Taubman Centers, Inc. Issues Solid First Quarter Results

• Net Income Down 18.8 Percent, Primarily Due to Higher Depreciation Expense
• Comparable Center Net Operating Income (NOI), Excluding Lease Cancellation Income, Up 2.3 Percent
• Beneficial Interest in Total Portfolio NOI, Excluding Lease Cancellation Income Up 5.7 Percent
• Sales per Square Foot, Occupancy, Leased Space and Average Rents All Up in Comparable Centers
• Acquired 48.5 Percent Interest in The Gardens Mall, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Taubman Centers, Inc. TCO today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

"Our portfolio of high-quality assets achieved solid NOI growth again this quarter, driven by better rents and lower expenses. Adjusted FFO was in line with our expectations, but year-over-year was impacted by significant lease termination income received in the first quarter of last year," said Robert S. Taubman, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Taubman Centers.

"We were delighted to strengthen our portfolio by completing the acquisition of a 48.5 percent interest in The Gardens Mall at an excellent value in an off-market, non-cash transaction."

Operating Statistics

For the quarter, comparable center NOI, excluding lease cancellation income, was up 2.3 percent. "Our comparable centers grew as expected in the U.S. We also produced very strong growth in Asia, despite unfavorable foreign currency rates," said Mr. Taubman. Comparable center NOI growth, excluding lease cancellation income, would have been 3 percent without the negative currency impact.

Total portfolio NOI growth at our beneficial interest was up 5.7 percent for the quarter, excluding lease cancellation income.

"This is our first quarter reporting our share of NOI growth. The combination of better post-hurricane operations at The Mall of San Juan and outsized growth from our best assets, many of which are wholly-owned, were the primary factors," said Simon J. Leopold, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Comparable center tenant sales per square foot increased 18.6 percent from the first quarter of 2018. This brings the company's 12-month trailing sales per square foot to $832, an increase of 10.3 percent over the 12-months ended March 31, 2018.

Tenant sales per square foot in U.S. comparable centers were up 21.7 percent in the quarter, bringing 12-month trailing U.S. sales per square foot to $919, an increase of 10.9 percent over the 12-months ended March 31, 2018.

"There were several factors that impacted the significant sales increases this quarter. First, deliveries of Tesla's Model 3 substantially benefitted the quarter's results. Offsetting, was a late Easter, unfavorable exchange rates and a very tough comp, as sales were up over 12 percent a year ago." said Mr. Taubman. "Many of our most important categories including apparel, shoes and electronics were up this quarter."

Average rent per square foot for the quarter was $56.15, up 1.3 percent from $55.42 in the comparable period last year.

Trailing 12-month releasing spread per square foot for the period ended March 31, 2019 was 7.1 percent.

Ending occupancy in comparable centers was 93.5 percent on March 31, 2019, up 0.3 percent from March 31, 2018. Leased space in comparable centers was 95.9 percent on March 31, 2019, up 0.7 percent from March 31, 2018.

"Notwithstanding the continued significant volatility in the retail landscape, demand for space in our centers remains solid," said Mr. Taubman.

The Gardens Mall Acquisition

In April, Taubman acquired a 48.5 percent interest in The Gardens Mall (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) from members of the Cohen Family, who together with members of the Forbes family have jointly owned the center since its opening in 1988.

"The Gardens Mall is the premier retail asset in the affluent and growing Palm Beach market. We believe the quality of the center is above the median of our portfolio. Opportunities to acquire assets like this, one of the very best in the country, are extremely rare." said Mr. Taubman. "This acquisition is consistent with our strategy of owning superior assets in the strongest markets."

The 48.5 percent interest was acquired in an off-market, non-cash transaction for 1.5 million Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership (TRG) units and the assumption of its pro rata share of debt. This transaction is expected to be neutral to slightly accretive to FFO and Adjusted FFO in 2019.

This represents Taubman's third investment in partnership with The Forbes Company, following The Mall of Millennia in Orlando and Waterside Shops in Naples. "Forbes is a valuable partner and a best-in-class retail operator. They will continue to lease and manage the center. Forbes was instrumental in presenting this opportunity to us and we look forward to another productive partnership," said Mr. Taubman.

Financing Activity

In March, we completed a 1.2 billion Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB) (approximately $179 million using the March 31, 2019 exchange rate) 10-year, fully-amortizing, non-recourse financing at our CityOn.Xi'an (Xi'an, China) joint venture. The loan bears interest at an all-in fixed rate of 6 percent. As of March 31, 2019, about $49 million had been drawn.

Dividend Increased

In March, we declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.675 per share of common stock, an increase of 3.1 percent. Since going public in 1992, Taubman has never reduced its dividend and has increased its dividend 22 times. See Taubman Centers Increases Quarterly Common Dividend 3.1 Percent to $0.675 Per Share – March 4, 2019.

2019 Guidance

Taubman is updating certain guidance measures for 2019. Our guidance now includes the impact of The Gardens Mall acquisition that closed in April.

2019 EPS is now expected to be in the range of $0.68 to $0.92 per diluted share, revised from the previous range of $0.84 to $1.08.

2019 FFO is now expected to be in the range of $3.60 to $3.72 per diluted common share, revised from the previous range of $3.62 to $3.74. This change represents the $0.02 net impact of the first quarter restructuring charge, costs associated with shareholder activism and fluctuation in the fair value of equity securities.

2019 Adjusted FFO, which excludes $0.02 per diluted common share of first quarter adjustments, remains unchanged and is expected to be in the range of $3.62 to $3.74 per diluted common share.

We continue to expect comparable center NOI growth of about 2 percent for the year.

This guidance range includes the adoption of the new lease accounting standard, resulting in an additional $5 to $7 million of operating expenses. This guidance does not include the impact of the agreement to sell 50 percent of Taubman Asia's interests in three Asia-based shopping centers to Blackstone or assumptions for future costs associated with shareowner activism.

Supplemental Investor Information Available

Taubman provides supplemental investor information along with its earnings announcements, available online at www.taubman.com under "Investors." This includes the following:

• Earnings Press Release
• Company Overview
• Operational Statistics
• Summary of Key Guidance Measures
• Income Statements
• Changes in Funds from Operations and Earnings Per Common Share
• Balance Sheets
• Debt Summary
• Capital Spending and Balance Sheet Information
• Owned Centers
• Redevelopment, New Development, & Acquisition
• Anchors & Major Tenants in Owned Portfolio
• Components of Rental Revenues
• Components of Other Income, Other Operating Expense, and Nonoperating Income (Expense)
• Earnings Reconciliations
• Operating Statistics Glossary

Investor Conference Call

Taubman will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday May 1, 2019 to discuss these results, business conditions and the outlook for the remainder of 2019. The conference call will be simulcast at www.taubman.com. An online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately 90 days.

About The Gardens Mall

The Gardens Mall was originally developed by Forbes-Cohen Properties and opened in 1988. It is considered the top regional mall in Northern Palm Beach County and is home to more than 150 tenants, many of which are among the world's most iconic brands including Apple, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, David Yurman, Jimmy Choo, Tiffany & Co., lululemon athletica, Salvatore Ferragamo and many others. The 1,400,000 square foot property is anchored by Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Nordstrom, Saks and Sears and features 460,000 square feet of mall tenant space.

About Taubman

Taubman Centers is an S&P MidCap 400 Real Estate Investment Trust engaged in the ownership, management and/or leasing of 27 regional, super-regional and outlet shopping centers in the U.S. and Asia. Taubman's U.S.-owned properties are the most productive in the publicly held U.S. regional mall industry. Founded in 1950, Taubman is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Taubman Asia, founded in 2005, is headquartered in Hong Kong. www.taubman.com.

About The Forbes Company

Based in Southfield, Michigan, The Forbes Company is a nationally recognized owner, developer and manager of iconic regional shopping centers, recognized throughout their respective markets for their retail innovation, fashion leadership, distinctive architecture and luxury appointments. In addition to The Gardens Mall, these properties include: The Mall at Millenia in Orlando, Florida; Somerset Collection in Troy, Michigan; and Waterside Shops in Naples, Florida. www.theforbescompany.com

For ease of use, references in this press release to "Taubman Centers,", "we", "us", "our", "company," "Taubman" or an operating platform mean Taubman Centers, Inc. and/or one or more of a number of separate, affiliated entities. Business is actually conducted by an affiliated entity rather than Taubman Centers, Inc. itself or the named operating platform.

This press release may contain 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. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "will", "may", "could", "expect", "anticipate", "believes", "intends", "should", "plans", "estimates", "approximate", "guidance" and similar expressions in this press release that predict or indicate future events and trends and that do not report historical matters. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Actual results may differ materially from those expected because of various risks and uncertainties, including that the conditions to one or more transaction closings may not be satisfied, the potential impact on the company due to the announcement of the disposition of ownership interests, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the transactions, general economic conditions, and other factors. Such factors include, but are not limited to: changes in market rental rates; unscheduled closings or bankruptcies of tenants; relationships with anchor tenants; trends in the retail industry; challenges with department stores; changes in consumer shopping behavior; the liquidity of real estate investments; the company's ability to comply with debt covenants; the availability and terms of financings; changes in market rates of interest and foreign exchange rates for foreign currencies; changes in value of investments in foreign entities; the ability to hedge interest rate and currency risk; risks related to acquiring, developing, expanding, leasing and managing properties; competitors gaining economies of scale through M&A and consolidation activity; changes in value of investments in foreign entities; risks related to joint venture properties; insurance costs and coverage; security breaches that could impact the company's information technology, infrastructure or personal data; costs associated with response to technology breaches; the loss of key management personnel; shareholder activism costs and related diversion of management time; terrorist activities; maintaining the company's status as a real estate investment trust; changes in the laws of states, localities, and foreign jurisdictions that may increase taxes on the company's operations; and changes in global, national, regional and/or local economic and geopolitical climates.

You should review the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports, for a discussion of such risks and uncertainties.

TAUBMAN CENTERS, INC.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this press release, the terms "we", "us", and "our" refer to Taubman Centers, Inc. (TCO), The Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership (TRG), and/or TRG's subsidiaries as the context may require.

We use certain non-GAAP operating measures, including EBITDA, beneficial interest in EBITDA, Net Operating Income, and Funds from Operations. These measures are reconciled to the most comparable GAAP measures. Additional information as to the use of these measures are as follows.

EBITDA represents earnings before interest, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization of our consolidated and unconsolidated businesses. Beneficial interest in EBITDA represents our share of the earnings before interest, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization of our consolidated and unconsolidated businesses. We believe EBITDA and beneficial interest in EBITDA provide useful indicators of operating performance, as it is customary in the real estate and shopping center business to evaluate the performance of properties on a basis unaffected by capital structure.

We use Net Operating Income (NOI) as an alternative measure to evaluate the operating performance of centers, both on individual and stabilized portfolio bases, and in formulating corporate goals and compensation. We define NOI as property-level operating revenues (includes rental income excluding straight-line adjustments of minimum rent) less maintenance, property taxes, utilities, promotion, ground rent (including straight-line adjustments), and other property operating expenses. Beneficial interest in NOI represents our share of NOI (as previously defined) of our consolidated and unconsolidated businesses. Since NOI excludes general and administrative expenses, pre-development charges, interest income and expense, depreciation and amortization, impairment charges, restructuring charges, and gains from peripheral land and property dispositions, it provides a performance measure that, when compared period over period, reflects the revenues and expenses most directly associated with owning and operating rental properties, as well as the impact on their operations from trends in tenant sales, occupancy and rental rates, and operating costs. We also use NOI excluding lease cancellation income as an alternative measure because this income may vary significantly from period to period, which can affect comparability and trend analysis. We generally provide separate projections for expected comparable center NOI growth and lease cancellation income. Comparable centers are generally defined as centers that were owned and open for the entire current and preceding period presented, excluding centers impacted by significant redevelopment activity. In addition, The Mall of San Juan has been excluded from comparable center statistics as a result of Hurricane Maria and the expectation that the center's performance will be materially impacted for the foreseeable future.

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) defines Funds from Operations (FFO) as net income (calculated in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)), excluding depreciation and amortization related to real estate, gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets, gains and losses from change in control, and impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity. We believe that FFO is a useful supplemental measure of operating performance for REITs. Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, we and most industry investors and analysts have considered presentations of operating results that exclude historical cost depreciation to be useful in evaluating the operating performance of REITs. We primarily use FFO in measuring performance and in formulating corporate goals and compensation.

We may also present adjusted versions of NOI, beneficial interest in EBITDA, and FFO when used by management to evaluate operating performance when certain significant items have impacted results that affect comparability with prior or future periods due to the nature or amounts of these items. We believe the disclosure of the adjusted items is similarly useful to investors and others to understand management's view on comparability of such measures between periods. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, FFO and EBITDA were adjusted to exclude a restructuring charge, costs incurred associated with shareholder activism, and the fluctuation in the fair value of equity securities. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, FFO and EBITDA were adjusted to exclude a reduction of a previously expensed restructuring charge, costs incurred associated with shareholder activism, and the fluctuation in the fair value of equity securities. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, FFO was also adjusted for a charge recognized in connection with the write-off of deferred financing costs related to the early payoff of our $475 million unsecured term loan.

These non-GAAP measures as presented by us are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other REITs due to the fact that not all REITs use the same definitions. These measures should not be considered alternatives to net income or as an indicator of our operating performance. Additionally, these measures do not represent cash flows from operating, investing, or financing activities as defined by GAAP.

We also provide our beneficial interest in certain financial information of our Unconsolidated Joint Ventures. This beneficial information is derived as our ownership interest in the investee multiplied by the specific financial statement item being presented. Investors are cautioned that deriving our beneficial interest in this manner may not accurately depict the legal and economic implications of holding a noncontrolling interest in the investee.

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