We’re very pleased that the REIT is completing its first acquisition in Western Canada. The University of Alberta is a Top 5 Canadian University and rated amongst the top 100 universities in the world. Should you have any questions or are interested in learning more, please do not hesitate to contact your MFG Portfolio Manager.
Please see the Report to Unitholders and the Q1 2020 update from Adventus’ management team.
In July 2017, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced potential options for changing the taxation of investment income earned by private corporations. The proposed changes were strongly opposed by many stakeholders and, in October 2017, Minister Morneau announced that changes would be made to the proposed new rules and that draft legislation would be released as part of Budget 2018. The resulting highly anticipated Budget was tabled by Minister Morneau on February 27, 2018. While Budget 2018 has scaled back many of the proposed measures from the July 2017 Consultation Paper, it has moved forward with various amendments to the Income Tax Act1 that will affect small business corporations in Canada. The amendments with respect to passive income earned by a private corporation will still have an adverse effect on small business owners and may affect the way small business owners choose to invest their retained earnings. In particular, the effect of the changes on the small business deduction (“SBD”) will likely leave small business owners seeking tax-efficient options for the investment of corporate retained earnings that will reduce the impact of these changes.
Bill C-74, which contains the legislative provisions to implement the new passive income rules, received Royal Assent
on June 21, 2018
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. In response, we immediately paused on the multiple acquisitions we were working on and shifted our focus to mitigate the impact of the pandemic to our employees and tenants, and to ASH REIT’s broader business. We are pleased to report that we are on track to collect approximately 95% of April rents, and expect similar outcomes over the summer months.
Recently, the Canadian universities began announcing their plans for September 2020; we have provided an update on what we know and are shifting our operating focus to respond to an expected primarily online environment for the Fall term.
Amidst this uncertainty, we are starting to see some attractive opportunities emerge. With operations largely stabilized, we expect to resume our focus on completing accretive transactions over the coming months and we believe that there will be an opportunity to transact at attractive valuations.
Below is the link to our Management Report. In addition, we will be hosting a conference call to discuss our performance and outlook on Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 2:00 PM EDT – please register for the call using the link below.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Stay safe and take care
Management Report
We are pleased to highlight the first quarter 2020 report for Alignvest Strategic Partners Fund. The Q1 update discusses performance over the past quarter and their thoughts going forward. As referenced, the estimate for April 2020 performance is 5.3% bringing the year-to-date performance of the Fund to -8.6%.
Additional information on the Alignvest Strategic Partners Fund can also be found on their website.
Q1 2020 ASPF Report
Please find below the most recent update on Alignvest Student Housing. Management wanted to share the latest numbers regarding the lease up for the 2020/2021 school year and the collection of April rents. In summary, we are ahead of where we were last year with respect to leasing for the upcoming school year. Our properties are proving to be highly desirable and some of the feedback received has been that higher quality properties are even more in favour during these times of uncertainty. With respect to April rents, we are tracking to get over 97% of rent cheques. Although lower than usual, it is still far above any amount that would have management concerned about cash flow.
Please see the annual report from Management that includes audited 2019 financial statements. The section in the report entitled “2019 Year In Review” does a good job highlighting the success we have had during the year.
COVID-19 is obviously top of mind for everyone these days including students, universities and property owners. Management has done a good job highlighting our efforts thus far in planning for COVID-19. Our staff and students are our number one priority. This is outlined in the two sections, “Our Response to COVID-19” and “FAQ on COVID-19”. We want to ensure investors that the REIT is well positioned to withstand a prolonged disruption if necessary. We currently have 4 years of expenses in cash on our balance sheet. This $50+ million of cash provides us tremendous stability and we are taking measures to tighten up our operations to ensure we continue to be financially prudent. We are working closely with the universities to better understand their perspectives and strategies for the 2020/2021 school year.
We are the largest player in the Canadian student housing space and our balance sheet will ensure we exit the COVID-19 pandemic in a favourable position.
Below are links to our 2019 Annual Management Report and Financial Statements.
2019 Annual Management Report
Our Response to COVID-19
FAQ on COVID19
In summary, this is welcome news as these are two very positive step for Adventus and the unitholders.
We have been very encouraged by the operating results from the newly opened car/truck wash. The business model is very stable with the majority of revenue coming from car wash monthly memberships (currently over 500 with a goal to get to 1,500-2,000); and fleet contracts for trucks (currently 40 fleet contracts and the demand has been so high that they have to be very selective not to overload the system). The car and truck wash is looking like it is going to be very successful. On this site, we also have a self-storage facility that is under construction. They plan to be open for business in 2020. This site is going to be marketed, along with their Chestermere project, as there has been strong interest in purchasing the property even prior to construction being completed. There is currently a lot of money in Canada being invested in self storage, therefore we could end up selling the storage business in 2020. This would result in large distributions to unitholders while still having a profitable car/truck wash paying healthy dividends to shareholders.