Apartment Investment and Management Company, or Aimco (AiV), as the real estate investment trust (REIT) is popularly known, reported fiscal 2010 first quarter funds from operations (FFO) of $29.3 million or $0.25 per share compared to $51.3 million or $0.45 per share in the year-ago period.

Funds from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.
 
Excluding the non-recurring one-time items, FFO during the quarter was $36.9 million or $0.32 per share, compared to $48.8 million or $0.42 per share in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease in year-over-year FFO was primarily due to dilution from 2009 asset sales.

In the conventional real estate portfolio, Aimco had a weighted average ownership of 92%. Same-store revenue in the conventional portfolio decreased $3.1 million or 1.8%, primarily due to lower average rent (down 5.5% or $59 per unit from $1,065 to $1,006) partially offset by higher average daily occupancy of 96.0% for first quarter 2010 compared to 93.3% for first quarter 2009.

Rental rates on new leases during the quarter were 7.0% lower than the expiring leases, while renewals were 0.1% higher than the expiring lease rates. In the affordable real estate portfolio, Aimco had a weighted average ownership of 62% during the quarter.

Aimco sold four conventional properties (789 units) and eight affordable properties (834 units) during the quarter for $82.6 million of gross proceeds, the bulk of which was used to repay debt. At quarter end, Aimco had $5.8 billion of consolidated debt, including $4.9 billion of fixed-rate property debt, and $45 million corporate debt.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the company repaid $10 million of term debt, utilizing proceeds from an asset sale. Currently the company has only $35 million of corporate term debt. At quarter end, Aimco had cash and cash equivalents of $77.9 million.

For full year 2010, Aimco reiterated its earlier recurring FFO guidance in the range of $1.25 to $1.35 per share, while for second quarter 2010 recurring FFO is expected in the range of $0.28 to $0.34 per share. Same-store conventional net operating income during second quarter 2010 is expected to decline 5.0% to 6.0% compared to the year-earlier quarter, while same-store conventional net operating income for full year 2010 is expected to decline 2.0% to 5.0% compared to full year 2009.
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