Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust Provides 2015 FFO Guidance

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Jan. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust (NYSE:RPT) (the "Company") today announced full-year 2015 Funds From Operations ("FFO") guidance as well as provided an update to 2014.

The Company's guidance for 2015 is based upon the following plans and assumptions:

• An increase in same-center net operating income of 2.5% - 3.5%.
• The substantial completion of six previously identified development and redevelopment projects with a total cost of $49.9 million and an average yield on cost of 10% during the course of 2015.
• Gains on land sales totaling $4.0 – $5.0 million. An anticipated sale to Target of a 9.4 acre parcel that Target currently leases and has the option to acquire accounts for $3.0 - $3.5 million of this amount and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
• General & administrative expense of $22.5 – $23.5 million.

The Company's 2015 guidance excludes any shopping center acquisitions, dispositions, transactions costs, and gain or loss on extinguishment of debt.

The audit of the Company's 2014 financial statements is not complete, and estimates herein are subject to change.

Fourth Quarter 2014-Notable Items:

The Company is increasing its 2014 full-year Operating FFO guidance from a range of $1.24 to $1.26 per diluted share to a range of $1.26 to $1.27 per diluted share. It is estimated that $0.02 of FFO per share for the fourth quarter is not expected to recur going forward. During the fourth quarter, the Company received one-time lease termination fee income of approximately $2.1 million related to the departure of a tenant at the Town Center at Aquia Office Building in Stafford, Virginia.

Additionally, during the quarter the Company recorded non-cash impairment charges of approximately $27.9 million related to land available for development or sale ($23.3 million) and depreciable real estate ($4.6 million).

Pursuant to its plans for recycling capital, the Company completed the sale of Fraser Shopping Center in Fraser, Michigan, Northwest Crossing in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lake Orion Plaza in Lake Orion, Michigan for $23.1 million in the fourth quarter. Proceeds from the sales were used to reduce debt and fund the Company's expansion and redevelopment projects.

"In 2014, we executed a well-constructed business plan focused on quality and measured growth," said Dennis Gershenson, President and Chief Executive Officer. "In 2015, our primary focus will be on building an even higher-quality shopping center portfolio through value-add improvements, including expansions, re-anchorings, and major re-tenantings with an emphasis on credit quality, funded by an aggressive capital recycling program."

4Q2014 Earning Release and Conference Call Information:

The Company will issue its complete 2014 earnings results after the market closes on Tuesday, February 10, 2015. It will conduct a conference call on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. Shareholders and interested parties may access the call via:

ABOUT RAMCO-GERSHENSON PROPERTIES TRUST:

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust (NYSE:RPT) is a fully integrated, self-administered, publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  The Company's business is the ownership and management of multi-anchor shopping centers in strategic metropolitan markets throughout the Eastern, Midwestern and Central United States.  At September 30, 2014, the Company owned and managed a portfolio of 83 shopping centers and one office building with approximately 17.2 million square feet of gross leasable area owned by the Company or its joint ventures. The properties are located in Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Kentucky.  At September 30, 2014, the Company's core operating portfolio was 95.4% leased. For more information about Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, please visit www.rgpt.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that represent the Company's expectations and projections for the future. Management of Ramco-Gershenson believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on reasonable assumptions. Certain factors could occur that might cause actual results to vary, including deterioration in national economic conditions, weakening of real estate markets, decreases in the availability of credit, increases in interest rates, adverse changes in the retail industry, our continuing ability to qualify as a REIT and other factors discussed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Supplemental Information:

Management considers funds from operations, also known as "FFO", to be an appropriate supplemental measure of the financial performance of an equity REIT. Under the NAREIT definition, FFO represents net income available to common shareholders, excluding extraordinary items, as defined under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), gains (losses) on sales of depreciable property and impairment provisions on depreciable property and equity investments in depreciable property, plus real estate related depreciation and amortization (excluding amortization of financing costs), and adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures. Also, we consider "Operating FFO" a meaningful, additional measure of financial performance because it excludes periodic items such as impairment provisions on land available for sale, bargain purchase gains, and gains or losses on extinguishment of debt that are not adjusted under the current NAREIT definition of FFO. We provide a reconciliation of FFO to Operating FFO. FFO and Operating FFO should not be considered alternatives to GAAP net income available to common shareholders or as alternatives to cash flow as measures of liquidity. While we consider FFO and Operating FFO useful measures for reviewing our comparative operating and financial performance between periods or to compare our performance to different REITs, our computation of FFO and Operating FFO may differ from the computations utilized by other real estate companies, and therefore, may not be comparable to these other real estate companies.