BRG.PRA BLUEROCK RESIDENTIAL GROWTH REIT INC

NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BRG, BRG PrA, and BRG PrC) ("the Company") announced today its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Highlights

• Total revenues grew 75% to $18.4 million for the quarter from $10.5 million for the prior year quarter primarily as a result of significant investment activity in the past year.
• Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the second quarter of 2016 was $5.0 million, or $(0.24) per share, as compared to a net loss of $0.6 million, or $(0.04) per share, in the prior year period. Net loss attributable to common stockholders included non-cash expenses of $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2016 vs. $3.6 million for the prior year period.
• Adjusted funds from operations attributable to common stockholders ("AFFO") grew 42% to $4.4 million for the quarter from $3.1 million for the prior year quarter.
• AFFO per diluted share is $0.21 for the second quarter of 2016 as compared to $0.19 for the second quarter of 2015, and exceeded guidance of $0.12 - $0.14.
• Pro forma AFFO per share of $0.38 for the second quarter exceeded pro forma guidance of $0.27 to $0.29 per share.
• The Company paid the full amount of the second quarter's management fee of $1.4 million in LTIP Units in lieu of cash payment. This favorably impacted both AFFO per share and pro forma AFFO per share by $0.07.
• Property Net Operating Income (NOI) grew 80% to $11.0 million for the quarter, from $6.1 million in the prior year quarter.
• Property NOI margins improved 150 basis points to 59.8% of revenue for the quarter, from 58.3% of revenue in the prior year quarter.
• Same store NOI increased 8.7% for the quarter, as compared to the prior year quarter.
• Consolidated real estate investments, at cost, increased 25% to $699 million at June 30, 2016 from $557 million at December 31, 2015.
• The Company invested in one operating property totaling 336 units for a total purchase price of approximately $74.5 million subsequent to end of the quarter.
• The Company declared a quarterly cash dividend on the 8.250% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series A preferred stock") of $0.515625 per share for the second quarter, which was paid in cash on July 5, 2016.
• The Company declared monthly dividends for the third quarter of 2016 equal to a quarterly rate of $0.29 per share on the Company's Class A common stock. This equates to an 8.9% annualized yield based on the closing price of $13.00 for the Class A common stock as of June 30, 2016.
• The Company sold 1,890 Series B Units under its offering of up to 150,000 Units consisting of 150,000 shares of Series B redeemable preferred stock ("Series B Preferred Stock") and warrants to purchase 3,000,000 shares of Class A common stock ("Series B Offering") which commenced in February 2016.
• The Company declared monthly dividends for the third quarter of 2016 of $5.00 per share on the Company's Series B preferred stock.
• The Company sold 146,460 Series A Preferred shares under its At-the-Market offering during the second quarter until suspension of selling activity for the following offerings.
• On April 25, 2016, the Company completed an underwritten offering of 2,300,000 shares of Series A preferred stock at a public offering price of $25.00 per share, including the full exercise of the underwriter's overallotment for gross proceeds of $57.5 million.
• On May 26, 2016, the Company completed an add-on offering of 400,000 shares of Series A preferred stock at a public offering price of $25.00 per share, including the full exercise of the underwriter's overallotment for gross proceeds of $10.0 million.
• On July 19, 2016, the Company completed an underwritten offering of 2,300,000 shares of 7.625% Series C preferred stock at a public offering price of $25.00 per share, including the full exercise of the underwriter's allotment for gross proceeds of $57.5 million.

Management Commentary

"We are pleased to report our operating performance for the second quarter with same store NOI growth of 8.7% and AFFO growth of 42%, which exceeded the high end of our guidance," said Ramin Kamfar, the Company's Chairman and CEO.  "With the capital raise during the quarter, we plan to execute upon the attractive opportunities in our current footprint of growth markets in the Sunbelt, from the Carolinas to Florida and Texas.  Our focus remains on building one of the highest quality Class A portfolios in these markets, while growing our AFFO and AFFO per share accretively for our investors."

Pending Investments at June 30, 2016

• On July 14, 2016, the Company acquired a 90% leasehold interest in a 336-unit, Class A, mixed-use apartment community located in Atlanta, Georgia, known as Tenside Apartment Homes. The property was rebranded as ARIUM Westside. The total purchase price was approximately $74.5 million, funded in part with a $52.2 million senior mortgage loan secured by the leasehold interest in the property.
• The Company intends to make an acquisition of a 90% interest in a 480-unit apartment community in Atlanta, Georgia for a purchase price of approximately $69.5 million.
• The Company has an agreement which entitles the Company to invest in a 276-unit to-be-built Class A apartment community located in Jacksonville, Florida. This convertible mezzanine loan investment of approximately $23 million is structured to provide us with a 15% current return on investment with an option to convert into majority indirect ownership of the underlying property upon stabilization.
• An affiliate of the Company has a non-binding letter of intent which we expect will be assigned to us and will entitle the Company to invest in a 90-unit to-be-built Class A apartment community located in Boca Raton, Florida. Our investment will be structured as a convertible mezzanine loan investment of approximately $9 million to provide us with a 15% current return on investment together with an option to convert into a majority indirect ownership of the underlying property upon stabilization.

Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results

Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the second quarter of 2016 was $5.0 million, as compared to a net loss of $0.6 million in the prior year period. The change in net loss was primarily driven by positive increases in property NOI of $4.9 million and income of unconsolidated real estate joint ventures of $1.5 million due to the increase in the size of our invest-to-own portfolio, as offset by related increases in general and administrative expenses of $1.0 million (of which $0.8 million was non-cash expenses), in management fees of $0.7 million, interest expense of $1.9 million, depreciation and amortization expense of $4.0 million, and the Series A preferred stock income allocation of $3.1 million.

AFFO for the second quarter of 2016 increased by 42% to $4.4 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, as compared to $3.1 million, or $0.19 per share in the prior year period. The increase in AFFO from the prior year period was driven primarily by increases in property NOI of $4.9 million arising from significant investment activity in the past year and in income of unconsolidated real estate joint ventures of $1.5 million caused by expanding the size of our invest-to-own portfolio, offset by higher interest expense of $1.9 million.

Same Store Portfolio Performance

Same store NOI for the second quarter of 2016 increased by 8.7% from the same period in the prior year. There was a 6.1% increase in same store property revenues as compared to the same prior year period, primarily attributable to a 4.7% increase in average rent per occupied unit, a 142 basis point increase in average occupancy and an additional 18 units acquired at our Lansbrook property.  Same store expenses increased 2.2%.

Portfolio Summary

The following is a summary of our investments, operating properties and convertible preferred equity investments, as of June 30, 2016:

Q3 2016 Outlook

For the third quarter of 2016, the Company anticipates AFFO in the range of $0.08 to $0.10 per share, and $0.28 to $0.30 per share on a pro forma basis. For assumptions underlying earnings guidance, please see page 26 of Company's Q2 2016 Earnings Supplement available under Investor Relations on the Company's website (www.bluerockresidential.com). Pro forma AFFO is used for illustrative purposes only, is hypothetical and does not represent historical performance or management's estimates or projections for future performance.

Dividend Details

On July 8, 2016, our board of directors authorized, and we declared, monthly dividends for the third quarter of 2016 equal to a quarterly rate of $0.29 per share on our Class A common stock, payable to the stockholders of record as of July 25, 2016, which was paid in cash on August 5, 2016, and as of August 25, 2016 and September 23, 2016, which will be paid in cash on September 5, 2016 and October 5, 2016, respectively. Holders of OP and LTIP Units are entitled to receive "distribution equivalents" at the same time as dividends are paid to holders of our Class A common stock.

The declared dividends equal a monthly dividend on the Class A common stock as follows: $0.096666 per share for the dividend paid to stockholders of record as of July 25, 2016, $0.096667 per share for the dividend which will be paid to stockholders of record as of August 25, 2016, and September 23, 2016. A portion of each dividend may constitute a return of capital for tax purposes. There is no assurance that we will continue to declare dividends or at this rate.

On July 8, 2016, our board of directors authorized, and we declared, a monthly dividend of $5.00 per Series B preferred stock, payable to the stockholders of record as of July 25, 2016, which was paid in cash on August 5, 2016 and as of August 25, 2016 and September 23, 2016, which will be paid in cash on September 5, 2016 and October 5, 2016.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The foregoing supplemental financial data includes certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are helpful in understanding our business and performance, as further described below. Our definition and calculation of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from those of other REITs, and may, therefore, not be comparable.

Funds from Operations and Adjusted Funds from Operations

Funds from operations attributable to common stockholders ("FFO") is a non-GAAP financial measure that is widely recognized as a measure of REIT operating performance. We consider FFO to be an appropriate supplemental measure of our operating performance as it is based on a net income analysis of property portfolio performance that excludes non-cash items such as depreciation. The historical accounting convention used for real estate assets requires straight-line depreciation of buildings and improvements, which implies that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values historically rise and fall with market conditions, presentations of operating results for a REIT, using historical accounting for depreciation, could be less informative. We define FFO, consistent with the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or ("NAREIT's") definition, as net income, computed in accordance with GAAP, excluding gains (or losses) from sales of property, plus depreciation and amortization of real estate assets, plus impairment write-downs of depreciable real estate, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures will be calculated to reflect FFO on the same basis.

In addition to FFO, we use adjusted funds from operations attributable to common stockholders ("AFFO"). AFFO is a computation made by analysts and investors to measure a real estate company's operating performance by removing the effect of items that do not reflect ongoing property operations. To calculate AFFO, we further adjust FFO by adding back certain items that are not added to net income in NAREIT's definition of FFO, such as acquisition expenses, equity based compensation expenses, and any other non-recurring or non-cash expenses, which are costs that do not relate to the operating performance of our properties, and subtracting recurring capital expenditures (and when calculating the quarterly incentive fee payable to our Manager only, we further adjust FFO to include any realized gains or losses on our real estate investments).

Our calculation of AFFO differs from the methodology used for calculating AFFO by certain other REITs and, accordingly, our AFFO may not be comparable to AFFO reported by other REITs. Our management utilizes FFO and AFFO as measures of our operating performance after adjustment for certain non-cash items, such as depreciation and amortization expenses, and acquisition expenses and pursuit costs that are required by GAAP to be expensed but may not necessarily be indicative of current operating performance and that may not accurately compare our operating performance between periods. Furthermore, although FFO, AFFO and other supplemental performance measures are defined in various ways throughout the REIT industry, we also believe that FFO and AFFO may provide us and our stockholders with an additional useful measure to compare our financial performance to certain other REITs. We also use AFFO for purposes of determining the quarterly incentive fee, if any, payable to our Manager.

Neither FFO nor AFFO is equivalent to net income, including net income attributable to common stockholders, or cash generated from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP. Furthermore, FFO and AFFO do not represent amounts available for management's discretionary use because of needed capital replacement or expansion, debt service obligations or other commitments or uncertainties. Neither FFO nor AFFO should be considered as an alternative to net income, including net income attributable to common stockholders, as an indicator of our operating performance or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity.

We have acquired interests in seven additional properties and four investments accounted for on the equity method of accounting and sold two properties subsequent to June 30, 2015. The results presented in the table below are not directly comparable and should not be considered an indication of our future operating performance.

Earnings Before Interest, Income Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization ("EBITDA")

EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, calculated on a consolidated basis. We consider EBITDA to be an appropriate supplemental measure of our performance because it eliminates depreciation, income taxes, interest and non-recurring items, which permits investors to view income from operations unclouded by non-cash items such as depreciation, amortization, the cost of debt or non-recurring items. Below is a reconciliation of net (loss) income attributable to common stockholders to EBITDA (unaudited and dollars in thousands). 

Recurring Capital Expenditures

We define recurring capital expenditures as expenditures that are incurred at every property and exclude development, investment, revenue enhancing and non-recurring capital expenditures.

Non-Recurring Capital Expenditures

We define non-recurring capital expenditures as expenditures for significant projects that upgrade units or common areas and projects that are revenue enhancing.

Same Store Properties

Same store properties are conventional multifamily residential apartments which were owned and operational for the entire periods presented, including each comparative period.

Property Net Operating Income ("Property NOI")

We believe that net operating income, or NOI, is a useful measure of our operating performance. We define NOI as total property revenues less total property operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization and interest. Other REITs may use different methodologies for calculating NOI, and accordingly, our NOI may not be comparable to other REITs. We believe that this measure provides an operating perspective not immediately apparent from GAAP operating income or net income. We use NOI to evaluate our performance on a same store and non-same store basis because NOI measures the core operations of property performance by excluding corporate level expenses and other items not related to property operating performance and captures trends in rental housing and property operating expenses. However, NOI should only be used as an alternative measure of our financial performance.

The following table reflects same store and non-same store contributions to consolidated NOI together with a reconciliation of NOI to net (loss) income attributable to common stockholders as computed in accordance with GAAP for the periods presented (unaudited and amounts in thousands):

Conference Call

All interested parties can listen to the live conference call webcast at 11:00 AM ET on Monday, August 8, 2016 by dialing +1 (866) 843-0890 within the U.S., or +1 (412) 317-6597, and requesting the "Bluerock Residential Conference." For those who are not available to listen to the live call, the webcast will be available for replay on the Company's website two hours after the call concludes, and will remain available until October 8, 2016 at http://services.choruscall.com/links/blue160808, as well as by dialing +1 (877) 344-7529 in the U.S., or +1 (412) 317-0088 internationally, and requesting conference number 10090743.

About Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc.

Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. (NYSE MKT: BRG) is a real estate investment trust that focuses on acquiring a diversified portfolio of Class A institutional-quality apartment properties in demographically attractive growth markets to appeal to the renter by choice. The Company's objective is to generate value through off-market/relationship-based transactions and, at the asset level, through improvements to operations and properties.  BRG generally invests with strategic regional partners, including some of the best-regarded private owner-operators in the United States, making it possible to operate as a local sharpshooter in each of its markets while enhancing off-market sourcing capabilities. The Company is included in the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes.  BRG has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. 

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.bluerockresidential.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's present expectations, but these statements are not guaranteed to occur. Furthermore, the Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, of new information, data or methods, future events or other changes. Investors should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. For further discussion of the factors that could affect outcomes, please refer to the risk factors set forth in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on February 24, 2016, and subsequent filings by the Company with the SEC. We claim the safe harbor protection for forward looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

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SOURCE Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc.