Veris Residential Inc (VRE) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Veris Residential Inc. Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Veris Residential Inc. 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。正式演講後將舉行簡短的問答環節。（操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Taryn Fielder, General Counsel. Thank you, Ms. Fielder, you may begin.

現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，總法律顧問 Taryn Fielder。謝謝您，菲爾德女士，您可以開始了。

Good morning everyone and welcome to Veris Residential's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I would like to remind everyone that certain information discussed on this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities laws.

大家早安，歡迎參加 Veris Residential 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我想提醒大家，本次電話會議中討論的某些資訊可能構成聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。

Although we believe the estimates reflected in these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot give assurance that the anticipated results will be achieved. We refer you to the company's press release and annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC for risk factors that impact the company.

儘管我們相信這些陳述中反映的估計是基於合理的假設，但我們不能保證能夠實現預期結果。我們建議您參閱本公司的新聞稿以及向 SEC 提交的年度和季度報告，以了解影響公司的風險因素。

With that, I would like to hand the call over to Mahbod Nia, Veris Residential's Chief Executive Officer, who is joined by Amanda Lombard, Chief Financial Officer. Mahbod?

接下來，我想將電話轉交給 Veris Residential 執行長 Mahbod Nia，財務長 Amanda Lombard 也將與他一起通話。馬哈博德？

Thank you, Taryn and good morning everyone. The second quarter marked another period of strong operational and financial results for Veris, reflecting continued progress across a number of initiatives aligned with our three-pronged value creation plan. This is reflected in our decision to raise guidance once again, which Amanda will discuss in further detail.

謝謝你，塔林，大家早安。第二季標誌著 Veris 又一個強勁的營運和財務業績時期，反映出與我們三管齊下的價值創造計劃相一致的多項舉措的持續進展。這反映在我們再次提高指導的決定中，阿曼達將進一步詳細討論這一點。

As of June 30th, the portfolio was 95.1% occupied and continues to perform well, with 5% blended net rental growth and 5.9% NOI growth in the first half of this year. In an effort to further optimize our balance sheet we secured a new $500 million credit facility and term loan in April and reduced our overall debt outstanding by $168 million during the quarter, primarily utilizing proceeds from nonstrategic asset sales.

截至 6 月 30 日，該投資組合入住率達 95.1%，並持續表現良好，今年上半年綜合淨租金成長 5%，NOI 成長 5.9%。為了進一步優化我們的資產負債表，我們在 4 月獲得了新的 5 億美元信貸額度和定期貸款，本季未償債務總額減少了 1.68 億美元，主要利用非戰略資產銷售收益。

Looking more closely at our operational performance, same-store occupancy was 100 basis points above March 31 at 95.1% as we continue to seek the optimal balance between occupancy and revenue growth.

更仔細地觀察我們的營運業績，隨著我們繼續尋求入住率和收入成長之間的最佳平衡，同店入住率比 3 月 31 日高出 100 個基點，達到 95.1%。

Our Class A portfolio realized 5% blended net rental growth in the first half of the year continuing to build on two consecutive years of strong growth. Net blended rental growth increased from 4.6% in the first quarter to 5.4% in the second quarter driven by increases of 6.4% in renewals and 4.2% in new leases.

我們的 A 級投資組合在連續兩年強勁成長的基礎上，在今年上半年實現了 5% 的綜合淨租金成長。由於續租成長 6.4% 和新租成長 4.2%，淨混合租金成長從第一季的 4.6% 上升至第二季的 5.4%。

Today our properties continue to command a significant rent premium of approximately 40% compared to our industry peers with an average revenue per home of over $3900 an increase of 22% over the last two years, reflecting the quality of our highly amenitized comparatively young vintage of approximately eight years and well located Class A portfolio.

如今，與業內同行相比，我們的房產繼續獲得約40% 的顯著租金溢價，每套住宅的平均收入超過3900 美元，在過去兩年中增長了22%，反映了我們高度便利的相對年輕年份的品質。

Affordability remained healthy with an average rent-to-income ratio of around 12% in the second quarter. Our Port Imperial and Jersey City Waterfront properties continue to outperform the broader portfolio, benefiting from their proximity to Manhattan as well as limited new supply in these submarkets.

負擔能力維持健康，第二季平均租金與收入比率約為 12%。我們的帝國港和澤西城海濱物業繼續跑贏更廣泛的投資組合，受益於它們靠近曼哈頓以及這些子市場的新增供應有限。

We've also seen significant improvement in new lease rental growth rates across our East Boston properties, which represents a compelling relative value proposition compared to Downtown Boston and the seaport.

我們也看到東波士頓物業的新租賃租金成長率顯著提高，與波士頓市中心和海港相比，這代表了令人信服的相對價值主張。

We remain focused on our ongoing pursuits of operational excellence, leveraging innovative solutions including new technologies, operational enhancements, and changes to our organizational structure and processes as we seek to identify additional efficiencies and further enhance our platform.

我們仍然專注於不斷追求卓越運營，利用創新解決方案，包括新技術、營運增強以及組織結構和流程的變化，以提高效率並進一步增強我們的平台。

These operational efforts have contributed to a steady increase in our operating margin, which now stands at 66%, up from 57% three years ago. Our AI-based leasing assistant, Quinn, continues to be highly effective in capturing demand at the top of our leasing funnel, effectively converting leads while allowing us to realize payroll efficiencies.

這些營運努力使我們的營業利潤率穩步上升，從三年前的 57% 上升到目前的 66%。我們基於人工智慧的租賃助理 Quinn 繼續有效率地捕捉租賃管道頂部的需求，有效地轉化潛在客戶，同時使我們能夠實現薪資效率。

In the second quarter, Quinn converted over 34% of leads into tours, more than double the industry average, answering over 60,000 messages and saving over 5000 staff hours. In addition we have leveraged our AI capabilities to continue enhancing the resident experience at Veris. Quinn is now available to all residents 24/7 and is capable of answering a wide range of inquiries as well as managing maintenance requests.

第二季度，Quinn 將超過 34% 的銷售線索轉化為旅遊，是行業平均水平的兩倍多，回覆了 60,000 多條訊息，節省了 5000 多個員工時間。此外，我們也利用人工智慧能力持續增強 Veris 的住院體驗。Quinn 現在為所有居民提供 24/7 全天候服務，能夠回答各種詢問並管理維護請求。

In June, we introduced a new portfolio-wide rent payment platform, BILT, which allows residents to earn reward points that can be spent on hotels flights restaurants and more with every rent payment.

6 月，我們推出了一個新的全投資組合租金支付平台 BILT，該平台允許居民在每次支付租金時賺取獎勵積分，這些積分可用於酒店、航班、餐廳等。

On the capital allocation front, earlier in the quarter, we closed the sale of 107 Morgan Street as well as two land sites, 6 Becker and 85 Livingston in suburban New Jersey, releasing approximately $78 million of net proceeds which was used to repay debt.

在資本配置方面，本季早些時候，我們完成了摩根街107 號以及新澤西州郊區的兩塊土地（6 Becker 和85 Livingston）的出售，釋放了約7800 萬美元的淨收益，用於償還債務。

With our transformation complete, we continue to look for optimization opportunities through capital reallocation within the company. To that end, our $187 million land bank and interest in unconsolidated multifamily joint ventures, remain a considerable source of inefficient equity.

隨著轉型的完成，我們將繼續透過公司內部的資本重新分配來尋找優化機會。為此，我們 1.87 億美元的土地儲備和未合併的多戶合資企業的權益仍然是低效率股權的重要來源。

The ability to unlock and reallocate some or all of this capital over time has the potential to significantly enhance the company's earnings and leverage profile. One of these land parcels Harborside 9 recently gained approval for future development from the Jersey City Planning Board as part of our pre development efforts to enhance the valuation of our land bank.

隨著時間的推移，釋放和重新分配部分或全部資本的能力有可能顯著提高公司的獲利和槓桿狀況。其中一個地塊 Harbourside 9 最近獲得了澤西市規劃委員會的未來開發批准，作為我們提高土地儲備估值的預開發工作的一部分。

I'd like to address our decision to withdraw the company's recent public offering of common stock and proposed acquisition of 55 Riverwalk Place. While this strategic and accretive transaction would have strengthened our position in one of our core markets, Port Imperial and further delevered our balance sheet, we decided not to proceed given the unintended signaling that the Board and management team may seek to prioritize external growth at the expense of rather than parallel with a comprehensive spectrum of strategic and organic value-creation opportunities.

我想談談我們決定撤回公司最近公開發行普通股以及擬收購 55 Riverwalk Place 的決定。雖然這項策略性增值交易將加強我們在帝國港這一核心市場的地位，並進一步降低我們的資產負債表的去槓桿化，但鑑於董事會和管理團隊可能會尋求優先考慮外部增長的意外信號，我們決定不繼續進行。 犧牲而非並行全面的策略和有機價值創造機會。

The primary focus of the management team is the creation of value through the 3-pronged approach we announced at the beginning of the year. In parallel and consistent with past practice, the Board and Strategic Review Committee will continue to evaluate all credible opportunities to maximize value on behalf of shareholders.

管理團隊的主要關注點是透過我們年初宣布的三管齊下的方法創造價值。與過去的做法並行並一致，董事會和策略審查委員會將繼續評估所有可靠的機會，以代表股東實現價值最大化。

Before I hand over to Amanda, I'm pleased to show our progress in reducing emissions and earning green certifications. Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 66% below our 2019 baseline. We are one of the few companies to measure almost all of our operational Scope 3 emissions which have decreased by 22% from 2022. Simultaneously, we increased the share of green certified buildings in our portfolio to 78%. Our new credit facilities include sustainability KPI provisions which the company successfully met in July and will result in a five basis point margin saving on the facility.

在交給阿曼達之前，我很高興向大家展示我們在減少排放和獲得綠色認證方面取得的進展。我們的範圍 1 和範圍 2 排放量比 2019 年基準低 66%。我們是少數幾家測量幾乎所有範圍 3 營運排放量的公司之一，這些排放量較 2022 年減少了 22%。同時，我們將綠色認證建築在我們投資組合中的比例提高到了 78%。我們的新信貸安排包括公司在 7 月成功滿足的永續發展關鍵績效指標 (KPI) 規定，並將導致該安排的利潤率節省 5 個基點。

With that, I'm going to hand it over to Amanda who will discuss our financial performance and provide an update on guidance.

接下來，我將把它交給阿曼達，她將討論我們的財務表現並提供最新的指導。

Thank you, Mahbod. For the second quarter of 2024, net income available to common shareholders was $0.03 per fully diluted share versus a net loss of $0.30 for the same period in the prior year. Core FFO per share was $0.18 for the second quarter compared to $0.14 last quarter and $0.16 for the second quarter of 2023. Core FFO this quarter is up $0.04 compared to the first quarter, driven primarily by three factors, including the receipt of the annual early tax credit of $2.6 million, an additional $1 million in interest income from cash on hand and another $1 million from the recognition of a successful real estate tax appeal for Harborside 1 2 and 3 which we sold last year.

謝謝你，馬哈博德。2024 年第二季度，普通股股東可獲得的完全稀釋每股淨利潤為 0.03 美元，而去年同期淨虧損為 0.30 美元。第二季核心 FFO 每股為 0.18 美元，上季為 0.14 美元，2023 年第二季為 0.16 美元。本季核心FFO 較第一季成長0.04 美元，主要由三個因素推動，包括收到260 萬美元的年度早期稅收抵免、手頭現金帶來的額外100 萬美元利息收入以及來自確認的額外100 萬美元利息收入我們去年出售的 Harbourside 1、2 和 3 號房產成功進行了房地產稅上訴。

Excluding nonrecurring interest income and sold office NOI, our core FFO is broadly in line with the first quarter. Same-store NOI growth for the six months ended June 30, 2024 was 5.9%. For the quarter, same-store NOI was off by 1.4% in line with our expectations, as we lapped the recognition of the successful real estate tax appeals on two Jersey City assets.

排除非經常性利息收入和已售出辦公室 NOI，我們的核心 FFO 與第一季基本一致。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的六個月同店 NOI 成長率為 5.9%。本季度，同店 NOI 下降 1.4%，符合我們的預期，因為我們對澤西城兩處資產的房地產稅上訴成功表示認可。

Normalizing NOI for the impact of the appeals, same-store NOI growth would have been 3% for the quarter and 8% year-to-date. On the revenue side, year-to-date same-store revenues are up 6.9%, driven by continued strong rental revenue growth. Excluding the impact of a retail lease termination fee recognized over the first half of 2024, same-store rental income growth would have been approximately 6%. This quarter, we have begun to take units offline at Liberty Towers, as we commence renovations as part of our value-add project, which will have a temporary impact on NOI in the coming quarters. This is reflected in our updated guidance which I will discuss momentarily.

根據上訴的影響將 NOI 標準化，本季同店 NOI 成長率將為 3%，年初至今為 8%。在營收方面，由於租金收入持續強勁成長，年初至今同店營收成長了 6.9%。剔除2024年上半年確認的零售租賃終止費的影響，同店租金收入成長約6%。本季度，我們已開始將 Liberty Towers 的單位下線，因為我們開始進行翻修，作為增值項目的一部分，這將對未來幾季的 NOI 產生暫時影響。這反映在我們更新的指南中，我將立即討論該指南。

Moving to the expense side of the equation. Total property expenses were up 8.8% year-to-date, in line with our guidance and expectations, as we lapped the recognition of the 2023 tax appeal. Normalizing total property expenses to exclude the impact of these appeals would have resulted in 5% expense growth. Controllable expenses are up year-to-date 4.7%, as the second quarter saw a higher volume of lease turns driven by Haus25 as it reached the anniversary of its stabilization and the first-generation leases expired. These costs are offset by the impact of various portfolio optimization initiatives such as the centralization of leasing roles, as well as our increased utilization of AI-based solutions, which has contributed to flat year-over-year payroll expenses.

轉向等式的費用方面。由於我們放棄了對 2023 年稅務上訴的認可，今年迄今為止，物業總支出增加了 8.8%，符合我們的指導和預期。將總財產支出標準化以排除這些上訴的影響將導致費用增加 5%。年初至今，可控費用增加了 4.7%，原因是第二季 Haus25 迎來穩定週年紀念且第一代租賃到期，導致租賃週轉量增加。這些成本被各種投資組合優化措施的影響所抵消，例如租賃角色的集中化，以及我們對基於人工智慧的解決方案的利用率的增加，這使得工資支出比去年同期持平。

Turning to G&A. After adjustments for noncash stock compensation and severance payments, core G&A was $8.7 million, an improvement of 8%, primarily due to lower compensation-related costs in the second quarter. Now onto our balance sheet. As of June 30, nearly all of our debt was fixed and/or hedged with a weighted average maturity of 3.1 years and a weighted average effective interest rate of 4.5%. Our net debt to EBITDA for the trailing 12 months is 11.8 times. As noted last quarter, in April, we closed on a new $500 million senior secured delayed draw term loan and revolver with a 3-year tenure and a 1-year extension option.

轉向一般行政費用。在對非現金股票薪酬和遣散費進行調整後，核心管理費用為 870 萬美元，成長 8%，這主要是由於第二季薪酬相關成本下降。現在進入我們的資產負債表。截至 6 月 30 日，我們幾乎所有債務均已固定和/或對沖，加權平均期限為 3.1 年，加權平均實際利率為 4.5%。我們過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 淨負債是 11.8 倍。正如上個季度所指出的，4 月份，我們完成了一項新的 5 億美元高級擔保延遲提款定期貸款和循環貸款，期限為 3 年，並有 1 年延期選擇權。

During the quarter, we repaid two mortgages for $219 million and drew $55 million on the new term loan. Concurrently, we entered into a 3.5% strike 2-year interest rate cap to hedge the full notional. We also replaced an expiring cap on our RiverHouse nine mortgage with another 3.5% strike 2-year rate cap. Two additional mortgages will mature this year and as each mortgage becomes eligible for repayment, we will draw first from the term loan and then partially on the revolver.

本季度，我們償還了兩筆抵押貸款 2.19 億美元，並從新定期貸款中提取了 5,500 萬美元。同時，我們設定了 3.5% 的兩年期利率上限，以對沖全部名目利率。我們也用 3.5% 的 2 年期利率上限取代了 RiverHouse 9 號抵押貸款的到期上限。另外兩項抵押貸款將於今年到期，隨著每項抵押貸款都有償還資格，我們將首先從定期貸款中提取，然後部分從循環貸款中提取。

As Mahbod mentioned, we are raising our core FFO guidance range by approximately 4% or $0.02 to $0.52 to $0.56 per share, reflecting the impact of two nonrecurring items including $0.01 of greater than projected deposit income as a result of higher interest rates and average cash balances in the second quarter as asset sales closed sooner than anticipated, and $0.01 of other income as a result of the recognition of successful real estate tax appeals, net of recoveries on the sold Harborside office properties.

正如Mahbod 所提到的，我們將核心FFO 指導範圍提高約4%，即每股0.02 美元至0.52 美元至0.56 美元，反映了兩項非經常性項目的影響，其中包括因利率和平均現金上漲而導致的存款收入超出預期0.01 美元由於資產銷售結束時間早於預期，第二季度的餘額減少，由於房地產稅上訴成功，扣除已出售的 Harbourside 辦公物業的收回費用，其他收入增加了 0.01 美元。

We are also revising our same-store expense growth guidance range from 5% to 6% to 4.5% to 5.5%, reflecting favorable initial indications for insurance and real estate taxes, which will reset in the second half of the year as well as additional cost savings from continued operational initiatives.

我們還將同店費用增長指導範圍從 5% 至 6% 修改為 4.5% 至 5.5%，這反映了保險稅和房地產稅的有利初步跡象，這些稅費將在今年下半年重新調整，並且額外增加持續營運措施可節省成本。

Our improved expectations for expenses support an increase in the bottom end of our same-store NOI range from 2.5% to 3%. The top end of guidance remains unchanged at 5% as we are expecting to commence unit renovations on our value-add project at Liberty Towers and expect some temporary impact on NOI as we discussed earlier.

我們對費用預期的改善支持我們的同店 NOI 範圍下限從 2.5% 上升至 3%。指導上限維持在 5% 不變，因為我們預計將開始對自由塔增值項目進行單元翻新，並預計對 NOI 產生一些暫時影響，正如我們之前討論的那樣。

As we round out another strong quarter, Veris represents an extremely compelling value proposition the highest quality and newest class A multifamily properties located in established markets in the Northeast, commanding the highest average rent and growth rate among peers with limited near-term supply and high barriers to entry managed by our vertically integrated best-in-class operating platform.

隨著我們又一個強勁的季度的到來，Veris 代表了一個極其引人注目的價值主張，即位於東北部成熟市場的最高品質和最新的A 級多戶住宅，在近期供應有限且高的同行中擁有最高的平均租金和成長率。

With that operator, please open the line for questions.

請透過該接線生撥打電話提問。

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Josh Dennerlein, Bank of America.

謝謝。我們現在將進行問答環節。（操作員指示）Josh Dennerlein，美國銀行。

Hi, this is Stephen on for Josh. Thanks for the time and then the first question I have is on the June or July leasing updates.

大家好，我是喬許的史蒂芬。感謝您抽出時間，我的第一個問題是關於六月或七月的租賃更新。

Good morning. Thank you for the question. We do. I would say it's a touch above the mid-single digit, so around about 6% for July.

早安.謝謝你的提問。我們做到了。我想說，這個數字略高於中個位數，所以 7 月的成長率約為 6%。

So that's blended, right?

所以這是混合的，對嗎？

6% blended. There's been a skew, obviously, towards renewals over new leases although that gap has narrowed since the beginning of the year. But yeah around 6% is where we're expecting to land up this month.

6% 混合。顯然，續約與新租約之間存在偏差，儘管這種差距自今年年初以來已經縮小。但是，是的，我們預計本月會達到 6% 左右。

All right. Got it. Thanks. And then my second question is on the same-store expense guidance. In the supplemental you said there is a favorable initial indication of insurance and real estate taxes. Can you maybe provide more color on that? What do you see on the two fronts?

好的。知道了。謝謝。我的第二個問題是關於同店費用指引。您在補充資料中提到，保險和房地產稅有一個有利的初步跡象。你能提供更多的顏色嗎？您對這兩方面有何看法？

Yeah, it's a little bit early especially on the tax side because there we don't really have clarity until the latter part of Q3. But certainly given what we've seen in terms of increases in the tax rate, particularly the year before last we would expect that hopefully to be not as material as it has been.

是的，現在有點早，尤其是在稅收方面，因為直到第三季後期我們才真正弄清楚。但當然，考慮到我們所看到的稅率增加，特別是前年，我們預計這希望不會像以前那麼嚴重。

On the insurance side, I think we've built in an assumption into guidance that again reflected where we've seen insurance premiums go over the last couple of years. And certainly looking at some of the peers and what they've been experiencing and some initial indications or an initial indication rather I should say for ourselves, the number seems to be surprising to the upside this year. And so we've made a minor adjustment to reflect that.

在保險方面，我認為我們已經在指導中建立了一個假設，再次反映了我們過去幾年保險費的走勢。當然，看看一些同行以及他們所經歷的事情以及一些初步跡像或初步跡象，我應該為自己說，今年這個數字似乎令人驚訝的上漲。因此我們做了一個小的調整來反映這一點。

Okay, got it. Thank you. That’s all for me.

好的，明白了。謝謝。這就是我的全部。

Thank you for question.

謝謝你的提問。

Steve Sakwa, Evercore ISI.

Steve Sakwa，Evercore ISI。

Hi. Good morning. This is [Sanket] filling in for Steve. As you mentioned that the blended lease rates for July you're passing in touch above mid-single digits. And then you've done 7% revenue growth in the first half of the year. And you are now guiding to 4.5% in terms of same-store revenue growth. Can you help us think through what you're thinking in terms of second half of the year, the expectations around second half of the year for the revenue?

你好。早安.這是[Sanket] 代替史蒂夫。正如您所提到的，7 月的混合租賃利率已超過中個位數。然後你在今年上半年就實現了 7% 的收入成長。您現在的同店營收成長目標是 4.5%。您能幫我們想想您對下半年的想法，對下半年收入的期望嗎？

Sure. Thank you for the question. So for this quarter we posted year-to-date revenue growth of 6.9%. And in there, there are two one-time items in the first half of the year. So we had termination fee income, which we recognized throughout the first half. And then we also had in the first quarter, Haus25 as we noted last quarter lapped the period when it was stabilizing. And so those two factors together combined represent about 250 basis points of the revenue growth that we're posting right now. And so if you back that out of the 6.9% you get to about 4.3%, which is right in the middle of our guidance range.

當然。謝謝你的提問。因此，本季我們公佈的年初至今營收成長了 6.9%。其中，有兩個上半年一次性的項目。因此，我們有終止費收入，我們在整個上半年都確認了這項收入。然後我們在第一季也看到了 Haus25，正如我們在上個季度指出的那樣，它經歷了穩定時期。因此，這兩個因素加在一起代表了我們目前發布的收入成長的約 250 個基點。因此，如果你支持 6.9% 的比例，你會得到大約 4.3%，這正好在我們的指導範圍的中間。

Okay. And then on the expense side, R&M and property taxes which are like major components of your expenses they've grown a lot in the first half of the year. How should we think about that in the second half of the year?

好的。然後在費用方面，R&M 和財產稅是您支出的主要組成部分，它們在今年上半年增長了很多。下半年我們該如何看待這個問題？

So for R&M that is elevated this quarter. As I just said, house stabilized in the first quarter of last year. And so as a result, we had an elevated amount of leases. It was like roughly 25% of the leases that turned in the first quarter. And so there is a higher number of leases turning overall for the portfolio. And that drove up turn costs which go through repair and maintenance in the second quarter. So that's what's driving that. I think as you look into the second half of the year for that line item you should see a more normalized figure. And then in terms of real estate taxes as Mahbod just said that resets in the second half of the year in the third quarter for us. And so when we know more we'll have more to share there.

因此，對於 R&M 而言，本季有所提高。剛才我也說了，去年第一季房價企穩了。因此，我們的租賃量增加了。大約有 25% 的租賃在第一季週轉。因此，整個投資組合中的租賃數量較多。這推高了第二季維修和維護的周轉成本。這就是推動這一趨勢的原因。我認為，當您查看該訂單項目的下半年時，您應該會看到一個更標準化的數字。然後就房地產稅而言，正如馬哈博德剛才所說，我們將在下半年和第三季重置。因此，當我們了解更多時，我們將有更多內容可以分享。

Okay. Thank you. That’s it for me. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。我就是這樣。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Eric Wolfe, Citi.

埃里克·沃爾夫，花旗銀行。

Hi. Thanks. Can you talk about what's driving the sequential drop in core FFO between the second quarter and the third quarter? It looks like you're expecting around a $7 million drop based on your guidance. So just want to confirm that. And then if you could maybe point out the items that are taking you down by $7 million that would be helpful? Thanks.

你好。謝謝。您能否談談第二季和第三季核心 FFO 連續下降的原因是什麼？根據您的指導，您預計會減少約 700 萬美元。所以只是想確認一下。然後，如果您能指出哪些項目使您損失了 700 萬美元，這會有幫助嗎？謝謝。

Sorry, can you repeat the question again?

抱歉，您能再重複這個問題嗎？

Yes. Hopefully, you can hear me. But based on your guidance there's a drop in the third quarter in core FFO from the second quarter. And so I was trying to understand what is causing that drop. It looks at around $7 million based on your guidance?

是的。希望你能聽到我的聲音。但根據您的指導，第三季核心 FFO 較第二季下降。所以我試著去了解是什麼導致了這種下降。根據您的指導，它看起來大約是 700 萬美元？

So in the second quarter of core FFO, we have $4 million roughly or $0.04 of one-time items that occurred. About $2.6 million of it is related to the early tax credit. That's reoccurring. We recognize it every year, but it's all recognized in this quarter. And then the other two items that we're seeing are $1 million related to higher interest expense from having higher cash balances. And then -- we expect to have no excess cash on deposit in the third quarter as we've utilized all of our cash for debt repayment. And then the other factor is real estate tax appeals. We had a successful resolution there for some of the sold Harborside assets. And so that was recognized in this quarter as well.

因此，在核心 FFO 的第二季度，我們發生了約 400 萬美元或 0.04 美元的一次性專案。其中約 260 萬美元與早期稅收抵免有關。這樣的事又重演了我們每年都會認識到這一點，但在本季度都得到了認識。然後我們看到的另外兩項是 100 萬美元，與現金餘額增加導致的利息支出增加有關。然後，我們預計第三季不會有多餘的現金存款，因為我們已使用所有現金來償還債務。另一個因素是房地產稅上訴。我們成功解決了一些出售的 Harbourside 資產的問題。因此，這一點在本季度也得到了認可。

Okay. Why would interest expense go up in the third quarter? I guess, I would think that you held on cash longer presumably paid off debt later that would make interest expense go down relative to the quarterly run rate.

好的。為什麼第三季利息支出會增加？我想，我認為你持有現金的時間更長，大概會稍後還清債務，這將使利息支出相對於季度運行率下降。

And then I guess just second part of the question is you're guiding kind of like $0.11 per quarter. Is that like the right run rate to think about going into the next year? Or is there something that would cause that to go up in the first half of next year? I guess you mentioned $0.04 that you see on a recurring basis each year in the first half that you don't see in the second half.

然後我想問題的第二部分是你的指導是每季 0.11 美元。這是否是考慮進入明年的正確運行率？或是有什麼因素會導致明年上半年上漲？我想您提到了 0.04 美元，您每年上半年會定期看到，而下半年則看不到。

Okay. So first off, interest income is the driver of the $0.01 variance for this quarter. And that's non-interest expense. And then in terms of your question on – okay, hold on one second. Yes. And then in terms of the remainder of the year we haven't provided any guidance. So I don't have anything to say on the run rate for next year. And Mahbod if you want to add anything.

好的。首先，利息收入是本季 0.01 美元差異的驅動因素。這是非利息費用。然後就你的問題而言——好的，請稍等。是的。然後就今年剩餘時間而言，我們沒有提供任何指導。所以我對明年的運行率沒有什麼好說的。如果你想補充什麼，還有 Mahbod。

Yes. So just to add I think as Amanda said we had a number of one-time items that meant that this quarter looks particularly strong and we reflected the full year guidance to reflect that. But early tax credit interest income on cash balances that were higher than initially expected because we sold on strategic assets or competed those sales sooner than expected. And then rates also that we earn on that cash on deposit remained higher for longer. And then we had the successful tax appeals. And so that's all what really made this quarter particularly strong at the $0.18.

是的。因此，我想補充一點，正如阿曼達所說，我們有許多一次性項目，這意味著本季看起來特別強勁，我們反映了全年指導來反映這一點。但現金餘額的早期稅收抵免利息收入高於最初預期，因為我們出售了戰略資產或比預期更早完成了這些銷售。然後，我們從存款現金中賺取的利率在更長時間內保持在較高水平。然後我們的稅務上訴成功了。這就是本季 0.18 美元特別強勁的真正原因。

But on the revenue side, we reiterate the guidance that we put out there last quarter. And I think that's still very much reflects on a full year basis our current expectations of the operational outlook for the business. Where this has an impact is a slight impact on the expense side which we've talked about that just given early indications of where we think insurance will come out in particular. And then on the core FFO per share basis where you're seeing really just a direct increase of $0.02 reflected to those one-time items that I mentioned.

但在收入方面，我們重申了上季發布的指引。我認為這仍然在很大程度上反映了我們目前對全年業務營運前景的預期。這會產生影響的是對費用方面的輕微影響，我們已經討論過這一點，只是給出了我們認為保險將特別出現的早期跡象。然後，在每股核心 FFO 基礎上，您會看到我提到的那些一次性項目實際上只直接增加了 0.02 美元。

Okay. That's helpful. And then I'm thinking about future acquisitions or opportunities to deleverage through equity-funded transactions. I mean, has your thinking changed there at all going forward? Is it off the table? Will you require a larger spread? Just trying to understand if your thoughts have changed sort of how it's informing your strategy going forward?

好的。這很有幫助。然後我正在考慮未來的收購或透過股權融資交易去槓桿化的機會。我的意思是，你的想法在未來有改變嗎？這是不可能的嗎？您需要更大的價差嗎？只是想了解您的想法是否發生了變化，這對您未來的策略有何影響？

Yes. Look, I think certainly, and in my remarks earlier, I mentioned that while there are many merits to this particular transaction. It's highly strategic. It was opportunistic. We actually built the asset and used to manage it until recently. It was accretive and would have allowed us to delever by about a turn.

是的。看，我當然認為，在我之前的演講中，我提到雖然這項特定交易有很多優點。這是高度戰略性的。這是機會主義的。直到最近，我們實際上建立了該資產並用於管理它。它是增值的，可以讓我們去槓桿化大約一個回合。

We made the decision not to move forward, because while incrementally enhancing the value of this entity through an improvement in all the metrics that I just mentioned, it was incremental and also seemed to provide this unintended signaling that we maybe prioritizing growth at the expense of but not in parallel necessarily with the wide spectrum of value creation opportunities that the Board evaluates on a real-time basis as opportunities to continue creating and maximizing value for shareholders. So I think that said it's unlikely that we would pursue transactions that incrementally are accretive to the platform going forward at this time.

我們決定不再繼續前進，因為雖然透過改進我剛才提到的所有指標來逐步提高該實體的價值，但它是漸進的，並且似乎也提供了這種意想不到的信號，即我們可能會優先考慮成長，而犧牲但不一定與董事會即時評估的廣泛價值創造機會同時作為繼續為股東創造和最大化價值的機會。因此，我認為這表明我們目前不太可能追求對平台未來增量增值的交易。

Yes. Got it.

是的。知道了。

Another way of saying, sorry, if we did anything it's more likely to be, let's say, strategic and more transformational. But that’s the management to decide.

換句話說，抱歉，如果我們做了任何事情，那麼它更有可能是策略性的、更具變革性的。但這是管理階層的決定。

Understood.

明白了。

Thanks Eric. Thanks.

謝謝埃里克。謝謝。

Tom Catherwood, BTIG.

湯姆·凱瑟伍德，BT​​IG。

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Mahbod, let me start with you and this ties to your response to the former question. But you mentioned approvals at Harborside 9 recently. Are you evaluating the potential for further near-term investment at that site? And are there other assets in your land bank where you're pursuing entitlements to get them shovel-ready?

謝謝。大家早安。Mahbod，讓我從你開始，這與你對前一個問題的回答有關。但你最近提到了 Harbourside 9 的批准。您是否正在評估該地點近期進一步投資的潛力？您的土地儲備中是否還有其他資產，您正在尋求這些資產以準備好鏟土？

Good morning, Tom. Good question. The announcement on Harborside 9 was really -- and I think got a bit of media attention, because it's a larger and quite a prominent site. I'd say, Harborside 8 and 9 are probably the best two remaining land sites in Jersey City.

早上好，湯姆。好問題。Harbourside 9 的公告確實引起了一些媒體的關注，因為它是一個更大且相當著名的網站。我想說，Harborside 8 號和 9 號可能是澤西市僅存的最好的兩個土地。

That was the result of the work that the team has been doing for the past well forever actually but certainly, since I've been at the helm over the last three or four years across all of our land sites progressing along that path to get them to a point where they're shovel-ready, because obviously, every stepping stone along that path is enhancing to the value of the land and preserving or enhancing to the value of that land.

這是團隊過去一直在做的工作的結果，實際上但可以肯定的是，因為我在過去三四年裡一直掌舵我們所有的土地站點，沿著這條道路取得進展，以實現它們到了他們已經準備好鏟土的地步，因為顯然，這條道路上的每一個墊腳石都在提高土地的價值，並保護或提高該土地的價值。

And so that's all that was, but I wouldn't necessarily read into it as any decision having been made with regard to potential future development of that site or any other sites. We do that work across all of the land sites that we own. It's a balancing act in terms of the cost involved and value created, but it's something that we do on a very much ongoing basis.

這就是全部內容，但我不一定會閱讀它，因為已經就該網站或任何其他網站的潛在未來發展做出了任何決定。我們在我們擁有的所有土地上都進行這項工作。這是在涉及的成本和創造的價值方面的平衡行為，但這是我們持續進行的事情。

Got it. Understood. And then, in July it looks like Hines acquired two multifamily assets in Jersey City. Do you have a sense of how those compare to your waterfront portfolio assets?

知道了。明白了。然後，7月份，海因斯似乎收購了澤西市的兩處多戶型資產。您是否知道這些資產與您的海濱投資組合資產相比如何？

Yes. In what sense? In terms of quality or --

是的。從什麼意義上說？無論從品質還是--

Yes. In terms of quality, in terms of amenities, in terms of occupancy, any of those things as we look as a comparable to Veris's portfolio?

是的。在品質、便利設施、入住率方面，我們認為哪些方面可以與 Veris 的產品組合相提並論？

Yes. Look, I do think on the whole, we do have newer higher-quality properties within certain instances like Haus25 an unrivaled amenity offering. And so, I think when you put that all together and then location-wise as well, when you factor age amenity offering, the quality of service and management that the team tirelessly provides, I would say, it's a better product across the portfolio on the whole.

是的。看，我確實認為總體而言，我們確實在某些情況下擁有更新的更高品質的房產，例如 Haus25，這是無與倫比的便利設施。因此，我認為，當你把所有這些放在一起，然後考慮位置時，當你考慮年齡便利設施、團隊不知疲倦提供的服務品質和管理時，我想說，這是整個產品組合中更好的產品整體。

Those are slightly older. I understand that there is some of the upside there for Hines isn't actually on the management side of things to extract more from those assets, but I think they're going to require a little bit more attention in terms of investment and management.

那些都稍微老了一些。我知道海因斯實際上並沒有在管理方面從這些資產中獲得更多利益，但我認為他們需要在投資和管理方面給予更多關注。

Got it.

知道了。

You're referring to Lenox and Quinn.

你指的是萊諾克斯和奎因。

Yes. That was exactly those. Thank you for that. And then the last one for me. Amanda and I apologize if you mentioned this and I missed it, but how much of a drag are you expecting at Liberty Towers, now that you're taking some units offline for those renovations? And was that drag in the initial 2024 guidance or was that an update with the 2Q results?

是的。正是這些。謝謝你。然後是我的最後一個。如果你提到了這一點而我錯過了，阿曼達和我很抱歉，但是既然你要讓一些單位下線進行翻修，你預計自由塔會受到多大的拖累呢？這是 2024 年最初指引的拖累還是第二季結果的更新？

Thanks, Tom. So I guess I'll answer the second part first. So that was not included in our initial guidance. And then we're assuming that approximately 30 units are offline. We just started doing that so there's no impact really in Q2 and 30 units offline on average.

謝謝，湯姆。所以我想我會先回答第二部分。所以這沒有包含在我們最初的指導中。然後我們假設大約有 30 個設備處於離線狀態。我們剛開始這樣做，因此第二季並沒有真正受到影響，平均有 30 台設備離線。

Got it. That’s it for me. Thanks, everyone.

知道了。我就是這樣。謝謝大家。

Thanks, Tom.

謝謝，湯姆。

David Segall, Green Street

大衛西格爾《格林街》

Hi. Thank you. I'm curious if you can help quantify the prospective returns that you're underwriting for these unit renovations at Liberty Tower.

你好。謝謝。我很好奇您是否可以幫助量化您為自由塔這些單元翻新承保的預期回報。

Good morning. Yes absolutely. It's quite an extensive renovation involving bathroomm kitchen, flooring and the return we're projecting on that is a high-teens return. And that's just looking at rents in the vicinity across both our properties and other properties that are more competitive. That is our oldest building that we own and it's not necessarily racking those rents up to the same level as a newer property such as say Haus25. Far from that but it's just closing the gap somewhat. And that's what gets you to your high-teens return.

早安.是的，絕對是。這是一項相當廣泛的翻新工程，涉及浴室、廚房、地板，我們預計的回報將是十幾歲的回報。這只是考慮我們的房產和其他更具競爭力的房產附近的租金。這是我們擁有的最古老的建築，它的租金不一定能達到與 Haus25 等較新房產相同的水平。遠非如此，但它只是在某種程度上縮小了差距。這就是讓你回到青春期的原因。

Thank you. And similarly as you evaluate your land bank and opportunities there, what hurdle rate do you think about for those opportunities?

謝謝。同樣，當您評估土地儲備和那裡的機會時，您認為這些機會的最低門檻是多少？

Well, I think when you're looking at capital allocation opportunities, it's always about the relative return versus the risk that you're taking. And so there's a certain operational financial risk that comes with development. And so when we're contemplating development as a potential, capital allocation, alternative, the relevant things you would look at are first of all just does development make sense? You've seen nationally development has significantly slowed down and there are reasons for that in elevated construction costs, elevated financing costs that are making it more and more challenging to develop to a yield on cost that reflects a healthy premium over stabilized yields, particularly given those stabilized yields have also widened with interest rates.

嗯，我認為當你在尋找資本配置機會時，它總是關於相對回報與你所承擔的風險。因此，開發會帶來一定的營運財務風險。因此，當我們將發展視為一種潛力、資本配置、替代方案時，您首先要考慮的相關問題是發展是否有意義？您已經看到全國發展已顯著放緩，建築成本上升、融資成本上升是有原因的，這使得開發成本收益率比穩定收益率存在健康溢價變得越來越困難，特別是考慮到這些穩定的收益率也隨著利率的上升而擴大。

And so the first thing is does it make sense to develop? And then the second thing is does it make sense for us as a public company? Is that a good use of capital? And the things you would think about there would be you're tying up capital for the best part of four years even for something that's shovel-ready today and so you're not going to get any credit for that.

所以首要的是開發有意義嗎？第二件事是，這對我們作為一家上市公司有意義嗎？這是一個很好的資本運用嗎？你會想到的事情是，即使是今天已經準備好的東西，你也會在四年的大部分時間裡佔用資金，所以你不會因此得到任何榮譽。

It's not going to help your leverage metrics. It's not going to help your earnings metrics. But then ultimately if successful it would be accretive to earnings and NAV. And so those are the sorts of discussions that we have with the Board as and when capital frees up and is available to be allocated to a higher and better use. And development I would say is one option but there are many options and alternatives available to us for capital.

它不會對您的槓桿指標有幫助。這對你的收入指標沒有幫助。但最終，如果成功，它將增加收益和資產淨值。因此，當資本釋放並可分配給更高、更好的用途時，我們與董事會進行的討論就是這些。我想說的是，發展是一種選擇，但對於資本來說，我們有很多選擇和替代方案。

So far, the primary use of capital as you've seen and we've sold $2.5 billion in non-strategic assets over the last three or so years. It's been deleveraging, where we've taken leverage down from what was at one point 18.8x and that was excluding Rockpoint which was another $500 million on top of that. And really, it could have been regarded as -- if that should have been regarded as debt you would have been at 23x 24x. We've taken it down to just under 12x now. And so primary use has been so far the repayment of debt and the deleveraging and derisking of the balance sheet.

到目前為止，資本的主要用途正如您所看到的，在過去三年左右的時間裡，我們已經出售了 25 億美元的非戰略資產。我們一直在去槓桿化，我們已將槓桿率從一度的 18.8 倍下調，這還不包括 Rockpoint，該公司在此基礎上又增加了 5 億美元。事實上，它可以被視為 - 如果這應該被視為債務，那麼你的回報率為 23 倍 24 倍。我們現在已將其降低至略低於 12 倍。因此，到目前為止，主要用途是償還債務以及資產負債表的去槓桿化和去風險化。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Michael Lewis, Truist Securities.

邁克爾·劉易斯，Truist 證券公司。

Yeah. Thank you. So Mahbod, you gave a very balanced and fair response about pulling this equity offering. I'm going to ask it more bluntly, right? So you identified an accretive deal. It would have lowered the company's leverage. You know the asset extremely well. I would argue this is a business where scale matters, right? You look at any small cap apartment REIT their G&A as a percentage of revenue, you're at a disadvantage from an efficiency standpoint generating cash flow. And yet the deal got pulled. You didn't do it. You talked about signaling. Is the signal here that your hands are tied as far as no acquisitions no development? Do you feel that your investors don't want you to try to be a successful ongoing entity? And what does this mean? Does the Board start a more formal strategic review? I'm wondering about the path forward now.

是的。謝謝。Mahbod，您對於取消此次股票發行給出了非常平衡和公平的回應。我要問得更直白一點，對嗎？所以你確定了一筆增值交易。這會降低公司的槓桿率。您非常了解該資產。我認為這是一個規模很重要的業務，對嗎？如果您將任何小型公寓房地產投資信託基金的管理費用佔收入的百分比視為收入的百分比，那麼從產生現金流的效率角度來看，您處於劣勢。但交易還是被取消了。你沒有這麼做。你談到了信號傳遞。這是一個訊號，表示您的雙手被束縛，無法收購，無法發展？您是否覺得您的投資者不希望您嘗試成為一個成功的持續實體？這意味著什麼？董事會是否開始更正式的策略審查？我現在想知道前進的道路。

Well, look our job Michael as a management team is to continue focusing on the creation of value at the entity level. And that really takes us back to the 3-pronged approach to value creation that we laid out at the beginning of the year: capital allocation, portfolio and platform optimization and balance sheet optimization. We've dug into each of those privately, publicly. There are multiple initiatives and prongs there that are real and that allow us to keep enhancing the value of what we've got organically.

好吧，邁克爾作為管理團隊的工作是繼續專注於實體層面的價值創造。這確實讓我們回到了年初提出的三管齊下的價值創造方法：資本配置、投資組合和平台優化以及資產負債表優化。我們私下和公開地對每一個問題進行了深入研究。那裡有多種真實的舉措和分支，使我們能夠不斷提高我們所擁有的有機價值。

I think probably the lesson taken away and it's from a subset of investors who said there was an unintended signaling that perhaps the Board and management team may be prioritizing external growth at the expense of not in parallel with evaluating a full spectrum of alternatives both organic and strategic for the company to continue creating and maximizing value.

我認為這可能是我們學到的教訓，一部分投資者表示，有一個無意的信號表明，董事會和管理團隊可能會優先考慮外部成長，而不是同時評估有機和有機的全方位替代方案。和最大化價值提供策略支撐。

So I think that misunderstanding, and it was a difficult decision probably led to us feeling that a transaction like this that albeit, took us in the right direction on all the key metrics it did so incrementally. And so, it probably wasn't worth the confusion that it may cause, all the mis-signaling that it may result in. And so, I think the takeaway is and it's for the Board to decide and the Strategic Review Committee to decide what's right for the company at any point in time strategically, but I think it's more likely to be something more transformative than an incremental transaction.

因此，我認為這種誤解，而且這是一個艱難的決定，可能會讓我們感覺像這樣的交易，儘管如此，卻讓我們在所有關鍵指標上都朝著正確的方向前進。因此，它可能不值得它可能引起的混亂，以及它可能導致的所有錯誤信號。因此，我認為重點是，由董事會決定，由戰略審查委員會決定在任何時候戰略上什麼對公司來說是正確的，但我認為這更有可能是比增量交易更具變革性的事情。

Okay. I understand. No other questions for me. Thanks.

好的。我明白。沒有其他問題問我。謝謝。

Thank you, Michael.

謝謝你，麥可。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor over to Mahbod Nia for closing comments.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，問答環節已經結束。現在我想請馬哈博德·尼亞 (Mahbod Nia) 發表結束評論。

Thank you everyone for joining us today. I'd like to particularly thank our team across the board, our employees who work tirelessly to develop another or generate another quarter of incredible results for our company and we look forward to updating you again in due course. Thank you.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我要特別感謝我們的整個團隊、我們的員工，他們孜孜不倦地工作，為我們公司開發另一個或創造另一個季度令人難以置信的成果，我們期待在適當的時候再次向您通報最新情況。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。