Life Storage, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2021 Results

Life Storage, Inc. (NYSE:LSI), a leading national owner and operator of self-storage properties, reported operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. Certain share and per share information has been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the January 2021 three-for-two stock split made in the form of a 50% stock dividend.

Highlights for the Third Quarter Included:

• Generated net income attributable to common shareholders of $70.3 million, or $0.89 per fully diluted common share.
• Achieved adjusted funds from operations (“FFO”)⁽¹⁾ per fully diluted common share of $1.37, a 35.6% increase over the same period in 2020.
• Increased same store revenue by 17.4% and same store net operating income (“NOI”)⁽²⁾ by 24.3%, year-over-year.
• Acquired 29 stores for $336.0 million, including 10 stores from the Company’s third-party management platform.
• Added 30 stores (gross) to the Company’s third-party management platform.

Joe Saffire, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Operating fundamentals remain strong as we continue to enjoy record seasonal occupancy and robust pricing power. We continue to aggressively expand our footprint, having achieved a significant milestone during the quarter when we crossed the 1,000-store threshold. We have more than $1.7 billion of wholly owned acquisitions that have closed this year or are currently under contract. The hard work of our acquisitions and third-party management teams over the past several years executing on our relationship-based strategy to be well positioned when opportunities become available is clearly paying off. The ability of our Operations team to seamlessly onboard such high volumes of stores while also managing elevated occupancy is equally inspiring.”

FINANCIAL RESULTS:

In the third quarter of 2021, the Company generated net income attributable to common shareholders of $70.3 million or $0.89 per fully diluted common share, compared to net income attributable to common shareholders of $37.1 million, or $0.52 per fully diluted common share, in the third quarter of 2020.

Funds from operations for the quarter were $1.37 per fully diluted common share compared to $0.99 for the same period last year. Adjusted FFO per fully diluted common share for the quarter was $1.37 compared to $1.01 for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, after adjusting for $1.5 million of uninsured damages and customer reinsurance claims incurred in the third quarter of 2020.

OPERATIONS:

Revenues for the 531 stabilized stores wholly owned by the Company since December 31, 2019 increased 17.4% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter of 2020. The increase largely resulted from the net impact of a 220 basis point increase in average occupancy and the net impact of a 14.3% increase in realized rental rates.

Same store operating expenses increased 3.5% for the third quarter of 2021 compared to the prior year period, primarily due to increased real estate taxes and repair and maintenance costs. The increases were partially offset by decreases in marketing expenses. Same store NOI increased 24.3% in the third quarter of 2021 as compared to the same quarter last year.

During the third quarter of 2021, the Company achieved double digit same store revenue growth in each of its 31 major markets. Overall, the markets with the strongest positive revenue impact were: Las Vegas, NV; Buffalo-Upstate, NY; Austin, TX and various Florida markets.

PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS:

Wholly Owned Portfolio

During the quarter, the Company acquired 29 stores in Alabama (7), Georgia (7), Florida (3), New Hampshire (2), Oklahoma (2), South Carolina (2), Texas (2), Arizona (1), Colorado (1), Kentucky (1) and Ohio (1) for a total purchase price of $336.0 million.

At September 30, 2021, the Company was under contract to acquire 33 self-storage facilities in Florida (14), Georgia (8), Texas (4), California (3), Illinois (3) and Virginia (1) for an aggregate purchase price of $548.9 million. Subsequent to quarter end, the Company entered into contracts to acquire 20 self-storage facilities in Connecticut (6), Florida (3), North Carolina (3), Colorado (2), South Carolina (2), Georgia (1), Illinois (1), Maine (1) and Tennessee (1) for an aggregate purchase price of $322.4 million. The Company acquired 13 of these facilities subsequent to quarter end for $234.5 million. The purchases of the remaining facilities are subject to customary conditions to closing, and there is no assurance that any of these facilities will be acquired.

As of the date of this press release, the Company has acquired 75 stores for $1.1 billion since January 1, 2021.

Joint Venture Portfolio

During the quarter, the Company contributed an additional $27.3 million to an existing joint venture with a self-storage facility in Brooklyn, NY.

THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT:

The Company continues to aggressively and profitably grow its third-party management platform. During the quarter, the Company added 30 stores (gross). As of quarter end, the Company managed 357 facilities in total, including those in which it owns a minority interest.

FINANCIAL POSITION:

At September 30, 2021, the Company had approximately $136.2 million of cash on hand, and approximately $500 million available on its line of credit.

To support its acquisition activity, the Company issued equity securities during the third quarter and priced a bond offering. On September 16, 2021, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 2,875,000 shares of common stock at $122.30 per share, raising $348.8 million after expenses. Additionally, the Company issued 1,097,516 shares of common stock under its continuous equity offering program at a weighted average issue price of $119.29 per share, generating net proceeds after expenses of $129.5 million. The Company also issued $89.8 million in preferred Operating Partnership Units and $1.5 million of common Operating Partnership Units as part of the consideration for a portfolio acquisition during the quarter. Finally, the Company completed an offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 2.4% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2031 that priced on September 28, 2021 and closed on October 7, 2021.

Below are key financial ratios at September 30, 2021:

COMMON STOCK DIVIDEND:

Subsequent to quarter end, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a 16% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.86 per share, or $3.44 annualized, on a post-split basis. The dividend was paid on October 26, 2021 to shareholders of record on October 13, 2021.

YEAR 2021 EARNINGS GUIDANCE:

The following assumptions covering operations have been utilized in formulating guidance for 2021:

The Company’s 2021 same store pool consists of the 531 stabilized stores wholly owned since December 31, 2019. Thirty-six of the stores purchased through September 30, 2021 at certificate of occupancy or that were in the early stages of lease-up are not included, regardless of their current occupancies. The Company believes that occupancy levels achieved during the lease-up period, using discounted rates, are not truly indicative of a new store’s performance, and therefore do not result in a meaningful year-over-year comparison in future years. The Company will include such stores in its same store pool in the second year after the stores achieve 80% sustained occupancy using market rates and incentives.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

When used in this news release, the words “intends,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” and similar expressions are intended to identify “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the effect of competition from new self-storage facilities, which would cause rents and occupancy rates to decline; risks associated with the COVID-19 global health crisis or similar events, including but not limited to (i) the impact to the health of our employees and/or customers, (ii) the negative impacts to the economy and to self-storage customers which could reduce the demand for self-storage or reduce our ability to collect rent, (iii) reducing or eliminating our ability to increase rents charged to our current or future customers, (iv) limiting our ability to collect rent from or evict past due customers, (v) we could see an increase in move-outs of longer-term customers due to the economic uncertainty and significant rise in unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 global health crisis which could lead to lower occupancies and reduced average rental rates as longer-term customers are replaced with new customers at lower rates, and (vi) potential negative impacts on the cost and availability of debt and equity which could have a negative impact on our capital and growth plans; the Company’s ability to evaluate, finance and integrate acquired self-storage facilities into the Company’s existing business and operations; the Company’s ability to effectively compete in the industry in which it does business; the Company’s existing indebtedness may mature in an unfavorable credit environment, preventing refinancing or forcing refinancing of the indebtedness on terms that are not as favorable as the existing terms; interest rates may fluctuate, impacting costs associated with the Company’s outstanding floating rate debt; the Company’s ability to comply with debt covenants; any future ratings on the Company’s debt instruments; regional concentration of the Company’s business may subject it to economic downturns in the states of Florida and Texas; the Company’s reliance on its call center; the Company’s cash flow may be insufficient to meet required payments of operating expenses, principal, interest and dividends; and tax law changes that may change the taxability of future income.

CONFERENCE CALL:

Life Storage will hold its Third Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 3, 2021. To help avoid connection delays, participants are encouraged to pre-register using this link. Anyone unable to pre-register may access the conference call at 888.506.0062 (domestic) or 973.528.0011 (international); passcode 975924 or request to be joined into the Life Storage call. Management will accept questions from registered financial analysts after prepared remarks; all others are encouraged to listen to the call via webcast by accessing the investor relations tab at lifestorage.com. The webcast will be archived for a period of 90 days; a telephone replay will also be available for 14 days by calling 877.481.4010 and entering passcode 43091.

ABOUT LIFE STORAGE, INC:

Life Storage, Inc. is a self-administered and self-managed equity REIT that is in the business of acquiring and managing self-storage facilities. Located in Buffalo, New York, the Company operates more than 1,000 storage facilities in 34 states. The Company serves both residential and commercial storage customers with storage units rented by month. Life Storage consistently provides responsive service to approximately 600,000 customers, making it a leader in the industry. For more information visit http://invest.lifestorage.com.

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