Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2015 Financial Results

Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE:AMTG) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

“During the first quarter, amidst a very volatile period in the fixed income market, AMTG continued to optimize the Company’s investment portfolio and increased book value per share of common stock to $19.21 from $19.12 at year end. Importantly, AMTG had a stable quarter of operations and financial results, which enabled the Board of Directors to increase AMTG’s dividend per share of common stock for the fourth consecutive quarter,” said Michael Commaroto, the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. “AMTG continues to make meaningful progress with the Company’s credit focused initiatives, and during the quarter AMTG completed the acquisition and securitization of another residential whole loan pool.”

First Quarter 2015 Financial Highlights

• Net income allocable to common stock and participating securities of $18.0 million, or $0.55 per basic and diluted share of common stock;
• Operating earnings(1) of $16.3 million, or $0.51 per share of common stock;
• Declared a $0.48 dividend per share of common stock for the quarter, a 7% increase over the dividend per share of common stock for the prior quarter and the fourth consecutive quarter of a common stock dividend increase

First Quarter 2015 Other Highlights

• Book value per share of common stock of $19.21 at March 31, 2015, as compared to book value per share of common stock of $19.12 at December 31, 2014;
• $3.7 billion residential mortgage backed securities (“RMBS”) portfolio consisted of Agency RMBS with an estimated fair value of $2.3 billion and non-Agency RMBS with an estimated fair value of $1.4 billion;
• RMBS, securitized mortgage loans and other credit investment portfolio had a 2.7% effective net interest rate spread and a 15.8% effective levered asset yield at March 31, 2015(1);
• Quarter-end leverage multiple of 4.2x;
• Purchased a pool of 621 performing, re-performing and non-performing residential mortgage loans for $67.4 million with an aggregate principal balance of $73.4 million and incurred costs of $0.4 million in connection with the purchase; securitized the loans along with an existing mortgage pool the Company purchased in December 2014 for $14.1 million which had an aggregate principal balance of $17.6 million;
• $25.9 million outstanding on warehouse line receivable, $12.8 million of legal title to real estate subject to bond-for-title contracts (“BFT Contracts”) and $4.1 million of mortgage loans outstanding associated with the Seller Financing Program(2) at March 31, 2015;
• Invested a total of $47.7 million into Agency risk-sharing securities and $17.5 million into small-balance commercial mortgage backed securities (“SBC-MBS”).

(1) Reflects a “non-GAAP” financial measure (i.e., a measure that is not calculated in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). See “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in this press release.
(2) The “Seller Financing Program” refers to the initiative whereby the Company provides funding through a warehouse line to a third-party to finance the acquisition and improvement of single-family homes. Once the homes are improved, they are marketed for sale, with the seller providing financing to the buyer in the form of a mortgage loan or a BFT Contract. The mortgage loans and BFT Contracts may be purchased by the Company or by an unrelated third party from the counterparty, at which time the associated balance on the warehouse line is repaid.

Portfolio Summary (Table 1)

The following table sets forth additional detail regarding the Company’s RMBS, other investment securities and securitized mortgage loans as of March 31, 2015:

(1) A portion of the purchase discount on non-Agency RMBS is not expected to be recognized as interest income, and is instead viewed as a credit discount. At March 31, 2015, the Company’s non-Agency RMBS had gross discounts of $266,430, which included credit discounts of $67,001 and other-than-temporary impairments (“OTTI”) of $18,393. At March 31, 2015, the Company’s SBC-MBS had gross discounts of $5,348.
(2) Amortized cost is reduced by allowances for loan losses on the Company’s securitized mortgage loans and unrealized losses that are classified as OTTI on the Company’s investment securities. The Company recognized OTTI of $1,790 on RMBS for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.
(3) The estimated weighted average yield at the date presented incorporates estimates for future prepayment assumptions and forward interest rate assumptions on all RMBS and loss assumptions on non-Agency RMBS.
(4) Agency IO and Agency Inverse IO are interest only (“IO”) and inverse IO securities, respectively, that receive some or all of the interest payments, but no principal payments, made on a related series of Agency RMBS, based on a notional principal balance. The notional principal balance is used solely to determine interest distributions on interest-only classes of securities. At March 31, 2015, the Company’s investments in Agency IO had a notional balance of $505,136 and the Company’s investments in Agency Inverse IO had a notional balance of $100,643.

As of March 31, 2015, the average cost basis of the Company’s Agency RMBS pass-through portfolio was 105.8% of par value and the average cost basis of the Company’s non-Agency RMBS portfolio was 83.0% of par value.

The Agency RMBS pass-through portfolio experienced prepayments at an average one month constant prepayment rate (“CPR”) for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 of 5.8%. Including Agency IOs and Agency Inverse IOs, the Agency RMBS portfolio experienced prepayments at an average one month CPR of 6.0% for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

Other Investments (Table 2)

The following table sets forth the Company’s other investments at March 31, 2015:

(1) Reflects legal title to real estate subject to BFT Contracts at March 31, 2015, which had an aggregate principal balance of $12,923 with a weighted average interest rate of 8.6%.
(2) Net of $119 of accumulated depreciation.

Portfolio Financing

At March 31, 2015, the Company had master repurchase agreements with 23 counterparties and had outstanding repurchase borrowings with 16 counterparties totaling approximately $3.3 billion.

(Table 3)

The following table sets forth information about the Company’s borrowings at March 31, 2015:

(1) Includes $94,868 of repurchase borrowings collateralized by $130,672 of non-Agency RMBS that were eliminated from the Company’s consolidated balance sheet in consolidation with the variable interest entities associated with the Company’s securitization transactions. These borrowings are indirectly collateralized by the Company’s securitized mortgage loans.

(Table 4)

The Company's derivative instruments consisted of the following at March 31, 2015:

(Table 5)

The following table summarizes the average fixed-pay rate and average maturity for the Company’s Swaps at March 31, 2015:

(Table 6)

At March 31, 2015, the Company’s Swaptions had an aggregate notional amount of $1.425 billion and an average fixed pay rate of 3.24%. The following table presents information about the Company’s Swaptions at March 31, 2015:

Estimated Taxable Income

The Company’s taxable income may vary significantly on a quarterly basis. Estimated taxable income for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 was $0.43 per share of common stock, or $0.08 lower than the Company’s operating earnings per share of common stock. This difference primarily reflects estimated tax to GAAP timing differences associated with discount accretion on certain non-Agency RMBS. These fluctuations primarily are attributable to changes in cash flows on the Company’s locked-out non-Agency RMBS, which impacts the timing of market discount accretion the Company recognizes for tax purposes on such securities. Certain locked-out bonds may move from being locked-out to current pay, and vice-versa, depending on the performance of the underlying collateral and the associated triggers specified in the securitization structure.

Book Value

The Company’s book value per share of common stock at March 31, 2015 was $19.21 as compared to book value per share of common stock of $19.12 at December 31, 2014.

Teleconference and Website Presentation Details:

The Company will be hosting a conference call to discuss its financial results on Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Members of the public who are interested in participating in the Company’s first quarter 2015 earnings teleconference call should dial from the U.S., (877) 445-0818, or from outside the U.S., (724) 498-0351, shortly before 11:00 a.m. and reference the Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc. Teleconference Call (number 23355009). Please note the teleconference call will be available for replay beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, 2015, and ending at midnight on Thursday, May 14, 2015. To access the replay, callers from the U.S. should dial (855) 859-2056 and callers from outside the U.S. should dial (404) 537-3406, and enter conference identification number 23355009.

Webcast:

The conference call will also be available on the Company's website at www.apolloresidentialmortgage.com. To listen to a live broadcast, please go to the site at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will also be available for 30 days on the Company's website.

Supplemental Information

The Company provides a supplemental information package to offer more transparency into its financial results and make its reporting more informative and easier to follow. The supplemental package is available in the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.apolloresidentialmortgage.com.

About Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc.

Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that invests in and manages residential mortgage-backed securities and other residential mortgage assets throughout the United States. The Company is externally managed and advised by ARM Manager, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE:APO), a leading global alternative investment manager with approximately $160 billion of assets under management at December 31, 2014.

Additional information can be found on the Company's website at www.apolloresidentialmortgage.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Company claims the protections of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in such sections. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of the Company's business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When used in this release, the words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “plan”, “continue”, “intend”, “should”, “may”, or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: market trends in the Company’s industry, interest rates, real estate values, the debt securities markets, the U.S. housing market or the general economy or the demand for residential mortgage loans; the Company’s business and investment strategy; the Company’s operating results and potential asset performance; availability of opportunities to acquire Agency RMBS, non-Agency RMBS, residential mortgage loans and other residential mortgage assets or other real estate related assets; changes in the prepayment rates on the mortgage loans securing the Company’s RMBS management’s assumptions regarding default rates on the mortgage loans securing the Company’s non-Agency RMBS; the Company’s ability to borrow to finance its assets and the terms, including the cost, maturity and other terms, of any such borrowing; the Company’s estimates regarding taxable income, the actual amount of which is dependent on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, changes in the amount of interest income and financing costs, the method elected by the Company to accrete the market discount on non-Agency RMBS, realized losses and changes in the composition of the Company’s Agency RMBS and non-Agency RMBS portfolios that may occur during the applicable tax period, including gain or loss on any RMBS disposals; expected leverage; general volatility of the securities markets in which the Company participates; the Company’s expected portfolio and scope of the Company’s target assets; the Company’s expected investment and underwriting process; interest rate mismatches between the Company’s target assets and any borrowings used to fund such assets; changes in interest rates and the market value of the Company’s target assets; rates of default or decreased recovery rates on the Company’s assets; the degree to which the Company’s hedging strategies may or may not protect the Company from interest rate volatility and the effects of hedging instruments on the Company’s assets; the impact of and changes in governmental regulations, tax law and rates, accounting guidance and similar matters affecting the Company’s business; the timing and amount of distributions to stockholders, which are declared and paid at the discretion of the Company’s board of directors and will depend on, among other things, the Company’s taxable income, the Company’s financial results and overall financial condition and liquidity; maintenance of the Company’s qualification as a real estate investment trust for U.S. Federal income tax purposes and such other factors as the Company’s board of directors deems relevant; the Company’s ability to maintain its exclusion from registration as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended; availability of qualified personnel through ARM Manager, LLC; and the Company’s understanding of its competition. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and other reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements, and other risks, uncertainties and factors are based on the Company's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, taking into account all information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are not predictions of future events. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Included in this press release are disclosures about the Company’s “operating earnings,” “operating earnings per share of common stock,” “effective levered asset yield” and “effective net interest rate spread” which measures constitute non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of Regulation G promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company believes that the non-GAAP financial measures presented, when considered together with GAAP financial measures, provide information that is useful to investors in understanding the Company’s operating results. An analysis of any non-GAAP financial measures should be made in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Operating earnings and operating earnings per share of common stock presented exclude, as applicable: (i) certain realized and unrealized gains and losses recognized through earnings; (ii) non-cash equity compensation; (iii) one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP; and (iv) certain other non-cash charges. Operating earnings is a non-GAAP financial measure that is used by the Manager to assess the Company’s business results.

While the Company has not elected hedge accounting under GAAP for its Swaps, such derivative instruments are viewed by the Company as an economic hedge against increases in future market interest rates. To present how the Company views its Swaps, the Company provides the “effective cost of funds” which is comprised of GAAP interest expense plus the interest expense component for Swaps. The interest expense component of the Company’s Swaps reflects the net interest payments made or accrued on its Swaps. The Company believes that the presentation of effective cost of funds is useful for investors as it presents the Company’s borrowing costs as viewed by management.

The Company believes that the non-GAAP measures presented provide investors and other readers of this press release with meaningful information to assess the performance of the Company’s ongoing business and believes it is useful supplemental information for both management and investors in evaluating the Company’s financial results. The primary limitation associated with operating earnings as a measure of the Company’s financial performance over any period is that such measure excludes, except for the net interest component of Swaps, the effects of net realized and unrealized gains and losses from investments and realized and unrealized gains and losses from derivative instruments. In addition, the Company’s presentation of operating earnings may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies, who may use different definitions or calculations for such term. As a result, operating earnings should not be considered as a substitute for GAAP net income as a measure of the Company’s financial performance or the Company’s liquidity under GAAP.

A reconciliation of the GAAP items discussed above to their non-GAAP measures for the three month period ended March 31, 2015 and the three month period ended March 31, 2014, are presented in the tables below.

(Table 7)

The following table reconciles net income allocable to common stockholders with operating earnings for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and March 31, 2014, respectively:

(Table 8)

The following table details Effective Net Interest Spread and Effective Levered Asset Yield at March 31, 2015: