AMB Property Corporation®

There are a variety of terms used in the real estate universe that are unique to publicly held companies, to the industrial property sector and to AMB itself.

To assist those doing research on AMB and our industry, we have compiled a glossary of commonly used terms below. Additionally, links to the glossaries of both the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and Bloomberg.com can be found at the bottom of this page. If we can be of further service by posting additional company or industry terms and definitions, please send a request to AMB’s webmaster.

ABR (Annualized Base Rent)

Calculated as the cash basis value of monthly base rent per the lease, multiplied by 12. If free rent is granted, the first full monthly base rent value is used in the calculation.

Co-Investment

The pooling of capital resources for the purpose of acquiring, developing and operating a property or portfolio of properties. AMB contributes between 20% and 51% of our capital to each co-investment that we undertake with private investors.

Customer

An industrial tenant who leases space from AMB. We refer to our tenants as “customers” to underscore the fact that we exist to serve their needs, not the other way around.

Customer-Driven Development

A custom development that is sourced, designed and constructed according to a specific AMB customer’s business needs.

DRP (Dividend Reinvestment Program)

A program allowing for the automatic reinvestment of an AMB stockid="holder"’s dividends into more shares of our company’s common stock. AMB’s DRP also provides our stockid="holder"s and other investors with a convenient and economical method to purchase up to an additional $5,000 worth of common stock during any calendar month.

EPS (Earnings Per Share)

A measure of a company’s performance, calculated by dividing the company’s net operating profit after tax by the number of shares on issue.

FFO (Funds From Operations)

Net income calculated in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, including depreciation of real estate but excluding gains or losses from sales of property or from debt restructuring. While AMB reports FFO figures each quarter, we prefer and have been an industry advocate for the reporting of EPS figures, because we believe that EPS is a more consistently accurate, and therefore more useful valuation tool for real estate companies.

HTD^® (High Throughput Distribution^®)

Industrial facilities / properties built for speed and located near airports, seaports and ground transportation systems.

Hub And Gateway Markets

Metropolitan areas that, due to their strategic locations and supporting infrastructure, play key roles in perpetuating global trade. Within the United States, AMB targets the eight Hub and Gateway Markets of New York City / Northern New Jersey, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Dallas / Fort Worth, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.

IAI (Industrial Absorption Indicator)

AMB’s model comprising the Federal Reserve Board’s manufacturing output data and a customized set of algorithms, used to predict national net absorption trends in the United States. While our applications of the IAI toward projecting specific market absorption remains proprietary, our national forecasts are posted to this website each quarter.

Infill Locations

The submarket areas where AMB prefers to develop and acquire our industrial facilities. Owning buildings in infill locations provides our customers close proximities to large consumer clusters and to the necessary municipal throughways in order to transport their goods quickly and easily. These locations also have geographic, political or regulatory limits on new supply.

MO (Manufacturing Output)

A component of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which is published by the Federal Reserve Board. MO is calculated by subtracting the mining and utility industry components from the IIP, and is used by AMB in our national Industrial Absorption Indicator (click here for more background on the Industrial Absorption Indicator).

Net Absorption

Net absorption measures the total amount of square feet (or comparable measure) leased over a period of time, less the space that is vacated during the same period.

NAV (Net Asset Value)

The net "market value" of all company assets, including but not limited to its properties, after subtracting all its liabilities and obligations.

NOI (Net Operating Income)

The actual or anticipated income remaining during a year, after operating expenses has been deducted from effective gross income (but before any deductions for debt service payment or income taxes).

NRA (Net Rentable Area)

The amount of space in a building or property that is usable (and therefore rentable) to tenants.

On-Airport Property

Any facility that is ground-leased from an airport (i.e., the airport retains ownership of the land underneath the facility). These properties are in very close proximity to the airfield, but do not have ramp access or aircraft parking positions.

On-Tarmac Property

A secured facility located directly on the airfield. It has direct ramp access with aircraft parking and loading positions.

Prespecified Assets

Real estate properties originally wholly-owned by AMB Property Corporation, then “sold” to a co-investment pool managed by AMB Capital Partners. By contributing prespecified assets to our co-investment pools, we enable our private capital partners to quickly put their investment funds to work. Additionally, our partners know exactly what kind of investment they are making, rather than contributing their money to a blind pool.

Private Capital

Investment funds from governmental/corporate pension funds, foundations, endowments, trusts or single institutions. AMB raises investment funds from many private capital sources, which enables us to grow our business for our partners and investors without having to issue additional common stock (thereby diluting the "per share" value of our outstanding shares).

REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust)

A private or (in AMB’s case) public corporation or trust that is allowed special status under the U.S. tax code—enabling the entity to pay no corporate income tax as long as its activities meet statutory tests restricting its business to certain commercial real estate activities. By law, REITs must pay out 90% of their taxable income in the form of stockid="holder" dividends to maintain their tax-exempt status.

Same-Store

All properties owned during both the current and prior year reporting periods. This categorization excludes development properties prior to their stabilization, for both current and prior reporting periods. The same-store pool is adjusted annually.

Same-Store NOI Growth

The change in the NOI of the same-store properties from the prior year’s reporting period to the current year reporting period.

Supply-Constrained

A required characteristic of any AMB targeted submarket. Supply-constrained submarkets possess natural or governmental obstacles to additional industrial development, and therefore generate higher levels of customer demand. Typical supply constraints include minimal land availability (such as the San Francisco Bay Area’s peninsula or a major mountain range outside Mexico City) and zoning limits.