Crombie REIT Announces First Quarter 2025 Results

Delivering cash flow growth through the strength of our necessity-based portfolio and expansion of strategic partnerships

NEW GLASGOW, NS, May 7, 2025 /CNW/ – Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust (“Crombie”) CRR today announced results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2025. Management will host a conference call to discuss the results at 12:00 p.m. (EDT), May 8, 2025.

“This quarter’s results reflect the clarity and consistency of our strategy and the operational discipline of our team,” said Mark Holly, President and CEO. “Committed occupancy reached historic levels for the second consecutive quarter, and we generated growth in same- asset property cash NOI and AFFO per Unit of 3.2% and 3.8%, respectively, reflecting the resilience of our necessity-based portfolio. We made continued strategic progress early in the second quarter, with two foundational partnerships in Halifax and Vancouver, designed to unlock value, generate stable fee income, and enhance our balance sheet flexibility, all while preserving long-term optionality. Crombie’s combination of strategic focus, operational strength, and financial discipline positions us well to continue delivering consistent performance and long-term value for our Unitholders.”

FIRST QUARTER SUMMARY
(In thousands of Canadian dollars, except per Unit amounts and square feet and as otherwise noted)

Operational Highlights

• Committed occupancy of 97.1% and economic occupancy of 96.5%; a 90 basis point increase and an 80 basis point increase, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2024
• Renewals of 167,000 square feet at rents 10.0% above expiring rental rates
  • An increase of 12.2% using the weighted average rent during the renewal term
• Disposition of one retail property, in Rest of Canada, totalling 188,000 square feet for gross proceeds of $3,300
• Invested $7,489 in non-major developments during the quarter

• FFO per Unit excluding employee transition costs in the first quarter of 2025 was $0.31, an increase of 3.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024
• AFFO per Unit excluding employee transition costs in the first quarter of 2025 was unchanged at $0.27, an increase of 3.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024

Information in this press release is a select summary of results. This press release should be read in conjunction with Crombie’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 and Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes for the quarters ended March 31, 2025, and March 31, 2024. Full details on our results can be found at www.crombie.ca and www.sedarplus.ca.

Operational Metrics

Committed occupancy of 97.1% included 110,000 square feet of space committed in the quarter. VECTOM and Major Markets represent 67,000 square feet of committed space. The increase in committed occupancy compared to March 31, 2024 is primarily due to new leasing activity and the sale of three non-core retail properties.

New commercial leases increased occupancy by 20,000 square feet at March 31, 2025, at an average first year rate of $23.66 per square foot.

Renewal activity for the first quarter of 2025 consisted of 167,000 square feet with an increase of 10.0% over expiring rental rates. The primary driver of renewal growth in the quarter was 161,000 square feet of retail renewals with an increase of 10.2% over expiring rental rates.

When comparing the expiring rental rates to the weighted average rental rate for the renewal term, Crombie achieved an increase of 12.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

Financial Metrics

First Quarter 2025 Results

Operating income attributable to Unitholders

The decrease in operating income in the first quarter of 2025 was primarily due to increased depreciation and amortization as a result of acquisitions and accelerated depreciation on a property scheduled for redevelopment; an increase in general and administrative expenses driven by new hires, increased employee transition costs, and higher Unit price; and higher interest expense from the net issuance of senior unsecured notes. This was offset in part by growth in property revenue, primarily from the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Davie Street residential property in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Same-asset property cash NOI

The increase in same-asset property cash NOI for the quarter was primarily due to renewals, contractual rent step-ups, and new leasing.

Funds from operations (“FFO”)

The increase in FFO in the quarter was primarily due to growth in property revenue, mainly from the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Davie Street residential property in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was offset in part by increased general and administrative expenses primarily due to new hires, employee transition costs, and an improvement in Unit price, and by higher interest expense from the net issuance of senior unsecured notes.

Adjusted funds from operations (“AFFO”)

The increase in AFFO was primarily due to the same factors impacting FFO for the quarter.

Financial Condition Metrics

Portfolio Optimization

Our development program is divided into major development, projects with a total estimated cost greater than $50,000, and non-major development, projects with a total estimate cost below $50,000.

Major Development

Crombie currently has one active major development, The Marlstone, a 291-unit residential rental project in Halifax, Nova Scotia, under construction. Demolition and existing building upgrades commenced in May 2023 and construction continues to progress well. Completion is expected in the first half of 2026.

Non-major Development

Non-major developments are shorter in duration and thus boast less overall risk as compared to Crombie’s major development pipeline. These projects have the ability to create value while enhancing the overall quality of the portfolio.

In the first quarter of 2025, Crombie invested $2,161 into its modernization program.

The below table summarizes active non-major developments within Crombie’s portfolio at March 31, 2025.

Highlighted Subsequent Events

Strategic Partnerships Accelerate Value Creation While Enhancing Financial Flexibility

Subsequent to March 31, 2025, Crombie entered into two strategic relationships designed to advance select properties in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, British Columbia through the entitlement process. Crombie expects these strategic relationships to deliver stabilized cash flow through revenue from management and development services, unlock embedded value within its existing portfolio, and enhance capital efficiency while preserving financial flexibility, enabling continued investments in its core necessity-based retail assets.

Montez Corporation Partnership

In early April 2025, Crombie announced in a press release that it had formed three joint venture partnerships with Montez Corporation (“Montez”), including the sale of a 50% interest in The Marlstone, a 291-unit residential development in Halifax, for $32.2 million. Montez will also partner on two additional Halifax projects, Barrington Street and Brunswick Place, through the entitlement process.

Crombie will manage all aspects of these joint ventures, generating stable fee-based income through management and development services while enabling continued prudent management of its capital allocation and balance sheet capacity.

Wesgroup Properties Partnership

Today, Crombie announced four joint venture partnerships with Wesgroup Properties (“Wesgroup”), a well-established real estate owner, operator, and developer in Vancouver, providing a path to unlock embedded value within its development pipeline, advancing these projects through the entitlement, design, and approval process.

Wesgroup acquired Empire Company Limited’s 50% limited partnership interest at Kingsway & Tyne and Lynn Valley. Additionally, Crombie and Wesgroup formed two new entitlement partnerships at Hastings and West Broadway. Crombie retains 100% ownership of all four Vancouver assets and will continue to receive the associated rental income in relation to these properties.

All costs will be shared equally between Crombie and Wesgroup. These partnerships further establish a stable revenue stream through Crombie’s development and management platform, delivering immediate cash flow through fee income across all four properties. Once entitlement is achieved, both parties will align on the optimal path forward, including timing and participation.  

Together, the partnerships in Halifax and Vancouver deliver complementary benefits to Crombie, including:

• Positive impact on FFO and AFFO as a result of the entitlement process
• Accelerate entitlement value creation while retaining optionality and flexibility regarding the optimal path forward
• Enhanced capital allocation flexibility supporting balance sheet strength and ongoing necessity-based retail investments

Acquisition Activity

On April 22,2025, Crombie acquired a 100% interest in a grocery-anchored retail property from a third party totalling 12,000 square feet for $1,095, excluding closing and transaction costs.

Conference Call and Webcast

Crombie will provide additional details regarding its first quarter ended March 31, 2025 results on a conference call to be held Thursday, May 8, 2025, beginning at 12:00 p.m. (EDT). Accompanying the conference call will be a presentation that will be available on the Investors section of Crombie’s website. To join this conference call, you may dial (416) 945-7677 or (888) 699-1199. To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register and enter your phone number at https://emportal.ink/449Lspc to receive an instant automated call back. You may also listen to a live audio webcast of the conference call by visiting the Investors section of Crombie’s website at www.crombie.ca.

Replay will be available until midnight May 15, 2025 by dialing (289) 819-1450 or (888) 660-6345 and entering passcode 50388 #, or on the Crombie website for 90 days following the conference call.

Non-GAAP Measures and Cautionary Statements

Net property income, same-asset property cash NOI, FFO, AFFO, FFO payout ratio, AFFO payout ratio, debt to trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA, debt to gross fair value, and interest coverage ratio are non-GAAP financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). These measures as computed by Crombie may differ from similar computations as reported by other entities and, accordingly, may not be comparable to other such entities. Management includes these measures as they represent key performance indicators to management, and it believes certain investors use these measures as a means of assessing Crombie’s financial performance. For additional information on these non-GAAP measures see our Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

The reconciliations for each non-GAAP measure included in this press release are outlined as follows:

Net Property Income

Management uses net property income as a measure of performance of properties period over period.

Net property income, which excludes revenue from management and development services and certain expenses such as interest expense and indirect operating expenses, is as follows:

Same-Asset Property Cash NOI

Crombie measures certain performance and operating metrics on a same-asset basis to evaluate the period-over-period performance of those properties owned and operated by Crombie. “Same-asset” refers to those properties that were owned and operated by Crombie for the current and comparative reporting periods. Properties that will be undergoing a redevelopment in a future period and those for which planning activities are underway are also in this category until such development activities commence and/or tenant leasing/renewal activity is suspended. Same-asset property cash NOI reflects Crombie’s proportionate ownership of jointly operated properties (and excludes any properties held in joint ventures).

Management uses net property income on a cash basis (property cash NOI) as a measure of performance, as it reflects the cash generated by properties period over period.

Net property income on a cash basis, which excludes non-cash straight-line rent recognition and amortization of tenant incentive amounts, is as follows:

Funds from Operations (FFO)

Crombie follows the recommendations of the January 2022 guidance of the Real Property Association of Canada (“REALPAC”) in calculating FFO.  

The reconciliation of FFO for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 is as follows:

Adjusted Funds from Operations (AFFO)

Crombie follows the recommendations of REALPAC’s January 2022 guidance in calculating AFFO and has applied these recommendations to the AFFO amounts included in this press release and Management’s Discussion and Analysis.

The reconciliation of AFFO for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 is as follows:

Debt Metrics

When calculating debt to gross fair value, debt is defined as obligations for borrowed money, including obligations incurred in connection with acquisitions, excluding trade payables and accruals in the ordinary course of business, and distributions payable. Debt includes Crombie’s share of debt held in equity-accounted joint ventures.

Gross fair value includes investment properties measured at fair value, including Crombie’s share of those held within equity-accounted joint ventures. All other components of gross fair value are measured at the carrying value included in Crombie’s financial statements. Crombie’s methodology for determining the fair value of investment properties includes capitalization of trailing 12 months net property income using biannual capitalization rates from external property valuators. The majority of investment properties are also subject to external, independent appraisals on a rotational basis over a period of not more than four years. Valuation techniques are more fully described in Crombie’s year-end audited financial statements.

The fair value included in this calculation reflects the fair value of the properties as at March 31, 2025, December 31, 2024, and March 31, 2024, respectively, based on each property’s current use as a revenue-generating investment property. Additionally, as properties are prepared for redevelopment, Crombie considers each property’s progress through entitlement in determining the fair value of a property.

The following table presents a reconciliation of operating income attributable to Unitholders to adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is a non- GAAP measure and should not be considered an alternative to operating income attributable to Unitholders, and may not be comparable to that used by other entities.

In calculating adjusted EBITDA, Crombie includes its share of revenue, operating expenses, and general and administrative expenses in joint  ventures, and excludes its share of amortization of tenant incentives in joint ventures. Interest coverage calculation also includes Crombie’s share of finance costs – operations.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the current expectations of management of Crombie about Crombie’s future results, performance, achievements, prospects, and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as “may”, “will”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “continue”, and similar expressions have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management of Crombie. Forward- looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors, including those discussed in the 2024 annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis under “Risk Management” and the Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2024 under “Risks”, could cause actual results, performance, achievements, prospects, or opportunities to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully, and a reader should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the expectations of management of Crombie will prove to be correct, and Crombie can give no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements.

Specifically, this document includes, but is not limited to, forward-looking statements regarding expected timing, cost, and completion of entitlement and development, which may be impacted by ordinary real estate market cycles, the availability of labour, ability to attract tenants, estimated GLA, tenant rents, building sizes, financing and the cost of any such financing, capital resource allocation decisions and general economic conditions, as well as entitlement and development activities undertaken by related parties not under the direct control of Crombie, Crombie’s ability to earn recurring development and management fees, and its ability to make decisions that maximize Unitholder value.

About Crombie REIT

Crombie invests in real estate with a vision of enriching communities together by building spaces and value today that leave a positive impact on tomorrow. As one of the country’s leading owners, operators, and developers of quality real estate assets, Crombie’s portfolio primarily includes grocery-anchored retail, retail-related industrial, and mixed-use residential properties. As at March 31, 2025, our portfolio contained 303 properties comprising approximately 18.8 million square feet, inclusive of joint ventures at Crombie’s share, and a significant pipeline of future development projects. Learn more at www.crombie.ca.

SOURCE Crombie REIT