Joan and Martin Stein Sr. started the shopping center development company that became Regency Centers Corp. in 1963 and over the last half-century, the Jacksonville-based company has weathered a lot of economic storms.
"We've learned some valuable lessons from boom-and-bust cycles," Regency Chairman and CEO Martin "Hap" Stein Jr. told shareholders at Tuesday's annual meeting at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.
The company's strategy of developing high-quality shopping centers with top-performing retail tenants, mainly anchored by grocery stores, helped it get through the latest economic downturn in good shape.
"Regency has emerged better, stronger and a more focused company," President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Smith said.
At the end of 2012, Regency owned 204 shopping centers in 24 states and through investment partnerships, it also had an ownership interest in 144 other shopping centers.
The occupancy of its properties fell to 92.2 percent at the end of 2011 but after a strong leasing year in 2012, occupancy is back to 94.6 percent, near the company's goal of 95 percent, Stein said.
"We're close enough to our goal that Brian and our team are now eyeing 96 percent," he said.
Regency's core funds from operations, a key measure of a real estate company's performance, rose by 7 percent last year, Stein said.
Funds from operations basically are the company's earnings excluding depreciation and amortization expenses.
In Regency's case, the company focuses on increasing the net operating income of its properties by 2.5 percent a year, a target it considers the "holy grail," Smith said.
"We want that growth to be reliable and predictable," he said.
In 2012, same-property net operating income rose by 4 percent.
With its earnings growth, Regency's shareholder return – the increase in the market price of the stock plus dividends paid out – was 30.4 percent in 2012. Since the company's initial public offering in 1993, Regency has produced an annual shareholder return of 12.4 percent, Stein said.
Regency late on Wednesday reported that its first-quarter core funds from operations were 64 cents a share, up from 62 cents in the first quarter of 2012. Same-property net operating income rose by 5.1 percent.
The company's net income for the quarter was $15.6 million, or 17 cents a share, up from $13.2 million, or 14 cents a share, last year.
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