OAK BROOK, Ill., Oct. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail Properties of America, Inc. (NYSE: RPAI or the "Company") today reported financial and operating results for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2014.

FINANCIAL RESULTS
For the quarter ended September 30, 2014, the Company reported:

• Operating Funds From Operations (Operating FFO) of $65.7 million, or $0.28 per share, compared to $63.3 million, or $0.27 per share, for the same period in 2013;
• Funds From Operations (FFO) of $65.0 million, or $0.28 per share, compared to $63.4 million, or $0.27 per share, for the same period in 2013;
• Net loss attributable to common shareholders of $29.1 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to $39.9 million, or $0.17 per share, for the same period in 2013;
• Net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 includes $54.6 million of total impairment charges, of which $43.0 million related to The Gateway, a multi-tenant retail property located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2014, the Company reported:

• Operating FFO of $194.4 million, or $0.82 per share, compared to $176.1 million, or $0.75 per share, for the same period in 2013;
• FFO of $194.5 million, or $0.82 per share, compared to $194.8 million, or $0.83 per share, for the same period in 2013;
• Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders of $10.3 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to $(30.5) million, or $(0.13) per share, for the same period in 2013;
• Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 includes $60.4 million of total impairment charges, of which $43.0 million related to The Gateway, a multi-tenant retail property located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

OPERATING RESULTS
For the quarter ended September 30, 2014, the Company's portfolio results were as follows:

• 2.4% increase in total same store net operating income (NOI) over the comparable period in 2013, based on same store occupancy of 93.8% at September 30, 2014, up 10 basis points from 93.7% at June 30, 2014 and up 60 basis points from 93.2% at September 30, 2013;
• Total portfolio percent leased, including leases signed but not commenced: 95.0% at September 30, 2014, up 20 basis points from 94.8% at June 30, 2014 and up 100 basis points from 94.0% at September 30, 2013;
• Retail portfolio percent leased, including leases signed but not commenced: 94.7% at September 30, 2014, up 20 basis points from 94.5% at June 30, 2014 and up 110 basis points from 93.6% at September 30, 2013; 
• 1,200,000 square feet of retail leasing transactions comprised of 188 new and renewal leases;
• Positive comparable cash leasing spreads of 4.4%.

"We have generated another quarter of solid financial and operational results through the successful ongoing execution of our strategic plan," stated Steve Grimes, president and chief executive officer. "Subsequent to quarter end, we were pleased to receive a second investment grade credit rating, this time from Standard and Poor's Ratings Services, representing yet another important milestone for the Company. We look forward to continuing our momentum as we complete 2014."

INVESTMENTS ACTIVITY
During the quarter, the Company sold seven assets for a gross sales price of $88.5 million, which included four non-strategic multi-tenant retail assets for $56.5 million, two office assets for $24.3 million and one single-user retail asset for $7.7 million. Subsequent to quarter end, the Company sold six additional assets for a gross sales price of $34.8 million, which included five single-user retail assets for $24.4 million and one non-strategic multi-tenant retail asset for $10.4 million. Year-to-date, including activity subsequent to quarter end, asset sales have totaled $204.2 million.

CAPITAL MARKETS AND BALANCE SHEET ACTIVITY
During the quarter, the Company repaid $93.5 million of mortgage loans, excluding amortization, with a weighted average contractual interest rate of 5.94%. Year-to-date, the Company repaid $174.6 million of mortgage loans, excluding amortization, with a weighted average contractual interest rate of 6.04%.

As of September 30, 2014, the Company had $2.4 billion of consolidated indebtedness, which resulted in a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 5.6x, or a net debt and preferred stock to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 5.9x. Consolidated indebtedness, as of September 30, 2014, had a weighted average contractual interest rate of 4.96% and a weighted average maturity of 4.5 years.

Subsequent to quarter end, the Company was assigned a BBB- corporate credit rating from Standard and Poor's Ratings Services ("S&P") with a stable outlook. S&P indicated in their announcement that the investment grade rating reflects RPAI's measured investment and operating strategy, and strengthening portfolio fundamentals.

GUIDANCE
The Company is increasing its 2014 Operating FFO guidance to a range of $1.07 to $1.09 per share from $1.04 to $1.07 per share. The Company is increasing its 2014 same store NOI growth guidance to a range of 2.5% to 3.5% from 2.0% to 3.0%.

DIVIDEND
On October 21, 2014, the Company's Board of Directors declared the fourth quarter 2014 Series A preferred stock distribution of $0.4375 per preferred share, for the period beginning October 1, 2014, which will be paid on December 31, 2014, to preferred shareholders of record on December 19, 2014.

On October 21, 2014, the Company's Board of Directors also declared the fourth quarter 2014 quarterly cash dividend of $0.165625 per share on the Company's outstanding Class A common stock, which will be paid on January 9, 2015, to Class A common shareholders of record on December 26, 2014.

WEBCAST AND SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
The Company's management team will host a webcast on Tuesday, October 28, 2014, at 11:00 AM (EDT), to discuss its quarterly financial results and operating performance, business highlights and outlook. In addition, the Company may discuss business and financial developments and trends and other matters affecting the Company, some of which may not have been previously disclosed. 

A live webcast will be available online in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.rpai.com. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (877) 705-6003 or (201) 493-6725 for international callers. Please dial in at least ten minutes prior to the start of the call to register.

A replay of the webcast will be available. To listen to the replay, please go to www.rpai.com in the Investor Relations section of the website and follow the instructions. A replay of the call will be available from 2:00 PM (EDT) on October 28, 2014, until midnight (EST) on November 11, 2014. The replay can be accessed by dialing (877) 870-5176 or (858) 384-5517 for international callers and entering pin number 13590702.

The Company has also posted supplemental financial and operating information and other data in the Investor Relations section of its website.

ABOUT RPAI
Retail Properties of America, Inc. is a REIT and is one of the largest owners and operators of high quality, strategically located shopping centers in the United States.  As of September 30, 2014, the Company owned 218 retail operating properties representing 31.1 million square feet.  The Company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RPAI.  Additional information about the Company is available at www.rpai.com.

SAFE HARBOR LANGUAGE
The statements and certain other information contained in this press release, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "expect," "continue," "remains," "intend," "aim," "should," "prospects," "could," "future," "potential," "believes," "plans," "likely," "anticipate," and "probable," or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbors created thereby.  These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, these forward-looking statements should be considered as subject to the many risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company's operations and business environment.  Such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.  These uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic, business and financial conditions, changes in the Company's industry and changes in the real estate markets in particular, market demand for and pricing of the Company's common and preferred stock, general volatility of the capital and credit markets, competitive and cost factors, the ability of the Company to enter into new leases or renew leases on favorable terms, defaults on, early terminations of or non-renewal of leases by tenants, bankruptcy or insolvency of a major tenant or a significant number of smaller tenants, the effects of declining real estate valuations and impairment charges on the Company's operating results, increased interest rates and operating costs, decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates, the uncertainties of real estate acquisitions, dispositions and redevelopment activity, the Company's failure to successfully execute its non-strategic and non-core disposition program and capital recycling efforts, the Company's ability to create long-term shareholder value, the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively, the availability, terms and deployment of capital, regulatory changes and other risk factors, including those detailed in the sections of the Company's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC titled "Risk Factors". We assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
As defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), an industry trade group, FFO means net income (loss) computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of depreciable real estate, plus depreciation and amortization and impairment charges on depreciable real estate, including amounts from continuing and discontinued operations, as well as adjustments for unconsolidated joint ventures in which the Company holds an interest. The Company has adopted the NAREIT definition in its computation of FFO and believes that FFO, which is a non-GAAP performance measure, provides an additional and useful means to assess the operating performance of REITs. The Company believes that, subject to the following limitations, FFO provides a basis for comparing the Company's performance and operations to those of other REITs. Depreciation and amortization related to investment properties for purposes of calculating FFO includes a portion of loss on lease terminations encompassing the write-off of tenant-related assets, including tenant improvements and in-place lease values, as a result of early lease terminations.

The Company also reports Operating FFO, which is defined as FFO excluding the impact of discrete non-operating transactions and other events which management does not consider representative of the comparable operating results of the Company's core business platform, its real estate operating portfolio. Specific examples include, but are not limited to, the financial statement impact of gains or losses associated with the early extinguishment of debt or other liabilities, actual or anticipated settlement of litigation involving the Company, and impairment charges to write down the carrying value of assets other than depreciable real estate, which are otherwise excluded from our calculation of FFO. Neither FFO nor Operating FFO represent alternatives to "Net Income" as an indicator of the Company's performance, or "Cash Flows from Operating Activities" as determined by GAAP as a measure of the Company's capacity to fund cash needs, including the payment of dividends. Further, comparison of the Company's presentation of Operating FFO to similarly titled measures for other REITs may not necessarily be meaningful due to possible differences in definition and application by such REITs.

The Company also reports Same Store NOI.  The Company defines Net Operating Income (NOI) as operating revenues (rental income, tenant recovery income and other property income, excluding straight-line rental income, amortization of lease inducements, amortization of acquired above and below market lease intangibles and lease termination fee income) less property operating expenses (real estate tax expense and property operating expense, excluding straight-line ground rent expense, amortization of acquired ground lease intangible liability and straight-line bad debt expense). Same Store NOI represents NOI from our same store portfolio consisting of 210 operating properties acquired or placed in service prior to January 1, 2013, except for the two properties and a portion of a third property that were classified as held for sale as of September 30, 2014. NOI from Other Investment Properties represents NOI primarily from properties acquired in 2013 and 2014, our development properties, an anticipated redevelopment property, the investment properties that were sold or held for sale in 2014 that did not qualify for discontinued operations treatment, and the historical ground rent expense related to an existing same store property that was subject to a ground lease with a third party prior to our acquisition of the fee interest during 2014. NOI consists of the sum of Same Store NOI and NOI from Other Investment Properties. We believe that Same Store NOI and NOI from Other Investment Properties are useful measures of our operating performance. Other REITs may use different methodologies for calculating these metrics, and accordingly, our NOI metrics may not be comparable to other REITs. We believe that these metrics provide an operating perspective not immediately apparent from operating income or net income attributable to common shareholders as defined within GAAP. We use these metrics to evaluate our performance on a property-by-property basis because these measures allow management to evaluate the impact that factors such as lease structure, lease rates and tenant base, which vary by property, have on our operating results. However, these measures should only be used as an alternative measure of our financial performance.

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income attributable to common shareholders before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, as further adjusted to eliminate the impact of certain items that we do not consider indicative of our ongoing performance. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful because it allows investors and management to evaluate and compare our performance from period to period in a meaningful and consistent manner in addition to standard financial measurements under GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income attributable to common shareholders, as an indicator of operating performance or any measure of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. Our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA may be different from the calculation used by other companies and, accordingly, comparability may be limited. Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA represents (i) our total debt less cash and cash equivalents divided by (ii) Adjusted EBITDA for the prior three months, annualized. We believe that this ratio is useful because it provides investors with information regarding total debt net of cash and cash equivalents, which could be used to repay debt, compared to our performance as measured using Adjusted EBITDA.

Net Debt and Preferred Stock to Adjusted EBITDA represents (i) our total debt, plus preferred stock, less cash and cash equivalents divided by (ii) Adjusted EBITDA for the prior three months, annualized. We believe that this ratio is useful because it provides investors with information regarding total debt and preferred stock, net of cash and cash equivalents, which could be used to repay debt, compared to our performance as measured using Adjusted EBITDA.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Michael Fitzmaurice, VP - Finance
Retail Properties of America, Inc.
(630) 634-4233

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SOURCE Retail Properties of America, Inc.