TABLE OF CONTENTS
Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
General
We own, operate and invest in a diversified group of infrastructure businesses that provide basic, every day services, such as utilities, parking and water, to businesses and individuals primarily in the U.S. The businesses we own and operate are an airport services business, a bulk liquid storage terminal business, a gas production and distribution business, a district energy business and an airport parking business. These infrastructure businesses generally operate in sectors with limited competition and barriers to entry resulting from a variety of factors including high initial development and construction costs, the existence of long-term contracts or the requirement to obtain government approvals and lack of immediate cost-efficient alternatives to the services that we provide. Overall they tend to generate sustainable and growing long-term cash flows. We operate and finance our businesses in a manner that maximizes these cash flows.
We are dependent upon cash distributions from our businesses to meet our corporate overhead, to pay management fees and to pay distributions to shareholders. Distributions received from our businesses, net of taxes, are available first to meet management fees and corporate overhead expenses, then to fund distribution payments to our shareholders. Base and performance management fees payable to our Manager are allocated among the Company and its operating company subsidiaries based on the Company’s internal allocation policy.
During 2007, we paid distributions of $0.57 per share in April 2007, $0.59 per share in June 2007, $0.605 per share in September 2007 and $0.62 per share in December 2007. During 2008, we paid a distribution of $0.635 per share in March 2008 and $0.645 per share in June 2008. On August 4, 2008, the board of directors declared a distribution of $0.645 per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, payable on September 11, 2008 to holders of record on September 4, 2008.
During 2007, we acquired 29 fixed base operations, or FBOs, and in the first quarter of 2008 we acquired an additional three FBOs. With these acquisitions, our airport services business owns and operates a network of 72 FBOs in the United States, the largest such network in the industry. Results of operations for acquisitions are included in our consolidated results from the respective dates of each acquisition.
Refer to “Other Matters” at the end of this Item 2 for discussion of forward-looking statements and certain defined terms.
Tax Treatment of Distributions
For 2008, shareholders will need to include in taxable income the portion of our distributions that are characterized as a dividend. The portion of our 2008 distributions that will be treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes is subject to a number of uncertainties. It is likely that a substantial portion of our 2008 distributions will be characterized as return of capital for tax purposes and will result in an adjustment to the shareholder’s basis rather than taxable income.
We currently anticipate that all of our regular distributions that are treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes will be eligible for treatment as qualified dividend income, subject to the shareholder having met the holding period requirements as defined by the Internal Revenue Service.
Adoption of New Accounting Pronouncement — FASB 157,“Fair Value Measurements”
On January 1, 2008, we partially adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157, “Fair Value Measurements”, or FASB No. 157. See Note 3, New Accounting Pronouncements, to our consolidated condensed financial statements in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q, which is incorporated herein by reference, for more details about FASB No. 157.
We measure our derivative instruments at fair value on a recurring (quarterly) basis, utilizing mostly level 2 inputs such as contractual terms, market prices, interest rates (for example, LIBOR) and yield curves observable at commonly quoted intervals. Recent market conditions, including interest rate decreases, have resulted in the fair value of our derivative instruments being in liability positions, based on the present value of estimated future cash flows. We do not believe the increase in these liabilities will have an adverse impact