Earnings Labs

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (BXMT)

Q2 2010 Earnings Call· Wed, Jul 28, 2010

$19.97

-0.75%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello and welcome to the Capital Trust second quarter 2010 results conference call. Before we begin, please be advised that the forward-looking statements contained in the news release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the success of the company's debt restructuring, the continued credit performance of the company's loans and CMBS investments, its asset liability mix, the effectiveness of the company's hedging strategies, the rate of repayment of the company's portfolio assets and the impact of these events on the company's cash flow, as well as other risks indicated from time to time in the company's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events or circumstances. There will be a Q&A session following the conclusion of this presentation. At that time, I will provide instructions for submitting a question to management. I will now turn the call over to Steve Plavin, CEO of Capital Trust. Please go ahead.

Steve Plavin

Analyst

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and for your continued interest in Capital Trust. With me are Geoff Jervis, our Chief Financial Officer; and Tom Ruffing, our Chief Credit Officer and Head of Asset Management. Last night we reported our results for the second quarter and filed our 10-Q. CT reported net income of $2.9 million or $0.13 per share. Operating income of $6.4 million was primarily reduced by $4 million, the amount by which current period provisions and impairments exceeded the recovery of prior loan loss provisions. During the quarter, we added four loans totaling $82 million and two securities with a book value of $10 million to our loans and securities watch list, in addition to recording $19 million of loan loss provisions and $2 million of security impairments. The recoveries we achieved during the quarter primarily eliminated from transactions with existing sponsors hoping to preserve or enhance their equity and properties acquired at or near the peak of the market. Many sponsors of similar vintage loans do not have the liquidity to make such investments or have incurred such steep losses that maintaining control of the underlying real estate will be very difficult. Nonetheless, working with motivated sponsors to maximize loan recoveries continues to be one of our primary asset management strategies. Despite persistent uncertainty in the overall economy, lenders and investors are continuing to return to commercial real estate. Many of the street conduit programs are restarting and loan terms for borrowers are improving with the increased competition and low rates. But most sponsors are still unable to achieve sufficient proceeds to repay their existing loans, so borrower demand is weak. Property cash flows remain under intense pressure, substantially below the peak levels anticipated at loan originations. Even with lower cap rates…

Geoff Jervis

Analyst

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. As Steve mentioned, last night we reported results for the second quarter, reporting net income of $2.9 million or $0.13 per share. Net income for the quarter was primarily the result of income from operations, offset partially by $4 million of net reserves and impairments that we took against our loan and security portfolios. Specifically, we recorded $2 million of impairments on four securities and $2 million of net provisions for loan losses on nine loans. Loan loss provisions in the second quarter included $19 million of provisions against four loans, offset by $17 million of recovery associated with loan dispositions and restructurings. Exclusive of credit provisions, impairments and a $463,000 gain on the extinguishment of debt associated with our consolidated VIEs, operating income was $6.4 million or $0.29 per share during the period. The primary components of this quarter's operating income were net interest margin of $7.8 million, down over $900,000 from last quarter and $2.6 million from the second quarter of 2009, with the reduction due to asset level non-performance, loan and security repayments, and when comparing to 2009, impacts from our new consolidation team as we are now consolidating additional variable interest entities or VIEs, the accounting change that I discussed last quarter and will review again when I discuss the balance sheet. Other components of operating income were other revenues of $2.2 million, down $2.3 million from the prior period, primarily due to an amendment to the company's management agreement with one of its private equity funds it sponsors and manages, CT Opportunity Partners I. The major elements of which were a retroactive reduction in the fees paid to us by the fund and an extension of the fund's investment period. Continuing down the income statement, other expenses, primarily…

Steve Plavin

Analyst

Thank you, Geoff. Natasha, you can open the call for questions.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) It appears we have no questions at this time.

Steve Plavin

Analyst

Thank you very much. We look forward to reporting to you next quarter.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's program.