Hilton Worldwide Q1 Profit Falls

(RTTNews) - Hilton Worldwide Inc. (HLT) Tuesday announced a sharp fall in first quarter net income to $74 million from $309 million last year. On a per share basis, earnings declined to $0.22 from $0.94 last year. Adjusted net income, including pro forma adjustments was $81 million or $0.24 per share.

On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.28 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter increased to $2.161 billion from $1.726 billion in the prior year. Total expenses were higher at $1.884 billion compared to $1.556 billion a year ago. Wall Street expects revenue of $2.06 billion.

The Company has completed the spin-offs of Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. and Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. on January 3, 2017.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company expects adjusted net income in a range of $156 to $173 million, while earnings from continuing operations, before special items is projected to be between $0.47 and $0.51 per share. System-wide RevPAR is expected to increase between 1.0 percent and 3.0 percent on a comparable and currency neutral basis compared to the second quarter of 2016. Street projection is for $0.5 per share on revenue of $2.4 billion.

For the full year, the company projects net income to be in a range of $529 million to $554 million. Adjusted earnings per share is expected in a range of $1.73 to $1.81, while earnings from continuing operations before special items is projected to be $1.58 to $1.65 per share. System-wide RevPAR is expected to increase between 1.0 percent and 3.0 percent on a comparable and currency neutral basis compared to 2016. Analysts expect $1.75 per share on revenue of $8.99 billion.