BTB Real Estate Investment Trust Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Leasing momentum and rent growth: Management reported strong leasing activity with average renewal rents up 10.6% for the year and several new leases that replaced departing tenants with no downtime, increasing NOI at those properties.
  • Negative Sentiment: Occupancy and large vacancy risk: Portfolio occupancy fell to 91.3%, driven mainly by a 132,000 sq ft vacancy in Montreal and other vacancies (including a potential ~100,000 sq ft federal departure at Walkley Road), creating near‑term NOI downside risk.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Mixed quarterly vs. annual results and distributions: Q4 rental revenue was CAD 32.3M (‑1%) and NOI declined ~4.4% quarter‑over‑quarter, but full‑year cash NOI rose ~1.9%; the trust maintained distributions at CAD 0.075 per unit (AFFO payout ~77%).
  • Neutral Sentiment: Balance sheet and liquidity: Investment properties valued at ~CAD 1.2B (58% externally appraised with a CAD 4.7M valuation loss), total debt ratio ~57% with a weighted mortgage rate of 4.5%, and on‑hand liquidity of ~CAD 5M cash plus CAD 25M undrawn credit; three non‑core assets were sold for net proceeds ≈CAD 14M.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Capital allocation and strategy: Management remains focused on increasing industrial exposure toward a ~60% target, may monetize retail assets or raise equity to fund industrial acquisitions, but notes Montreal industrial supply headwinds and retail cap‑rate compression affect timing and returns.
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Earnings Conference Call
BTB Real Estate Investment Trust Q4 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good morning. My name is Anas, and I'll be your conference call facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the BTB Real Estate Investment Trust's 2025 fourth quarter and annual results conference call, for which management will discuss the quarter end of December 31st, 2025. All lines in place are muted to prevent any background noise. Should you wish to follow the presentation in great detail, management has many presentations available on BTB's website at www.btbreit.com/investors/presentations/quarterlymeetingpresentation. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period reserved exclusively for analysts. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, please press star, followed by one on your keypad. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that some of the statements that may be during this call may be forward-looking in nature.

Operator

Such statements involve numerous factors and assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, which give rise to the possibility that predictions, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. Several important factors could cause BTB Real Estate Investment Trust actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results are described in BTB Real Estate Investment Trust, Management Discussion Analysis, and its annual information form, which were filed on SEDAR+ and on BTB's website at www.btbreit.com/investors/reports. I would like to remind everyone this conference is being recorded. Thank you. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Michel Léonard, President and Chief Executive Officer, accompanied today by Mr. Marc-André Lefebvre, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Operator

Charles Doret, Vice President of Finance, and Miss. Stéphanie Léonard, Senior Director of Leasing. Mr. Léonard, you may begin the conference.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Thank you very much. The year at the glance, at a glance, we own CAD 1.2 billion of real estate. Close to 60% of our value of the real estate was externally appraised in 2025. Regarding our investment activity, obviously, we're still focused on industrial assets with strong fundamentals, and we do have a pipeline in order to create opportunities to maximize the value of our portfolio. During the year, we disposed of three non-core assets. The first one in Quebec City, the second one in Saskatoon, and the last one, a 50% interest in a retail property located in Terrebonne, Quebec.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

When we look at our leasing activity, the total amount of square footage under lease renewals and new leases concluded during the year is 742,000 sq ft, of which 470,000 sq ft represents the lease renewals, with an increase in average rent value of 10.6% and new leases at 268,000 sq ft. We concluded the year with an occupancy rate of 91.3%, a little bit lower than the year before, and mostly caused, and Stéphanie is going to get into this, but mostly caused by the fact that we weren't able to re-lease the property that is 132,000 sq ft, located in Laval, representing a little bit more than 2% of our occupancy.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Regarding densification, we're still active in changing zoning for certain sites that we own. Regarding the mortgage debt ratio, it lowered at a 51.3%, and the total debt ratio lowered again at 57%. Our payout ratio on FFO basis is 73.9%, and our AFFO basis is 77.3%. ESG, we did release our ESG report, the second ESG report, back in June 25, reporting on the activities for the year 2024, and our full report on ESG is available on our website. We did obtain, during the year, 13 certifications for BOMA BEST for the properties, our properties located in the province of Quebec. It's not that we weren't active in the other provinces, it's just that the other provinces, the certifications were not up for renewal.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

With this, I'd like to turn the conversation to Stéphanie to go through the report on the leasing activities.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

All right. Good morning, everyone. For those of you joining us online on our online presentation, we are currently at page eight of said presentation. As Michel mentioned, our total leasing activity, which is the combination of new leases and lease renewals, totals 472,000 sq ft for the year, of which 268,000 were new lease transactions and 474,000 are attributed to new lease renewals, to lease renewals. Just to note that I am rounding up or rounding down on these numbers. Out of our new lease activity, 116,000 were concluded in our suburban office segment, 110,000 sq ft were concluded in our industrial segment, and 42,000 sq ft were concluded in our necessity-based retail segment.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

Our most noteworthy transactions this year, so for 2025, we concluded a new lease with Crown Tax Company, representing 80,000 sq ft in our industrial segment located in Montreal. A 30,000 sq ft transaction concluded with Value Village in our necessity-based retail segment, also in Montreal, in addition to a 30,000 sq ft lease signed with XCMG Canada in our industrial segment located in Edmonton, Alberta. It's important to note that all three of these tenants' leases came into effect the day after the previous tenant's lease ended, therefore, not affecting our occupancy rate in the sense that the transactions kept our occupancy rate stable. We swiftly replaced the departing tenants without any downtime, therefore, creating no new vacancy. These replacements resulted in an increased NOI for their respective properties.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

During the year, we also did see a couple of tenants that elected to expand their premises in our portfolio. For instance, the Government of Canada increased their office footprint with us by roughly 14,000 sq ft in Quebec City, bringing their total occupancy just shy of 23,000 sq ft over a 15-year lease with us. In addition, the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, more specifically, the local police station, increased their footprint by just under 4,000 sq ft, bringing their occupancy to 23,000 sq ft with us. Lastly, Field Effect Software Company increased their footprint by 3,000 sq ft, resulting in a 19,000 sq ft total footprint with us in Ottawa and in our suburban office segment.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

Our total lease renewal activity for the year amounted to 474,000 sq ft renewed for the year, of which 252,000 sq ft were renewed in our suburban office segment. 214,000 sq ft were renewed in our necessity-based retail segment, sorry, 7,422 sq ft were renewed in our industrial segment for the year. It's important to note that our lease renewal activity not only included leases coming to maturity during the year, but also lease renewals signed with tenants whose leases come to maturity in the years 2026 and thereafter. We're actively working to solidify our tenancies prior to their expiry.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

Important lease renewals were concluded during the year with L'Aubainerie for 30,000 sq ft in our necessity-based retail segment in Montreal, with Hewlett-Packard for roughly 30,000 sq ft in our suburban office segment in Montreal. Again, with the Government of Quebec for a CLSC, representing roughly 27,000 sq ft in our suburban office segment in Montreal. Finally, with Canada Post for our suburban office segment located in Quebec City, representing roughly 22,000 sq ft. In terms of our rental spreads for the quarter, we achieved a 6.7% average increase in our renewal rate, or 10.6% for the year, which outshines our yearly performance since 2023. We were able to increase rents in our suburban office segment by 5.8% for the quarter, or 12.4% for the year.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

For our necessity-based retail segment, we increased rents by 7.8% for the quarter and 6.4% for the year. It's important to note that there was no industrial lease renewals concluded during the quarter. Our occupancy rate, as Michelle mentioned, at the end of the year, stood at 91.3%, a 20 basis point decrease compared to Q3 2025. As mentioned, the tenant replacements that we did conclude do not impact our occupancy rate. Although our occupancy rate does not decrease, we do not see the impact of these transactions through occupancy. Therefore, our occupancy rate is not always indicative of the quarterly or yearly leasing efforts concluded. In addition, we're still carrying that 2.2% impact of our 132,000 sq ft vacancy in Montreal.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

During last quarter, we announced that we were in discussions with a group for the entire premises. Since last quarter, we are still working with the client, but their scope is ever changing. You'll understand by this is a large international tenant. In addition to this client, we do have others in the pipeline that are interested for part of the space. At this time, we're still working with the client and working with new clients. The other impacts on our occupancy rate can be noted by a 28,000 sq ft vacancy that we recorded in Ottawa. This was a known departure by a government-based tenant, whose funding was unfortunately not renewed. Leasing efforts are well underway for their space, which is easily subdividable, which creates better opportunities in the market.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

The second impact to our occupancy rate is due to a 24,000 sq ft vacancy in Edmonton in our industrial segment. Avison Young is currently mandated to lease the space, we do have traction on it. It's important to note that the tenant that was departing, they were building their own building. Therefore, that's why they ended up leasing. Lastly, we have another 33,000 sq ft space in Edmonton, which the previous tenant was in recurring default of the lease. In order to mitigate our risks, we elected to terminate the tenant's lease. These events are unfortunate, and sometimes we do have to make decisions to terminate leases, therefore creating vacancies that we don't necessarily want.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

We need to in order to protect the REIT and to protect our rights as well. Overall, coming out of 2025, we were able to seize opportunities to protect our occupancy rate, increase NOI in our properties, and solidify good tenancies for our portfolio. As 2026 is underway, with the return to office mandates, we're seeing sustained activity in our respective markets with good opportunities within the financial sectors as well, which we do hope to be able to capitalize on. On this note, I would like to turn the presentation over to Marc-André for a financial overview.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

Thank you, Stephanie. Good morning, everyone. The results for the year reflect healthy leasing activity and stable rental income, demonstrating the resilience of our business. For the fourth quarter, rental revenue stood at CAD 32.3 million, a decrease of 1% compared to the same quarter last year. NOI and cash NOI both decreased by 4.4% and 5.1%, respectively, compared to the same quarter last year. Looking at cash same-property NOI, it decreased by 3.3% for the quarter compared to the same period last year. The quarterly decrease is driven by the industrial and office segments. The industrial segment was impacted by a planned departure at the end of Q3 of a tenant occupying over 24,000 sq ft in Edmonton.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

Also by free rent granted to a new tenant, XCMG, in the industrial segment again. Based in Edmonton, and the impact of the new lease negotiated with the group of investors who purchased Lion Electric. Regarding the office segment, the quarterly decrease is due to free rent granted to new tenants during the quarter in Ottawa and non-recoverable one-time expenses. Looking for the year, NOI remains stable compared to 2024, while cash NOI increased by 1.9%. The increase in cash NOI is related to several factors, including number one, a CAD 1.1 million lease cancellation payment received by an industrial tenant with a planned departure at the end of the first quarter of 2026.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

A partial lease cancellation payment of CAD 1 million recorded in the first quarter of the year from a tenant in the suburban office segment, and that space has already been re-leased. Number three, a higher lease renewal rental rates, and four, a decrease of CAD 0.7 million as a result of the dispositions concluded during the year. FFO adjusted per unit was at CAD 0.097 for the quarter, a decrease of CAD 0.012 compared to the same quarter last year. This reduction was mainly driven by a decrease of CAD 0.8 million in NOI. Adjusted AFFO adjusted per unit was CAD 0.088 for the quarter, a decrease of CAD 0.013 compared to the same quarter last year.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

For the year, AFFO adjusted per unit was CAD 0.388, an increase of CAD 0.007 compared to last year. The increase is mainly explained by a CAD 1.5 billion increase in cash NOI, a CAD 0.5 billion decrease in administrative expenses, a CAD 0.3 million increase in expected credit losses, and lastly, a CAD 0.5 million increase in accretion of non-derivative liability components of the convertible debentures. We maintain our distribution to unit holders at CAD 0.075 per unit for the fourth quarter, which represents an annualized distribution of CAD 0.30 per unit. The AFFO adjusted payout ratio was 77% for the year, a decrease of 1.4% from 2024.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

As previously mentioned by Michelle, the value of our investment properties remains stable at CAD 1.2 billion at the end of the quarter. BTB externally appraised 58% of its properties based on fair market value. This exercise resulted in a loss of CAD 4.7 million, or 0.4% of the total portfolio value. The weighted average cap rate for the entire portfolio remains stable at 6.7% compared to the year-end 2024. During 2025, BTB disposed of three properties for gross proceeds of almost CAD 20 million. Net proceeds were close to CAD 14 million. This amount takes into account the balance of sale of CAD 1 million related to the disposition of 1170 Lebourgneuf Boulevard, an office property located in Quebec City.

Marc-André Lefebvre
VP and CFO at BTB

We concluded the quarter with a total debt ratio of 57%. The weighted average term and average interest rate on our mortgage portfolio was 2.3 years and 4.5%, respectively. Finally, at the end of the quarter, we held over CAD 5 million in cash, and CAD 25 million was available under our credit facilities for total equity, over CAD 30 million. This completes our presentation, and we will now open the call to questions.

Operator

Thank you, sir. This is the conference operator. At this time, I'd like to remind everyone that the analysts may now ask their questions by pressing star, followed by one on your telephone keypad. Again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star and then one. We'll now pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Matt Kornack with National Bank. Please go ahead.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

Hey, guys. Just with regards to the industrial lease in the Montreal area, can you give us a sense as to what you think the potential timing would be, as to whether you'd go with someone new or this existing international tenancy?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Matt, it's... Good morning, Matt. It's a little bit difficult because what we find is that decisions, decision-making process is very, very long these days, especially with this international tenant. So we've been very patient, and it's like, it would be wrong for me to give you a date or a moment in which we believe that the property would be leased. We do believe that during 2026, the property will find a user.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

Okay. Maybe just more broadly for the portfolio, as you look out over this coming year, obviously, the macro is always volatile. Do you have a sense as to whether there are any kind of known large non-renewals, any known larger potential leases? How we should think about this kind of occupancy and your leasing spreads trending for the balance of the year?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

For the balance of the year, in our radar, there's only one lease that we know is not gonna be renewed. It's in Ottawa. It's with the federal government. It's a department of the federal government that is basically consolidating somewhere else. We haven't heard from the government whether they have another user in mind for the space. The lease is up at the end of August. We haven't, and we haven't begun any discussion regarding a user for that space. The address of the building is 2204 Walkley Road, it's roughly 100,000 sq ft.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

So far, this would be the only known departure that of significant traction that we know.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

Okay. I mean, the stock's obviously traded quite well. There's various things at work there, but can you give us a sense as to whether your capital allocation outlook has changed? I think obviously you still traded a discount to NAV, but it's maybe a little tighter than it has been. Would you look at equity as a potential way to grow the portfolio? Kind of, how are you thinking about growing BTB and making it a relevant or more relevant entity?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Relevant or more relevant. That's nice. Thank you. I mean, crystal balling it, this is, I think that you have a better crystal ball than we do on that front regarding public markets. It is obvious that if we if the stock continues, you know, gaining momentum, we would be in a position that we could raise capital and finally continue on our growth after COVID. This would be very important to us, and so we're hopeful that this opportunity may occur in 2026 or in 2027, for sure.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

You know, we've always stated that our goal was to be at 60% industrial, raising capital would definitely help us purchase industrial assets in order to get closer to our goal of being 60% industrial. Your question is difficult to answer in the sense that, you know, it's crystal balling the market. Yes, you're right, we do enjoy good traction right now in the market. I think that, you know, money that was kept aside for the last 4 years is probably jumping into real estate these days. We're hopeful that investors will recognize our value, that will help us, as you use the term, to become more significant.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

Sure. Just on the industrial focus, obviously, the market's changed. Montreal, I think, in particular, is a little bit more challenging these days, given some new supply and maybe weaker demand with Amazon and some of the other changes that have taken place there. Necessity-based retail seems to be exceptionally strong. Does that change where you'd wanna be today, or is it now the pricing driven by retail, industrial is looking still kind of interesting from a scaling standpoint?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Well, we've looked at the three opportunities on the retail front in the course of 2025. As you just stated, the cap rates are going down in acquisitions, in the sense that what we thought that we could purchase at a 6.5% cap rate is now a 5.5%, or maybe closer to a six, or one opportunity was a five. We sold the retail property that we owned at a 50% interest at a 5.6 or 5.8% cap rate. I'm just going from memory, so please don't quote me on that cap rate, but I know it was the first number is a five. We do, I mean, we would look at acquiring more retail.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

We would not look at acquiring more office. On the contrary, we're disposing. We're still focused on looking at industrial assets. I know that, you know, right now, and you're right in saying that, you know, that they've built a lot of brand-new properties in the Montreal area, greater Montreal area, causing availability. We understand that some of those are being leased, so that's, it is seems to be performing. I don't think that the rents are, you know, in accordance with the pro forma rents that they forecast when it was time to put the shovel in the ground. I think that they've come down. It's probably hurting the developer or developers.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Overall, I think that, you know, given our cost of capital and so on, it's probably the right time for us to jump into industrial. If you remember a few years back, there were some properties that were sold at a 3.5% cap rate in the Montreal area, those no longer in existence because, you know, the 3.5 was something that, like a ship in the, on the ocean. Overall, I think that, you know, that the market is coming back for us in allowing us to purchase industrial assets. Unfortunately, we need to reduce our cost of capital in order to jump into necessity base.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

As you're probably aware or have read, that, you know, necessity base were under retailed, whether in the greater Montreal area or Ottawa or even overall in Canada. That becomes, you know, a difficult segment to invest in when your cost of capital is as high as ours is.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

That's fair. I mean, I guess, would it make sense then maybe to monetize if you can get something with a five in front of it from a retail standpoint, and deploy that into maybe a, call it 6%-7% stabilized industrial cap rate for good new product, and do that accretively if you can't necessarily access the equity markets today? Is that a consideration, or do you like maintaining that retail component?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

It is definitely a consideration, Matt.

Matt Kornack
Matt Kornack
Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial

Fair enough. I'll turn it back and let others ask questions, but appreciate the update.

Operator

Thank you, Matt. Again, if anyone else would like to ask a question, please press star and then number one. Your next question comes from Pammi Bir with RBC. Please go ahead, Pammi.

Pammi Bir
Pammi Bir
Equity Research Analyst at RBC

Thanks. Just a couple of maybe quick ones for me. Just on the Walkley Building, have you started the re-leasing process there, and Or is the Government of Canada potentially looking to find another, I guess, department, as you kind of mentioned? Just kind of curious on that property.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

The answer is yes to both outcomes. In the sense that, we have mandated Colliers in order to seek new tenancy. We have tenants that have already walked the building, potential tenants. In this case, we're, as I mentioned, it's 100,000 sq ft, and right now we have a tenant that walked the property for 50,000 sq ft. Regarding the federal government, they don't necessarily want to speak about it until six months prior to the end of their term, so we're getting close to it. We're hopeful that we'll have a conversation on that front.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

You know, we read the papers as much as everybody on the call reads the paper, in the sense that it seems that they're lacking space, that they don't know where to go back to their office space as a result of the mandate that the federal government has given to its employees. We're reasonably confident that. We know that our property meets the criteria of the federal government as far as office taking, we're quite hopeful that that they will look at seriously at our building.

Pammi Bir
Pammi Bir
Equity Research Analyst at RBC

Yeah. I guess it sounds like there's some optionality there or maybe some potential to get it back. It is a rather large building. You know, what would sort of be the ballpark impact to NOI if it is fully vacated, I think you mentioned at the end of August?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

I think an easy number to put is, roughly CAD 30 a sq ft, on a gross basis, as the impact.

Pammi Bir
Pammi Bir
Equity Research Analyst at RBC

Okay. how would you sort of characterize the vacancy in that particular segment of the market?

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

From what we understand from, the brokers, is that, we are well located in order to, find a new tenancy, within the property.

Stéphanie Léonard
Senior Director of Leasing at BTB

If I could also add, Pammi, our zoning for the building is quite generous, so it kind of opens up the landscape for us to be able to think about, other users than a traditional, let's say, private sector office building.

Pammi Bir
Pammi Bir
Equity Research Analyst at RBC

Got it. Okay. All right. Thanks very much. I'll turn it back.

Operator

Thank you, Pammi. At this time, there are no further questions. Please go ahead, Mr. Leonel.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

Thank you very much for attending our Q4 2025 conference call. As you can see, we do have good traction in 2025, you know, recording a good increase in rents regarding our lease renewals and the new leases concluded as well. The necessity-based segment is performing extremely well, as we discussed on this call. The industrial assets, I mean, are very stable for us, but as far as leasing, we had some challenges, and we talked about it. We saw that our SPNOI for the year has increased by 2%, which is still a good increase. However, we saw that our necessity-based segment, we saw that the SPNOI increased by 6.9%. Overall, I think that we're on the right footing in order to go through 2026.

Michel Léonard
President and CEO at BTB

We are, you know, addressing our vacancies, and we definitely are hopeful that we are gonna end the year on a higher note than the end of 2025. Thank you very much for attending this call this morning. We appreciate your support, and we'll see you really soon on our reporting of the first quarter of 2026. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Analysts
    • Marc-André Lefebvre
      VP and CFO at BTB
    • Matt Kornack
      Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial
    • Michel Léonard
      President and CEO at BTB
    • Pammi Bir
      Equity Research Analyst at RBC
    • Stéphanie Léonard
      Senior Director of Leasing at BTB