Chicago-based Ventas reported first-quarter 2020 earnings per share of $1.26 Friday, 91 cents higher than the first quarter of 2019. Net income also exceeded prior-year results, the company noted, mostly due to gains on sales and higher first quarter 2020 non-cash income tax benefits. Normalized funds from operations declined modestly compared with 2019, driven primarily by higher COVID-19 specific costs in the real estate investment trust’s senior housing portfolio and increased interest expense from the firm’s draw on its revolving credit facility.
The firm also reported occupancy levels of 80.7% as of May 1, down 330 basis points since the beginning of April, based on information provided by its senior housing operators. Further, Ventas reported a $3 million reduction in its April cash receipts as a result of a 25% rent deferral program the firm began offering its operators in triple-net leases. In a separate announcement Friday, Ventas also said that it had entered into a new management agreement with Holiday Retirement. The agreement is in regards to 26 Ventas independent living communities that previously were leased by the company to Holiday tenants under a master lease.
Additional McKnight’s Senior Living coverage of Ventas’ first-quarter earnings can be found here.
In other earnings-related news:
- New York-based New Senior Investment Group reported quarterly funds from operations of 16 cents per share, compared with 14 cents per share in the first quarter of 2019. The REIT noted Friday that it had seen fewer move-ins in the second half of March and April and higher expenses as its operators worked to limit the spread of COVID-19. The firm also announced that it would decrease its first-quarter dividend by 50% to 6 cents per share and withdrew its 2020 guidance as a result of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 around the pandemic. Additional McKnight’s Senior Living coverage of New Senior’s first-quarter earnings can be found here.
- San Clemente, CA-based CareTrust REIT reported funds from operations of $32.3 million, or 34 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020. Net income hit $19.3 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with a net income of $16 million, or 18 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. The firm increased its quarterly dividend from 22 cents per common share to 25 cents per common share, and also reported that it had collected 99.3% of contract rents in April and expected a similar result in May. Additional articles about CareTrust’s first-quarter earnings call can be found on the websites of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
