Innovative Industrial Properties Reports First Quarter 2021 Results

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIP), the first and only real estate company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: IIPR) focused on the medical-use U.S. cannabis industry, announced today results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

First Quarter 2021 and Year-to-Date Highlights 

Financial Results 

• Generated total revenues of approximately $42.9 million in the quarter, representing a 103% increase from the prior year’s first quarter.
• Recorded net income attributable to common stockholders of approximately $25.6 million for the quarter, or $1.05 per diluted share, and adjusted funds from operations (“AFFO”) of approximately $38.4 million, or $1.47 per diluted share (Note: AFFO per diluted share for the period includes the dilutive impact of the assumed full exchange of IIP’s $143.75 million of exchangeable senior notes for shares of common stock).
• Paid a quarterly dividend of $1.32 per share on April 15, 2021 to common stockholders of record as of March 31, 2021, representing a 32% increase over the first quarter 2020’s dividend and an approximately 6% increase over the fourth quarter 2020 dividend.

Investment and Leasing Activity

• From January 1, 2021 through today, made four acquisitions (including three new properties and additional land expansion at an existing property) for properties located in California, Florida, Michigan and Texas; and executed three lease amendments to provide additional tenant improvements at properties located in Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.
• In January 2021, executed a new long-term lease with Holistic Industries Inc. (Holistic) for IIP’s Los Angeles, California property, bringing IIP’s property portfolio to 100% leased.
• In these transactions, established a new tenant relationship with Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., while expanding existing relationships with Green Peak Industries, LLC (Skymint), Holistic, Jushi Holdings Inc., Kings Garden Inc., LivWell Holdings, Inc., Parallel and PharmaCann Inc.

Balance Sheet Highlights (at March 31, 2021)

• Approximately $122.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and approximately $539.3 million in short-term investments, totaling approximately $661.4 million.
• No debt, other than approximately $143.75 million of 3.75% exchangeable senior notes maturing in 2024 (the Exchangeable Senior Notes), representing a fixed cash interest obligation of approximately $5.4 million annually, or approximately $1.3 million quarterly.
• 7.8% debt to total gross assets, with over $1.8 billion in total gross assets.

Portfolio Update and Acquisition Activity 

Portfolio Update

IIP acquired the following properties and made the following additional funds available to tenants for improvements at IIP’s properties during the period from January 1, 2021 through May 5, 2021 (dollars in thousands):

As of May 5, 2021, IIP owned 69 properties located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington, representing a total of approximately 6.2 million rentable square feet (including approximately 2.3 million rentable square feet under development/redevelopment), which were 100% leased with a weighted-average remaining lease term of approximately 16.7 years. As of May 5, 2021, IIP had invested approximately $1.2 billion across its portfolio and had committed an additional approximately $339.5 millionto reimburse certain tenants and sellers for completion of construction and tenant improvements at IIP’s properties.

Capital Markets Activity 

IIP did not conduct any capital raising activities during the year-to-date through May 5, 2021 and had approximately $231.7 million in shares of common stock available for issuance under the ATM Program.

Financial Results

IIP generated total revenues of approximately $42.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, compared to approximately $21.1 million for the same period in 2020, an increase of 103%. The increase was driven primarily by the acquisition and leasing of new properties, additional tenant improvement allowances and construction funding at existing properties resulting in adjustments to base rent, and contractual rental escalations at certain properties.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021, IIP recorded net income attributable to common stockholders and net income attributable to common stockholders per diluted share of approximately $25.6 million and $1.05, respectively; funds from operations (“FFO”) (diluted) and FFO per diluted share of approximately $36.3 million and $1.39, respectively; and AFFO and AFFO per diluted share of approximately $38.4 million and $1.47, respectively. In the first quarter 2021, FFO (diluted), AFFO and FFO and AFFO per diluted share include the dilutive impact of the assumed full exchange of the Exchangeable Senior Notes for shares of common stock, resulting in the “add-back” to FFO (diluted) from net income of approximately $1.9 million in cash and non-cash interest expense, and the addition of approximately 2.2 million shares to IIP’s total diluted share count for the quarter. The Exchangeable Senior Notes were anti-dilutive for purposes of calculating earnings per diluted share for the first quarter 2020, and as such, treated as anti-dilutive for purposes of calculating FFO, AFFO and FFO and AFFO per diluted share for that period.

FFO and AFFO are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures used in the real estate industry to measure and compare the operating performance of real estate companies. A complete reconciliation containing adjustments from GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders to FFO and AFFO and definitions of terms are included at the end of this release.

Teleconference and Webcast 

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. will not be conducting a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2021 earnings results, but does expect to conduct a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2021 earnings results. IIP’s current policy is generally to conduct earnings conference calls two times per year, for its second quarter earnings results and fourth quarter and full-year earnings results.

About Innovative Industrial Properties

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is a self-advised Maryland corporation focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized properties leased to experienced, state-licensed operators for their regulated medical-use cannabis facilities. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, commencing with the year ended December 31, 2017. Additional information is available at www.innovativeindustrialproperties.com.

This press release contains statements that IIP believes to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as IIP “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “believes” or “should” or the negative thereof or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. Investors should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. IIP disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

FFO and FFO per share are operating performance measures adopted by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Inc. (NAREIT). NAREIT defines FFO as the most commonly accepted and reported measure of a REIT’s operating performance equal to net income, computed in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of property, depreciation, amortization and impairment related to real estate properties, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures.

Management believes that net income, as defined by GAAP, is the most appropriate earnings measurement. However, management believes FFO and FFO per share to be important supplemental measures of a REIT’s performance because they provide an understanding of the operating performance of IIP’s properties without giving effect to certain significant non-cash items, primarily depreciation expense. Historical cost accounting for real estate assets in accordance with GAAP assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. However, real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions. IIP believes that by excluding the effect of depreciation, FFO and FFO per share can facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods. FFO and FFO per share are used by management to evaluate the REIT’s operating performance and these measures are the predominant measures used by the REIT industry and industry analysts to evaluate REITs. For these reasons, management has deemed it appropriate to disclose and discuss FFO and FFO per share.

Management believes that AFFO and AFFO per share are also appropriate supplemental measures of a REIT’s operating performance. IIP calculates AFFO by adding to FFO certain non-cash and infrequent or unpredictable expenses which may impact comparability, consisting of non-cash stock-based compensation expense and non-cash interest expense generally.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021, FFO (diluted), AFFO and FFO and AFFO per diluted share include the dilutive impact of the assumed full exchange of the Exchangeable Senior Notes for shares of common stock. As a result, for purposes of calculating FFO (diluted), cash and non-cash interest expense of the Exchangeable Senior Notes totaling approximately $1.9 million was added back to FFO (diluted), and the total diluted weighted-average common shares outstanding increased by 2,170,959 shares for the period, which were the potentially issuable shares as if the Exchangeable Senior Notes were exchanged at the beginning of the period. These adjustments applied only for the three months ended March 31, 2021. The Exchangeable Senior Notes were anti-dilutive for purposes of calculating earnings per diluted share for the first quarter 2020, and as such, were treated as anti-dilutive for purposes of calculating FFO, AFFO and FFO and AFFO per diluted share for that period.

IIP’s computation of FFO and AFFO may differ from the methodology for calculating FFO and AFFO utilized by other equity REITs and, accordingly, may not be comparable to such REITs. Further, FFO and AFFO do not represent cash flow available for management’s discretionary use. FFO and AFFO should not be considered as an alternative to net income (computed in accordance with GAAP) as an indicator of IIP’s financial performance or to cash flow from operating activities (computed in accordance with GAAP) as an indicator of IIP’s liquidity, nor is it indicative of funds available to fund IIP’s cash needs, including IIP’s ability to pay dividends or make distributions. FFO and AFFO should be considered only as supplements to net income computed in accordance with GAAP as measures of IIP’s operations.