RioCan's First Quarter 2022 Delivers Growth Across Key Metrics Driven by its Quality Portfolio

• Net income of $160.1 million and FFO per unit 1 of $0.42; reaffirms 2022 guidance
• 1.1 million sq. ft. of new and renewed leases with new leasing spread of 13.5% and blended spread of 8.9%

TORONTO, May 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (“RioCan" or the "Trust”) announced today its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022 (the "First Quarter").

“RioCan is pleased to report another strong quarter. We continued to advance our strategic objectives from a position of strength, driven by the quality of our portfolio, resilience of our tenants, and capacity to execute our growth initiatives,” said Jonathan Gitlin, President and CEO of RioCan. “In any environment, our portfolio, business, and team remain well-positioned to drive performance, overcome challenges and emerge even stronger. In the face of rapidly changing market conditions, our focus remains on the long-term. We will continue to capitalize on the strength of our portfolio, our embedded development pipeline, and our compelling growth prospects to deliver solid performance and maximize Unitholder return.”

FFO per Unit and Net Income

• FFO per unit of $0.42 for the First Quarter was $0.09 per unit or 27% higher than the same period last year and on track to achieve full year 2022 guidance of 5% to 7% FFO per unit growth. Strong Same Property NOI1 growth of 4.1% accounted for $0.02 of the increase. Higher NOI from completed properties under development1 and higher fee income each contributed approximately $0.01 of incremental FFO per unit. The combination of other items including lower net debt prepayment and one-time compensation costs, lower interest expense and higher residential inventory gains contributed $0.06 to the variance in FFO per unit. These items were partially offset by the reduction of FFO from assets sold, an impact of $0.02 on FFO per unit. The Trust reported an FFO Payout Ratio1 for the quarter of 57.3%, which is in-line with its target range of 55% to 65%.
• Net income for the First Quarter was $160.1 million and exceeded the comparable period last year by $53.3 million, due to similar items described above as well as increased fair value gains of $26.6 million.
• RioCan continued to advance its industry leading development program of preeminent mixed-use communities. This program will continue to deliver FFO growth in the near term. Our current projects are insulated from inflation as the majority of costs are already secured with fixed price contracts. For our next wave of projects, we will be developing on lands that we already own with in-place income, which affords us with the ability to maintain discipline.
• The Trust is well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities and mitigate risk during the current economic environment. Our targeted FFO Payout Ratio, ample Liquidity1 of $1.6 billion, low proportion of floating rate debt and staggered debt maturities all contribute to the Trust's financial flexibility.

Operation Highlights

• Same Property NOI grew by 4.1% in the First Quarter when compared to the same period last year and was driven by occupancy gains, rent growth and a lower pandemic-related provision partially offset by certain 2021 favourable items which did not recur in 2022. Rent collection of 99.1% of First Quarter billed gross rents collected to date is in-line with pre-pandemic levels and as such, no pandemic-related provision was necessary in Q1 2022, compared to $6.4 million in Q1 2021.
• Committed occupancy for the total portfolio of 97.0% showed solid improvement, increasing by 120 basis points when compared to the same period last year and by 20 basis points when compared to Q4 2021, driven by increases in retail committed occupancy.
• New and renewed leases totalled 1.1 million square feet (at 100% ownership interest) for the First Quarter at a blended leasing spread of 8.9%. New leasing of 0.4 million square feet was completed at new leasing spreads for the overall portfolio of 13.5%. Leasing momentum at The WellTM continued into Q1 2022 and accounted for the majority of new property under development leases. Renewed leases of 0.7 million square feet were completed at renewal leasing spreads of 6.7% for the overall portfolio.
• On March 28, 2022, RioCan announced the transfer of property management responsibilities for 18 of its Quebec retail properties to Harden, a local third-party manager, with a view of maximizing value from this portfolio.

RioCan Living Update

• RioCan's residential brand, RioCan LivingTM, includes purpose-built residential rental buildings developed or acquired by RioCan. As of May 9, 2022, the Trust's residential rental portfolio is comprised of 1,837 purpose-built completed units (at 100% ownership interest) across eight buildings located in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Montreal. The 139-unit building acquired in Montreal is the first phase of a three-phase development and RioCan will also acquire a 90% interest upon stabilization in the 297 units currently under construction in the two additional phases.
• Leasing velocity was strong at the two most recently completed multi-unit properties, LatitudeTM, the 209-unit project in Ottawa and StradaTM, the 61-unit project in Toronto. Occupancy at these two buildings commenced in Q1 2022. Latitude is now 62.5% leased and Strada is now 62.3% leased, up 35.1% and 34.4% respectively since last reported. Leasing at LumaTM in Ottawa launched during the quarter and is progressing well.
• RioCan Living, also encompasses townhouse and condominium developments. Demand at our most recent phase of the condominium and townhouse development at our Windfields Farm site in Oshawa, Ontario continues to be strong. All released condominium units at U.C. Tower 2 have sold out and sales of 386 units at U.C. Tower 3 that commenced in April 2022 are averaging over $1,050 per square foot. Buyers of 66 townhouse units at U.C. Uptowns TM took interim occupancy in the First Quarter, generating a $2.0 million inventory gain. Final closings at U.C. Uptowns commenced upon obtaining condominium registration subsequent to quarter end.

Development Highlights

• RioCan's in-house development team delivered 145,000 square feet of completions during Q1 2022, including two RioCan Living purpose-built residential rental buildings, Strada in Toronto and Latitude in Ottawa. The total embedded development potential within the Trust's portfolio is 42.6 million square feet, of which 23.7 million square feet are currently zoned or have submitted applications. Many of our development properties are currently income producing and have been owned by the Trust for many years. Therefore, they are situated on land with a low cost base. Both of these elements provide a significant competitive advantage, particularly in an inflationary environment with rising land costs.
• Our development pipeline includes 16.8 million square feet of permitted projects, of which 2.2 million square feet is currently under development. Construction projects include The Well and two purpose-built residential rental projects in Ottawa, Luma and RhythmTM, which are on schedule for completion by Q2 2022 and Q4 2022, respectively. The start of construction is imminent at NextTM, our development at Strawberry Hill, an additional purpose-built rental project located in Surrey, British Columbia and additional lands at Queen & AshbridgeTM were acquired, expediting the development of this mixed-use project which is scheduled for a 2025 completion.
• As of May 9, 2022, 2,780 condominium and townhouse units are either under construction or in the process of interim or final closing. These projects include U.C. Uptowns, U.C. Tower, U.C. Tower 2, 11 YV, Queen & Ashbridge and Verge (Phase One and Two) with estimated completion dates between 2022 and 2026. An additional 451 units at U.C. Towns 2 and U.C. Tower 3 are in pre-sale.
• The Trust's Development Spending target for 2022 is estimated to be in the $475 million to $525 million range, excluding acquisitions for purposes of development.
• In 2022, the Trust expects to deliver projects with costs of $675 million to $725 million, the largest amount of annual cost transfers since the inception of this development program.
  

Investing and Capital Recycling

• RioCan continued to enhance its development pipeline through opportunistic asset acquisitions including land assembly adjacent to properties it already owns. In Q1 2022, the Trust entered into a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Parallax Properties Inc. to develop a high-rise residential condominium building with luxury street-front retail in Yorkville, an exclusive Toronto neighbourhood. Each partner vended in their respective owned properties and completed the assembly by acquiring four adjacent properties. RioCan’s cost for a 50% interest in the acquired properties totalled $52.5 million, or $225 per buildable square foot, based on density pursuant to the zoning application.
• As of May 9, 2022, closed, firm or conditional dispositions totaled $191.8 million at a weighted average capitalization rate of 6.6%, including $86.1 million of completed dispositions in the First Quarter.
• Total Acquisitions1 including land assemblies and properties acquired within equity-accounted joint ventures were $187.8 million in the First Quarter. This included the previously announced Market residential rental property in Montreal.

Capital Management Update

• The Trust continued to execute on its target of achieving 70% of total debt as unsecured over the long-term and to extend the weighted average term to maturity of its total debt portfolio while further strengthening its liquidity.
• On April 18, 2022, RioCan issued $250.0 million, 4.628% of Series AF senior unsecured debentures with a 7-year term. Inclusive of the benefit of bond-forward hedges, the all-in interest rate of the Series AF debentures is 3.829%. This issuance provides additional liquidity to RioCan to support its strategy, pursue opportunities and manage potential risks.
• The Trust has $250.0 million of bond-forward contracts remaining as of May 9, 2022 with an effective 7-year government of Canada bond yield of 1.46% to hedge its exposure to changes in the risk-free interest rates on anticipated refinancings.

Balance Sheet Strength

• The Trust had $1.3 billion of Liquidity in the form of cash and cash equivalents and undrawn lines of credit, or $1.6 billion including the $250.0 million increase relating to Series AF senior unsecured debentures subsequent to quarter end.
• RioCan’s unencumbered asset pool was $9.2 billion, which generated 62.4% of Annual Normalized NOI1 and provided 2.29x coverage over Unsecured Debt.
• The Trust's Total Adjusted Debt to Total Adjusted Assets at RioCan's proportionate share increased marginally from December 31, 2021 mainly due to higher Total Adjusted Debt resulting from timing of development spend relative to development completions partially offset by improvements in the Trust's operations and valuations.
• Adjusted Debt to Adjusted EBITDA was 9.48x on a proportionate share basis, as at March 31, 2022, compared to 9.59x as at the end of 2021. The decrease was primarily due to higher Adjusted EBITDA partially offset by higher average Total Adjusted Debt balances.

1. A non-GAAP measurement. For definitions, reconciliations and the basis of presentation of RioCan's non-GAAP measures, refer to the Basis of Presentation and Non-GAAP Measures section in this News Release.

Conference Call and Webcast

Interested parties are invited to participate in a conference call with management on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. (ET). Participants will be required to identify themselves and the organization on whose behalf they are participating.

In order to participate, please dial 647-427-3230 or 1-877-486-4304. For those unable to participate in the live mode, a replay will be available at 1-855-859-2056, passcode 8402859#.

For a copy of the slides to be used for the conference call or to access the simultaneous webcast, visit RioCan’s website at http://investor.riocan.com/investor-relations/events-and-presentations/ and click on the link for the webcast.

About RioCan

RioCan is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment trusts. RioCan owns, manages and develops retail-focused, increasingly mixed-use properties located in prime, high-density transit-oriented areas where Canadians want to shop, live and work. As at March 31, 2022, our portfolio is comprised of 204 properties with an aggregate net leasable area of approximately 36.2 million square feet (at RioCan's interest) including office, residential rental and 13 development properties. To learn more about us, please visit www.riocan.com.

Basis of Presentation and Non-GAAP Measures

All figures included in this News Release are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. RioCan’s unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements ("Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements") are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Financial information included within this News Release does not contain all disclosures required by IFRS, and accordingly should be read in conjunction with the Trust's Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2022, which are available on RioCan's website at www.riocan.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Consistent with RioCan’s management framework, management uses certain financial measures to assess RioCan’s financial performance, which are not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) under IFRS. Funds From Operations (“FFO”), FFO per unit, Net Operating Income ("NOI"), Same Property NOI, Development Spending, Total Acquisitions, Liquidity, Adjusted Debt to Adjusted EBITDA, Total Adjusted Debt to Total Adjusted Assets, RioCan's Proportionate Share, Ratio of Unsecured Debt to Total Contractual Debt, Ratio of Secured Debt to Total Contractual Debt, Unencumbered Assets to Unsecured Debt and Percentage of Normalized NOI Generated from Unencumbered Assets, as well as other measures that may be discussed elsewhere in this News Release, do not have a standardized definition prescribed by IFRS and are, therefore, unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other reporting issuers. RioCan supplements its IFRS measures with these Non-GAAP measures to aid in assessing the Trust’s underlying performance and reports these additional measures so that investors may do the same. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered as alternatives to net income or comparable metrics determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of RioCan’s performance, liquidity, cash flow, and profitability. For full definitions of these measures, please refer to the "Non-GAAP Measures” section in RioCan’s MD&A for three months ended March 31, 2022.

The reconciliations for non-GAAP measures included in this News Release are outlined as follows:

RioCan's Proportionate Share

The following table reconciles the consolidated balance sheet from IFRS to RioCan's proportionate share basis as at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

The following tables reconcile the consolidated statements of income from IFRS to RioCan's proportionate share basis for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

NOI and Same Property NOI

The following table reconciles operating income to NOI and Same Property NOI to NOI for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

(i) Includes properties acquired or disposed during the periods being compared.

Same Property NOI including completed PUD

Same Property NOI excluding the pandemic-related provision

FFO

The following table reconciles net income attributable to Unitholders to FFO for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

Development Spending

Total Development Spending for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

Total Acquisitions

Total Acquisitions for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

Total Adjusted Debt and Total Contractual Debt

The following tables reconcile total debt to Total Adjusted Debt, total assets to Total Adjusted Assets, and total debt to Total Contractual Debt as at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

Liquidity

As at March 31, 2022, RioCan had approximately $1.3 billion of liquidity as summarized in the following table:

Unsecured Debt and Secured Debt

The following table reconciles total Unsecured Debt and Secured Debt to Total Contractual Debt as at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

Adjusted EBITDA

The following table reconciles consolidated net income attributable to Unitholders to Adjusted EBITDA:

(i) Includes transaction gains and losses realized on the disposition of investment properties.

Adjusted Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio

Adjusted Debt to Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as follows:

Unencumbered Assets

The tables below summarize RioCan's Unencumbered Assets to Unsecured Debt and Percentage of Normalized NOI Generated from Unencumbered Assets as at March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021:

(i) Annual Normalized NOI are reconciled in the table below.

(i) Refer to the NOI and Same Property NOI table of this section for reconciliation from NOI to operating income.
(ii) Calculated by multiplying Normalized NOI by a factor of 4.

Forward-Looking Information

This News Release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. This information reflects RioCan’s objectives, our strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as statements with respect to management’s beliefs, estimates and intentions concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “should”, “plan”, “continue”, or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events. Such forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. All forward-looking information in this News Release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future events or performance and, by its nature, is based on RioCan’s current estimates and assumptions, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in the “Risks and Uncertainties” section in RioCan's MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and in our most recent Annual Information Form, which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the forward-looking information contained in this News Release. General economic conditions, including interest rate fluctuations, may also have an effect on RioCan’s results of operations. Material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making an estimate set out in the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to: a gradual recovery and growth of the retail environment and the general economy over 2022; relatively historically low interest costs; a continuing trend toward land use intensification at reasonable costs and development yields, including residential development in urban markets; the Trust’s ability to redevelop, sell or enter into partnerships with respect to the future incremental density it has identified in its portfolio, access to equity and debt capital markets to fund, at acceptable costs, future capital requirements and to enable our refinancing of debts as they mature; the availability of investment opportunities for growth in Canada; the timing and ability of RioCan to sell certain properties; the valuations to be realized on property sales relative to current IFRS values; and the Trust's ability to utilize the capital gain refund mechanism. Although the forward-looking information contained in this News Release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with this forward-looking information.

Given the current level of uncertainty arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, there can be no assurance regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the business, operations, and financial performance of RioCan and its tenants, as well as on consumer behaviors and the economy in general. General risks and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic also include, but are not limited to, the length, spread and severity of the pandemic; efficacy of the vaccines and any applicable boosters, the nature and length of the restrictive measures implemented or to be implemented, including any loosening or tightening of the restrictive measures, by the various levels of government in Canada; RioCan's tenants' ability to pay rents as required under their leases; the availability of various support programs that are or may be offered by the various levels of government in Canada; the introduction or extension of temporary or permanent rent control or other forms of regulation or legislation that may limit the Trust's ability or the extent to which it can raise rents based on market conditions upon lease renewals or restrict existing landlord rights or a landlord's ability to reinforce such rights; domestic and global supply chains; timelines and costs related to the Trust’s development projects; the pace of property lease-up and rents and yields achieved upon development completion; potential changes in leasing activities, market rents and property valuations; the capitalization rates that arm's length buyers and sellers are willing to transact on properties; the availability and extent of rent deferrals offered or to be offered by the Trust; domestic and global credit and capital markets, and the Trust's ability to access capital on favourable terms or at all and its ability to maintain its credit ratings; the total return and dividend yield of RioCan's Units; and the health and safety of our employees, tenants and people in the communities that our properties serve.

The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are made as of the date hereof, and should not be relied upon as representing RioCan’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this News Release. Management undertakes no obligation, except as required by applicable law, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
Dennis Blasutti
Chief Financial Officer
416-866-3033 | www.riocan.com