Simon Property Group Q1 2022 Earnings Report

Simon Property Group EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.30
• Consensus EPS: $2.74
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$1.44
• One Year Ago EPS: $2.48

Simon Property Group Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.30 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.24 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$55.44 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +4.50%

Simon Property Group Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2022
• Date: 5/9/2022
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Monday, May 9, 2022
• Conference Call Time: 5:36AM ET

Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) (NYSE: SPG) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, develops and manages retail real estate properties. Its core business activities include acquisition, development, leasing and property management of regional malls, outlet centers and mixed‑use retail destinations. The company operates retail brands that include high‑profile regional shopping centers and the Premium Outlets platform, and it provides services such as tenant leasing, marketing, property operations and capital projects to optimize asset performance.

Simon’s portfolio spans a broad mix of enclosed malls, open‑air centers, outlet properties and mixed‑use developments, and the company pursues redevelopment and repositioning to adapt properties to changing consumer and retail trends. The company has built its business through a combination of development, strategic acquisitions and joint ventures, and it operates properties across North America with a presence in international markets through outlet and partner arrangements. Its assets serve a wide range of national, regional and local retailers as well as entertainment and dining concepts aimed at driving foot traffic and shopper engagement.

Corporate strategy emphasizes active asset management, redevelopment of underperforming properties, and growth of outlet and mixed‑use formats that reflect evolving consumer preferences. The company is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Simon, and it works with institutional partners and capital markets to finance development and acquisitions. Simon Property Group’s operations center on maintaining high occupancy, enhancing the shopper experience and generating long‑term value through property-level improvements and portfolio optimization.

Simon Property Group Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Funds from operations of $1.046 billion ($2.78/share) and free cash flow of $1 billion, up 10% year-over-year, drove strong liquidity.
• Domestic property NOI rose 7.5% and portfolio NOI grew 8%, with occupancy at 93.3% (+250bps year-over-year) and record low tenant terminations, as over 900 leases (3 million sq ft) were signed.
• Retail sales increased 19% year-over-year, setting records of $7.34 combined sales per sq ft ($669 at outlets) and $10.38 at TRG, while occupancy costs hit a 7-year low.
• Enhanced capital structure with $1.2 billion of 10-year notes at 2.65%, $1.1 billion of mortgage refinancings at 2.92%, $8 billion of liquidity, a 21% dividend increase to $1.70/share, and a $2 billion buyback authorization.
• Raised full-year 2022 comparable FFO guidance to $11.60–$11.75 per share, up 8% at the midpoint, despite headwinds from a strong U.S. dollar and rising interest rates.

Presentation

[Operator]

Greetings, and welcome to Simon Property Group First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Tom Ward, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

[Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Simon Property Group]

Thank you, Peter, and thank you all for joining us this evening. Presenting on today's call is David Simon, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President. Also on the call are Brian McDade, Chief Financial Officer, and Adam Reuille, Chief Accounting Officer. A quick reminder that statements made during this call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of a safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and actual results may differ materially due to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors. We refer you to today's press release and our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of the risk factors relating to those forward-looking statements. Please note that this call includes information that may be accurate only as of today's date.

[Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Simon Property Group]

Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included within the press release and the supplemental information in today's Form 8-K, filing. Both the press release and the supplemental information are available on our IR website at investors.simon.com. Our conference call this evening will be limited to one hour. For those who would like to participate in the question-and-answer session, we ask that you please respect the request to limit yourself to one question. I'm pleased to introduce David Simon.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I'm pleased to report our first quarter results. First quarter funds from operations were $1.046 billion or $2.78 per share prior to a non-cash unrealized loss of $0.08 from a mark-to-market in fair value of publicly held securities. Our domestic operations had an excellent quarter. Our international operations posted strong results in the quarter despite being negatively impacted from the surging US dollar. We are also very pleased with the results from our other platform investments. We generated $1 billion in free cash flow in the quarter, an increase of 10% compared to the prior year period. Domestic property NOI increased 7.5% year-over-year for the quarter, and our international properties, as I mentioned, performed well, driving portfolio NOI growth to 8.8%.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Occupancy at the end of the first quarter was 93.3%, an increase of 250 basis points compared to the prior year, and a decrease of only 10 basis points compared to our seasonally high fourth quarter year-end of 2021. The number of tenant terminations in the first quarter was the lowest recorded in the last five years, and our TRG portfolio occupancy was 93.2% at quarter end. Average base minimum rent increased compared to the fourth quarter and was $54.14. Leasing momentum continued across the portfolio. We signed more than 900 leases for more than 3 million sq ft in the quarter and have a significant number of leases in our pipeline. In fact, at our recent leasing deal committee, we approved the most deals since 2016.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Overall, we recently have approved approximately 500 new deals representing 2 million sq ft. Demand is very strong. Interesting, with the volatility of the world, our portfolio in the US is in great demand from worldwide brands, restaurants, and entertainment operators, as most retailers and tenants view the US as the place to be. Sales momentum continued for our retailers. Mall sales volume for the first quarter were up 19% year-over-year. We reported retail sales per sq ft reached another record in the first quarter at $734 per sq ft for the mall and outlet combined, a 43% increase, and $669 per sq ft for the mills, which was a 50% increase. TRG reported $1,038 per sq ft, which was a 52% year-over-year increase.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Our occupancy cost is the lowest that we've had in seven years. We are pleased with the results of our other platform investments in the first quarter, including SPARC Group and JCPenney. JCPenney's liquidity position is strong at $1.3 billion, and it has no borrowings on its line of credit and performed better than planned. I can say the same for SPARC, which also performed better than planned in the quarter. SPARC also completed the US Reebok transaction, and we anticipate great things from this iconic brand. Remember, we expect Reebok to incur operating losses for SPARC in 2022 due to the integration aspects of the transaction. SPARC financial position, like Penny, is strong with the recent refinancing of its ABL, and it is in fact in a net cash positive position.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

During the quarter, however, our investments in Soho House and Life Time Group Holdings, which both became public companies at the end of last year, were impacted by overall market volatility, driving an $0.08 unrealized non-cash mark-to-market. These are high quality businesses that fit with our flywheel of unique companies, and we believe these investments will generate value above our bases as they fully reopen and reengage with their customers. On the balance sheet front, we completed very timely a dual tranche U.S. senior notes offering that totaled $1.2 billion, including a 10-year fixed rate offering at 2.65%. Early in the year, we used the net proceeds to pay off amounts outstanding on our credit facility.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

We also refinanced sevenmortgages for a total of $1.1 billion at an average interest rate of 2.92%, and our liquidity stands at $8 billion. Today, we announced our dividend of $1.70 per share for the second quarter, a 21% year-over-year increase. The dividend will be payable on June 30, 2022. Including our dividends declared today, we paid more than $37 billion in dividends over our years as a public company, $37 billion. We also announced today that our board of directors has authorized a new common stock repurchase program for up to $2 billion that will become effective on May 16, 2022.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

When we look at the valuation of our stock today at an FFO multiple of approximately 10x relative to the historical valuations closer to 15x, and an implied cap rate of around 7% for our real estate assets, we see substantial value in our stock, particularly given our belief and conviction in our future growth opportunities. Our balance sheet is strong, continues to be a significant advantage for us, while our cash flow generation provides us with the flexibility to adapt as conditions warrant and as we have proved countless times. We will be thoughtful and opportunistic on the buyback. Keep in mind, this is in addition to the more than 20% increase in our dividend we announced today.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Now, given our outlook for the remainder of the year, we are increasing our full year 2022 comparable FFO guidance from $11.50-$11.70 per share to $11.60-$11.75 per share, which compares to our comparable number of $11.44 last year. This is an increase of 10 cents at the bottom end of the range and five cents at the top, or an 8% increase at the midpoint. This does not include the previously mentioned unrealized loss or gain that may occur the rest of the year on our fair value of investments that I mentioned. Please keep in mind that this guidance increase comes in the face of a strong US dollar and rising interest rates.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Now, just to conclude, I'm pleased with our first quarter results. Tenant demand is excellent, and our real estate is a great hedge in inflationary times. Hopefully, our operating results and our announced stock buyback authorization today reinforces that we are primarily focused internally and growing our existing platforms organically. I think that will conclude my comments. Ready for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handsets before pressing the star keys. As a reminder, we request you to limit to one question and one follow-up. One moment please while we poll for questions. Our first question is from Caitlin Burrows with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

[Caitlin Burrows, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Hi, everyone. Good evening. Maybe just on the guidance, I know you don't like to give too many of the pieces, but given the current volatility in the market and macro uncertainties which may or may not be impacting Simon, guidance was increased slightly at the midpoint. I was wondering if you could give some detail on some of the puts and takes, what's performing ahead of your initial expectations versus what might be offsetting some of that, upside surprise, maybe occupancy, leasing, retailer sales, interest rates, whatever you think is most relevant.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure. I mean, you're right. The reason, Caitlin, we don't go through the detail is, you know, we are a big company. You know, there's a lot going on, and we think it's better for the market just to focus on in our totality of our results. What's better is very simple. Our retail operations, which is, you know, our other retail properties, is trending to be better than our plan. That's number one. Most importantly, our property NOI growth is projecting to be better than planned. The only negatives that, you know, are offsetting that are we have some exposure to floating rate debt. We're probably at the very, very low end of other real estate companies, but we do have some. We don't have any commercial paper outstanding.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

We don't have any outstanding on our line except for $125 million, which is primarily for tax purposes. Obviously the strong dollar when we bring back our foreign earnings, we have to do it at a lower dollar. That has a more meaningful impact than the rising interest rate environment. So far, demand is really good. You know, we don't pound the table here too much. We do, you know, sometimes we get carried away. You know, demand is great. Our leasing folks are very excited. Our property NOI is, you know, better than what we anticipated.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Obviously, because of the COVID, a lot of restructurings on the leases and because of our high-end tenant concentration and the amount of sales that they've had, I mean, there's volatility in that. I cannot pinpoint exactly where our sales will come out on that. You know, that will have some impact on ultimately our results, but we try to give you a range here that we feel very comfortable that we can produce.

[Caitlin Burrows, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Got it. Thanks for that. I think the suggestion or guide is one question, so I'll stop there.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

You're very kind to follow the rules. Okay. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Rich Hill with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Hey, good evening. I'll try to follow Caitlin's lead and follow the rules as well. Hey, David, income from unconsolidated entities was a pretty healthy number this quarter. In the past one Qs, it's been slightly negative. We modeled it negative in the quarter to be conservative. I'm just maybe wondering if you can walk us through what your expectations were for income consolidated entities versus how it actually played out.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure. I'll turn that over to Brian to walk you through. He actually put together-

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Yeah

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

You know, a piece of paper there for you guys in the 8-K, to walk you through that because I know, it's not confusing to us, but it might be to you. Hopefully this will help. Brian, take it over.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Hey, hey, Rich. Brian here. We did add some additional disclosure to our supplement to break down our income from unconsolidated entities. As you can see, the driver of the change is our joint venture activity on our property side, including the performance of our international portfolio, which David highlighted in the opening remarks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Remember, international last year really was suffering from more of a lockdown than the U.S. portfolio.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Yeah.

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Got it. Now am I allowed to ask a follow-up question to follow the rules?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure. You know, since you did it so politely, yes, and you're a gentleman, we're happy to hopefully go ahead. Go for it.

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Yeah. Brian, I'm sorry in advance for the dumb question, but the -$18.5 million you reported for TRG, including amortization of excess investment, what is sort of that as a clean number? Happy to take it offline, but I'm actually just trying to back out, you know, how well TRG did this quarter compared to prior quarters given the action of the number.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

The $18 million was primarily-

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

From the excess investment of our for the Taubman purchase. This is net income, remember, Rich-

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Yep.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Richard.

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Yep.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

When you capture things, obviously, you put it to market value, and then we amortize that investment over its life. It has nothing to do with cash flow.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Yeah.

[Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley]

Okay. We can catch up later on it, Brian. Thank you.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Sure. No problem.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Derek Johnston with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

[Derek Johnston, Lead Analyst NA REITs at Deutsche Bank]

Hey, everyone. Thank you. Just, I guess I get one on the retailer NOI contribution, or I think it's the NOI from other platform investments. It was $26 million this quarter in Q1. But when I look at it versus last year, the contribution was, I think around $3.5 million. Just wondering if you could walk us through the drivers and maybe the delta between this quarter and last year.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Derek, the change is simply better performance out of our retailer investments in the first quarter of this year relative to last year. There was still a lot of volatility still in the world, and there were definitely still closures throughout the U.S., specifically California, in the first quarter of last year. The driver is just simply better performance out of the retailer investments.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

It's good news, by the way, just so you, I just don't want you to be confused. It's always good to have better performance.

[Derek Johnston, Lead Analyst NA REITs at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you, Brian.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Okay, thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Okay. All right. You know, I just wanna put it in perspective. It's good to have better performance. Next question.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Samir Khanal with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

[Samir Khanal, Stock Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Good evening, everybody. David, clearly, the leasing environment is very strong. You talked about the 3 million sq ft. I was wondering if you could maybe provide color on sort of the pricing trends that you're seeing in the portfolio, whether it's the outlets or the malls or the mills. Thanks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah, I would say, you know, generically that, look, you know, and I say this, and it sounds hokey, but you have to create the win-win. We are in a better position today to negotiate what we think is a fair deal for us than we were the last couple years. We are absolutely seeing the ability to get what we think is, you know, fair market value. The good news is, given the occupancy cost, you know, our retailers are, you know, we're getting deals done. We're finding that happy win-win.

[Samir Khanal, Stock Analyst at Evercore ISI]

Thanks, David.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Greg McGinniss with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

[Greg McGinniss, Director at Scotiabank]

Hey, good evening. David, there was, you know, a fairly substantial increase in month-to-month leases, increasing from 1.9% to 5.4%. Just curious, you know, what the primary drivers there were, and what the opportunity is for leasing those potentially to maybe longer term leases.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, I think what you're seeing is the fact that we have some big account leasing that, you know, we are not rushing to do, but doing it in a thoughtful manner because, you know, these are really good properties and really important for the retailer, and we're taking our time to get that done, and that's really what you're seeing. Whereas, you know, last year or the year before, you might have seen a rush to get those signed up and in the door, we're taking a more strategic approach to create the kind of the win-win that I talked about, you know, I mentioned earlier. It's really part of our strategy.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

That, you know, my anticipation, without question, that number will be way down for Q2.

[Greg McGinniss, Director at Scotiabank]

Okay, this is just a during negotiation phase increase, but no kind of expectation for loss of those tenants and more so all shifting to long-term leases.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Absolutely not. That was more of a decision on our side to, you know, get the right kind of deal that we have with some of our larger national accounts. No issue there.

[Greg McGinniss, Director at Scotiabank]

Okay, thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Haendel St. Juste with Mizuho. Please go ahead.

[Haendel St. Juste, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Mizuho Securities]

Hey, good evening. Dave, I wanted to ask you about, I guess, capital allocation, given where the stock price is now. You pointed out the valuation discount, as you consider the debt markets, I guess, would you buy back stock now? In the same answer, how are you thinking about acquisitions? There is rumored to be a very large seller out there of some pretty good malls. So just curious under any scenario, would you be a buyer of some? Thanks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure. Well, as I said to you earlier, I mean, we got the authorization because we wanna buy our stock back, 'cause we think it's undervalued. You know, because of the technicalities, we really can't get into the market until the sixteenth. You know, this is not window dressing. I expect us to be in the market. And all I can say to you know, and I really don't like to comment on, you know, like the stuff that's out there on M&A. I would throw caution note to all that I would suggest that please don't believe any rumors or media reports concerning our M&A activity, okay? We're, you know, we are very focused on what I said.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

If you weren't able to listen to my prepared remarks, you'll see kinda what I said on that front. We're really focused internally and obviously, you know, given where the stock has performed over the last, you know, couple of months, I mean, we think it's an opportunity to, you know, to be opportunistic in terms of buying our stock back. That's kinda how I look at things. Don't believe what you read or any rumors out there. We're really focused on growing our existing platforms and taking advantage of the opportunities that our lower stock price represents.

[Haendel St. Juste, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Mizuho Securities]

Great. Thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Conor Mitchell with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

[Conover Michelle, VP and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Can you please tell us what % of tenants are now on % rent deals and how those tenants are performing in the current environment? They're different at all?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I don't. I mean, every one of our retailers generally has a percent rent clause. Not every single one of them. I mean, some of our big boxes and our department stores do not. All of our small shop retailers usually have some kind of percent rent aspect to the lease. You know, that's a high percent. That's number one. Number two, you know, look, so far, we're in an uncertain environment, you know, as a global economy. What I would say to you just in general terms, so far from the better, you know, the higher income folks, we have not seen any kind of slowdown.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

There may be a little bit of slowdown on the lower income consumer, obviously. Unfortunately, the inflation is a huge issue, and we need to do everything we can to you know to figure out as you know as a world and in the country to figure out how to you know how to deal with the you know the impact on inflation for the lower income consumer. So far, we're not seeing it in our portfolio.

[Conover Michelle, VP and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Great. Thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Michael Bilerman with Citi. Please go ahead.

[Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi]

Great. Thank you. David, you talked a little bit about spending a lot of time internally, obviously leasing the portfolio. I was wondering if you can update us a little bit, sort of on the external front in terms of retailer investments or technology investments. I know you still have the SPAC out there, which obviously that market's gotten a little choppier. Just how much time and what sort of opportunities are coming out of this macro environment for you to further, you know, moving this tanker towards a lot of those activities that you've been planting the seeds for a number of years?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I think, Michael, you know, our SPAC, we still have confidence in the SPAC. I mean, you know, we have a clock running out, but we still have confidence that, you know, there's a really good chance the SPAC will find a good opportunity. I think the opportunity set clearly has increased given the market volatility, even with existing public companies. We were smart enough to, you know, not do a deal probably at the time, you know, after we raised the SPAC that, you know, would've been at the market top. Hopefully, our investors in that obviously recognize that. Remember, this is immaterial for Simon Property Group, but I want, I wanna say that.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

On the external front, I mentioned to you earlier. Right now, we are really focused internally. Now we're investing in all of the platforms that we have in our existing portfolio. Lots of redevelopment is still on the drawing board. You know, we're, you know, SPARC is making investments in its technology. JCPenney will be making investments. Those come from those entities. You know, we don't have to fund those. They're self-sustaining. You know, JCPenney has hundreds of millions of dollars EBITDA. They're funding themselves. Right now our focus is what I mentioned to you before.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

You know, look, if we see an interesting add-on here or there or bolt-on for one of our properties, or you know, one of our investments, you know, maybe there's some capital allocation. I think right now it's capital allocation I see is either to the shareholders or, you know, to grow our existing book of business.

[Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi]

Yeah. David, just as a follow-up, just in terms of just understanding sort of the value to Simon and the value for shareholders of all these investments you've made. The board back in, I think it was like mid-February, granted $36 million to 5 senior executives and I think a little bit more to 18 others for the successful investment in ABG. Now I recognize you have made money. You've you've exchanged stakes, you've invested more capital, but maybe just to step back, can you sort of share a little bit, at least at the Simon group level, how much these investments have made for which the board then paid the cash out to executives.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, I don't even know how to answer that, Michael. Well, I'm not gonna talk about comp on this call. If you or an investor would like to talk to our comp chairman, you know, we're happy to arrange that for one of your investors directly. I think, what you're referring to is we've made $1 billion on our ABG investment, and, you know, that was kind of we were moonlighting, in that activity, and I'll leave it at that, but thanks for your question.

[Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi]

Yeah.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Our comp committee chair is available to any institutional investors or shareholders on the rationale for what they did. We'll move on from that.

[Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi]

Okay. Yeah, we got asked what the math was behind it.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Like I said, any institutional investor, we're more than happy to set up a phone call with our chair of our comp committee. Thank you, Michael.

[Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi]

Okay. Thank you, David.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Vince Tiboni with Green Street. Please go ahead.

[Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors]

Hi, good afternoon. Domestic property NOI growth was up 7.5% in the first quarter, which implies you're expecting NOI growth to be only marginally positive for the remainder of the year based on the 2% NOI growth guidance you gave last quarter. Just given the contractual rent bumps and year-over-year occupancy gains that you should experience each quarter, what factors are negatively impacting the growth rate for the rest of the year?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, again, Vince, it's a completely appropriate question, and I thank you for that. We give guidance, NOI guidance at the beginning of the year. We are always trying to be conservative, and we always hope to outperform it. We don't update it during the year, but I have confidence, based upon what I know today, that we'll outperform our initial guidance. Obviously, we have a little more variability than maybe. Again, I don't wanna overdramatize this, but we have a little more variability than maybe we did 10 years ago, because of you know, the overage rent that we've, you know, structured.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I think we've actually structured it pretty smartly, but, you know, it does create a little more variability. That's the only thing that's out there, you know, to throw some caution to the wind. What we see now, you know, we expect to outperform, but it's, you know, we don't update it, and it is an uncertain world. You know, we're working extremely smartly and diligently to outperform our initial property NOI expectations, without a doubt.

[Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors]

If I may just kinda squeeze in a follow-up. I mean, just is it? How should we think about leasing economics here? Because, you know, you took away the disclosure on the leasing spreads a few quarters ago, which I think made sense given, you know, it was no longer really conveying a ton of useful information. But just 'cause I think what I'm trying to get at is guidance implying that releasing spreads could be negative, or like I'm just trying to figure out what the pullback here is. Is it expenses? 'Cause I get the variability portion, but to your point, it's not.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

That it really-

[Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors]

Yeah.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah, I'm sorry, Vince. I didn't mean to cut you off.

[Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors]

No, go ahead.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

It really is. It really does boil down to the sales part of the equation. We're seeing better rents than we anticipated. Look, again, I don't wanna get into this, and we tried to get everybody to do the spreads the way we did it, but no one was interested in really doing what we did. If you really read the footnotes, and I don't wanna get into it, but it's kinda comical, you know, what rent spreads are. You know, words are different, whatever. It's not really important. Point is, the way you really see it is what you know is our portfolio NOI, and that manifests itself with everything, operating expenses, sales-based rent, overage rent, et cetera, occupancy. Our rents are firming.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

If you really would do like just space to space, our spreads are basically positive. 'Cause, you know, we went through a lot of pain in the last couple of years. Again, because the overage was really, you know, quite exciting last year, we just don't know if we can be as excited this year, and that's why we're being a little cautious. We're off to a good start.

[Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors]

Thank you. That's helpful additional color.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you, Vince.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Mike Mueller with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

[Mike Mueller, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Yeah. I'm curious, has your view on the pace or the magnitude of the occupancy recovery changed meaningfully? I'm thinking about for the next few years since the beginning of the year?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I would say to you, if I understand your question, I think, you know, we are really happy at the pace of our accelerating occupancy. Clearly, based upon last year, I think we're ahead of where we thought we would be. I'm hoping to get the occupancy up to kind of where we were, you know, prior to the COVID. I think we're you know, look, I mean, demand again, until the lease is signed, until it's a piece of paper, until I get that first month rent, you know, it ain't over till it's over. You know, we feel pretty good. Like I mentioned in the call, I mean, our terminations were, you know, at the lowest level they've been in a long, long time.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Our deal committee, you know, I think we have a really good leasing group. They're energetic. They're grinding away. They're working. I mean, we've turned our leasing group kind of not over, but we've added a lot of new talent to the organization and, you know, I think we're in a pretty good spot assuming, you know, things continue to be, you know, macro continue to be reasonable. I don't think we need, you know, last year's results, but don't underestimate, and I'm rambling on here, but don't underestimate that, you know, our interest in our domestic portfolio is worldwide.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

As retailers or restaurateurs or entertainment operators, you know, they're not looking at China. South America is a tough market for them. Europe is, you know, it's got the recovery play because of the COVID lockdown, but it's relatively flat. Obviously, you got, you know, the Ukraine issue, which is more there than here. The growth for the worldwide retailers is in the U.S. We were not at the top of mind three, four years ago. That was China. It is here. It's happening domestic. That's exciting.

[Mike Mueller, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Got it. Okay. It sounds like the past couple of months really hasn't derailed that at all.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Not at all.

[Mike Mueller, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Okay. That was it.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you.

[Mike Mueller, Analyst at JPMorgan]

That was it. Thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Linda Tsai with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

[Linda Tsai, Senior Vice President at Jefferies]

Hi, good afternoon. How are you thinking about distribution channels for the various brands within your SPARC platform? What's the best way to maximize the reach and visibility of these retailer investments?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, you know, they still love physical stores. I think each brand is different. You know, look, with Aéropostale, it's the physical stores and the e-commerce. With Nautica, it's stores, but wholesale business is very important. Brooks Brothers is a combination of e-commerce, wholesale, and stores. Forever 21, 2022, the stores are really important. That's the big differentiating factor it has compared to some of its peers. On the other hand, it needs to improve its e-commerce business. It really within SPARC, there's different brands, and it really depends on the brand. Don't underestimate, and I think, you know, what we've seen since COVID. I mean, let's not forget, when we had COVID, everybody said the stores are out of business, no stores, e-commerce.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

You know, what we're seeing is generally outperformance, way outperformance in the physical world, less performance on the internet. That's not just for our brands, but across every, essentially every retailer.

[Linda Tsai, Senior Vice President at Jefferies]

How does JCPenney fit in there as a distribution channel?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, I mean, they have their stores and their e-commerce business. I think the store business is doing well. You know, I think over time, they'll improve their e-commerce.

[Linda Tsai, Senior Vice President at Jefferies]

Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Craig Smith with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

[Craig Smith, Analyst at Bank of America]

Yeah, thanks. David, what % of expiring rents in 2022 have been addressed? Are you primarily working on 2023 at the ICSC Leasing Convention?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Again, I think you missed part of the earlier call. I'd say to you by the end of Q2 will probably be in the 75% range of all of our leasing activity for 2022. I would say we are doing a combination. You know, at this point now, you're really more focused on 2023 deals, but we're doing a combination of finishing leases to get leases signed this year. Some may open, but a lot of them open in 2023. I think the primary focus at ICSC will be new business, 2023 business.

[Craig Smith, Analyst at Bank of America]

Great. Thanks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Juan Sanabria with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Juan Sanabria, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

Hi. Thanks for the time. Just wanted to talk a little bit about investment opportunities external. I know you said not to listen to what's out there in the press, but notwithstanding, do you see better opportunities or would Simon be more interested as a real estate company investing more in high quality malls? Is the idea of maybe looking at shopping center real estate kind of interesting given what we've seen in some of the changes with COVID and consumer behaviors?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well, that's the fallacy. I mean, our mall, you know, outdoor versus indoor, our mall business is doing great. I think that I would say to you, Juan, good real estate could be indoors, it could be outdoors, it could be hybrid. Don't get carried away in the physical plant of great real estate. It could be a mixed use. It could be an outdoor center. It could be a big enclosed mall like Houston Galleria. You know, I know a lot of people spin it that way, but I will tell you, good retail real estate can come in a lot of different forms. We're just...

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I can't really answer the question because there's not one project that we're pursuing right now. You know, like I said earlier, we think the opportunities, the greatest opportunities lie within Simon Property Group.

[Juan Sanabria, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

Just if I can, a quick follow-up. You mentioned you think your cap rate, your implied cap rate's around 7%. What do you think high quality malls are valued at today given the move in interest rates and just curious what your thoughts are?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Well-

[Juan Sanabria, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

On mall valuations.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I mean, I don't know. I mean, I know I wouldn't be selling our stuff at a 7% cap rate. That's all I. I can only speak for myself.

[Juan Sanabria, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets]

Fair enough. Thank you.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Michael Goldsmith with UBS. Please go ahead.

[Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS]

Good evening. Thanks a lot for taking my question.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure.

[Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS]

David, we've touched a lot on the outlook, but does the updated guidance consider any changes in expectation for the retailer investments for 2022? Then the $0.15-$0.20 of additional investment expected for the year, what's the expected cadence? Is that equally distributed through the year, or is that hitting harder in the first or second half?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Okay. The first question is not really on the retail side. We're anticipating more or less that they come in on plan. I didn't follow. Brian, did you understand the second part of the question?

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

Can you repeat it, please, Michael?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah, I Michael, sorry.

[Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS]

Yeah. Last quarter, you talked about $0.15-$0.20 of additional investment expected in a year.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Oh, okay.

[Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS]

What's the cadence, the expected cadence of that?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah, that's, thank you. Okay. That's what I thought, but I wanna make sure. Reebok closed. SPARC bought the U.S. operations of Reebok at the end of February, if I remember correctly. We think that will come out most of. It probably will come out in the Q2, Q3, but it's not really. It's kind of a work in progress of when those operating losses will take hold. They incur certain operating losses, I should say they, we. SPARC incurs certain operating losses as part of the deal, and then they're capped, and it really is just a function of when those come. But we know it's limited to kind of the number that I gave to you. But that's probably a Q2, Q3 event. Yeah.

[Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS]

Thank you very much.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

All right. Yeah.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

It's got to ramp up, Michael, so they've got to actually incur the cost for this to happen.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah.

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

It's just gonna take a little bit of time.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question is from Floris Van Dijck. Please go ahead.

[Analyst]

Thanks for taking my question. David, maybe you touched upon the fact that your occupancy cost is low. If you could just, you know, can you share that occupancy cost? And also, what was your occupancy cost prior to COVID? And how quickly will you get back to those kinds of levels in your view?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Yeah. The number right now is 12.3. What was it?

[Brian McDade, EVP and CFO at Simon Property Group]

12.1.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

No, no. Before COVID.

[Haendel St. Juste, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Mizuho Securities]

Yeah.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

No, it was higher than that. Anyway, we'll get you the number where it was, pre-COVID, but I thought it was in the kind of high 13s-14 range. We'll get you. What was it?

[Analyst]

13 change.

[Samir Khanal, Stock Analyst at Evercore ISI]

13 and change. Look, I can't tell you how long it's gonna take. A function of it is just marking leases to market. It's fortunate for us and our retailers that they're profitable in our stores, and you know, yet at the same time, you know, we can mark the rents up to market and be able to grow our business too. That's what we're trying to achieve.

[Analyst]

Great. If I could maybe have a follow-up as well. Obviously, you cited your lease occupancy. What is the gap between occupied and leased space right now? How do you see that trending over the next, you know, couple of quarters? Presumably, some of that leased space could be anchors, which could be slower to get online. Is that gap, you know, always gonna be or remain steady, or do you expect that to narrow over the next twelve months?

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

I think Tom, you know, can give you the exact numbers later, but I mean both trends are moving in the right direction. You know, Tom can get you the actual numbers, but you know, both are moving in the right direction. I think that, you know, the gap between the two in a good market like we have now will narrow.

[Analyst]

Great. Thanks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Sure. Okay. I think.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, sir.

[Conover Michelle, VP and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I would like to turn the call back to Mr. David Simon for closing remarks.

[David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President at Simon Property Group]

Okay, thank you, and I'm sure we'll see some of you in the next few weeks. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Brian McDade, EVP and CFO
• David Simon, Chairman, CEO, and President
• Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Analysts

• Caitlin Burrows, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs
• Conover Michelle, VP and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler
• Craig Smith, Analyst at Bank of America
• Derek Johnston, Lead Analyst NA REITs at Deutsche Bank
• Greg McGinniss, Director at Scotiabank
• Haendel St. Juste, Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Mizuho Securities
• Juan Sanabria, Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets
• Linda Tsai, Senior Vice President at Jefferies
• Michael Bilerman, Managing Director and Head of the Real Estate and Lodging research team at Citi
• Michael Goldsmith, US REITs Analyst at UBS
• Mike Mueller, Analyst at JPMorgan
• Rich Hill, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley
• Samir Khanal, Stock Analyst at Evercore ISI
• Vince Tiboni, Analyst at Green Street Advisors
• Analyst