Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call July 27, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Laurie Sneve - CAO

Stuart Tanz - CEO

Michael Haines - CFO

Rich Schoebel – COO

Conference Call Participants

Juan Sanabria - BMO Capital Markets

Craig Schmidt - Bank of America

Todd Thomas - KeyBanc Capital Markets

Michael Mueller - JPMorgan

Paulina Rojas Schmidt - Green Street

Linda Tsai - Jefferies

Craig Mailman - Citi

Michael Bilerman - Citi

Christopher Lucas - Capital One

Operator

Welcome to Retail Opportunity Investments 2022 Second Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Now, I would like to introduce Laurie Sneve, the company's Chief Accounting Officer.

Laurie Sneve

Thank you. Before we begin, please note that certain matters, which will be discussed on today's call constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that these assumptions will be achieved.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and other factors, which can cause actual results to differ significantly from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and other factors are described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Participants should refer to the company's filings to learn more about these risks and other factors as well as for more information regarding our financial and operational results.

Now, I'll turn the call over to Stuart Tanz, the Company's Chief Executive Officer. Stuart?

Stuart Tanz

Thank you, Laurie, and good morning everyone. Here with Laurie and me today is Michael Haines, our Chief Financial Officer, and Rich Schoebel, our Chief Operating Officer.

Building on the leasing activity and strong momentum that we generated in the first quarter, we continued to actively lease and renew space at a strong pace during the second quarter, achieving a new company record in terms of total square footage leased during the first six months of the year.

As we sit here today, we've already leased more space thus far that what was originally scheduled to expire during the entire year. Additionally, our strong leasing activity drove our overall portfolio lease rate higher, reaching 97.6% as of June 30, which is essentially on par with our record high portfolio lease rate prior to the pandemic.

Our ongoing consistent success in leasing continues to be driven by the fundamental strong demand for space across our portfolio in markets, demand that continues to come from a growing broad range of necessity service and destination tenants.