Simon 2020 Annual Report
FROM THE CHAIRMAN, CEO & PRESIDENT
2020 was a very difficult year for all affected by COVID-19, including your company, Simon Property Group (“SPG”, “Simon” or the “Company”). When I wrote last year, as COVID-19 reached the U.S. and a global pandemic was declared, I was not in a position to know precisely how it would affect us. I certainly did not expect it would result in the closure of our entire domestic portfolio, the loss of approximately 13,500 shopping days, and an over 20% reduction in our cash flow for the year. However, I did know that your Simon management team would be focused, prudent, level-headed and compassionate, and the safety of our shoppers and employees would be our number one priority. I also knew, based on previous experiences, that as we navigated this crisis, our Company would persevere and ultimately gain strength. I am proud to say that through the resilience and resolve of the entire Simon team, this has been the case. Though the pandemic is clearly not over, I do believe that for our Company the worst is behind us and, in 2021, we will begin to rebuild our free cash flow. Just like the American people, our Company is optimistic about our future prospects. DEAR FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS,
Business was off to a good start in early 2020, with operating metrics and underlying portfolio fundamentals trending at or above our expectations. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and as states, counties and local governments began to impose restrictive orders, we quickly cooperated and were the first in our industry to temporarily close our U.S. properties to protect shoppers and the communities we serve from the rapid spread of COVID-19. Not knowing how long this might last, we took immediate and decisive actions to aggressively reduce operating costs and increase our financial resources. The following are some of the significant actions we took: • Suspended or eliminated more than $1 billion of capital for redevelopment and new development projects in the U.S. and internationally; • Significantly reduced property operating expenses and all non-essential corporate spending; • Made very difficult decisions affecting employees, including a reduction in force and furloughing certain field and corporate personnel due to the closure of our properties as a result of governmental stay-at-home orders; • Increased our financial resources through an amended and extended credit facility with a $6 billion facility that included a $2 billion term loan; and • Reduced our dividend.
We were also the first to begin the thoughtful reopening of our U.S. properties, subject to the various governmental restrictions. The health and safety of the communities we serve will always be our highest priority. As part of the reopening process, we developed and published a comprehensive COVID-19 Exposure Control Policy in conjunction with leading experts in the fields of epidemiology and environmental health and safety in order to create the most effective safety standards. These protocols met or exceeded the guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and are more robust than the measures deployed by many of the “essential businesses” and online-only retailers’ fulfillment centers that were allowed to remain open during the COVID-19 crisis. We led the effort for our local economies to get back to business, while delivering an elevated standard of safety. In fact, over 200 of our properties have received the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management. We clearly had a lot to balance including the safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate, retailer needs, the payment of real estate taxes that our communities rely on, and of course the Company’s financial results. Though we weren’t perfect by any stretch, we walked that balance beam with our heads held high. On the real estate tax front, I do hope that assessors will begin to level the playing field when it comes to assessing our real estate versus other commercial real estate. We pay more than our fair share.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2020
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