NEW HYDE PARK, NY-Kimco Realty Corp. said Wednesday afternoon its same-store NOI for the first quarter grew 4% year over year across its portfolio, representing the retail REIT's highest quarterly increase since 2007. Funds from operations also represented a Y-O-Y gain, with the FFO of 33 cents per diluted share representing a 6.5% increase on Q1 2012. In terms of dollars, that meant $134.9 million for Q1 thius year, compared to $126.2 million for the same period the year prior.

Kimco's same-store NOI has now grown for 12 consecutive quarters. The REIT reports same-property NOI on a cash basis, excluding lease termination fees and including charges for bad debts.

Pro rata occupancy for Kimco's US portfolio was 93.7% at the end of Q1, an increase of 90 basis points over the same quarter a year ago. When stores in Canada and Latin America are factored in, the occupancy shifts to 93.6%, representing a 70-bp increase Y-O-Y. Additionally, the US shopping center portfolio's pro rata occupancy for small shop space—i.e. stores of less than 10,000 square feet—was 84%, up 170 bps in the past 12 months.

On the acquisition and divestiture front, Kimco during Q1 acquired or increased its equity interests in eight retail properties totaling 1.5 million square feet for about $221 million. In the largest of these acquisitions, Kimco acquired the remaining 55% interest in Santee Trolley Square, a 311,000-square-foot power center in the San Diego suburb of Santee, CA, for a gross purchase price of $98 million. It sold two shopping centers, totaling 292,000 square feet, for a gross sales price of $10.3 million during Q1. Currently, the company has 14 US retail properties in contract negotiations for about $111 million.

Since Kimco's Investor Day in September 2010, the company has disposed of 110 properties, totaling 11.1 million square feet, for $835.6 million, including $194.1 million of mortgage debt. The company's share of the proceeds from these sales was $514.5 million, according to a release.