CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE), recovered over 2.5% on 29th October 2018 (as on 10:51 AM GMT-4; Source: Google Finance) reflecting healthy demand trends and a competitive pricing environment. The Net income attributable to the Company’s common shareholders was $42.9 million for the third quarter of 2018, compared with $37.3 million for the third quarter of 2017. EPS attributable to the Company’s common shareholders was $0.23 for the third quarter of 2018, compared to $0.21 for the same period last year.
FFO, as adjusted, was $80.7 million for the third quarter of 2018, compared with $77.2 million for the previous year. FFO per share, as adjusted, increased 2.4% to $0.43 for the third quarter of 2018, compared with $0.42 for the same period last year. The Company’s total owned portfolio included 490 stores containing 34.5 million rentable square feet and had a physical occupancy of 90.4%. The revenues increased $9.5 million and property operating expenses increased $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2018, as compared with previous year. Increases in property operating expenses were primarily attributable to a $0.2 million increase in same-store expenses driven by higher property taxes and a $1.3 million increase in expenses associated with newly acquired or developed stores. On August 7, 2018, the Company declared a dividend of $0.30 per common share. The dividend was paid on October 15, 2018 to common shareholders of record on October 1, 2018.
The Company’s same-store portfolio at September 30, 2018 included 458 stores containing approximately 31.6 million rentable square feet, or approximately 91.8% of the aggregate rentable square feet of the Company’s 490 owned stores. These same-store properties represented approximately 94.7% of property net operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. Same-store revenues for the third quarter of 2018 increased 3.0% and same-store operating expenses increased 0.6% from the same quarter in 2017. Same-store net operating income increased 3.9%, as compared with the same period in 2017.
During the quarter, the Company sold 0.4 million common shares of beneficial interest through its “at-the-market” equity program (“ATM”) at an average sales price of $31.38 per share, resulting in net proceeds of $12.9 million, after deducting offering costs. As of September 30, 2018, the Company had 11.2 million shares available for issuance under the existing equity distribution agreements.
On July 23, 2018, 58,400 preferred OP units that were originally issued on April 12, 2017 were exchanged for an aggregate of 46,322 common units of the Operating Partnership.