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Text: I am so pleased to be able to open our comments by saying we have successfully eliminated several ongoing operator challenges, executed on $46 million in new investments and have an active and healthy pipeline.
At the same time, the industry is recuperating from the incredible strain created by the pandemic.
I have said before that our industry handled the unimaginable with grace and poise and is proving that seniors housing is a safe and necessary component of our national network of healthcare in the United States.
While there are still some challenges to overcome, I continue to believe that the industry's strength and perseverance will help us navigate the new normal.
In LTC's portfolio, occupancy gains are continuing, vaccination rates among patients and residents remain high, and the potential of the vaccine mandates among staff holds the promise of continuing to reduce the impact of COVID in our buildings.
It seems the recovery has begun and should continue into the new year.
Before I get into our LTC-specific discussion, I'd like to spend a moment discussing industry staffing.
The problem is very real, but our operators are working constantly and creatively to find viable solutions.
I have not spoken to an operator yet that has not had trouble finding and retaining qualified employees.
Operators are turning away residents and patients due to the labor shortage and the resulting staffing challenges.
We have heard from several operators that if not for the current labor constraints, they could increase occupancy.
So they are increasing wages and providing sign up and retention bonuses to help meet this demand.
Additionally, in-person school is now open, freeing parents to be able to reenter the workforce.
And COVID-19 related add-ons to unemployment insurance have expired, requiring a return to work for some to make up for that income shortfall.
However, the Child Tax Credit that most families are receiving and is proposed to be part of the Build Back Better legislation will likely continue to provide public support sufficient enough to keep some people from returning to work.
On the plus side, it has been reported recently that Texas, where we own 34 properties, passed a bill to support long-term care in the state.
The bill proposes $200 million in grants for skilled nursing and $178.3 million in grants for assisted living communities and other care-based providers to help fund staffing recruitment and retention.
We would love to see other states follow this example.
Government support for our industry is continuing.
There is about $17 billion available for distribution to healthcare providers through Phase four of the Provider Relief Fund and another $8.5 billion available for distribution to rural providers through the American Rescue Plan.
The portal for requesting aid closed a few days ago on the October 26 deadline.
So we anticipate receipt of funds by operators later this year at the earliest.
In a recent interview with Provider Magazine, Mark Parkinson, who has been a past guest on our earnings calls said, and I quote, "the Delta variant has caused a pause in the financial recovery of the sector".
Combined with increasing staff costs that we are already experiencing, we are going to need continued help from both the federal and state governments.
He believes that there is a bipartisan support stemming from the efforts made by providers throughout the pandemic, but that passing legislation in a divided Congress will make real change difficult, highlighting the need for actions that don't require congressional approval.
However, short of a new highly contagious variant or COVID surge, I truly believe that our industry is on more solid footing today than it has been since the pandemic began.
And I remain hopeful that some of the remaining pressures will continue to abate over the coming months.
Now moving to our third quarter.
Rent and mortgage interest income collections, excluding Senior Care and Senior Lifestyle were 94%.
We have received no new substantial requests for rent deferrals and abatements.
With occupancy increasing and pent up demand for needs-based care, we don't expect to see a big change in rent deferrals and abatements in the fourth quarter.
For the last several quarters the requests we've received have been from the same small subset of operators, and that has not changed.
We do expect to continue providing some amount of relief until the occupancy gains become more permanent.
The Senior Lifestyle portfolio transition is complete with the exception of one building in New Jersey that is awaiting licensure, which we are expecting at any time.
We have fully transitioned the senior care portfolio as well.
With these challenges successfully addressed, we are excited to be working with new operators and solidifying relationships with current operators who have the resources and desire to stabilize operations and further grow occupancy.
As I mentioned earlier, we recently completed 46 million in investments and have built a healthy pipeline.
We remain focused on shorter-term cash flow strategic deals that have what we believe to be reduced risk profiles and look forward to announcing additional investments over the next several months.
We have ample access to liquidity to act on these opportunities to provide accretive returns for LTC and our shareholders.
We maintained our $0.19 per share monthly dividend by paying out $22.4 million in common dividends during the quarter to our shareholders.
The payout ratio on our dividend, excluding nonrecurring items was approximately 100% for the third quarter.
If we used pro forma performance, including recently completed investments, the third quarter FAD payout ratio excluding nonrecurring items would be approximately 96%.
Although this remains well above our preferred payout ratio of approximately 80% of FAD, we expect our 2022 FAD to improve with the additional revenue from the releasing of the Senior Care and Senior Lifestyle portfolios, which will help bring the payout ratio more in line with historical levels.
With respect to guidance, for the fourth quarter we expect FFO to increase approximately $0.02 to $0.03 per share, excluding nonrecurring items from third quarter results.
Please note, this guidance does not include the recovery of any deferred rent or additional investments.
Now I'll turn things over to PAM.
Total revenue decreased $701,000 compared with the third quarter of last year, resulting principally from unpaid rent from senior care and senior life, abated and deferred rent and the sale of a property in Washington.
The decrease was partially offset by the write-off of straight-line rent receivable balances in the prior-year quarter, rent received from releasing 18 properties in the Senior Lifestyle portfolio, completed development projects and increase in property tax revenue, annual rent escalation, capital improvement funding and higher payments from Anthem.
Interest income was comparable year-over-year.
Interest expense decreased 751,000, mostly due to scheduled principal pay-downs on our senior unsecured notes and lower interest rates on our line of credit, partially offset by a higher outstanding balance on our line of credit.
Transaction cost increased four million, related mostly to our settlement with senior care and related fees.
During the 2021 third quarter, we recognized a gain on sale of real estate of $2.7 million related to the sale of a skilled nursing center in Washington.
In last year's third quarter, we recorded a $900,000 impairment charge related to a closed assisted living property in Florida, which was sold in the first quarter of 2021 and received 373,000 in insurance proceeds for damage related to a property sold in the first quarter of 2020.
Net income available to common shareholders decreased by $1.2 million, primarily due to the previously discussed revenue decline and settlement and related fees for senior care.
The decrease was partially offset by a prior-year impairment charge and a current-year gain on sale.
NAREIT FFO per diluted share was $0.45 this quarter compared with $0.58 in last year's third quarter.
Excluding non-recurring items, FFO per share was $0.55 this quarter compared with $0.71 in the third quarter of 2020.
The decrease excluding nonrecurring items with due to receiving 0 rent from Senior Care and Senior Lifestyle, abated and deferred rent and higher G&A expense.
These decreases were partially offset by higher revenues resulting from releasing 18 properties in the Senior Lifestyle portfolio, completed development projects, mezzanine loan funding and lower interest expense.
During the 2021 third quarter, we funded a $4.4 million mezzanine loan and a $1.8 million mortgage loan.
Additionally, we funded $2.8 million in capital improvement projects on properties we own.
Subsequent to the end of the quarter we funded two mortgage loans for a total of $39.5 million.
Clint will discuss our investment activities in a moment.
During the third quarter we borrowed $68.5 million under our unsecured revolving line of credit and paid $25.2 million in scheduled principal pay-downs on our senior unsecured notes.
Currently we have $5.9 million of cash on hand, $465.6 million available on our line of credit with $134.4 million outstanding and $200 million available under our ATM.
This leaves us with ample liquidity of $671.5 million.
We have no significant long-term debt maturities over the next five years.
At the end of the 2021 third quarter our credit metrics remain strong with a debt-to-annualize-adjusted EBITDA for real estate of 5.8 times, and annualized adjusted fixed charge coverage ratio of 4.3 times.
And a debt-to-enterprise value of 35.3%.
Pro forma for recently completed investments.
Annualized adjusted EBITDA for real estate was 5.7 times.
The annualized adjusted fixed charge coverage ratio was 4.3 times, and debt-to-enterprise value was 32.9%.
I'll finish my discussion with rent deferrals and abatements.
As Wendy mentioned, excluding Senior Care and Senior Lifestyle, we collected 94% of third quarter rent and mortgage interest income.
During the quarter we provided $1.3 million in rent deferrals and $970,000 in rent abatements.
As Wendy noted, these deferrals and abatements relate to the same small subset of operators that have been receiving ongoing relief from us.
As a reminder, Senior Lifestyle did not pay us rent in 2021.
With the exception of the one property Wendy discussed, the portfolio is transitioned and we are receiving contractual rent from the operators who now lease these properties.
Although Senior Care did not have rent in the third quarter, we do expect to receive rent from HMG as performance improves.
Clint will provide more detail.
In October, we provided rent deferrals totaling $438,000 and rent abatements totaling $240,000.
We have agreed to provide rent deferrals of up to $441,000 and abatements of up to $240,000 for each of November and December 2021.
I'll start today by putting a bell on our Senior Lifestyle and Senior Care portfolios.
As Wendy discussed, these portfolios have been fully transitioned but for the licensure of one property currently operated by Senior Lifestyle in New Jersey.
By and large, the properties in this portfolio have generated occupancy gains under new management.
In total, we have transitioned 18 of the Senior Lifestyle buildings with the 19th expected shortly.
For these 19 buildings, occupancy for the month of December 2020 was 71%, increasing to 75% for the month of September 2021.
I'd like to provide some additional color on the six properties in the portfolio with market-based rents.
At June 30, EBITDAR, excluding stimulus, on a trailing 12-month basis for these six properties was $870,000.
On a trailing three-month annualized basis, EBITDAR excluding stimulus was $150,000.
Occupancy for the month of December 2020 for these six buildings was 60%, growing to 65% for the month of September 2021.
With respect to the 11 properties in Senior Care portfolio, in late August we reached a settlement with Senior Care and Aubrey Health Services under which LTC made a one-time payment of $3.25 million in exchange for cooperation and assistance in facilitating an orderly transition of the portfolio.
As of October 1, the entire 11 property portfolio was leased to an affiliate of HMG Healthcare under a one-year master lease with rent based on cash flows.
When HMG commenced operation of the portfolio, it agreed to assume Senior Care's Medicare provider agreements and took on a known liability for stimulus funds received by Senior Care under the Medicare COVID-19 Accelerated And Advanced Payment Program.
This assumed liability is capped at $3.7 million.
HMG is responsible for the repayment of this liability, which it will fund from cash flow.
LTC expects to collect rent sometime in 2022 as performance improves and the liability has been repaid.
It is our intention to add the 11 properties to a master lease currently existing between LTC and HMG after establishing a stabilized rent rate during the first lease year.
We also agreed to provide HMG a $25 million secured working capital loan maturing on September 30, 2022.
Our strong balance sheet allowed us to provide this loan on an expedited basis to mitigate the timing risk of HMG using a third party lender.
This portfolio is based in Texas.
And as Wendy mentioned earlier, the state recently announced an additional $200 million in support for SNFs.
Next I'll provide an update on our most recent development projects that are now operational.
Weatherly Court in Oregon, which is operated by Fields Senior Living saw occupancy rise to 45% at September 30, up from 36% at June 30.
While Ignite Medical Resort in Blue Springs, Missouri grew occupancy to 90% at September 30, up from 83% at June 30.
Now we'll discuss our portfolio numbers with the caveat that we don't believe coverage is currently a good indicator of future performance at this time given the pandemic and the challenging environment it creates.
Before I detail our coverage numbers please note that Senior Care and Senior Lifestyle no longer qualify for our same-store portfolio, given the transitions.
So they are excluded from these numbers.
Q2 trailing 12 month EBITDARM and EBITDAR coverage as reported using a 5% management fee was 1.06 times and 0.86 times respectively for our assisted living portfolio.
Excluding stimulus funds received by operators, coverage was 0.87 times and 0.68 times respectively.
For our skilled nursing portfolio, as-reported EBITDARM and EBITDAR coverage was 2.08 times and 1.61 times respectively.
Excluding stimulus funds, coverage is 1.44 times and 0.99 times respectively.
Now for some occupancy trends which are as of September 30 and are for our same-store portfolio.
As our partners have given the data to us on a voluntary and expedited basis, the information we are providing includes approximately 98% of our total same-store, private-pay units, and approximately 90% of our same-store skilled nursing beds.
Private-pay occupancy was 77% at September 30, 75% at June 30, and 73% at March 31.
For our skilled portfolio, average monthly occupancy was 71% in September, 70% in June, and 69% in March.
As Wendy mentioned, we recently closed approximately $46 million in investments.
The first investment was a $27 million mortgage loan for the purchase of a skilled nursing center in Louisiana by a regional operator new to LTC.
The term is three years with one 12-month extension option.
The second investment was a $12.5 million mortgage loan for the purchase of an assisted living and memory care community in Florida, to be operated by a regional operator new to LTC.
The loan term is for approximately four years and includes an additional $4.2 million loan commitment to be funded at a later date subject to satisfaction of various conditions for the construction of a memory care addition to the property.
The third investment was a $1.8 million loan secured by a parcel land in Missouri for the future development of a post-acute skilled nursing center.
The loan term is for one year.
We are currently negotiating a potential real estate joint venture with Ignite for the development of this center.
The final investment was a $4.4 million mezzanine loan for the refinancing of a independent living community in Oregon operated by a regional operator new to LTC.
The loan term is for three years with two 12-month extension options.
In total, the combined weighted average term of the loans is 3.2 years and the investments are expected to generate an annual interest income of approximately $3.5 million.
Our pipeline remains healthy.
It's a nice mix of opportunities, including for private pay and skilled nursing, and with regional operating partners, both new to LTC and existing.
In total, our near-term pipeline is valued at more than 100 million.
Although sales cycles remain elongated and pricing for some properties does not accurately reflect what we believe is their true value, we remain optimistic in our ability to complete additional accretive investments.
We are keeping our focus for now on structured finance deals.
As Wendy and Pam commented, we have sufficient liquidity and flexibility to provide strong regional operators with creative financing solutions.
We continually strive to provide options to operators who are looking for long-term relationships with the ability to grow.
This has been a hallmark of only investment strategy and one that we plan to continue.
Now I'll turn things back to Wendy for some closing remarks.
And while I cannot predict exactly when we'll return to prepandemic levels of operations, we are seeing continuing signs that give us hope.
Occupancy is increasing, demand for needs-based care is growing, and we're once again making strategic investments.
It has not been easy getting to this point, but I couldn't be more proud of our industry, operators and employees for the grit they have shown since the start of the pandemic.
As our confidence continues to grow, we look forward to providing operators with the financing solutions they require to serve the nation's most vulnerable population.
We are well-positioned to take advantage of favorable industry demographics.
And we'll focus on engaging with more and more regional operators to further strengthen our portfolio for the long term.
We may be relatively small, but we are stable and secure.
We've built a balance sheet capable of seeing us through what has been a difficult period.
And now with a recovery in process, we plan to use our resources to return to growth in 2022.
Operator, we're ready to open the call to questions.

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qtrly nareit diluted ffo per common share $0.45.

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