Morguard Real Estate Inv. Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Morguard Real Estate Inv. EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$0.03
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Morguard Real Estate Inv. Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $58.64 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Morguard Real Estate Inv. Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 7/29/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 4:00PM ET

The Trust is a closed-end real estate investment trust, which owns a diversified portfolio of 45 high quality retail, office and industrial income producing properties in Canada consisting of approximately 8 million square feet of leasable space.

Morguard Real Estate Inv. Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 performance exceeded expectations, with same-asset growth of 7.5% and net operating income rising 5.5% year over year to CAD 27.1 million.
• Positive Sentiment: Retail fundamentals remained strong, led by 5.9% same-store growth in community strip properties, effectively 100% occupancy, positive leasing spreads, and higher traffic and sales productivity at Saint Laurent Centre.
• Positive Sentiment: Overall occupancy improved to 85.2%, while office occupancy rose 100 basis points sequentially; management expects further gains as leasing deals are completed and believes two major office vacancies will be short-term.
• Positive Sentiment: The REIT is investing approximately CAD 25–30 million in Saint Laurent Centre and other retail properties, including Uniqlo, Sport Chek, Splitsville, No Frills, and a gym operator, with several projects expected to contribute income from 2027 onward.
• Negative Sentiment: Liquidity was CAD 61 million, while 22% of debt was variable and four mortgages totaling CAD 103 million renewed at slightly higher average rates; management also expects to spend the full CAD 35 million annual capital reserve by year-end.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust 2026 second quarter results conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, July 30, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Andrew Tamlin, your Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. My name is Andrew Tamlin, Chief Financial Officer of Morguard REIT. Welcome to the Morguard REIT second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. I am joined this afternoon by John Ginis, Vice President of Retail Asset Management, Tom Johnston, Senior VP of Western Office Asset Management, and Todd Febbo, Senior VP Office and Asset Management of Eastern Canada. Thank you all for taking the time to join the call. Before we jump into the call, I would like to point out that our comments will mostly refer to the second quarter 2026 MD&A and financial statements, which have been posted to our website. I refer you specifically to the cautionary language at the front of the MD&A, which would also apply to any comments that we make on this call.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Our second quarter results have exceeded expectations and reflect solid combined same asset growth of 7.5% for the quarter. Our retail results have continued to produce solid growth in a resilient sector. The REIT's net operating income for the second quarter was CAD 27.1 million, which was up 5.5% from CAD 25.7 million in 2025. Year-to-date 2026 net operating income was up 2.5% over 2025. While our office results include a couple of large vacancies in two of our Ottawa and Vancouver assets, they continue to reflect the increased demand for office space as companies continue to look for return-to-work options. There also continues to be solid growth in our Penn West Plaza results as we move past the initial period of 2025 inducements provided for the lease-up of this building.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Penn West Plaza's NOI grew CAD 1.2 million in the second quarter and remains at approximately 80% occupancy. As mentioned, our office net operating income includes the decrease of 84,000 sq ft in space that was returned to the landlord in two separate occasions at the beginning of the year. We believe these two vacancies will be short-term in nature, as both buildings are well located in favorable, in-demand urban areas. All of our other individual office assets are seeing either similar or improved occupancy from a year ago and is consistent with the larger trend of companies imposing back to the office policies.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

From a retail perspective, we have had good success in continuing to add other quality retail tenants in the last 12 months throughout the portfolio. Further positive leasing spreads throughout 2025 have also helped to improve the retail NOI into 2026.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Our community strip portfolio continues to produce solid same store growth of 5.9% for the quarter and 2.4% year-to-date and are effectively operating at 100% occupancy. Our enclosed malls have seen improved same asset growth of 2.5% for the quarter and 3% year-to-date. Looking at the remainder of 2026, we do expect our retail results to remain stable. While we are working through the missing Bay income, we are still seeing positive retail fundamentals. Further, we are working on some retail developments, which I will touch on in a few minutes. Both traffic and sales per square foot numbers in our portfolio have been solid. Turning to financing and liquidity, the trust has CAD 61 million in liquidity at the end of the quarter, which is unchanged from Q1 and down slightly from CAD 68 million at the end of 2025.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

The trust also has CAD 219 million in unencumbered assets, along with some up financing opportunities into 2026 and 2027. The trust's interest expense declined CAD 240,000 in the second quarter of 2026 over 2025, mainly due to some lower interest rates on mortgage renewals and short-term interest rates. During 2026, the trust has renewed four mortgages totaling CAD 103 million, with a slightly higher average rate upon renewal. The trust has approximately 22% of its debt as variable at the end of the quarter, which has increased slightly from 21% at the end of the year. We do expect to see an opportunity for additional up financing in 2026, as we are currently in discussions with lenders about some upcoming mortgage renewals.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

In general, we have seen the lending market open up more in the last couple of years with lower spreads, especially on attractive assets, along with lenders being more open to looking at office finance opportunities. As mentioned in past quarters, the trust's operating capital reserve has been established to be CAD 35 million in 2026, which is unchanged from 2025. This equates to CAD 17.5 million for the six months year-to-date.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Actual cash spent for the quarter amounted to only CAD 11.4 million, which is typical to have slower capital spending during the first half of the year. We do expect to spend the full amount of the reserve by the end of the year, though. Our overall occupancy level of 85.2% at the end of the second quarter 2026 has increased 40 basis points from 84.8% at the end of Q1.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

The retail occupancy has increased 60 basis points, and the office occupancy has increased 100 basis points since the first quarter. We continue to expect this percentage to rise in the coming quarters as additional leasing deals get booked. We believe that the decline in industrial occupancy is temporary and will be reversing in the short term. In looking at the 764,000 in remaining square feet that is coming up for renewal in the last two quarters of 2026, we feel good about the vast majority of this space. For tenant renewals greater than 10,000 square feet, there is only one small tenant that is at risk of not renewing.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Looking quickly at 2027 for the same tenant threshold, it is a similar story with only a couple of smaller office industrial-type tenants that are at risk, none of which will be overly impactful.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

As mentioned in past quarters, we are now embarking on a strategic merchandising program for Saint Laurent, which will see the addition of some new nationally recognized brand names being added to the tenant roster, along with expansion plans for other tenants on the existing rent roll. The current development spend in the amount of approximately CAD 6 million to-date includes build-outs for tenants such as Sephora and H&M. These are all now open, and we have received very positive reviews about their impact.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

We ultimately expect to spend in the range of CAD 25 million-CAD 30 million as we look to add more discriminating tenants and also look to activate the former Sears space at Saint Laurent. This work will also include the demolition of the former Sears parking deck, which is no longer needed and has exceeded its useful life.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

We are now pleased to announce the following mix of tenants, which will be opening between now and the end of 2027. Currently, we are nearing completion of the new Uniqlo premises, which is 12,600 sq ft and is scheduled to open early in 2027. We are also pleased to announce that the former Sears box will be re-tenanted and will include a new Sport Chek and Splitsville. The Sport Chek is a relocation of an existing tenant and will be a great complement to Splitsville, who is opening a new entertainment option at Saint Laurent. This work has begun, and both tenants are scheduled to open in approximately one year from now. The trust has also had two No Frills grocery deals which have been undertaken.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

During the fourth quarter of 2025, a new No Frills grocery store opened at Parkland Mall in Red Deer, and we are now seeing the income for that space. The cost was CAD 1.6 million and activated previously vacant space. We are quite pleased with this outcome. There is also a new No Frills opening at the center in Saskatoon in early 2027 with a cost of approximately CAD 5 million. The trust believes that both of these new popular grocery options will be strong additions to these malls. The trust will also be re-tenanting the old Peavey Mart box at our open retail asset in Airdrie. The new tenant will be a gym operator, and this will represent a combined spend of approximately CAD 1.5 million and will be quite accretive to the income of the REIT starting in 2027.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Wrapping up, we continue to believe that there are strong fundamentals in the retail leasing environment and that the office market is in full rebound mode. We are looking forward to continued positive leasing conversations for all of our assets. Most of our enclosed malls remain dominant in their geographical area, and our strip malls, which are largely grocery anchored, have performed very steady. Beyond our retail assets, we have high-quality office buildings in Canada's largest markets with a high degree of government office tenants. We continue to be positive about our business and the objective of building value for our unitholders, and we look forward to continuing to execute our strategy and thank you for your continued support. We will now open the floor to questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any key. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Jonathan Kelcher from TD Cowen. Your line is now open.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Thanks. Good afternoon. First question, just on the Saint Laurent Center. With, I guess, the new tenants, and you're saying that's going well, how is that impacting your negotiations with other tenants on renewals and getting new tenants into some of the empty spaces there? Do you mind taking that, John?

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Sure. No problem. Thanks, Andrew, and thanks, Jonathan, for the question. Saint Laurent Center has been a key center from a retail perspective for an extended period of time. As Andrew said in his opening remarks, we have initiated a re-merchandising program over almost a year and a half ago. We are trying to target large national or international tenants to complement the roster that exists there today. To directly answer your question in terms of how the retailing community is receiving what we're doing, productivity of the shopping center is up because foot traffic is up. Foot traffic is up about 10%, and then sales productivity from the small bay inline tenants is also up by approximately 10%. It's all positive trending.

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

With respect to renewals, clearly, and this goes back to, again, Andrew's introductory remarks, we're seeing some really good positive leasing spreads with respect to all of our enclosed assets, or the vast majority, I should say, but specifically Saint Laurent, because obviously they see the value of the long-term benefits of re-anchoring the shopping center. We still have a lot of work to do, but all of the conversations have been very progressive to date.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That's helpful. In the MD&A, it talks about 120,000 sq ft renewal with a retail tenant at the same rate. Was that a contractual renewal rate?

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Yeah. At Saint Laurent?

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Yeah.

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Well, I don't know if it was.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

I believe it was.

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Go ahead, Andrew.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Yeah. I think it was somebody that had an option. Yeah. Maybe we could look at that offline, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. Then the office renewal in BC next year, the 235,000. Will there be any change in the rate there, either up or down?

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

What was the renewal rates on the BC asset, Tom?

[Tom Johnston, Senior VP of Western Office Asset Management at Morguard]

That's the ones at 111 Dunsmuir?

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

I think it's Seymour.

[Tom Johnston, Senior VP of Western Office Asset Management at Morguard]

Oh, it's Seymour. Okay. Jonathan, it's Tom Johnston in Vancouver. Those rents were structured quite a few years ago, the province of British Columbia tends to extend well in advance of their expiry date. I don't have them handy, but they were in the high teens.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That is helpful. Then lastly, just any update on your HBC space, if there is any from last quarter?

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Do you want to take that one, John?

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Sure. No problem, Andrew. Jonathan, we have exposure to two shopping centers, as you know, Saint Laurent and Cambridge Center.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Yeah.

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

We have successfully re-leased the lower level of the former HBC at Saint Laurent to Urban Behavior. In order to facilitate the redevelopment of Sears at Saint Laurent, as Andrew noted again in his remarks to the addition of a new format, Sport Chek and Splitsville, Urban Behavior, which actually does exceptionally well here in terms of sales performance, really wanted to retain the store. As a short-term solution, we said, "Okay, well, why don't you move into the lower level of the former HBC?" Which they gladly took, and they opened in May of this year. With respect to Cambridge Center, we are still working through options. It's a two-level box, single-level shopping center, but it's still going to require more work on our end. We're currently working through a transaction as we speak. Can't really announce it yet because we're not binding.

[John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard]

Our hope is that in Q3, we're going to be in a position whereby we can announce something with respect to at least the lower level of that space.

[Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay. That's it for me. I'll turn it back. Thanks.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Thanks, Jonathan.

[Operator]

Thank you. Again, participants, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your touch tone phone. Again, that's star and the number one on your touch tone phone. Your next question comes from the line of Shaun Waterhouse. Your line is open.

[Analyst]

Hey, guys. Thanks for the question. I'm seeing on the balance sheet there's around CAD 64 million of land held for development. Just wondering if there's any plan in terms of that, if approvals are being sought for any projects and, or is that kind of viewed as a non-core asset?

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Those are more long-term developments. Anything that we're kind of seeking out entitlements for is more of a long-term play. There's nothing that is going to be coming up from, other than just kind of the projects that we spoke of. There's nothing else that we're actively working on. It's more just kind of longer-term entitlements.

[Analyst]

All right. Thanks for that.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Speaker, we don't have anyone on the line. I would like to turn the call over again to Mr. Andrew Tamlin. Please continue.

[Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust]

Thank you everybody for joining the call. We'll look forward to joining you for the third quarter call. Hope everybody has a good long weekend. Thanks. Bye.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Analysts

• Andrew Tamlin, CFO at Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust
• Jonathan Kelcher, Analyst at TD Cowen
• John Ginis, VP of Retail Asset Management at Morguard
• Tom Johnston, Senior VP of Western Office Asset Management at Morguard
• Analyst