Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE) Q3 2020 Earnings Conference Call - Final Transcript

Welcome to Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Before turning the call over to the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Paul McDermott, Amy Hopkins, Vice President of Investor Relations will provide some introductory information.

Amy, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to WashREIT third quarter earnings conference call. Before we begin, please note that forward-looking statements may be made during this discussion. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including those related to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which may cause actual results to differ materially, and we undertake no duty to update them as actual events unfold. We refer to these risks in our SEC filings.

Reconciliations of the GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures discussed on this call are available on our most recent earnings press release and financial supplement, which were distributed yesterday and can be found on the Investor Relations page of our website.

Participating in today's call with me will be Paul McDermott, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Riffee, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Karen Filter, Senior Vice President and General Counsel; Drew Hammond, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer; and Graham Montgomery, Vice President and Head of Research.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Amy, and good morning everyone. I hope everyone is safe and healthy, and we appreciate you being with us today. We are joining you from our corporate headquarters in Washington DC, where I've been working alongside many others from our team with social distancing and other safety protocols in place. We are all very happy to be back together on a voluntary basis, and while our technology has been incredibly effective, and that's helped us be successful while working remotely, there is no substitute for in-person collaboration.

Last evening, we released our earnings for the third quarter of 2020. Our results were largely in line with our expectations and our portfolio continues to demonstrate strong, stable credit performance as we absorb the near-term impact of the pandemic. While uncertainty remains regarding how protractive this economic downturn will be, we remain well-positioned to bolster our long-term strategic growth plans once the operating environment improves. Ahead of the downturn, we reshaped our portfolio with a long-term vision and this focus has proven to be prudent from a capital allocation perspective.

Our multifamily collections are consistently above national averages, and our suburban expansion through the Assembly portfolio acquisition is performing well. While our operating environment has changed drastically over the past seven months, we swiftly adjusted to the demands of today's market. We have fully prepared our commercial properties for reentry by upgrading ventilation filters, implemented enhanced cleaning protocols and installing contactless, opening technology and protective shields in addition to many other safety enhancements.

We have worked diligently with tenants who have been financially impacted by COVID-19 to arrange deferral agreements that support their