Jack Smith
Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (IIPR) reported fourth-quarter earnings of 7 cents a share and highlighted the steps it has taken since becoming a publicly traded company, perhaps paving the way for more small and mid-cap cannabis companies to do the same.
Innovative, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “IIPR,” said in a statement it earned 7 cents a share on $2.3 million in revenue. The commercial real estate company also said that adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), a widely used measure for real estate organizations, was 23 cents a share in the quarter.
During the quarter, Innovative said it acquired a medical-use cannabis cultivation and processing facility in Arizona with a subsidiary of The Pharm in a sale-leaseback deal. The total amount spent was $18 million, including $15 million for the purchase.
It also acquired two other medical-use cannabis cultivation facilities with similar transactions, signing deals with Vireo Health for facilities in New York and Minnesota. The combined cost for the two facilities was $8.4 million, including $1 million spent on tenant improvement costs.
The acquisitions bring Innovative’s property portfolio to five, spread across the country. Totaling 617,000 square feet, all of the properties are 100 percent leased. The average length left on the leases is approximately 14.7 years, the company noted in the statement.
As of the end of the year, Innovative said it had invested $68.3 million in the properties, with an additional $5 million for tenant improvements at the various properties.
The company also noted its fourth-quarter dividend was 25 cents a share, a 67 percent sequential increase. The dividend was paid on Jan. 16, 2018 to shareholders on record as of Dec. 29, 2017.
Innovative’s shares yield 3.77 percent at current levels, significantly more than the 2.77 percent yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond.
San Diego-based Innovative also said that it had sold an additional 3.22 million shares in a public offering after the quarter closed, giving the company an additional $79.3 million to be used for general corporate purchases.
Innovative shares closed at $26.32 on Wednesday, up 1.9 percent. Shares of the company have fallen nearly 30 percent since the start of the year.
