Hyatt Hotels sees drop in 1Q profit
Hyatt Hotels reports lower 1Q profit, weaker than expected revenue on sluggish group demand
CHICAGO (AP) -- Hyatt Hotels Corp. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income fell on rising costs and revenue that came in below Wall Street expectations.
The company said that group demand declined, which it blamed partly on the timing of Easter this year.
Net income was $8 million, or 5 cents per share, compared with $10 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.
The company said that excluding items such as asset write-downs, it would have earned 9 cents per share. Analysts, who usually exclude items, expected adjusted earnings of 8 cents per share.
With higher average daily room rates at owned and leased hotels, revenue rose to $975 million from $958 million, but that still fell short of analysts' forecast of $1 billion, according to FactSet.
Expenses at owned and leased hotels rose 4 percent.
The Chicago company owns, manages and franchises hotels under several names including Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency.
Its shares were unchanged at $42.68 in premarket trading Wednesday. They are near the high end of their 52-week range of $33.48 to $44.14.
