National Health Investors Announces Q1 2020 Results

MURFREESBORO, TN / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI) announced today its net income attributable to common stockholders, its Funds From Operations (“FFO”), its Normalized Funds From Operations and its Normalized Adjusted Funds From Operations (“AFFO”) for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

Q1 2020 Overview

• GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders of $1.37 per diluted common share
• AFFO of $1.29 per diluted common share
• Announced or completed $173.2 million in real estate and mortgage note investments
• $142 million available to draw on revolving credit facility
• Maintained low leverage balance sheet at 4.7x net debt-to-annualized adjusted EBITDA
• Fixed charge coverage remains conservative at 5.8x
• Portfolio lease coverage at 1.68x

2020 Guidance

NHI’s 2020 guidance provided on February 19, 2020 did not include any impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the lack of visibility caused by this pandemic on our operators and our business, the Company is withdrawing its full year 2020 guidance.

Financial Results

• Net income attributable to common stockholders per diluted common share for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $1.37, an increase of 65.1% from the same period in the prior year. Net income for the quarter includes $21.0 million in gains that relate to the sale of real estate.
• Normalized FFO per diluted common share for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $1.36, an increase of 3.8% from the same period in the prior year.
• Normalized AFFO per diluted common share for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $1.29, an increase of 5.7% over the same period in the prior year.
• NAREIT FFO per diluted common share for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $1.35, an increase of 3.1% from the same period in the prior year.
• Net income, Normalized FFO, Normalized AFFO and NAREIT FFO per common share for the three months ended March 31, 2020 includes the dilutive impact of 1,450,684 common shares issued since March 31, 2019.

FFO, as defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) and applied by us, is net income (computed in accordance with GAAP), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of real estate property, plus real estate depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures, if any. The Company defines Normalized FFO as FFO adjusted for certain items which may create some difficulty in comparing FFO for the current period to similar prior periods. We define Normalized AFFO as Normalized FFO excluding the effects of straight-line lease revenue, amortization of debt issuance costs and the non-cash amortization of the original issue discount of our unsecured convertible notes. We also adjust Normalized AFFO for the net change in our allowance for expected credit losses as well as certain non-cash items related to our our equity method investments. These supplemental non-GAAP performance measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other REITs.

The reconciliation of net income attributable to common stockholders to our FFO, Normalized FFO, Normalized AFFO and Normalized Funds Available for Distribution (“FAD”) is included as a table to this press release and filed in the Company’s Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Conference Call and Webcast

NHI will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, at 12 p.m. ET, to discuss first quarter results. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (800) 954-0586, with the confirmation number 21960075. The live broadcast of NHI’s first quarter conference call will be available online at www.nhireit.com. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately 90 days.

About National Health Investors

Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE: NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale-leaseback, joint-venture, mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI’s portfolio consists of independent, assisted and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings and specialty hospitals. Visit www.nhireit.com for more information.

See Notes to Reconciliation of FFO, Normalized FFO, Normalized AFFO and Normalized FAD.

Notes to Reconciliation of FFO, Normalized FFO, Normalized AFFO and Normalized FAD

These supplemental operating performance measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other REITs. Consequently, our Funds From Operations (“FFO”), Normalized FFO, Normalized Adjusted Funds From Operations (“AFFO”) and Normalized Funds Available for Distribution (“FAD”) may not provide a meaningful measure of our performance as compared to that of other REITs. Since other REITs may not use our definition of these operating performance measures, caution should be exercised when comparing our Company’s FFO, Normalized FFO, Normalized AFFO and Normalized FAD to that of other REITs. These financial performance measures do not represent cash generated from operating activities in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) (these measures do not include changes in operating assets and liabilities) and therefore should not be considered an alternative to net earnings as an indication of operating performance, or to net cash flow from operating activities as determined by GAAP as a measure of liquidity, and are not necessarily indicative of cash available to fund cash needs.

Funds From Operations – FFO

FFO, as defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) and applied by us, is net income (computed in accordance with GAAP), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of real estate property, plus real estate depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures, if any. The Company’s computation of FFO may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not define the term in accordance with the current NAREIT definition or have a different interpretation of the current NAREIT definition from that of the Company; therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing our Company’s FFO to that of other REITs. Diluted FFO assumes the exercise of stock options and other potentially dilutive securities. Normalized FFO excludes from FFO certain items which, due to their infrequent or unpredictable nature, may create some difficulty in comparing FFO for the current period to similar prior periods, and may include, but are not limited to, impairment of non-real estate assets, gains and losses attributable to the acquisition and disposition of assets and liabilities, and recoveries of previous write-downs.

We believe that FFO and normalized FFO are important supplemental measures of operating performance for a REIT. Because the historical cost accounting convention used for real estate assets requires depreciation (except on land), such accounting presentation implies that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen and fallen with market conditions, presentations of operating results for a REIT that uses historical cost accounting for depreciation could be less informative, and should be supplemented with a measure such as FFO. The term FFO was designed by the REIT industry to address this issue.

Adjusted Funds From Operations – AFFO

In addition to the adjustments included in the calculation of normalized FFO, normalized AFFO excludes the impact of any straight-line lease revenue, amortization of the original issue discount on our convertible senior notes and amortization of debt issuance costs. We also adjust Normalized AFFO for the net change in our allowance for expected credit losses as well as certain non-cash items related to our our equity method investments. We believe that normalized AFFO is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for a REIT. GAAP requires a lessor to recognize contractual lease payments into income on a straight-line basis over the expected term of the lease. This straight-line adjustment has the effect of reporting lease income that is significantly more or less than the contractual cash flows received pursuant to the terms of the lease agreement. GAAP also requires the original issue discount of our convertible senior notes and debt issuance costs to be amortized as non-cash adjustments to earnings. Normalized AFFO is useful to our investors as it reflects the growth inherent in the contractual lease payments of our real estate portfolio.

Funds Available for Distribution – FAD

In addition to the adjustments included in the calculation of normalized AFFO, normalized FAD excludes the impact of non-cash stock based compensation. We also adjust Normalized FAD for items related to our equity method investments such as capital expenditures and the net change in non-refundable entrance fees. We believe that normalized FAD is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for a REIT as a useful indicator of the ability to distribute dividends to shareholders. Additionally, normalized FAD improves the understanding of our operating results among investors and makes comparisons with: (i) expected results, (ii) results of previous periods and (iii) results among REITs, more meaningful. Because FAD may function as a liquidity measure, we do not present FAD on a per-share basis.

Condensed Statements of Income
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)