COPT Reports Full Year 2022 Results

EPS of $1.53 for Full Year;

FFO per Share, as Adjusted for Comparability, of $2.36

Core Portfolio 93% Occupied and 95% Leased

Placed 1.3 million SF of Developments into Service that were 99% Leased

1.5 million SF of Active Developments 89% Leased

Outstanding Leasing Achievement

Total Leasing of 3.0 million SF

Highest Annual Vacancy Leasing Achieved in 12 Years at 801,000 SF

Tenant Retention of 72%

Corporate Office Properties Trust (“COPT” or the “Company”) (NYSE: OFC) announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

Management Comments

Stephen E. Budorick, COPT’s President & Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Our Defense/IT investment strategy, which has concentrated our portfolio near priority U.S. defense installations, continues to produce strong results, and has proved resilient in the face of macro-economic headwinds impacting the office sector. The 3% growth in FFO per share, as adjusted for comparability generated in 2022, exceeded our initial guidance by $0.02 per share. We executed 801,000 square feet of vacancy leasing, the highest level in 12 years. We are off to a great start in terms of development leasing, having executed over 460,000 square feet already in 2023, consisting of two data center shell build-to-suits in Northern Virginia, and one build-to-suit building at Redstone Gateway. The outlook for defense spending remains favorable. The FY23 defense base budget that passed in December represents a 7.5% year-over-year increase, and is 15% higher than that of FY21, which drove leasing results in 2022. Given the timing of the appropriation, we expect this increase to fuel demand for space in our portfolio throughout 2024.”

He continued, “From a financing standpoint, we recently closed on two new 90%/10% JVs, which will fund the equity component of our expected development needs in 2023, assuring sufficient capital to fund development on a leverage neutral basis for the foreseeable future. Our balance sheet remains strong, evidenced by our solid debt service coverage ratios, with no large debt maturities until 2026.”

Financial Highlights

4th Quarter Financial Results:

• Diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) was $0.45 for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 compared to $0.12 for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

• Diluted funds from operations per share (“FFOPS”), as calculated in accordance with Nareit’s definition, was $0.60 for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 compared to $0.21 for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

• FFOPS, as adjusted for comparability, was $0.60 for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 compared to $0.58 for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Full Year 2022 Financial Results:

• EPS for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $1.53 as compared to $0.68 for 2021.

• Per Nareit’s definition, FFOPS for 2022 was $2.35 as compared to $1.40 for 2021.

• FFOPS, as adjusted for comparability, for 2022 was $2.36 as compared to $2.29 for 2021.

Operating Performance Highlights

Operating Portfolio Summary:

• At December 31, 2022, the Company’s 22.8 million square foot core portfolio was 92.8% occupied and 95.3% leased.

• During the quarter and the year, the Company placed into service 917,000 and 1.3 million square feet, respectively, of developments that were 99% leased at January 31, 2023.

Same-Property Performance:

• At December 31, 2022, the Company’s 20.0 million square foot same-property portfolio was 92.4% occupied and 95.0% leased.

• The Company’s same-property cash NOI decreased 0.5% and 0.9%, year-over-year for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2021.

Leasing:

• Total Square Feet Leased: For the quarter ended December 31, 2022, the Company leased 692,000 square feet, including 519,000 square feet of renewals and 173,000 square feet of vacancy leasing.

• For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company executed 3.0 million square feet of total leasing, including 1.7 million square feet of renewals, 801,000 square feet of vacancy leasing, and 476,000 square feet in development projects.

• Tenant Retention Rates: During the quarter and year ended December 31, 2022, the Company renewed 72.2% and 72.1%, respectively, of expiring square feet.

• Rent Spreads & Average Escalations on Renewing Leases: For the quarter and year ended December 31, 2022, straight-line rents on renewals increased 3.6% and 3.1%, respectively, and cash rents on renewed space increased 0.1% and decreased 2.0%, respectively. For the same time periods, annual escalations on renewing leases averaged 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively.

• Lease Terms: In the quarter ended December 31, 2022, lease terms averaged 3.5 years on renewing leases and 9.8 years on vacancy leasing. For the year, lease terms averaged 3.6 years on renewing leases, 7.3 years on vacancy leasing, and 13.3 years on development leasing.

Investment Activity Highlights

• Development Pipeline: The Company’s development pipeline consists of 10 properties totaling 1.5 million square feet that were 89% leased at January 31, 2023. These projects represent a total estimated investment of $487.5 million, of which $127.5 million has been spent.

Balance Sheet and Capital Transaction Highlights

• On October 26, 2022, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a group of lenders for an aggregate of $725.0 million of available borrowings including: an unsecured revolving credit facility with a lender commitment of $600.0 million that replaced its existing Revolving Credit Facility; and a $125.0 million unsecured term loan, the proceeds of which were used to pay off the remaining $100.0 million outstanding under an existing unsecured term loan and pay down a portion of its Revolving Credit Facility.

• On December 14, 2022, the Company sold two data center shells to a new, 90%/10% joint venture with entities affiliated with Blackstone, generating approximately $60 million of proceeds.

• On January 10, 2023, the Company sold an additional three data center shells to a new, 90%/10% joint venture with entities affiliated with Blackstone, generating approximately $190 million of proceeds.

• For the quarter ended December 31, 2022, the Company’s adjusted EBITDA fixed charge coverage ratio was 4.7x.

• At December 31, 2022, the Company’s net debt to in-place adjusted EBITDA ratio was 6.3x and its net debt adjusted for fully-leased development to in-place adjusted EBITDA ratio was 6.1x.

• At December 31, 2022, and including the effect of interest rate swaps, the Company’s weighted average effective interest rate on its consolidated debt portfolio was 3.15% with a weighted average maturity of 6.6 years; additionally, 85.1% of the Company’s debt was subject to fixed interest rates.

Associated Supplemental Presentation

Prior to the call, the Company will post a slide presentation to accompany management’s prepared remarks for its fourth quarter and full year 2022 conference call; the presentation can be viewed and downloaded from the ‘Financial Info – Financial Results’ section of COPT’s Investors website: https://investors.copt.com/financial-information/financial-results

2023 Guidance

The Company details its initial full year and first quarter guidance, with supporting assumptions, in a separate press release issued concurrently with this press release; that release can be found in the ‘News & Events – Press Releases’ section of COPT’s Investors website: https://investors.copt.com/news-events/press-releases

Conference Call Information

Management will discuss fourth quarter and full year 2022 results on its conference call tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, details of which are listed below:

Participants must register for the conference call at the link below to receive the dial-in number and personal pin. Registering only takes a few moments and provides direct access to the conference call without waiting for an operator. You may register at any time, including up to and after the call start time:

https://register.vevent.com/register/BIc8139cc8ddaa47a4b273039144a05aea

The conference call will also be available via live webcast in the ‘News & Events – IR Calendar’ section of COPT’s Investors website: https://investors.copt.com/news-events/ir-calendar

Replay Information

A replay of the conference call will be immediately available via webcast only on COPT’s Investors website.

Definitions

For definitions of certain terms used in this press release, please refer to the information furnished in the Company’s Supplemental Information Package furnished on a Form 8-K which can be found on its website (www.copt.com). Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the attached tables.

About COPT

COPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties. The majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (“IT”) related activities servicing what the Company believes are growing, durable, priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (“Regional Office Properties”). As of December 31, 2022, the Company derived 91% of its core portfolio annualized rental revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 9% from its Regional Office Properties. As of the same date and including 21 properties owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, COPT’s core portfolio of 192 properties encompassed 22.8 million square feet and was 95.3% leased.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain “forward-looking” statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the Company’s current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “plan” or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate. Although the Company believes that the expectations, estimates and projections reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time made, the Company can give no assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements.

The areas of risk that may affect these expectations, estimates and projections include, but are not limited to, those risks described in Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust

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