Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. 10-Q

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS The following risk factor supplements the risk factors set forth in our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 12, 2020. Except to the extent updated below or previously updated, or to the extent additional factual information disclosed elsewhere in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q relates to such risk factors (including, without limitation, the matters discussed in Part I, “Item 2 - Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), there were no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and could continue to have, a material adverse effect on our and our tenants’ businesses, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, liquidity, and ability to satisfy debt service obligations. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and could continue to cause, significant disruptions to the United States and global economy and has contributed to significant volatility and negative pressure in financial markets. The global impact of the outbreak is continually evolving and, as additional cases of the virus are identified, many countries, including the United States, reacted by instituting quarantines, restrictions on travel, and/or mandatory closures of businesses. Certain states and cities, including where our properties are located, also reacted by instituting quarantines, restrictions on travel, “shelter-in-place” or “stay-at-home” rules, restrictions on types of business that may continue to operate, and/or restrictions on the types of construction projects that may continue. In May 2020, many state and local governments began lifting, in whole or in part, the “stay-at-home” mandates, effectively removing or lessening the limitations on travel and allowing many businesses to reopen in full or limited capacity. Some states and localities have temporarily reinstated certain mandates in response to increasing reported cases of COVID-19. The impact these measures and the resulting consumer behavior are having on our portfolio evolved throughout the second and third quarters, and we expect that it will continue to do so. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our business and financial performance, and we expect this impact to continue. Our retail and services tenants depend on in-person interactions with their customers to generate unit-level profitability, and the COVID-19 pandemic has and may continue to decrease customer willingness to frequent, and mandated “shelter-in-place” or “stay-at-home” orders may prevent customers from frequenting, our tenants’ businesses, which may result in their inability to maintain profitability and make timely rental payments to us under their leases or to otherwise seek lease modifications or to declare bankruptcy. We own properties across the United States, including properties in states that have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have a higher concentration of annualized base rent (“ABR”) from tenants in certain states significantly impacted by the pandemic, such as Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, and Illinois. Our wholly-owned properties and those owned through our joint ventures contained approximately 5,600 occupied tenant spaces as of November 4, 2020. At the peak of the pandemic-related closure activity, our temporary closures reached approximately 2,100, or 37% of all tenant spaces, totaling 27% of our ABR and 22% of our gross leasable area (“GLA”). As of November 4, 2020, 98% of our occupied tenant spaces, totaling 99% of our ABR and GLA, are open for business. Certain tenants remain temporarily closed, have since closed after reopening, are limiting the number of customers allowed in their stores, or have modified their operations in other ways that may impact their profitability, either as a result of government mandates or self-elected efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19. These actions could result in increased permanent store closings and could reduce the demand for leasing space in our shopping centers and result in a decline in average rental rates on expiring leases. While most of our tenants have reopened, we cannot presently determine how many of the tenants that remain closed will reopen, or whether a portion of those that have reopened will be required by government mandates to temporarily close again or will encounter financial difficulties that require them to close permanently. We believe substantially all tenants, including those that were required to temporarily close under governmental mandates, are contractually obligated to continue with their rent payments as documented in our lease agreements with them. However, we believe it is best to begin negotiation of relief only once a tenant has reopened, and we have received payments made toward rent and recovery charges owed during the second and third quarter. As of November 4, 2020, we have executed payment plans with our tenants agreeing to defer approximately $4.3 million in rent and related charges, and we had granted rent abatements totaling approximately $2.0 million. These payment plans and rent abatements represented 1.1% and 0.5% of portfolio ABR, respectively, and the weighted-average term over which we expect to receive payment on executed payment plans is approximately eight months. We are in negotiations with additional tenants, which we believe will lead to more tenants repaying their past due charges. As of November 4, 2020, we have collected approximately 90% of rent and recoveries billed during the second quarter of 2020, 41 and approximately 94% of rent and recoveries billed during the third quarter. Further, our collections for October 2020 were 94%. In the event of any default by a tenant under its lease agreement or relief agreement, we may not be able to fully recover and/or may experience delays in recovering and additional costs in enforcing our rights as landlord to recover amounts due to us under the terms of the lease agreement and/or relief agreement. We currently anticipate the above circumstances to negatively impact our revenues at least for the remainder of the year. Additionally, certain tenants have declared bankruptcy as a result of the effects of the pandemic. As of September 30, 2020, we have several tenants in bankruptcy proceedings where we have not yet received notice that the lease has been assumed or rejected, representing an exposure of 1.2% of our total ABR. Moreover, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions intended to prevent and mitigate its spread, resulting consumer behavior, and the economic slowdown or recession could have additional adverse effects on our business, including with regards to: • the ability and willingness of our tenants to renew their leases upon expiration, our ability to re-lease the properties on the same or better terms in the event of nonrenewal or in the event we exercise our right to replace an existing tenant, and obligations we may incur in connection with the replacement of an existing tenant, particularly in light of the adverse impact to the financial health of many retailers and service providers that has occurred and continues to occur as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant uncertainty as to when and the conditions under which potential tenants will be able to operate physical retail locations in the future; • a potential sustained or permanent increase in online shopping instead of shopping at physical retail properties, thereby reducing demand for space in our shopping centers and possible related reductions in rent or increased costs to lease space; • the adverse impact of current economic conditions on the market value of our real estate portfolio and our third-party investment management business, and consequently on the estimated value per share (“EVPS”) of our common stock; • the adverse impact of the current economic conditions on our ability to effect a liquidity event at an attractive price or at all in the near term and for a potentially lengthy period of time; • the financial impact and continued economic uncertainty could continue to negatively impact our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders and/or to repurchase shares; • to the extent we were seeking to sell properties in the near term, significantly greater uncertainty regarding our ability to do so at attractive prices or at all; • anticipated returns from development and redevelopment projects, which have been prioritized to support the reopening of our tenants and new leasing activity, or deferred if possible; • the broader impact of the severe economic contraction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting increase in unemployment that has occurred in the short-term and its effect on consumer behavior, and negative consequences that will occur if these trends are not timely reversed; • state, local, or industry-initiated efforts, such as a rent freeze for tenants or a suspension of a landlord’s ability to enforce evictions, which may affect our ability to collect rent or enforce remedies for the failure to pay rent; • severe disruption and instability in the global financial markets or deteriorations in credit and financing conditions, which could make it difficult for us to access debt and equity capital on attractive terms, or at all, and impact our ability to fund business operations and activities and repay liabilities on a timely basis; • our ability to pay down, refinance, restructure, or extend our indebtedness as it becomes due, and our potential inability to comply with the financial covenants of our credit facility and other debt agreements, which could result in a default and potential acceleration of indebtedness and impact our ability to make additional borrowings under our credit facility or otherwise in the future; and • the potential negative impact on the health of our personnel, particularly if a significant number of them and/or key personnel are impacted, and the potential impact of adaptations to our operations in order to protect our personnel, such as remote work arrangements, could introduce operational risk, including but not limited to cybersecurity risks, and could impair our ability to manage our business. We have temporarily suspended stockholder distributions in an effort to preserve cash due to current economic uncertainty and we may choose to do the same in the future. Additionally, we may in the future choose to pay distributions in shares of our common stock rather than solely in cash, which may result in our stockholders having a tax liability with respect to such distributions that exceeds the amount of cash received, if any. While the rapid developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic preclude any prediction as to its ultimate adverse impact, the current economic, political, and social environment presents material risks and uncertainties with respect to our and our tenants’ business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, and ability to satisfy debt service obligations. Moreover, to the extent any of these risks and uncertainties adversely impact us in the ways described above or otherwise, they may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described under the section entitled “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.