RAIT Financial Trust (fka RASFQ)

[MCArmel1]

RAIT Financial Trust Announces First Quarter Cash Dividend on its Common Shares and Provides 2015 CAD Guidance

Company Release - 03/17/2015 07:43

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS) (“RAIT”) today announced its first quarter cash dividend on its common shares and provided guidance regarding its expected cash available for distribution (“CAD”) for 2015.

First Quarter Cash Dividend – On March 16, 2015, RAIT’s Board of Trustees declared a first quarter 2015 cash dividend on RAIT’s common shares of $0.18 per common share. The dividend will be paid on April 30, 2015 to holders of record on April 10, 2015. The ex-dividend date is April 8, 2015.

2015 CAD Guidance – RAIT estimates that its 2015 full year CAD per diluted share will be in a range of $1.02-$1.20 per common share. CAD guidance includes $0.26-$0.32 per share of previously announced gains on property sales expected during 2015. A reconciliation of RAIT's projected net income (loss) allocable to common shares to its projected CAD, a non-GAAP financial measure, is included as Schedule I to this release. This Schedule also includes assumptions underlying this estimate, management’s rationale for the usefulness of CAD, how RAIT calculates CAD, and other information.

About RAIT Financial Trust

RAIT Financial Trust is an internally-managed real estate investment trust that provides debt financing options to owners of commercial real estate and invests directly into commercial real estate properties located throughout the United States. In addition, RAIT is an asset and property manager of real estate-related assets. For more information, please visit www.rait.com or call Investor Relations at 215.243.9000.

Forward-Looking Statements

Our statements relating to our CAD guidance, including, without limitation, our estimates of future net income (loss) allocable to common shares, adjustments thereto, CAD and CAD per share, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as “guidance,” “estimate,” “assume,” "may," “trend”, "will," "continue," "expect," "intend," "anticipate” or other similar words or terms. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the guidance, estimates, expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to: whether dilution from our outstanding convertible senior notes or warrants or equity compensation will occur; whether we will be able to achieve our estimated loan originations, property acquisitions, gains on property sales, growth in rental revenue and levels of loan repayments; the factors cited in Schedule I and those disclosed in RAIT’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. RAIT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.


Schedule I
RAIT Financial Trust
Reconciliation of RAIT Annualized Projected Net income (loss) Allocable to Common Shares and
Projected Cash Available for Distribution
(dollars in thousands, except per share data)




2015 Annualized Projected CAD(1)

Net income (loss) allocable to common shares ($8,200 ) - $7,600

Adjustments:
Depreciation, amortization expense and other items 95,000 - 96,600
CAD $86,800 - $104,200
CAD per share $1.02 - $1.20


(1) Constitutes forward-looking information. Actual full 2015 projected cash available for distribution could vary significantly from the projections presented. CAD may fluctuate based upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the timing and amount of investments, repayments and asset sales, capital raised, use of leverage, changes in the expected yield of investments and the overall conditions in commercial real estate and the economy generally. CAD per share does not take into account any potential dilution from our outstanding convertible senior notes or warrants or equity compensation. The above guidance assumes for 2015: gross loan originations of $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion; $700 to $800 million of property acquisitions; gains on property sales of $22 to $28 million resulting in $0.26-$0.32 per share of gains on property sales, respectively; RAIT’s property portfolio experiences 3% to 4% rental revenue growth; RAIT’s investment portfolios do not experience significant loan repayments; and 85 million to 87 million weighted average shares outstanding.

Cash Available for Distribution

Cash available for distribution, or CAD, is a non-GAAP financial measure. We believe that CAD provides investors and management with a meaningful indicator of operating performance. Management also uses CAD, among other measures, to evaluate profitability and our board of trustees considers CAD in determining our quarterly cash distributions. We also believe that CAD is useful because it adjusts for a variety of noncash items (such as depreciation and amortization, equity-based compensation, realized gain (loss) on assets, provision for loan losses and non-cash interest income and expense items).

We calculate CAD by subtracting from or adding to net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders the following items: depreciation and amortization items including, depreciation and amortization, straight-line rental income or expense, amortization of in place leases, amortization of deferred financing costs, amortization of discount on financings and equity-based compensation; changes in the fair value of our financial instruments; realized noncash gain (loss) on assets and other; provision for loan losses; impairment on depreciable property; acquisition gains or losses and transaction costs; certain fee income eliminated in consolidation that is attributable to third parties and one-time events pursuant to changes in U.S. GAAP and certain other non-recurring items.

CAD should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of operating performance. For example, CAD does not adjust for the accrual of income and expenses that may not be received or paid in cash during the associated periods. Please refer to our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP in Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, our methodology for calculating CAD may differ from the methodologies used by other comparable companies, including other REITs, when calculating the same or similar supplemental financial measures and may not be comparable with these companies.

RAIT Financial Trust Contact
Andres Viroslav, 215-243-9000
[e-mail]

Source: RAIT Financial Trust

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