Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE:HOT) said that its earnings and sales dropped in the latest quarter, amid losses related to assets and impairments, and consistent foreign-exchange headwinds. However, adjusted profit topped consensus forecast.
The company also reported that Interval Leisure Group will buy its Resorts’ Vacation Ownership division in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion. The division will merge with Vistana business of ILG. The news was previously reported by WSJ that ILG was in advanced discussions to acquire vacation-ownership division of Starwood.
Starwood said world-wide sales at owned hotels slipped 0.3 percent, but jumped 5.3 percent on the basis of currency-adjustments. Drops in China and Latin America were balanced by a surge in North America. A closely watched metric for the hotel industry, RevPar increased 3.6 percent, or 5.3 percent excluding the impacts of currency.
On overall basis, the company announced earnings of $88 million, or 53 cents per share for the third quarter, as compared to $109 million, or 59 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue came in at $964 million for the quarter, down 18 percent from the same period last year. Earnings per share increased to 74 cents a share, excluding impairments taxes and asset dispositions of $46 million, up from 66 cents a share last year.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of 72 cents per share on $1.44 billion in revenue.
Starwood manages the St. Regis, Westin, Sheraton and W Hotels brands. The company has a history of doing well in the high-end hotel market. Starwood has increase its presence in the overseas market faster than its competitors.
Starwood shares surged more than 6 percent in the current trading session. The stock has jumped more than 20 percent in the past one month.
