AFC Gamma Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 9, 2024

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to ASC Gamma's First Quarter 20 24 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Gabriel Katz, Chief Legal Officer.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and thank you all for joining AFC Gamma's earnings call for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. I'm joined this morning by Daniel Neville, our Chief Executive Officer Robin Tannenbaum, our President and Brandon Hetzel, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to note that this call is being recorded. Replay information is included in our April 10, 2024, press release and is posted on the Investor Relations portion of AFC Gamma's website at afcgamma.com along with our Q1 earnings release and investor presentation. Today's conference call includes forward looking statements and projections that reflect the company's current views with respect to, among other things, anticipated market developments, portfolio yield and financial performance in 2024 and beyond.

Speaker 1

These statements are subject to inherent uncertainties in predicting future results. Please refer to AFC Gamma's most recent periodic filings the SEC for certain conditions and significant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements and projections. During this call, we will refer to distributable earnings, which is a non GAAP financial measure. Reconciliations to net income, the most comparable GAAP measure, can be found in AFC Gamma's earnings release and investor presentation available on AFC Gamma's website. The format for today's call is as follows: Dan will provide an overview of our Q1 2024 performance as well as an update on our portfolio Robin will then provide an update on the anticipated spin off of our commercial real estate portfolio and Brandon will conclude with a summary of our financial results.

Speaker 1

We will then open the lines for Q and A. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Dan Neville.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Gabe. Good morning, and welcome to ASC's earnings call for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. I would like to thank everyone for joining us today to discuss our results. For the Q1, AFC generated distributable earnings of $0.49 per basic weighted average share of common stock. As a reminder, distributable earnings is the primary metric the Board considers when declaring quarterly dividends.

Speaker 2

The Board of Directors declared a 4th consecutive $0.48 dividend, which was paid on April 15, 2024 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2024. Since going public, we have generated distributable earnings that met or exceeded our dividend each quarter and paid out $6.02 in dividends per share. We are increasingly optimistic about the outlook for the cannabis industry. The industry has seen expansion fueled by increasing state by state legalization and growing consumer acceptance. According to BDSA, the U.

Speaker 2

S. Cannabis industry is projected to continue its upward trajectory with sales hitting $32,000,000,000 in 2024 and growing to $46,000,000,000 by 2028. We continue to see exciting developments at both the state and federal level. Just last week, the Attorney General put forth a proposal to reclassify cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. Once enacted, this change would bring significant benefits to the U.

Speaker 2

S. Cannabis industry, including the elimination of a punitive tax regime for cannabis and increased investment in this space. From a lender's perspective, we expect that the elimination of 280E will enhance the cash flow and credit profile for our existing borrowers and expand our pipeline of potential borrowers. Beyond the financial impact, the rescheduling process is a long overdue validation of the medical benefits of cannabis and yet another concrete step in the slow but steady march toward legalization. While there is still uncertainty related to the timeline for rescheduling, we are encouraged by the progress.

Speaker 2

At the state level, Ohio is anticipated to commence adult use sales by the end of June, months ahead of schedule. We believe that Ohio will be an exciting AU transition as it currently has a strict medical program. Additionally, Florida is gearing up for a decision regarding legalizing cannabis for adult use, which will be on the upcoming November ballot. Across these two states, approximately 34,000,000 Americans could potentially gain access to adult use cannabis in the next few years. As the 1st NASDAQ listed cannabis lender and one of the leading debt providers in this space, ASC is uniquely positioned to capitalize on these opportunities.

Speaker 2

We have created a diversified portfolio across limited license states with attractive supply demand dynamics. As of March 1, 2024, our cannabis portfolio had a weighted average yield to maturity of 20%. We have good exposure to early stage and expected near term adult use transition states. As of May 1, 2024, over a third of our portfolio based on commitments has exposure to Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. We are pleased to see how certain portfolio companies benefited from Missouri's transition to adult use and believe that our portfolio is well positioned to benefit from these upcoming AU transition states as well.

Speaker 2

During the quarter, we originated $90,000,000 of loans with $34,000,000 of loans to cannabis operators and $56,000,000 to commercial real estate developers. Our actionable pipeline of cannabis deals stands at $303,000,000 and the origination team is now firing on all cylinders. We have one additional deal and documentation that we expect to close in the coming weeks and we continue to have liquidity to make additional investments and given the limited supply of institutional capital, we believe this will allow us to both move up the quality curve while still achieving mid to high teens IRRs. Before turning to our portfolio, I'd like to highlight a notable transaction that we closed in the Q1. In March, AFC funded debt of 34,000,000 dollars to Sunburn Cannabis, a private vertically integrated single state operator in Florida.

Speaker 2

Sunburn represents AFC's 2nd transaction in Florida's growing medical cannabis market. We are delighted to partner with the Sunburn team and believe that they exemplified the cannabis 3.0 operators that we previously highlighted. This is a team with prior success in the Florida market that has significant experience scaling and operating cannabis businesses. We believe Sunburn is well positioned to continue to take market share in Florida given its strong brand recognition. Now turning to the portfolio.

Speaker 2

During the quarter, we successfully exited Private Company I's loan, which was on non accrual. As a reminder, we sold 2 thirds of the loan in June 2023 and in March 2024, we were repaid on the remaining $3,800,000 of principal under the loan at par. The loan generated an IRR of 24% and is an example of our ability to actively manage the portfolio to achieve successful outcomes for our shareholders. Turning to Private Company B. Since entering receivership in October 2023, the company's operations and cash generation have improved under the receivers management.

Speaker 2

To date, Company B remains current on all interest payments, including default interest, and we are negotiating potential exit opportunities. As evidenced by these two scenarios, our hands on portfolio management efforts are yielding tangible results. We remain optimistic about achieving similar favorable outcomes for our other underperforming loans in the portfolio as we continue to make progress in reducing our exposure to these credits. Subsidiary of Private Company G continues to make progress. Since the forbearance, the borrower has infused $3,000,000 of additional equity capital and has paid over $2,000,000 in interest.

Speaker 2

We are also starting to see improved performance at the borrowers Pennsylvania and New Jersey operations as a result of the experienced operators that have been put into place to manage the operations. Turning to subsidiary of Public Company H. In April 2024, the co agents under the credit facility provided notice to the borrower citing certain defaults, including a breach of minimum cash covenants as of March 31, 2024. Additionally, in May, the borrower failed to make the April interest payments. We are currently comfortable with our collateral, but given the company's liquidity position, we believe swift action is necessary to preserve the value of that collateral.

Speaker 2

As a reminder, our collateral package includes the business operations across 23 dispensaries and 7 cultivation processors. This includes vertical operations in Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Maine and soon to be Pennsylvania once the additional three dispensary assets with own cultivation real estate in both Ohio and Illinois. We intend to take all actions necessary to protect our capital on behalf of our investors. When I joined AFC in November, I emphasized my commitment to taking a hands on approach to address issues at select underperforming portfolio companies. We have made progress in restructuring some underperforming credits and we remain optimistic about achieving similar favorable outcomes for our other underperforming loans.

Speaker 2

Additionally, I am pleased with our origination efforts with $90,000,000 in deals closed during the quarter across both cannabis and commercial real estate. I look forward to continuing to update you on our progress. Now, I'll turn it over to Robin to provide an update on the spin off in our commercial real estate portfolio.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Dan. The spin off of our commercial real estate portfolio into an independent NASDAQ listed company, Sunrise Realty Trust remains on track. We continue to expect that the spin off will be completed by mid-twenty 24 subject to SEC review as well as final which is largely driven by which is largely driven by a significant reduction in available capital from many of the traditional commercial real estate lending sources as regional banks have pulled back. Additionally, many of our peers are working through their existing portfolios, which has slowed new capital deployment. This trend, coupled with significant upcoming debt maturities, presents us with the opportunity to construct a portfolio with new vintage assets.

Speaker 3

As of May 1, 2024, our CRE pipeline remains robust with over $815,000,000 of potential loans, which should allow us to create a portfolio with attractive risk adjusted returns. We plan to provide another update on the spin off when appropriate. Now I'll turn it over to Brandon to discuss our financials.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Robin. For the quarter ended March 31, 2024, we generated net interest income of $14,800,000 and distributable earnings of $10,000,000 or $0.49 per basic weighted average common share and had a GAAP net loss of $100,000 or $0.01 per basic weighted average common share. The difference between our distributable earnings of $10,000,000 and our GAAP net loss of $100,000 is mainly driven by an increase in our unrealized losses on loans held at fair value of $3,600,000 and an increase in our CECL reserve of $4,900,000 for the Q1. As previously mentioned, we believe providing distributable earnings is helpful to shareholders in assessing the overall performance of AFC's business. Distributable earnings represents the net income computed in accordance with GAAP, excluding non cash items such as stock compensation expense, any unrealized gains or losses, provision for current expected credit losses also known as CECL, taxable REIT subsidiary income or loss net of dividends and other non cash items recorded in net income or loss for the period.

Speaker 4

We ended the Q1 of 2024 with $441,200,000 of principal outstanding spread across 15 loans. As of May 1, 2024, our portfolio consisted of $432,500,000 of principal outstanding across 15 loans. The weighted average portfolio yield to maturity, which is measured for each loan over the life of such loan was approximately 20% as of March 31, 2024 and May 1, 2024. As of March 31, 2024, we had total assets of $476,400,000 including cash and cash equivalents of $82,300,000 and had $60,000,000 drawn on our line of credit, which was subsequently repaid in full on April 1, 2024. Our line of credit provides us with up to $60,000,000 in available funds that can be drawn as needed.

Speaker 4

Currently, the majority of our cash is earning interest of approximately 4.5 percent to 5.3%. As of March 31, 2024, the CECL reserve was $31,400,000 or approximately 8.7% of our loans at carrying value, which increased $4,900,000 from the December 31, 2023 reserve of 26,400,000 dollars In addition to the increased CECL reserve, during the Q1, we had an increase in our unrealized losses on loans at fair value of 3,600,000 dollars As of March 31, 2024, our total shareholder equity was $310,600,000 and our book value per share was $15.03 On April 15, 2024, ASC paid a dividend of $0.48 per common share for the Q1 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2024. Year to date, we paid out dividends of approximately 99% of our distributable earnings. As a reminder, on an annual basis, our dividend policy is to pay between 85% 100% of distributable earnings over the year. With that, I will now turn it back over to the operator to start the Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. I'm not showing any questions in queue.

Speaker 2

Great. Thank you all for joining us today to discuss our Q1 results.

Operator

Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program and you may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.

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Earnings Conference Call
AFC Gamma Q1 2024
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