CHICAGO — Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance Inc., a commercial mortgage real estate investment trust, reported its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.
Peter Sack, Co-Chief Executive Officer, noted, “We have entered 2025 much like we did in 2024 with significant volatility in the financial services sector and within the cannabis industry. The broader sentiment in cannabis is more muted than most participants had expected as regulatory action has once again been delayed and the public market reaction to tariff uncertainty has had an impact on equity values. We see opportunity in this disruption as we believe operators will be more likely to seek additional debt financing in an environment where fewer capital providers can remain active. Chicago Atlantic will continue to execute on what we do best as direct lenders – remain incredibly disciplined on deploying capital to consumer and product-focused cannabis operators in limited-license states, with strong management teams, low leverage profiles, and fundamentally sound growth initiatives. We are confident our measured approach to the current environment, our under-levered balance sheet, and strong loan portfolio will enable us to maximize long-term returns for our shareholders.”
Portfolio Performance
As of March 31, 2025, total loan principal outstanding of $407.0 million, across 30 portfolio companies, with $19.8 million of unfunded commitments.
Portfolio weighted average yield to maturity was approximately 16.9% as of March 31, 2025 compared with 17.2% as of December 31, 2024.
The aggregate loan portfolio, including loans held for investment and loans held at fair value, which bear a variable interest rate was 58.5% as of March 31, 2025, compared with 62.1% as of December 31, 2024. The remaining 41.5% of loans in the portfolio bear fixed interest rates as of March 31, 2025.
Capital Activity and Dividends
As of March 31, 2025, the Company had $88.0 million of total leverage, comprised of $38.0 million drawn on the Revolving Loan and $50.0 million of Unsecured notes due 2028, resulting in a consolidated leverage ratio (debt to book equity) of approximately 28%.
During the quarter, Chicago Atlantic issued 64,557 shares through its ATM program at a weighted average net selling price of $15.69, raising net proceeds of approximately $1.0 million.
As of May 7, 2025, the Company has $67.2 million available on its secured revolving credit facility, and total liquidity, net of estimated liabilities, of approximately $65 million.
On April 15, 2025, Chicago Atlantic paid a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.47 per share of common stock for the first quarter of 2025 to common stockholders of record on March 31, 2025.
First Quarter 2025 Financial Results
- Net interest income of approximately $13.0 million as of March 31, 2025, compared to $14.1 million as of December 31, 2024. During the quarter, we recognized approximately $0.4 million in prepayment and other fee income.
- Total expenses of approximately $4.1 million before provision for current expected credit losses, representing a sequential decrease of approximately 28.3%.
- Net Income of approximately $10.0 million, or $0.47 per weighted average diluted common share, representing a sequential increase of 20.5% on a per share basis.
- The total reserve for current expected credit losses decreased sequentially by $1.1 million to $3.3 million and amounts to approximately 0.8% of the aggregate portfolio principal balance of loans held for investment of $401.5 million as of March 31, 2025.
- Distributable Earnings of approximately $9.7 million, or $0.47 and $0.46 per basic and diluted weighted average common share, respectively.
- On a fully diluted basis, there were 21,300,277 common shares outstanding as of March 31, 2025.
- Book value per common share increased from $14.83 as of December 31, 2024 to $14.87 as of March 31, 2025.
About Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc.
Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NASDAQ: REFI) is a commercial mortgage REIT utilizing significant real estate, credit, and cannabis expertise to originate senior secured loans primarily to state-licensed cannabis operators in limited-license states in the United States. REFI is part of the Chicago Atlantic platform, which has offices in Chicago, Miami, New York, and London and has closed over $2.7 billion in credit and equity investments to date.
