Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:OFC) ("COPT" or the "Company") announced today that its Board of Trustees declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.285 per common share for the first quarter ending March 31, 2023. This represents an increase of 3.6%, or $0.01 per share, over the most recent quarterly dividend of $0.275. The first quarter 2023 dividend represents an annualized amount of $1.14 per share and is payable on April 17, 2023, to shareholders of record on March 31, 2023.
Stephen E. Budorick, COPT's President & Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This dividend increase is the culmination of over a decade of work to reposition our Company to produce durable cash flows and predictable growth, by deeply concentrating our investments into properties that support National Defense. From 2012 to 2022, we invested nearly $250 million, on average annually, primarily into Defense/IT property developments. Today, 91% of our core portfolio annualized rental revenue comes from our Defense/IT properties.
Between 2018 to 2022, FFO per share increased at a compound annual growth rate of 4.1%. We recently announced that we expect to fund our annual development investment from internal cash flows going forward. This dividend increase, our first in over a decade, is supported by the strong growth in FFO and AFFO, allowing us to increase our dividend distribution to shareholders, while continuing to fund accretive development activities in National Defense properties on a leverage neutral basis."
About COPT
COPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties. The majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology ("IT") related activities servicing what the Company believes are growing, durable, priority missions ("Defense/IT Locations"). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics ("Regional Office Properties"). As of December 31, 2022, the Company derived 91% of its core portfolio annualized rental revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 9% from its Regional Office Properties. As of the same date and including 21 properties owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, COPT's core portfolio of 192 properties encompassed 22.8 million square feet and was 95.3% leased.
Forward-Looking Information
This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "estimate," "plan" or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate. Although the Company believes that the expectations, estimates and projections reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time made, the Company can give no assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements.
The areas of risk that may affect these expectations, estimates and projections include, but are not limited to, those risks described in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust
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