that we will soon have greater clarity regarding the unwinding of the Holyrood acquisition. We will then be in a position to articulate a more comprehensive strategic plan for Partners' future.”
And finally concluded, “Over the last twelve months, Partners' progress has been plagued by a variety of headwinds. Only by establishing a track record of consistent performance can we prove that this challenging period is behind us. Today's decisions place us in a better position to pursue this goal.”
Partners REIT was in the news recently when the Barrie Ontario-based company provided information regarding the results of the annual and special shareholders meeting at the end of July.
Shares were down 11.62% on the news to $4.41 per share.
Currently there are 27.5m outstanding shares with a market cap of $120.8 million.