National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Linda Tsai: And then just a clarification on Frisch’s. To the extent you have any of those 20%, you talked about the 80/20 stores that would close and you don’t think they’re restructuring and the rent is due. If they do move out, do you think they’re mostly better as backfills or would they get sold vacant?

Steve Horn: I think the being a restaurant asset, it’s a well located piece of real estate with a drive thru. So I think we would have an easy time retediting the Frisch’s assets. For the most part, it’s really good real estate.

Linda Tsai: Last question. On lease term fees, should we model something similar in the future quarters?

Steve Horn: Yes. I mean, we don’t give guidance on that and in no small part because like I said, it’s very kind of episodic and hard to predict how and when that’s all going to play out. But I wouldn’t encourage you to annualize $4.2 million in the first quarter as a run rate, that’s for sure. And that’s why I really kind of drew attention to that our annual average is $3 million. So this is an unusual quarter. We obviously may have more term fee in the future, but it’s not, we’re not going to give guidance around it, and we generally don’t anticipate large sums of it.

Operator: Your next question for today is from John Massocca with B. Riley Securities.

John Massocca : So maybe kind of building on that last answer, was that kind of outsized lease termination fee income known when you guys contemplated your initial guidance? And I guess, if it was the case that it wasn’t known, then maybe why not why wasn’t that additive to the year-end number that you guys are anticipating?

Steve Horn: Yes. I mean, if you back out our lease termination fee income in the first quarter, I think our guidance is appropriate, meaning, I shouldn’t say that, if you don’t annualize the first quarter lease termination fee income, I think you might feel that our guidance is reasonable, and we may have opportunity for the high-end of that guidance. But yes, that’s I mean, that’s our view of it is that, yes, we really didn’t feel like, it’s margin moving guidance based on that one time income in the first quarter.

John Massocca : And then on occupancy, you’re going to split Harris here at 99.4%. But does that include any kind of leased but dark boxes? And to the extent you know, what’s the spread maybe between leased and true occupancy in the portfolio today roughly?

Steve Horn: Yes. So no, our occupancy is always based on leased properties. And so that’s the way we report it, and we also track it based on dollars investment cost that’s leased as well. And so but yes, there’s always a component of dark properties out there, but they’re leased and counted as occupied or counted as leased, yes.

John Massocca : Do you know kind of roughly how large that is in the portfolio today?

Steve Horn: The dark properties? I mean, the dark properties for us historically are probably in the 1% kind of range.

John Massocca : And then sorry if I missed this in the kind of prepared remarks, had a little connectivity issue there at the beginning of the call. But did you have any color on the cadence of acquisition volume over the course of the remainder of the year? Sorry.

Steve Horn: Yes. I mean, what we’re seeing, the second quarter, I feel is going to be kind of in line with the first quarter. But again, John, as you know, the third and fourth quarter, we don’t have any clarity currently on that. One reason we leave our guidance at the $400 million to $500 million because we don’t know on the macroeconomic changes that could occur. But given the discussion we’ve had with our tenants, I feel very comfortable in that $400 million to $500 million range of hitting that number this year.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question for today is from Ronald Kamdem with Morgan Stanley.

Ronald Kamdem: Hey, just two quick ones. Just starting with the sort of the cap rates, obviously, you hit the 8% mark, which ticked up this quarter. Maybe can you just talk about, is that sort of the right number we should be looking forward given sort of this interest rate environment? Are there other opportunities to sort of even get higher cap rates than that and what you’re hearing from tenants?

Steve Horn: No, I think for right now as we sit, that’s probably the right cap rate to use currently. Now that being said, there’s you hear a lot about the market’s down 50%. But bear in mind, that’s the 1031 market. So you’re dealing with a lot of unsophisticated sellers and buyers for that matter. But the sale leaseback market, we’re dealing with highly sophisticated tenants and companies that understand that cost of capital has increased. And if they want to continue to grow, they accept that. So if the higher for longer persists, I would see some further cap rate expansion possibly in the back half of the year. But for modeling purposes, going into the unknown and not wanting to take a bet on either side, I feel comfortable that the 8% should continue.

Ronald Kamdem: And sorry if you touched on, have you hit on what the plan is for the maturities and where you could issue that right now?

Steve Horn: Yes. So new issuance 10-year debt today is kind of mid- to high-5s today. And then the other option that we have is given that we have an unused bank line, we could park it on our bank line, which is in below 6s. And so really the delta between those two options is not very large. And so in terms of modeling out this year, you can choose either one and not and be relatively close to how it will play out. We don’t give guidance on capital markets activities. In part, we try to be opportunistic and take advantage of what the best options are at the moment. So we’ll see how it plays out. But that’s the way I think about our refi of the June. It’s a June $350 million 3.9% coupon that’s coming due.

Operator: We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And I will now turn the call over to Steve for closing remarks.

Steve Horn: I thank you guys’ time this morning. We look forward to executing for the second quarter, and we’ll see you guys in the upcoming conference season. Thanks.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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