Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 19, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Strong full-year 2024 results: revenues rose 17.7% to $252.3 M, while FFO increased 25.2% to $160.1 M and EBITDA margin reached 83.5%.
  • Lease activity totaled 7.7 M sq ft in 2024—3.5 M new and 4.2 M renewals—with an 8.4% rent spread and stabilized occupancy of about 95%, underpinning recurring growth.
  • Vesta achieved a historic high of 89% USD-denominated revenues, reinforcing revenue stability against currency fluctuations.
  • Closed a $545 M global sustainability-linked credit facility—$345 M in term loans and $200 M revolving—enhancing liquidity at competitive cost.
  • Maintains a disciplined development pipeline with 2.8 M sq ft under construction (capex ~$214 M) targeting a 10.9% yield on cost across key Mexican markets.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta Q4 2024
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Vesta Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow today's prepared remarks, and as a reminder, this call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host for today, Fernanda Bettinger, Vesta's Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead.

Fernanda Bettinger
Investor Relations Officer at Vesta

Good morning everyone and welcome to our review of Vesta's fourth quarter earnings results. Presenting today with me is Lorenzo D. Berho, Chief Executive Officer and Juan Sottil, our Chief Financial Officer. The earnings release detailing our fourth quarter 2024 results was released yesterday after market close and is available on Vesta's IR website along with our supplemental package.

Fernanda Bettinger
Investor Relations Officer at Vesta

It's important to note that on today's call, management remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. For more information on these risk factors, please review our public filings. Vesta assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in the future. Additionally, note that all figures included herein were prepared in accordance with IFRS which differ in certain significant respects from U.S. GAAP.

Fernanda Bettinger
Investor Relations Officer at Vesta

All information should be read in conjunction with and is qualified in its entirety by reference to our financial statements, including the notes thereto, and are stated in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Now turn the call over to Lorenzo Berho.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you, Fernanda. Good morning everyone. Before turning to our results, I would like to provide some perspective on our company. As we review the past year, we have grown Vesta into a global leader in premier industrial real estate, in some cases managing through very turbulent times.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

In November, we unveiled our Route 2030 strategic plan, a detailed roadmap for the next five years led by a balanced approach to investment growth, profitability, assured access to energy and with ambitious net zero and ESG objectives. Route 2030 builds on the outstanding results we delivered on our 2019-2024 Level 3 Strategy. All related targets, which Vesta not only met, but exceeded. With this, we have clearly illustrated our next phase in Vesta's journey.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Therefore, we expect 2025 will continue to present its challenges, likely resulting in more muted performance for our industry. Many agree it will be very difficult for uncertainties and either internal or external effects to alter the opportunities that we see in Mexico.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

In late January, President Sheinbaum launched a $1.4 billion nearshoring incentive package designed to strengthen the country's role in regional supply chains as part of a multi-pronged plan to grow Mexico's economy, to quicken Mexico in part by embracing its role in manufacturing inputs for North American supply chains.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

President Sheinbaum's administration, through a presidential decree, will offer greater incentives for companies seeking to relocate their manufacturing operations to Mexico to be closer to the U.S. market, including generous tax incentives. What remains clear is that both countries have a vested interest in maintaining and strengthening the trade relationship.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

With just over 78% of Mexico's exporting going to the U.S. and some companies considering expanding their presence in Mexico, the economic interdependence between these nations cannot be overstated. Nearshoring as a strategy for economic growth and supply chain resilience therefore remain undeniable and Vesta is in a particularly advantageous position. We benefit from outstanding LEED-certified assets, a deep footprint in Mexico's most resilient and desirable markets, strong relationships with premier clients, and one of our industry's most innovative approaches to procuring energy.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We are landlord to some of the world's most important manufacturers and not by accident, deep and lasting client relationships creates new avenues for recurring growth. Our tenant base has solid credit as part of leasing criteria, and our portfolio is well diversified with a mix that is always changing and adapting, best illustrated by the fact that we are seeing increasing demand in electronics manufacturing and in e-commerce from local and regional consumers.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

These are important differentiators should our industry experience a slowdown, and as I noted, our board and management team has considerable experience successfully navigating geopolitical and macro headwinds. Therefore, as we begin implementing our 2030 plan this year, we remain vigilant and cautious, fully aware of this year's importance as a foundation for the rest of the roadmap.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Moving forward, we will continue to make strategic investments, prioritizing land acquisition and development, only when they provide a clear competitive advantage, but also focusing on capturing every potential leasing opportunity. A few other notable highlights for 2024 before I turn to the leasing activity reached 7.7 million sq ft for the full year 2024, of which 3.5 million sq ft were through new leases, nearly 80% of which was signed with current best-in-class tenants in e-commerce as well as light manufacturing for the North American supply chain.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We saw 4.2 million in renewals during the year with an 8.4% increase in rent spreads and a 6-year weighted average lease term. Our focus on dollar-denominated contracts resulted in 89% of our 2024 revenues being in dollars, an important competitive advantage, a non-negotiable stabilizing factor which will never change at Vesta. Vesta also delivered exceptional financial results for the full year 2024, surpassing revised guidance to reach $252.3 million, a 17.7% increase year over year.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Full-year 2024 Adjusted NOI margin and EBITDA margin reached 94.6% and 83.5%, respectively. FFO ended 2024 at $160.1 million, a 25.2% increase compared to $127.9 million in 2023. In 2024 we secured a global syndicated sustainability-linked credit facility for $545 million. Juan will discuss shortly.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Turning to our fourth quarter 2024 operating results, leasing activity reached 1.6 million sq ft, 739,000 sq ft in new contracts, most in the Bajío region with premier global companies in the electronics, automotive and logistics sector and 813,000 sq ft in lease renewals. Vesta's fourth quarter 2024 total portfolio occupancy therefore reached 93.4%. Our stabilized and same store occupancy reached 95.5% and 97.6%, respectively.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We ended the quarter with current construction in progress which reached 2.8 million sq ft and an estimated investment of approximately $214.1 million and a 10.9% yield on cost in markets including Mexico City, Puebla, Querétaro, Aguascalientes and Monterrey. We're pleased to see continued absorption strength in the Bajío region. During the quarter, we began construction on three new buildings in Querétaro totaling 560,000 sq ft.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

As a related update on our portfolio, we shifted the delivery timing of two buildings at our Apodaca project to April from December. We chose to upgrade and expand the size of several buildings during the final stage of this project, also seeing an opportunity to reconfigure the park. These improvements therefore slowed down the delivery of certain buildings within the project, but the adjustments enhance the overall quality and functionality of the development and therefore the final value.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

So while this impacted our near term timeline, they will not materially delay the expected income during the year and this overall project remains on track for success. In closing, while we are certainly operating in interesting times, at the end of the day we control our destiny, our competitive advantages are clear and compelling and our solid financial position means we're very comfortable being extremely selective in the tenants to which we lease.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

As I have commented in the past, we are focused on consistency and discipline and as we navigate through potential headwinds on our Route 2030 path. In the meantime, we're allocating capital to ensure meaningful shareholder returns through opportunistic land acquisitions such as our recent purchase in Guadalajara and Ciudad Juárez.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Aligned with delivering on our 2030 strategy, Vesta's 2024 share repurchase program reached $42.3 million by year-end, 16.5 million shares, which is 1.9% of total outstanding shares. With that, let me now turn it over to Juan to review this quarter's financial results in more detail.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

Thank you Lorenzo. Good day everyone. Vesta closed the year with exceptional financial results. As Lorenzo noted, our total revenue reached $252 million, marking a 17.7% year on year increase and surpassing our revised guidance of 17%. NOI margin also exceeded our revised guidance of 94.5%, reaching 94.6% while EBITDA margin was in line with our guidance at 83.5%. Vesta FFO ended 2024 at $160.1 million, a 25.2% increase compared to $127.9 million in 2023.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

Turning to our fourth quarter results and beginning with our top line, total revenues increased 16.5% to $65.2 million, mainly due to higher rental revenue coming from new leases and inflationary adjustments on rental properties during the quarter. In terms of the current mix, 88.7% of our fourth quarter revenue was denominated in U.S. dollars, an increase from 87.8% in the fourth quarter 2023.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

Regarding our profitability, adjusted net operating income increased 11.7% to $59.1 million, while the margin contracted four hundred and sixty basis points to 93.5%. This was mainly due to higher costs related to rental income generated properties including real estate taxes, insurance costs, maintenance and other property related expenses. Adjusted EBITDA reached $52 million in the fourth quarter, an 18.5% increase compared to the prior year's quarter, and the margin increased 100 basis points to 82.7% primarily due to lower administrative expenses which benefited from the peso depreciation relative to the prior year quarter.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

We closed the quarter with a pre-tax income of $81.2 million compared to $99.8 million in 2023. This decrease was primarily due to lower gains in revaluations of investment properties driven by a slower pace of development throughout the year as well as an increase in discount rates. Vesta's FFO excluding current tax increased to $41.7 million this quarter from $32.6 million in fourth quarter 2023.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

Moving to our capital structure and balance sheet, as Lorenzo noted, we ended the year in a very strong financial position. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $484 million and our total debt remained relatively stable at $847 million. As of December 2024, Net Debt to EBITDA was 3.2 times and our loan to value was 21.4%, well below our guidance for prudent financial management. As we shared on our Vesta Day, these are a loan to value of less than 30% and a Net Debt to EBITDA lower than five times.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

Along these lines, in December we successfully closed a $545 million global syndicated sustainable credit facility. As Lorenzo noted, this new financing is comprised of $345 million term loan structured in two tranches with terms of three and five years with an 18-month availability period. In addition to a $200 million revolving credit facility. This facility replaces our prior $200 million in place and undrawn revolving credit facility.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

We are very pleased to have secured this new financing, ensuring continued access to strategic liquidity at a competitive cost. This strengthens our financial flexibility as we execute key initiatives aligned with Vesta's Route 2030 strategy driving sustainable value for our shareholders. Our share repurchase program is also a key pillar of our capital allocation strategy. In 2024 our program reached $42.3 million or 16.5 million shares, approximately 2% of total outstanding shares.

Juan Sottil
CFO at Vesta

We will continue to execute it opportunistically as we successfully done it in the past to maximize long term shareholders returns. In addition and subsequent to quarter's end, on January 15, 2025, we paid a cash dividend for the fourth quarter equivalent to MXN 0.38 in pesos per ordinary shares. This concludes our fourth quarter 2024 review. Operator, could you please open the floor for questions?

Operator

Yes, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are called upon to ask a question and are listening via loudspeaker on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking the question. Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Pablo Monsivais with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Pablo Monsivais
Pablo Monsivais
Equity Research Analyst at Barclays

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering about Monterrey in your development portfolio slide. You have an Apodaca 6, 7 and 8 and it seems that you don't have at least, and we know that in Monterrey there has been an excess capacity probably in the fourth quarter of last year. So want to pick your brain on how are you seeing leasing activity for these three buildings? Because if I see this correctly, it's 1.1 million sq ft. So it's perhaps quite a lot. So just wanted to hear your thoughts of what the clients are saying. How's the leasing activity there? Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Hola Pablo. Good morning and thank you very much for being on the call and for your question. Monterrey has been a key market for Vesta. We currently have developed two projects, one of them in Apodaca, I'm sorry, in Guadalupe and the second one in Apodaca. As you might know, we are fully leased in Monterrey with clients such as Amazon, Mercado Libre, Polaris, Oxxo, Walmart, among others.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We have been very successful in the leasing in the last phase. Now today what we have is three buildings under construction which have been part of the development pipeline for the last quarters. We feel confident that these buildings will be leased accordingly when we finish the projects. Currently we have an estimated completion date for the second quarter of 2025. I was recently in Monterrey.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

The progress is well on the buildings and actually we had some minor delays on the projects. The reason being that we upgraded the specifications of the buildings' characteristics, considering better sustainable characteristics for the buildings, and therefore we think that the best companies will for sure be looking carefully into our project in Apodaca, into our buildings, because of the quality of the project that we are currently developing. I'd like to invite all of you to make a visit to Monterrey.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

It is very well located in the Apodaca's main corridor with good access to infrastructure, good access to labor pool, and we have a local dedicated team focusing on the leasing of these projects even before they are done. So this is going to be an important year and we have strong confidence in the Monterrey market and good confidence on the product that Vesta is able to deliver.

Pablo Monsivais
Pablo Monsivais
Equity Research Analyst at Barclays

Perfect, thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alan Macias with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Alan Macias
Alan Macias
Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America

Hi, good morning, and thank you for the call. Just a follow-up question, I guess under stabilized portfolio occupancy in the north region decreased, and I guess if it's Monterrey is stable. What other markets did you see pressure there? Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Hola Alan, and thank you very much for your question. I already explained on Monterrey, where we are fully leased and the market is still behaving quite well and we're not focused in all north of Mexico. There's actually markets where we're not into, but we have a strong focus and good presence in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez have shown some sort of slowdown in the last quarters in terms of demand and that is not only impacting Vesta's portfolio but also the rest of the market.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

But still we think that vacancy rates are at a moderate level and we think that as soon as demand picks up there will be some interesting opportunities for the type of buildings that Vesta has. Vesta actually has only a couple brand new buildings in Juárez which are on the leasing stage and we are confident that the quality and the location is outstanding and will have an advantage to other projects, but it has taken a little longer in this new cycle.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

And pretty much the same with Tijuana. Nevertheless, we have a portfolio with good tenants, some of them requiring expansions, but at the same time that there is a shift towards demand in the last quarters, and we will hike, we will be cautious to be patient on having been able to lease up to good tenants long-term leases in line to Vesta's existing portfolio.

Alan Macias
Alan Macias
Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alejandra Obregón with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Alejandra Obregón
Alejandra Obregón
Vice President of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley

Hi, good morning Vesta team. Thank you for taking my question. I have a few on the Bajío. So it looks like some KPIs are improving. You're doing some backfilling of vacancies on pre-leasing. Cash rents are holding up pretty well. So I just want to kind of like get a sense of what you're seeing on the ground.

Alejandra Obregón
Alejandra Obregón
Vice President of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley

I mean if you look at the tenant pool that you have for the available and for the coming development space in the Bajío, is there any perhaps ecosystem that is taking the lead in your conversations, especially in Querétaro? Now that you brought up some four properties in Querétaro to the development pipeline. What's happening in Guadalajara, any color here will be very material. Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you, Alejandra. And yes, glad to share. Guadalajara, as many of you know, has been a very attractive market, particularly for the electronics sector as well as e-commerce. We were fortunate to be able to buy the land adjacent to our park. So we will soon start development and use the existing infrastructure of the park and expand it to the new site. It is not very large, but we think that it's a great continuation and a great opportunity to be able to keep on growing in a fantastic location where we have grown with clients such as Foxconn, DSV Logistics, Mercado Libre, Amazon, and I'm pretty sure that particular success will expand with the current land that we acquired.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

In Querétaro, we have seen some very positive signs too that there has been a recovery. Vacancy rates are still low. Demand has picked up. We are fully leased in the Vesta Park Querétaro, and for that reason and for the pipeline that we have seen, we think it's a good moment to start construction and inventory buildings and use and anticipate to some clients that require space immediately.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Just to give you again some names on the Querétaro, on the project we have in Querétaro, we have clients such as FedEx, Home Depot, Tesla, and recently companies in the electric manufacturing sector focusing on machinery and equipment for Mexico as well as export to the U.S., so we think that there's a good demand in the market and that's why we would like to anticipate and have good space available for those tenants that require expansions. We see the same for the aerospace industry.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Nevertheless, we made many of these decisions. We take them with discipline. We know our markets and we evaluate each decision at our investment committee, where we know that whenever there's an opportunity, when we have an advantage, we take that opportunity to start and anticipate the potential demand. The rest of the markets, I would say, in the Bajío region are still improving.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

However, we think that patience has to prevail as well as caution so that we understand better the uncertainties that have triggered current trade tensions between the U.S. and Mexico and the effects of the tariffs imposed on many goods from all over the world from the U.S.

Alejandra Obregón
Alejandra Obregón
Vice President of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley

Gotcha. That was very clear. Thank you very much.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Gracias.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Gordon Lee with BTG. Please go ahead.

Gordon Lee
Head of Research at BTG

Hi, good morning. Thank you very much for the call. Two quick questions. The first one, Lorenzo, in November or December, I can't remember exactly the date when you unveiled Route 2030, you had already sort of adjusted, I think your view, at least for the medium term, just to encompass this sort of more uncertain scenario, and so I'm wondering three months later, whether you think that that adjustment was, or whether you're feeling a little bit more cautious, and then the second question is, in this uncertain environment, as you look to replenish your land bank, are you finding that that uncertainty is either producing greater availability of land or land on better terms, or have we not seen that adjustment yet? Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Gracias. Gordon, thank you for your question. Well, I think what Vesta has always had a strategy to define a long-term plan and execute understanding that things might vary in the period. Level 3 Strategy was very successful. We are happy to be able to close that particular cycle of the company. That gave us the opportunity to present another long-term plan, the Route 2030 back in November.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We believe that Vesta has a cool, clear vision on where it's heading towards 2030. We have a clear path and we feel confident that that plan will be well executed and will be very profitable. That plan incorporated the uncertainty for 2025. So where we are standing today in 2025, it's a little bit of a no surprise.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We understand how our clients behave. We understand how new demand behaves, and it's understandable that there will be some uncertainty through a period of time. Nevertheless, this is also not new, and we have been over these times before, and this is a great moment to position the company better.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

To be ready when there is a new economic cycle and we know that that will happen. And this will probably take me to your second question, Gordon. Definitely Vesta has a strong discipline towards acquiring the best location, the best land.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

With urban infill and high barriers of entry, land that we can add value through high quality projects. And definitely we have been analyzing different sites and we're going to take advantage of being able to close on probably the best sites in the best markets, which are the ones that we operate. So it will be a very interesting year where we think that Vesta will be even better positioned for the long term plan that we have, that we have unveiled.

Gordon Lee
Head of Research at BTG

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Rodolfo Ramos with Bradesco BBI. Please go ahead.

Rodolfo Ramos
Head of Mexico Research and Strategist at Bradesco BBI

Thank you and good morning. Lorenzo and Juan, thanks for taking my question. It's a little bit of a follow-up on the previous discussions. But you know, we've seen this weakness in the northern markets and my question here is twofold. You know, it doesn't seem to be the case. But in the future, how do you see this weakness in the northern markets impacting your Bajío markets? I don't know if these are substitutes or these are just completely different client bases that you're tapping. So that's the first question and the second one which is related as well.

Rodolfo Ramos
Head of Mexico Research and Strategist at Bradesco BBI

How does this change, you know, your answer to this first question, how does it change the pace and the focus of your development pipeline? You know, considering you have ambitious CapEx plans under your Route 2030 in Monterrey, Tijuana, Juárez. So those will be my questions. Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you very much for your question. Regarding the first one, I believe that all markets have very different dynamics. All of them, first of all, we validate first the real estate fundamentals on each of the markets, then we analyze the trends of each, the restrictions.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

I believe that industrial market in Mexico behaves differently from one to the other because some of them are more related to consumption, logistics, e-commerce and in a broad manner, I think that that's mostly on the metro areas, particularly Mexico City and even in the Bajío, another market rely more on supply chains, manufacturing and export. I would probably say that the border region being more on that category, so with that we analyze both things and as you know, we focus on both industries, let's say both segments and I think that.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

As long as there is opportunity on both, there will eventually be opportunities in pretty much all of the markets that we operate. However, understanding real estate fundamentals, we know that there are cycles, there's moments where there is limited supply, when there's strong demand, where there's moments that.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Could get inverted, and today we think that trends are a bit different. However, we feel confident that vacancy rates are still at pretty low levels. I think that us and even other developers have been conservative on this approach and that's why we think that the markets are on a still healthy stage. We see most of the markets being in the, let's say, 5% vacancy rate, give or take. Some of the markets are even closer to 1%, like Mexico City, Bajío region, even in some cases now lower than 5%. So we will follow carefully, we'll be patient, disciplined and I think that this is not the first time that we are in this situation and as long as we have good quality product that we understand.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

The client's needs, I think that we can take advantage of these particular situations. Maybe developers that do not meet the quality or do not have the right infrastructure, or do not have the permits in place, those will probably struggle the most. But as long as we have good quality product, which is what we have been focusing on, I think that we have a better advantage. Just to use the example on Monterrey, one of the greatest decisions that we recently did is to improve the specifications on the buildings.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

It cost us a bit of a delay, but we think that we're in great shape and great moment to deliver what I would probably think are the best buildings in the Monterrey market, which is the largest one. So we have a great location, we have the best buildings, and actually we have a great tenant base already in Monterrey. So I don't see why we're not going to be able to continue that success even now with improved products.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Francisco Chavez with BBVA. Please go ahead.

Francisco Chavez
Analyst at BBVA

Hi, thanks for the call and for taking a question. It's a question regarding the acquisition of land in Juárez. Consider what you have mentioned, the softening activity. Can you give us an idea on how opportunistic was this acquisition was acquired at a lower price? Then a few months ago, and also you can let us know if this land had has all the infrastructure in place.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Gracias Francisco, thank you very much for your question. Yes, we're very happy that we were able to find this site in Ciudad Juárez. And maybe to your last point, what is key about this land is that remember that land for us is raw material. And then the pace on the development, it depends more on how we see the demand coming.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

But one of the greatest things is that it has access to electricity. It is very close to the border crossing of Zaragoza, which is the major commercial border crossing in Ciudad Juárez. It is right next to the current project that we developed. So this gives us continuity on what we think is the best submarket in the Ciudad Juárez region.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

So I think that this will put us in a great shape. Whenever we see that there's a demand in the market, we will kick off with a project. But the size was also very important so that we can deliver a high quality industrial compound where there could be synergies among our tenants, where there could be higher quality of infrastructure, higher quality of security. And the accessibility to the border crossing I think is going to be key. So we are happy to be able to close on that land and that will be a project that will be developed over time.

Francisco Chavez
Analyst at BBVA

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jorel Guilloty with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. It seems that Mr. Guilloty has just dropped from the line. The next question comes from the line of Jorge Vargas with GBM. Please go ahead.

Jorge Vargas
Equity Research Analyst at GBM

Hi, thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations on the results. Only one quick question from my side regarding the CapEx deployment throughout the year. What were the dynamics that influenced not meeting guidance and should we expect an acceleration in 2025?

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you Jorge, for your question. We're not giving any guidance in terms of capital deployment as we have done in the past. The only thing that I can say is that we currently have a development pipeline that has been carefully selected with discipline by the investment committee, and whenever we continue, we have recently done land acquisitions and we will continue with that same dynamic following the path towards our, let's call it, mid long term plan.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

With that, I think that Vesta will continue to have an active capital deployment strategy. Maybe just to add a bit on the strategy, we are glad to be able to close on a leasing, I'm sorry, on a credit facility that will help us in the future to fund the capital requirements of the company. We are in a very good shape in terms of our balance. We have a good credit facility and with that we have enough resources to have for the capital deployment strategy for the year.

Jorge Vargas
Equity Research Analyst at GBM

Okay, thank you very much.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Jorel Guilloty with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Jorel Guilloty
Jorel Guilloty
Head of Latin America Real Estate and Building Materials Equity Research at Goldman Sachs

Good morning everyone. Apologies for that. My line dropped. So I had two straightforward questions. So the first one is around your guidance. I just wanted to see would it be able, would you be able to provide or give some color on what your occupancy and lease spread expectations are within that guidance? And then the second question is around essentially development pipeline.

Jorel Guilloty
Jorel Guilloty
Head of Latin America Real Estate and Building Materials Equity Research at Goldman Sachs

So I mean, going back to the Vesta Day back in November, there was already, you already gave an idea that there was going to be a downshift in the development pipeline, at least for the next year or two. And we're clearly seeing it now. But I just wanted to get a sense, are you also seeing it from your competitors? Are they in general terms, also downshifting development pipelines as well. Basically based on how the macro environment and the policy environment is developing? So those are my two questions. Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you. Thank you, Jorel. Well, I think that Vesta, when it comes to our peers, I think that we have different types of peers and I think that some of them that you know very well, they are focusing right now on a major merger which is going to have them very busy. And I think.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

For that reason, I think that they have, they've been focusing mostly on that particular major merger. Other developers, I think other players did not have major development capabilities. So it's kind of hard to talk about, frankly, of our peers in terms of development. What I can say is that there has been, Vesta has had a well defined strategy towards development.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We understand whenever there's moments to put the gas pedal down, we know when there's moments that we need to push the brake pedals hard, and there's times when you just have to drive carefully using the gas pedal when needed and also using the brakes, and I think that's exactly the situation that Vesta might be facing, understanding very clearly what happens in each of the markets. Whenever there's an opportunity, you put the gas pedal down. But when you need to brake, you just drive carefully. And I think that has been the story in the past of Vesta and it has paid out well. And right now, maybe to your point on the forecast. Yes, we think that having development over 2 million sq ft per year compared to maybe other years where we have close to 3 million-4 million.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

I think it's still a good number, but it's not about the current year. I think it's more about the combination of years that will help us to continue that discipline to develop at a major spread returns of 10% when stabilized assets are close to 6% and focus on profitability more than the size, more than the amount of square feet, and continue our strategy to develop to give profitability through net asset value per share increase as well as FFO per share increase, and that's what we have done in the past and that has been a major driver of value and we will continue with that particular discipline.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

In terms of occupancy, I think that we're in a great shape. There could be adjustments upwards or downwards, and we think that in general terms in the broad base we are in a great shape. We're way above, way above the historical averages that we have held. So we're in a good position and I think that will be, we will be able to hold those averages quite well in the future.

Jorel Guilloty
Jorel Guilloty
Head of Latin America Real Estate and Building Materials Equity Research at Goldman Sachs

Thank you. Follow up really quickly. I was just trying to understand and you know, I don't know if this is something you provide but embedded guidance. What is the lease expectation? What is the lease spread expectation?

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Sure. Well, I think we will continue the same trends as we have seen in the past where as reported we have had approximately an 8%. The way we reported is approximately 8% the increase towards in place rents. And that has been pretty much sustained over the last four quarters. So I think that going forward this is quite positive. This is way above inflation. Remember that many of our, all of our lease agreements have an adjustment at every anniversary.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Most of them to inflation. And we, as we consider our rollovers being close to 8%. Well, that's way above inflation. And I think that consistently over the quarters, consistently over the years we continue pushing hard our revenue growth, and we think that we're on a, we're in a great shape on that too.

Jorel Guilloty
Jorel Guilloty
Head of Latin America Real Estate and Building Materials Equity Research at Goldman Sachs

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Kiepher Kennedy with Citibank. Please go ahead.

Kiepher Kennedy
Kiepher Kennedy
AVP of Equity Research at Citibank

Yes. Morning, Vesta team. Thanks for taking my question. Just a follow up on previous question regarding projects under construction. You've explained the aspects regarding Apodaca project in Monterrey. I'd like to get a better color on Valle de México. Yes, Punta Norte Dos is a smaller project but it seems to be delayed as well compared to third quarter expected termination date. I'm just wondering what would be the reasons here. Any color on that would be very helpful. Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Sure, absolutely. And thank you for your question. Well, Punta Norte in Mexico City that, it experienced a minor delay and it's mostly coming from our client. So we ended up leasing the larger building to Mercado Libre and they ended up taking the second building. It's a major project under construction. We are considering the tenant improvements already, while we built. And sometimes, when you lease up a building before construction, there could be some time adjustments. But we're very happy that those projects will be delivered next quarter.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Not only that, they will be developed and leased to the largest e-commerce company in Latin America with a long-term lease and, of course in dollar terms at a 10% return. So we are very, we're very happy with the tenants, we're very happy with the project. And those minor delays have pretty much no impact on the, on the profitability of the project. On the Apodaca deal, actually if you look at the, if you look carefully into the detail of each of the projects, we actually expanded one of the buildings just because we found out that we could take advantage of the floor area ratio.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We also consider some sustainability features on the roofing, which is basically a membrane of TPO. We also consider some efficiencies on lighting, electricity, amenities. A lot of aspects that we think add value to the project. We did all of that while not only maintaining but even increasing the return of the projects. That's why the minor delays, which is only a few months, have no material implications. Actually, I was there last week and I'm very happy to see how these projects are evolving. These are actually the last buildings on the Apodaca site. With this we will completely be fully leased in what we think is one of the most successful projects that we have recently developed.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Maybe just to add up on maybe a previous question, I'd like to also highlight how well the company has done in our discipline to get dollar denominated leases. We're currently at 89%, almost 90% of our leases being in U.S. dollars. This is a historic high. I think that this reflects well our discipline, our approach to be on the right currency. When talking about spreads and when talking about rents and talking about long term leases, it's always better to consider that there's an opportunity to do it in U.S. dollars. We think it's a great advantage.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of David Soto with Scotiabank.

David Soto
David Soto
Automation Analyst at Scotiabank

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Two quick questions. The first one is related to the development pipeline. Did you see any major risk that could affect your development pipeline, such as tariffs, local regulation, energy regulation, or a potential increase in construction material? And second would be, could you provide some color about the marketing efforts that you are having on the buildings that need to be listed in Juárez and Tijuana? Thanks.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you. I don't see any effects on materials, remember. So our development approach is based on having third party construction companies, third party project managers. So we think that we have a very good grip on the development process.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Minor development delays have to do with maybe other things, but I think that Mexico is very well supplied in terms of materials and should not be a major effect for this type of projects, and we have actually a process for each of the buildings independently, which I think is an important aspect, how we reduce risk on the development process, on the construction process, and then on the second question.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Okay, so commercial efforts. Well, I think that another main differentiator of Vesta is that we are a vertically integrated company, totally managed, and we have local presence in each of the markets, and I think that is key when it comes to commercializing and being able to market each of the regions.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We have very professional real estate executives in Ciudad Juárez, in Monterrey, in Tijuana. We'll be glad to host you whenever you like. Not only visit our project, but meet the team, visit our offices, and understand how we have a local approach in each of the regions that we operate. We use, of course, we use third party brokers when needed. We talk to local authorities.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

We actually market a lot with existing clients. A number that surprised me positively last year is that more than 70% of our leasing activity in the last year came from existing clients. Growth comes from existing clients and 70% is a material number. That's why our focus having high-quality tenants is very important. We want to continue growing with good companies and good companies tend to grow and that's the opportunity that we see in Vesta.

David Soto
David Soto
Automation Analyst at Scotiabank

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Armando Rodríguez with Signum Research. Please go ahead.

Armando Rodríguez
Director General at Signum Research

Thank you, everyone. Lorenzo, Juan for the call, congratulations on the results. I think I have to do the mandatory question specifically about the automotive sector. As you know, we have heard some news about some major automakers that plan to move away the production to the United States to avoid this tariff problem. So, I don't know, as you have said, Lorenzo, the growth comes from your existing clients. So, I don't know if Nissan, for example considering this scenario, and maybe another important client, for example. That's my question. Thank you very much.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you for your question, Armando. Well, yes, there has been a lot of news lately on many items, one of them being the auto sector and actually we, I mean regarding, for example, Nissan, Nissan recently announced and reaffirmed their commitments towards Mexico, towards Aguascalientes. So sometimes we get negative news, but sometimes those get they actually reaffirm that they have strong commitments to Mexico.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

So I think that, it has not been any major shifts until we see how it turns out what the final outcome will be regarding the tariffs. So I think it's a little early to say. I think that most of the companies have been very profitable in Mexico, have been actually very profitable in North America because as you know, the auto sector relies not only on Mexico, but it's Mexico and the US combined and moving auto parts from one place to the other several times in order to have a competitive final product.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

So I think that this is February, we had early in February we saw the first issues regarding tariffs. We will have to continue analyzing carefully what the outcome will be. But in the end I think that most of the companies that are already in Mexico have long term plans in Mexico, have major investments, they have been profitable.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Nearshoring is not new. Nearshoring has been here since I would even say NAFTA 1994. It has been several years and as long as companies are profitable, I think they're going to make the best efforts not only to maintain their operations in Mexico, but maybe even expand. But of course we'll have to figure out what the new rules in terms of trade will be and we'll have some information later in the year.

Armando Rodríguez
Director General at Signum Research

Thank you very much. Lorenzo.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alan Macias with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Alan Macias
Alan Macias
Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America

Hi, just a follow-up question. I guess your pipeline has an investment for $214 million. Can you give us the amount you have already deployed? And I guess, should we expect, I know you do not give guidance for CapEx, but it's 200-250, a conservative assumption. Thank you.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you, Alan. So investment to date out of the construction buildings is $ 140 million. Give me one second. We have investment to date. 140 out of the $214 million. I think this is the right number, right, Juan? Exactly. The remainder is what we still have to complete these projects, which is construction. I think in terms of capital deployment, well, we will start more buildings throughout the year. We will buy more land. We will invest in the urbanization and infrastructure in land, like we are doing in Tijuana. I think that this will be an active year still.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Particularly, as you know, we kind of developed the land that we had. We're buying new land. That land has to get its infrastructure and utilities improvement. So this will be a year where we will continue to be active on the construction side.

Alan Macias
Alan Macias
Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

As there are no further questions, I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Berho for his concluding remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Lorenzo Berho
CEO at Vesta

Thank you, and thank you everyone for joining today's call. We're pleased with our financial and operational results in the fourth quarter, concluding an exceptional year for our company. I want to thank our shareholders for your ongoing support and our Vesta colleagues who continue to enable us to outperform in any environment and our many new and long-term clients. Our future remains bright and we look forward to updating you on our progress. Thank you for listening.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Analysts
    • Rodolfo Ramos
      Head of Mexico Research and Strategist at Bradesco BBI
    • Pablo Monsivais
      Equity Research Analyst at Barclays
    • Alan Macias
      Equity Research Analyst at Bank of America
    • Jorge Vargas
      Equity Research Analyst at GBM
    • Jorel Guilloty
      Head of Latin America Real Estate and Building Materials Equity Research at Goldman Sachs
    • Gordon Lee
      Head of Research at BTG
    • Kiepher Kennedy
      AVP of Equity Research at Citibank
    • Juan Sottil
      CFO at Vesta
    • David Soto
      Automation Analyst at Scotiabank
    • Alejandra Obregón
      Vice President of Equity Research at Morgan Stanley
    • Armando Rodríguez
      Director General at Signum Research
    • Lorenzo Berho
      CEO at Vesta
    • Fernanda Bettinger
      Investor Relations Officer at Vesta
    • Francisco Chavez
      Analyst at BBVA
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