David E. Simon
Analyst · UBS
Good morning. Our results for the quarter were very strong. FFO was $2.29 per share, up 19.9% from the fourth quarter of 2011. Our FFO exceeded the first call consensus once again, this time by $0.12 per share. For our Malls and Premium Outlets, tenant sales were up 6.6% to $568 per square foot, occupancy was up 70 basis points to 95.3%, base minimum rent per square foot increased by 3.4%, and our releasing spread was a positive 10.8% or $5.21 per square foot. For the year, our 2012 FFO was $2,885,000,000, an increase of $446 million from 2011. Growth in FFO per share was an exceptional 15.8% to $7.98 per share, and we did achieve such growth through a number of ways: First of all, our comp property NOI growth in our Mall and Premium Outlet platform was 4.8% per year. We completed several acquisitions in 2012 which were done throughout the year, so we'll see more of their accretion into 2013 and beyond, but those include Mills, Klépierre, our investments, Silver Sands, Grand Prairie, Livermore. We also successfully reopened Opry Mills in Nashville, Tennessee. And we opened a new upscale premium outlet center in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and our Texas City, Texas, deal with our partner in -- with Steve's Hangar. Now our significant redevelopment pipeline is also bearing fruit. Again, not much benefit in '12 for these things, but we expect to see additional earnings accretion for '13, '14. But they include King of Prussia, Fashion Mall at Keystone, Pheasant Lane, Ontario Mills, Sawgrass Mills and Southridge Mall, again investments made throughout '12 and opening at the end of '12. We continue to demonstrate our balance sheet leadership. In December, we did a bond offering of $500 million of 10-year notes at 2.75% interest rate and $750 million of 5-year notes at 1.5%, the lowest coupons ever printed by a REIT. 2012, we issued a total of $3 billion in senior unsecured notes with a weighted average interest rate of 2.81% and a weighted average term of 11.6 years. Now we also were very active in the secured debt markets. We closed or locked rates on 30 new mortgages totaling $3.7 billion, of which our share is $2.3 billion. The average interest rate on those loans is 3.88% with a weighted average term of 8 years. Let me turn to the dividend. Common stock dividend increased 17.1% in 2002 -- 2012 to a total of $4.10 per share for the year as compared to $3.50 paid in 2011. This morning, we announced the 6th consecutive quarterly increase in our dividend from $1.10 to $1.15 per share. Our stockholder -- total stockholder return in '12 was 26%. We've outperformed the RMS and the S&P for the 11th time in the past 12 years. Our compound annual return for the last decade was 21.4%, and since our IPO in December of 1993 was 17.2%. Transactions in December in the fourth quarter, we created a venture with CalPERS and Miller Capital Advisory to jointly own the shops in Mission Viejo and the Woodfield Mall, 2 of the best 100 malls in the U.S. Part of the transaction, as you know, we owned 100% of Mission and CalPERS own 100% of Woodfield. We now own 51% of Mission and 50% of Woodfield, and we lease and manage both assets. We have a very strong relationship with CalPERS and Miller, and we're excited to partner with them in Woodfield, where we think we'll have a good ability to increase that cash flow. Now let me talk about the Paragon deal. We completed the acquisition of the remaining interest in these 2 newly developed centers. These centers have been re-branded as Livermore Premium Outlets and Grand Prairie Premium Outlets. They serve the Greater San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth areas, respectively. Both are 100% leased. Traffic and sales continue to meet or exceed expectations and with each center creating an excellent reputation in their respective trade areas. Now our new development -- redevelopment pipeline continues to move forward aggressively. We invested nearly $900 million in projects during 2012 and expect our share of capital spend in 2013 to be over $1 billion. We have 5 Premium Outlets under construction, all scheduled to open in 2012: 2 are in the U.S., Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, and Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis; one in Japan; one in Canada, which is a suburb of Toronto; and our fifth is in Busan, Korea, which will be our third outlet center in Korea. We plan to start construction in the second quarter of the new upscale outlet center in Montréal. This will be our second Premium Outlet Center in Canada. It will comprise approximately 390,000 square feet and is expected to open third quarter of '14. And construction is also under way at 24 redevelopment expansion projects throughout our U.S. portfolio and the 2 Premium Outlets in Asia. All will open in 2013 and '14. Several are very significant in size and scope, including expansions at Seattle Premium Outlets, Walt Whitman Shops, Sawgrass Mills and the redevelopment of an -- former enclosed mall into an open-air center at The Shops in Nanuet in Nyack, New York, Klépierre reported last Thursday. Total rents for the year were up 4% on a current basis and 2.3% on a like-for-like basis. In 2012, they completed asset sales totaling EUR 700 million, reduced their LTV by 200 basis points, continue to perform ahead of our expert -- expectations as we continue to refine the strategy for the company. In conclusion, I am and we are very pleased with our 2012 accomplishments and results. We reported record FFO per share of $7.98 per share. That is $0.71 higher than consensus at the beginning of 2012; $0.73 higher than the midpoint of our initial guidance range; $1.53, or 23.7%, than our high -- than our rate -- than our pre-Great Recession high FFO reported in 2008 of $6.45. We paid a record dividends of $4.10 per share. And with our recent increase in dividend this quarter, we're on track to pay at least $4.60 per share in '13. And this is $1 higher or 27.8% higher than the dividends paid in 2008 at the -- at our great -- at the Great Recession high. We look forward to another strong year in '13. And based upon our core business, FFO guidance for 2013 is in a range of $8.40 to $8.50 per share. The midpoint of this range is $2 higher than our record FFO per share prior to the Great Recession, or roughly 31% increase. With that, operator, we're ready for questions.