CBL & Associates Properties Reports Second Quarter 2015 Results

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL):

• Same-center sales per square foot increased 4.1% during the second quarter 2015 over the prior-year period.
• Average gross rent per square foot for stabilized mall leases signed in the second quarter 2015 increased 8.7% over the prior gross rent per square foot.
• FFO per diluted share, as adjusted, was $0.54 for the second quarter 2015, compared with $0.55 in the prior-year period.
• Same-center NOI for the second quarter increased 0.3% in the Total Portfolio and was flat in the Mall Portfolio compared with the prior-year period.
• Total portfolio occupancy was 91.0% as of June 30, 2015 compared with 93.5% as of June 30, 2014.

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. (NYSE:CBL) announced results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015. A description of each non-GAAP financial measure and the related reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure is located at the end of this news release.

CBL's President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen Lebovitz commented, "Overall fundamentals in the CBL portfolio remain healthy. Same-center sales increased 4.1% during the second quarter, marking another quarter of impressive growth. Leasing spreads remained strong at 8.7%. Our leasing team has quickly addressed the recent bankruptcy-related store closures, with more than 65% of the space committed or under negotiation. These future store openings will benefit our portfolio in late 2015 and throughout 2016.

"Our portfolio transformation is progressing with the completed sale of two non-core assets as well as the addition of Mayfaire Town Center, a high-quality, high-growth Tier One property. Additionally, we are capitalizing on value-creation opportunities in our existing portfolio with the recent start of anchor redevelopment projects at two centers. The conversion of underperforming anchors into new stores and restaurants will be a significant source of ongoing growth over the next several years, strengthening the individual centers as well as the portfolio overall."

FFO allocable to common shareholders, as adjusted, for the second quarter 2015 was $91.9 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, compared with $93.0 million, or $0.55 per diluted share, for the second quarter 2014. FFO allocable to the Operating Partnership common unitholders, as adjusted, for the second quarter 2015 was $107.7 million compared with $109.1 million for the second quarter of 2014.

Net income attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of 2015 was $30.7 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared with net income of $26.7 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2014.

MAJOR VARIANCES IMPACTING SAME-CENTER NOI RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2015

• Lost income from bankruptcy related store closures resulted in a $0.9 million decline in same-center minimum rents during the quarter.
• Percentage rents increased by $0.5 million due to positive sales growth.
• Tenant reimbursement increased by $1.5 million, substantially offset by a $1.2 million increase in real estate tax expense.
• Property operating expense declined by $0.9 million, primarily as a result of a $0.4 million decline in bad debt expense as well as moderate declines in insurance, payroll and energy expense.
• Maintenance and repairs increased by $0.3 million.

PORTFOLIO OPERATIONAL RESULTS

TRANSACTIONS

During the second quarter, CBL completed the acquisition of Mayfaire Town Center and Community Center, the premier open-air center located in the affluent coastal market of Wilmington, NC. The property was acquired for a total cash purchase price of $192 million.

During the second quarter, CBL completed the sale of Eastgate Crossing, a 175,000-square-foot community center located in Cincinnati, OH. The gross sales price of $22.8 million included the assumption of a $14.6 million loan secured by the property.

Additionally during the second quarter, CBL completed the sale of Madison Square, a mall in Huntsville, AL, for $5.0 million. The related associated center, Madison Plaza, was sold in July 2015 for $5.7 million.

CBL has additional transactions in various stages. Further updates on the disposition program will be provided on its conference call.

FINANCINGS

During the second quarter, CBL retired the $49.5 million loan secured by Imperial Valley Mall in El Centro, CA, adding the property to its unencumbered pool. The loan bore an interest rate of 4.99%.

Subsequent to the end of the second quarter, CBL retired four loans totaling $322.7 million using availability under its lines of credit. The weighted average interest rate for the four loans was 5.0%. The loans were secured individually by high-quality properties including CherryVale Mall in Rockford, IL, East Towne Mall in Madison, WI, West Towne Mall in Madison, WI, and Brookfield Square in Milwaukee, WI.

OUTLOOK AND GUIDANCE

Based on its current outlook, the Company is increasing guidance for FFO, as adjusted, to the range of $2.25 - $2.32 per diluted share. The guidance increase includes contributions from the acquisition of Mayfaire Town Center and Community Center, partially offset by an increased G&A expense assumption for the remainder of 2015 due to consulting and personnel expense related to technology and process improvements. CBL's guidance also assumes a same-center NOI growth range of 0% - 2.0% in 2015.

The guidance also assumes the following:

• $2.0 million to $4.0 million of outparcel sales;
• No additional unannounced acquisition or disposition activity;
• No unannounced capital markets activity;
• Year-end occupancy 150-200 bps lower than the prior year-end.

INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. will conduct a conference call at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 30, 2015, to discuss its second quarter results. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (888) 317-6003 or (412) 317-6061 and entering the confirmation number, 9411478. A replay of the conference call will be available through August 6, 2015, by dialing (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088 and entering the confirmation number, 10065318. A transcript of the Company's prepared remarks will be furnished on a Form 8-K following the conference call.

To receive the CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., second quarter earnings release and supplemental information please visit the Investing section of our website at cblproperties.com or contact Investor Relations at 423-490-8312.

The Company will also provide an online webcast and rebroadcast of its 2015 second quarter earnings release conference call. The live broadcast of the quarterly conference call will be available online at cblproperties.com on Thursday, July 30, 2015 beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. The online replay will follow shortly after the call.

ABOUT CBL & ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES, INC.

CBL is one of the largest and most active owners and developers of malls and shopping centers in the United States. CBL owns, holds interests in or manages 147 properties, including 90 regional malls/open-air centers. The properties are located in 30 states and total 84.0 million square feet including 6.5 million square feet of non-owned shopping centers managed for third parties. Headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, CBL has regional offices in Boston (Waltham), MA, Dallas (Irving), TX, and St. Louis, MO. Additional information can be found at cblproperties.com.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Funds From Operations

FFO is a widely used measure of the operating performance of real estate companies that supplements net income (loss) determined in accordance with GAAP. The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) defines FFO as net income (loss) (computed in accordance with GAAP) excluding gains or losses on sales of depreciable operating properties and impairment losses of depreciable properties, plus depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures and noncontrolling interests. Adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures and noncontrolling interests are calculated on the same basis. We define FFO as defined above by NAREIT less dividends on preferred stock of the Company or distributions on preferred units of the Operating Partnership, as applicable. The Company’s method of calculating FFO may be different from methods used by other REITs and, accordingly, may not be comparable to such other REITs.

The Company believes that FFO provides an additional indicator of the operating performance of its properties without giving effect to real estate depreciation and amortization, which assumes the value of real estate assets declines predictably over time. Since values of well-maintained real estate assets have historically risen with market conditions, the Company believes that FFO enhances investors’ understanding of its operating performance. The use of FFO as an indicator of financial performance is influenced not only by the operations of the Company’s properties and interest rates, but also by its capital structure. The Company presents both FFO allocable to Operating Partnership common unitholders and FFO allocable to common shareholders, as it believes that both are useful performance measures. The Company believes FFO allocable to Operating Partnership common unitholders is a useful performance measure since it conducts substantially all of its business through its Operating Partnership and, therefore, it reflects the performance of the properties in absolute terms regardless of the ratio of ownership interests of the Company’s common shareholders and the noncontrolling interest in the Operating Partnership. The Company believes FFO allocable to its common shareholders is a useful performance measure because it is the performance measure that is most directly comparable to net income (loss) attributable to its common shareholders.

In the reconciliation of net income attributable to the Company's common shareholders to FFO allocable to Operating Partnership common unitholders, located in this earnings release, the Company makes an adjustment to add back noncontrolling interest in income (loss) of its Operating Partnership in order to arrive at FFO of the Operating Partnership common unitholders. The Company then applies a percentage to FFO of the Operating Partnership common unitholders to arrive at FFO allocable to its common shareholders. The percentage is computed by taking the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period and dividing it by the sum of the weighted average number of common shares and the weighted average number of Operating Partnership units outstanding during the period.

FFO does not represent cash flows from operations as defined by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, is not necessarily indicative of cash available to fund all cash flow needs and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) for purposes of evaluating the Company’s operating performance or to cash flow as a measure of liquidity.

As described above, during the second quarter of 2015, the Company recognized $3.0 million of expense related to a litigation settlement and a $0.3 million gain on extinguishment of debt. Additionally, during the six months ended June 30, 2015, the Company recognized a $16.6 million gain on investment related to the sale of marketable securities and received income of $1.7 million, net of related expense, as a partial settlement of ongoing litigation. During the six months ended June 30, 2014, the Company recognized a $42.7 million net gain on the extinguishment of debt primarily related to the foreclosure of the mortgage loan encumbering Citadel Mall and received income of $0.8 million as a partial settlement of ongoing litigation. Considering the significance and nature of these items, the Company believes it is important to identify their impact on its FFO measures for readers to have a complete understanding of the Company's results of operations. Therefore, the Company has also presented adjusted FFO measures excluding these items from the applicable periods.

Same-center Net Operating Income

NOI is a supplemental measure of the operating performance of the Company's shopping centers and other properties. The Company defines NOI as property operating revenues (rental revenues, tenant reimbursements and other income) less property operating expenses (property operating, real estate taxes and maintenance and repairs).

The Company computes NOI based on the Operating Partnership's pro rata share of both consolidated and unconsolidated properties. We believe that presenting NOI and same-center NOI (described below) based on our Operating Partnership’s pro rata share of both consolidated and unconsolidated Properties is useful since we conduct substantially all of our business through our Operating Partnership and, therefore, it reflects the performance of the Properties in absolute terms regardless of the ratio of ownership interests of our common shareholders and the noncontrolling interest in the Operating Partnership. The Company's definition of NOI may be different than that used by other companies and, accordingly, the Company's NOI may not be comparable to that of other companies.

Since NOI includes only those revenues and expenses related to the operations of its shopping center and other properties, the Company believes that same-center NOI provides a measure that reflects trends in occupancy rates, rental rates and operating costs and the impact of those trends on the Company's results of operations. The Company’s calculation of same-center NOI also excludes lease termination income, straight-line rent adjustments, and amortization of above and below market lease intangibles in order to enhance the comparability of results from one period to another, as these items can be impacted by one-time events that may distort same-center NOI trends and may result in same-center NOI that is not indicative of the ongoing operations of the Company’s shopping center and other properties. A reconciliation of same-center NOI to net income is located at the end of this earnings release.

Pro Rata Share of Debt

The Company presents debt based on its pro rata ownership share (including the Company's pro rata share of unconsolidated affiliates and excluding noncontrolling interests' share of consolidated properties) because it believes this provides investors a clearer understanding of the Company's total debt obligations which affect the Company's liquidity. A reconciliation of the Company's pro rata share of debt to the amount of debt on the Company's consolidated balance sheet is located at the end of this earnings release.

Information included herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Such statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which cannot be predicted with accuracy and some of which might not even be anticipated. Future events and actual events, financial and otherwise, may differ materially from the events and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The reader is directed to the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, and the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" included therein, for a discussion of such risks and uncertainties.

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