Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 26, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Hannah True - Finance and Corporate Strategy

Ted Klinck - President & CEO

Brian Leary - EVP & COO

Brendan Maiorana - EVP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Camille Bonnel - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Blaine Heck - Wells Fargo

Michael Griffin - Citigroup

Georgi Dinkov - Mizuho Securities

Rob Stevenson - Janney Montgomery Scott

Nick Thillman - Robert W. Baird

Dylan Burzinski - Green Street Advisors

Ronald Kamdem - Morgan Stanley

Peter Abramowitz - Jefferies

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Highwoods Properties Q2 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Juc Pietr. I will be your moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call, with an opportunity for question-and-answer at the end. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Hannah True, Manager Finance and Corporate Strategy, Hannah, please go ahead.

Hannah True

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call this morning are Ted Klinck, our Chief Executive Officer; Brian Leary, our Chief Operating Officer; and Brendan Maiorana, our Chief Financial Officer. For your convenience, today's prepared remarks have been posted on the web. If you have not received yesterday's earnings release or supplemental, they are both available on the Investors section of our website at highwoods.com.

On today's call, our review will include non-GAAP measures such as FFO, NOI and EBITDAre. The release and supplemental include a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements made during today's call are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed at length in our press releases as well as our SEC filings. As you know, actual events and results can differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and the company does not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statements.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Ted.

Ted Klinck

Thanks, Hannah, and good morning, everyone. During the second quarter, we once again had strong financial and operational results. We further improved our portfolio quality and balance sheet by selling $51 million of non-core assets. Leasing activity was healthy. We demonstrated resiliency with our FFO results in the face of higher interest rates, and we posted solid cash flows.

Our markets continue to attract talent as seen by the outsized population and job growth compared to other major U.S. cities. CNBC recently published its annual ranking of top states for business, every core market in which we operate had its state ranked number eight or higher.