MCLEAN, VA - With some deals in the works and eyes looking forward, Gladstone Land Corporation appears to have a big quarter ahead, according to its most recent financial report.
"We're entering the fourth quarter of 2015 on a strong note, having invested about $30 million into five new farms during the quarter [3,413 total acres], including our first farms in the Midwest and our first almond tree farms, which we're expecting to result in nice returns for us,” David Gladstone, Company's Chief Executive Officer, said in the release. “We also just acquired one new farm in Florida for about $4 million, and we have an additional $17 million of potential farmland purchases under signed purchase agreements that we are working towards closing over the next several months, so we expect to be very active in closing out 2015.”
Of the three acquisitions the company made in its third quarter, two remain open, however the company stated that it remains confident that those, too, will close successfully. It did state, however, that these agreements are subject to customary conditions and termination rights.
Those three deals combined equate to 1,688 acres of farmland in both Florida and Georgia for $7.7 million, or just over $4,500 per acre.
Other highlights for the company’s third quarter of 2015 included:
- Financing Activities: Obtained $27.7 million in aggregate, of new, long-term borrowings at a weighted-average interest rate of 3.1%, which rates are fixed for terms ranging from three to five years.
- Also amended the borrowing facility with our largest lender, which should result in annual interest savings of approximately $190,000.
- Distributions: Declared and paid monthly cash distributions of $0.04 per share of common stock for each of July, August, and September.
Gladstone Land also initiated an at-the-market program, allowing it to issue and sell up to $30 million of its common stock.
“After putting the money raised in our second-quarter equity offering to use, we saw our net asset value per common share increase by 22 cents, up to $13.64 as of September 30, 2015,” Gladstone said. “And we expect to see this mark continue to increase in the future due to portfolio appreciation and our ability to put high-quality farmland on our books."
The CEO concluded that the company’s operating expenses are beginning to stabilize, and that he expects a larger portion of rental income from new acquisitions in the future to go directly to earnings as the company continues to borrow from less expensive lending sources.
