Medalist Diversified REIT Announces Letter to Shareholders
Medalist Diversified REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRR) (the "Company" or "Medalist"), a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the US, today issued a Letter to Shareholders from its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas E. Messier.
Dear Fellow Shareholders:
I am proud of our team's accomplishments in 2021 as we clearly demonstrated the strength of our model. Our focus on secondary and tertiary markets in the Southeastern US and our strategy to continually improve the position of our portfolio were key drivers behind our ability to successfully emerge from the challenges of the early days of COVID.
We ended 2021 by declaring our third consecutive quarterly common stock dividend in the wake of the pandemic and announcing a 500,000-share common stock buyback program, both strong signals of the conviction that our Board and management have in the Company's strategy.
Portfolio Update
In September, we completed the sale of our Hampton Inn property in Greensboro, North Carolina, generating net proceeds of approximately $1.7 million. As announced in the second quarter of 2021, the long-term contract for 100 percent rental of all 148-rooms at our remaining hotel property, the Clemson Best Western in South Carolina, was extended through May 2022.
Our total square footage of retail and flex properties grew to 764,940 square feet in 2021, up 92 percent from 397,874 square feet at the end of 2020. This expansion includes the May 2021 acquisition of Lancer Center, a 178,626 square foot property in Lancaster, South Carolina with anchor tenants that include Big Lots, Harbor Freight, KJ's Grocery, and Babcock Furniture. Lancer Center's diverse workforce tenancy is a great example of our acquisition targeting strategy, and we believe this is an important driver behind our ability to immediately generate positive and sustainable cash flow from additions to our portfolio.
In August, we acquired Greenbrier Business Center, a flex Industrial center consisting of three buildings totaling approximately 89,290 square feet of gross leasable space in Chesapeake, Virginia. As with Lancer, Greenbrier has a diverse workforce tenancy, consistent with our strategy, that we were able to translate into immediate cash flow. In the fourth quarter, we also acquired the Parkway Property, a mixed-use industrial/flex portfolio consisting of two buildings totaling 64,109 square feet of gross leasable space in Virginia Beach, Virginia that has immediate cash flow.
These acquisitions were made possible by our successful common stock offering in April 2021, and we expect to use the remaining funds from the offering for additional acquisitions during early 2022.
While we continue to generate a net loss due to non-cash items such as depreciation, amortization and non-cash interest expense, revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, were up 26 percent year-over-year to $8.69 million, and our net operating income of $4.65 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, represented a 57 percent increase over the prior year period. It's important to note that these numbers reflect just over one month of ownership of the Greenbrier property and pre-date our acquisition of the Parkway Property in November.
Looking Ahead
In addition to continuing to deploy capital for investment property acquisitions, we intend to buy back shares of our common stock, as announced in December, when our financial position and market conditions permit. While our primary emphasis will remain on continuing our strategy of growth through additional investment property acquisitions, we intend to be decisive when there are opportunities to enhance stockholder value and strengthen the Company's capital structure.
We are building on a strong track record of success, and I firmly believe Medalist's best days are ahead. I want to thank our shareholders for their continued support on this journey as we strive to further grow value in 2022 and beyond.
Sincerely,
Thomas E. Messier
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
About Medalist Diversified REIT
Medalist Diversified REIT Inc. is a Virginia-based real estate investment trust that specializes in acquiring, owning and managing commercial real estate in the Southeast region of the U.S. The Company's strategy is to focus on commercial real estate which is expected to provide an attractive balance of risk and returns. Medalist utilizes a rigorous, consistent and replicable process for sourcing and conducting due diligence of acquisitions. For more information on Medalist, please visit the Company website at https://www.medalistreit.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical, including statements regarding management's intentions, beliefs, expectations, representations, plans or predictions of the future, and are typically identified by such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "may," "will," "should" and "could." Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's present expectations, but these statements are not guaranteed to occur. Furthermore, the Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, of new information, data or methods, future events or other changes. Investors should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. For further discussion of the factors that could affect outcomes, please refer to the "Risk Factors" section of the prospectus dated June 21, 2021 and its accompanying prospectus supplement dated November 17, 2021, and in the Company's subsequent annual and periodic reports and other documents filed with the SEC, copies of which are available on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.
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