NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust Releases Third Quarter 2015 Results

TORONTO, Nov. 12, 2015 /CNW/ – NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (the “REIT”) (TSX: NWH.UN), Canada’s leading global diversified healthcare real estate investment trust, today announced its results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015.

The third quarter of 2015 marks the first full combined quarter for NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (the “REIT”) and its unitholders following the May 15, 2015 Combination Transaction with NorthWest International Healthcare Properties REIT.

For the three months ended September 30, 2015, the REIT delivered strong financial and operating results with key highlights as follows:

• AFFO per unit for the quarter of $0.20, or $0.80 ($0.84 normalized) on an annualized basis;
• AFFO payout ratio of 99.8% (95.7% normalized) for the quarter;
• Strong portfolio occupancy of 95.8%, led by the international portfolio occupancy of 98.1%;
• Weighted average lease expiry of 9.9 years, underpinned by the international portfolio with a weighted average lease expiry of 15.1 years; 
• Same property NOI growth, relative to the same quarter last year, in source currency, of 3.5% driven largely by inflation indexation adjustments on leases at the REIT’s international assets; and, 
• Net asset value of $9.49/unit, down approximately 1% from Q2-2015 as a result of currency fluctuations offset by positive revaluations on the REIT’s assets.     

With third quarter and year to date results solidly on plan, the REIT continues focus on its near-term integration priorities with a goal of improving both its portfolio quality and financial profile.  Significant progress includes: 

• Selling or entering firm contracts to sell an additional 5 (for a total of 8) of 17 identified non-core Canadian assets totaling $43M which are expected to generate $20M of net proceeds and close by Q1-2016;
• Refinancing $105M of $275M of property level debt with an estimated annual interest rate savings of $1.6M ($0.02/unit) and extended maturity profile;
• Completed $26M (Hurstville Private Hospital, Sydney Australia) of $175M accretive expansion projects with the balance of the projects tracking to plan; and,
• Completed two corporate financing initiatives, firstly renewing and increasing its revolving credit facility to $75M with two Canadian banks, and secondly, issuing $53M of convertible debentures which collectively provides the REIT with enhanced liquidity. 

For the remainder of the 2015, the REIT is focused on closing the transactions noted above as well as recycling capital to reduce debt and fund select acquisitions. Additionally, given the current capital markets backdrop, the REIT continues to see an opportunity to repurchase units at a significant discount to their underlying value under its Normal Course Issuer Bid and renewed automatic securities purchase plan.

For these reasons, we believe the REIT is well positioned to offer unitholders stable, growing returns through a high quality portfolio of defensive international healthcare real estate.  Furthermore, with demographic trends, healthcare fundamentals and local market conditions supportive of growing demand for healthcare real estate, we expect that attractive intensification and acquisition opportunities will be available to the REIT over time.  Our team looks forward to executing on this differentiated strategy as it seeks to build a leading global healthcare real estate company. 

Selected Financial Information:  

Vital Healthcare Property Trust

On November 10, 2015, Vital Trust provided a quarterly update for the 3 months ended September 30, 2015. Details on Vital Trust’s results are available on Vital Trust’s website at www.vitalhealthcareproperty.co.nz.

Some financial measures used in this press release, such as FFO, AFFO, and Normalized AFFO are used by the real estate industry to measure and compare the operating performance of real estate companies, but they do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. As such, they are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other real estate companies.  These non-IFRS measures are more fully defined and discussed in the REIT’s management discussion and analysis (the “MD&A”) for the second quarter of 2015, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.  Also on SEDAR are the condensed consolidated interim financial statements of the REIT for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to the REIT, its operations, strategy, financial performance and condition.  These statements generally can be identified by use of forward-looking words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “intends”, “believe”, “normalized”, “run rate”, “contracted”, “stabilized” or “continue” or the negative thereof or similar variations.  The REIT’s actual results and performance discussed herein could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.  Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations, including that the transactions contemplated herein are completed.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, changes in government regulations and the factors described under “Risks and Uncertainties” in the REIT’s Annual Information Form and the risks and uncertainties set out in the MD&A which are available on www.sedar.com.  These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to the REIT and persons acting on its behalf.  Unless otherwise stated, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the REIT assumes no obligation to update such statements.

The REIT invites you to participate in its conference call with senior management to discuss our third quarter 2015 results on Friday, November 13, 2015 at 10:00 AM (Eastern).

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 647-427-7450 or 1-888-231-8191. The conference ID is 492 187 08.

Audio replay will be available until November 20, 2015 by dialing 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056. The passcode is 492 187 08.

Following the call, the webcast can be accessed from the “Investor Relations” page, under “Webcasts & Presentations”, of the REIT’s web site at www.nwhreit.com, and will be archived for 30 days.

About NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: NWH.UN) is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust established under the laws of the Province of Ontario. The REIT provides investors with access to a portfolio of high quality international healthcare real estate infrastructure comprised of interests in a diversified portfolio of 123 income-producing properties and 8.0 million square feet of gross leasable area located throughout major markets in Canada, Brazil, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. The REIT’s portfolio of medical office buildings, clinics, and hospitals is characterized by long term indexed leases and stable occupancies. With a fully integrated and aligned senior management team, the REIT leverages over 180 professionals across 9 offices in 5 countries to serve as a long term real estate partner to leading healthcare operators.

SOURCE NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust