KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript February 7, 2024

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jack Switala. Please go ahead.

Jack Switala: Great. Thanks, operator. And welcome to the KKR Real Estate Finance Trust's earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2023. As the operator mentioned, this is Jack Switala. Today, I'm joined on the call by our CEO, Matt Salem; our President and COO, Patrick Mattson; and our CFO, Kendra Decious. I'd like to remind everyone that we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures on the call, which are reconciled to GAAP figures in our earnings release and in the supplementary presentation, both of which are available on the Investor Relations portion of our Web site. This call will also contain certain forward-looking statements which do not guarantee future events or performance. Please refer to our most recently filed 10-K for cautionary factors related to these statements.

Before I turn the call over to Matt, I'll provide a brief recap of our results. For the fourth quarter of 2023, we reported a GAAP net loss of $18.7 million or negative $0.27 per diluted share. Distributable earnings this quarter were negative $26 million or negative $0.37 per share, including a write-off of $59 million or $0.85 per share. Distributable earnings prior to realized losses were $0.47 per share relative to our Q4 $0.43 per share dividend. Book value per share as of December 31, 2023 was $15.52, a decline of approximately 5% quarter-over-quarter. Our CECL allowance decreased to $3.06 per share from $3.21 per share last quarter. In mid-January, we paid a cash dividend of $0.43 per common share with respect to the fourth quarter. Additionally, the company's Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock with respect to the first quarter of 2024.

The divided is payable on April 15, 2024 to KREF's common stockholders of record as of March 28, 2024. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Matt.

Matt Salem: Thank you, Jack. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before turning to the current market environment, company results, and dividend commentary, I'd like to highlight KREF's achievements during 2023. We have focused our efforts on maintaining high levels of liquidity, fortifying our liability structure, and proactively managing our portfolio, all of which has been critical to KREF's ability to navigate this challenging market. To be specific, we have built and maintained a market-leading liquidity position with the help of KKR Capital Markets, with current cash on hand and undrawn corporate revolver capacity of nearly $600 million. Our financing continues to be best in class, which we further optimized by upsizing a repurchase agreement by $160 million, and extending the term.