Industrial Logistics Properties Trust cuts dividend by 97%

ILPT is a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust)

Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (ticker symbol ILPT) has announced a 97% dividend cut to 1 cent quarterly per share on July 14, 2022.

Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (Nasdaq: ILPT) today announced that ILPT’s Board of Trustees has reduced ILPT’s regular quarterly cash distribution on its common shares for the second quarter to $0.01 per share. This dividend will be paid to ILPT’s common shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 25, 2022 and distributed on or about August 18, 2022.

Earlier this year, ILPT closed on the strategic acquisition of Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation, or Monmouth, which significantly enhanced ILPT’s scale, tenant base and geographic diversity. Since then, there have been unanticipated increases in interest rates and deterioration in real estate market conditions. As a result, it is taking longer than originally expected to complete ILPT’s long term financing plan for the Monmouth acquisition, which includes the sale of additional equity interests in its consolidated joint venture, property sales and other refinancing activities. ILPT is reducing its quarterly dividend to enhance its liquidity until it completes its long term financing plan for the Monmouth acquisition and/or its leverage profile otherwise improves. ILPT currently anticipates that its dividend will return to a rate at, or close to, its historical level sometime in 2023.

Regardless of its current reduced quarterly dividend rate of $0.01 per share, ILPT expects that its dividends to its common shareholders in 2022 will be at least equal to the minimum amounts required for ILPT to remain a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes. ILPT plans to discuss today’s announcement further during its second quarter 2022 conference call scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

Industrial Logistics Properties Trust initiated a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share in 2018 and paid a 33 cent dividend quarterly through 2022. The new annual dividend of 4 cents yields 0.4% to ILPT shareholders at a stock price of $9.61. Another REIT cutting its dividend in 2022 is Ellington Residential (EARN).

Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (Nasdaq: ILPT) is a REIT focused on owning and leasing high quality distribution and logistics properties that serve the growing needs of e-commerce. As of March 31, 2022, ILPT’s portfolio consisted of 412 properties containing approximately 59.7 million rentable square feet located in 39 states. Approximately 77% of ILPT’s annual rental revenues are derived from investment grade tenants, tenants that are subsidiaries of investment grade rated entities or Hawaii land leases. ILPT is managed by The RMR Group (Nasdaq: RMR), a leading U.S. alternative asset management company with more than $37 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2022 and more than 35 years of institutional experience in buying, selling, financing and operating commercial real estate. ILPT is headquartered in Newton, MA.