Phillips Edison & Co Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Perfect, thanks Jeff. Maybe just to kick it off here. You've outlined kind of long-term same-store growth of 3% to 4%. Can you walk us through the math and the puts and takes that kind of gets you at the low end or the high end?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Same store?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And I know this year, we've had an uptick in bankruptcies. You guys are less focused on some of those acres. But in a typical year, what were you dialing for bad debt?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Perfect. If anyone in the room has a question, just raise your hand. Jeff, you had mentioned acquisitions, you're kind of dialing in a little bit of an acceleration this year relative to the last 2 years. Can you just talk about what the visibility you have of that $400 million is today? And also kind of what you guys are underwriting from an IRR perspective or going in cap rate kind of how you think about the world?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Just what visibility do you have on that?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And are you, I'm kind of curious, some of your re-peers have been kind of targeting some of the bigger centers where maybe there's been a little bit less competition, so a little bit better pricing. That may change. But are you seeing what are you seeing on the competition side for the smaller community, grocery-anchored centers? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 04, 2025 / 9:20PM, PECO.OQ - Phillips Edison & Co Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And I mean is there a chance that you can exceed that $400 million? Do you have the capital in place or line of sight on that capital to do more if it's available?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And I know you guys are primarily focused on the grocery-anchored. But given the kind of the long-term control that the grocers have and the minimal rent bumps and your focus on getting that 3% to 4% same-stores. You guys are targeting acquisitions. What are your thoughts on unanchored retail as a potential asset class or mixing in, I know TJX is a very small piece of it. But mixing in some of those off-price discounters as your anchor where you're able to get some annual bumps?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And then on the health of the consumer, what are your retailer customers telling you? And maybe what are you seeing on Placer data or other kind of tracking systems that you have on the foot traffic that's been happening at your centers?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Sure. And I know in the past, we've met I brought up your demographics and you guys have pushed back that they're not that different, right? Can you walk through the perception of your demos, which are a little bit lower than peers, but not at the low end of the income level for the US?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And I've asked this of all your peers. The evolution of retail with the lack of supply and the demand, right? This is some of the best fundamentals we've seen in years. And at the same time, there's a lot of: well, there's only so much we can push because we don't want to put our retailers out of business. But at a certain point, right, you would think there could be some possibility to reprice retail real estate to the upside. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 04, 2025 / 9:20PM, PECO.OQ - Phillips Edison & Co Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference And part of that is on the anchors, right? And groceries have historically kind of flat leases, a long time to have control. You have these market-to-markets, but they're theoretical because you can never get to them, right? We'll all be dead in this room before that happens. So I'm just curious, as some of the anchor boxes do come up for expiration in the near to medium term. Kind of what are the steps you guys are taking to try to if you can't get fully just economic concession to them in the form of higher rents, what are some of the other concessions you're looking at that may be non-economic, but give you opportunities to extract value out of your centers in other ways?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And are you having success trying to get kind of shorter option periods? Or are they still pushing for maybe a 10-, 20-year lease with another 20 or 30 years of control?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Any questions from the audience? Yes?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Any other questions? So you guys had a long history as a private company. Now you've been public. Is there anything that in this current environment, you kind of miss being a private company that you could do that the public investors don't quite understand, but are long-term value enhancing?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : So you guys run the defensive portfolio, leverage is at 5 times. You're finding acquisitions. I mean, what is it that you worry about in this environment? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MARCH 04, 2025 / 9:20PM, PECO.OQ - Phillips Edison & Co Inc at Citi Global Property CEO Conference

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Listen, I try -- I thought -- I ask that question before because who knows how that's going to play out, but please feel free to open up. how you guys think that could play out for your tenant base and retailer base?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Just curious, you mentioned Kroger and Albertsons are two of your biggest tenants. That merger clearly fell apart. We've had a CEO change over at Kroger. Any kind of concern about strategy shift or fallout from the merger dying and having new management over at Kroger?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Perfect. We'll just end here with the rapid fires. For retail in 2026, what do you think same-store NOI growth overall could be?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : And 12 months from now, more or less of the same amount of public retail companies?

Question: Craig Mailman - Citi - Analyst : Great. Thank you.