Ashford Prime Reports Third Quarter 2016 Results

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ENHANCEMENTS

After initiating significant outreach and feedback from shareholders, the Company announced that its Board of Directors took a series of actions which are intended to enhance the Company's corporate governance.  The enhanced governance measures include:

• Adoption of a majority voting standard for uncontested director elections and a plurality voting standard in contested director elections to be voted on at the next shareholder meeting;
• Separate the roles of Chairman and CEO;
• Prohibit share recycling with respect to share forfeitures, stock options and stock appreciation rights under the Company's stock plan by executives and directors;
• Implementation of a mandatory equity award retention period for executives and directors;
• Adoption of a proxy access resolution which would enable a shareholder, or a group of not more than 20 shareholders, who have continuously owned 3% or more of the Company's common stock for a minimum of 3 years to include nominees in its proxy materials for the greater of two or 20% of the Board; and
• Addition of up to two independent directors to the Board, one of which, Ken Fearn, was announced during the quarter

ADDITION OF KEN FEARN TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

During the quarter, the Company announced that Ken Fearn has joined the Board of Directors bringing the total number of directors to eight and the total number of independent directors to six.  Ken brings over 21 years of real estate and hospitality experience to the Board.  Currently, he is the founder and Managing Partner of Integrated Capital, a private equity real estate firm with a focus on hospitality assets in markets in the U.S.  Prior to founding Integrated Capital, he was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Maritz, Wolff & Co., a private equity firm engaged in real estate acquisition and development that managed three private equity investment funds totaling $500 million focused on acquiring luxury hotels and resorts.  Prior to Maritz, Wolff, he was with McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles, where he worked with Fortune 200 companies to address issues of profitability and develop business strategies.  Ken's extensive contacts in the hospitality and commercial real estate industries will be beneficial in his service on the Board of Directors.

UPDATE ON THE BARDESSONO HOTEL & SPA PERFORMANCE

During the first full year of ownership of the Bardessono Hotel & Spa, RevPAR increased 7.2%, Hotel EBITDA increased 32.7%, Hotel EBITDA Margin increased 546 basis points, and Hotel EBITDA flow-through was 159%.

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

At September 30, 2016, the Company had total assets of $1.3 billion.  As of September 30, 2016, the Company had $769 million of mortgage debt of which $48 million related to its joint venture partner's share of debt on the Capital Hilton and Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.  The Company's total combined debt had a blended average interest rate of 4.7%.

COMPLETES SALE OF COURTYARD SEATTLE DOWNTOWN HOTEL

On July 1, 2016, the Company completed the sale of the 250-room Courtyard Seattle Downtown/Lake Union for $84.5 million in cash ($338,000 per key), which represented a trailing 12-month cap rate of 6.8% on net operating income.  The Company realized approximately $15 million in net proceeds from the disposition following the repayment of approximately $65 million of debt and other transaction costs. 

PORTFOLIO REVPAR

As of September 30, 2016, the portfolio consisted of direct hotel investments with eleven properties.  During the third quarter of 2016, ten of the Company's hotels were not under renovation.  The Company believes reporting its operating metrics for its hotels on a comparable total basis (all 11 hotels) and comparable not under renovation basis (10 hotels) is a measure that reflects a meaningful and focused comparison of the operating results in its portfolio.  Details of each category are provided in the tables attached to this release.

• Comparable RevPAR increased 4.3% to $217.11 for all hotels on a 2.5% increase in ADR and a 1.8% increase in occupancy
• Comparable RevPAR increased 6.1% to $212.12 for hotels not under renovation on a 4.0% increase in ADR and a 2.0% increase in occupancy

HOTEL EBITDA MARGINS AND QUARTERLY SEASONALITY TRENDS

The Company believes year-over-year Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin comparisons are more meaningful to gauge the performance of the Company's hotels than sequential quarter-over-quarter comparisons.  Given the substantial seasonality in the Company's portfolio, to help investors better understand this seasonality, the Company provides quarterly detail on its Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin for the current and certain prior-year periods based upon the number of hotels in the Company's portfolio as of the end of the current period.  As the Company's portfolio mix changes from time to time so will the seasonality for Comparable Hotel EBITDA and Comparable Hotel EBITDA Margin.  The details of the quarterly calculations for the previous four quarters for the eleven hotels are provided in the table attached to this release.

COMMON STOCK DIVIDEND

On September 15, 2016, the Company announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per diluted share for the Company's common stock for the third quarter ending September 30, 2016.  The dividend, which equates to an annual rate of $0.48 per share, is payable on October 17, 2016, to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2016.

"During the quarter, we continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives through the sale of the Courtyard Seattle at an attractive valuation for our shareholders," said Monty J. Bennett, Ashford Prime's Chairman of the Board.  "We believe these initiatives have been successful.  Additionally, we took meaningful steps to strengthen our corporate governance practices, including adding another independent director, Ken Fearn, to our Board of Directors.  We are also pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Stockton as the Company's new CEO.  We believe Richard's background and skillset are well-suited for leading Ashford Prime, and we will continue to focus on delivering strong operational results and maximizing shareholder value."

INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL AND SIMULCAST

Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. will conduct a conference call on Thursday, November 3, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. ET.  The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (719) 325-2355. A replay of the conference call will be available through Thursday, November 10, 2016, by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering the confirmation number, 2763832. 

The Company will also provide an online simulcast and rebroadcast of its third quarter 2016 earnings release conference call.  The live broadcast of Ashford Hospitality Prime's quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company's web site, www.ahpreit.com on Thursday, November 3, 2016, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.  The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately one year.

Substantially all of our non-current assets consist of real estate investments secured by real estate.  Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time.  Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, most industry investors consider supplemental measures of performance, which are not measures of operating performance under GAAP, to assist in evaluating a real estate company's operations. These supplemental measures include FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, and Hotel EBITDA.  FFO is computed in accordance with our interpretation of standards established by NAREIT, which may not be comparable to FFO reported by other REITs that do not define the term in accordance with the current NAREIT definition or that interpret the NAREIT definition differently than us.  Neither FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, nor Hotel EBITDA represents cash generated from operating activities as determined by GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to a) GAAP net income (loss) as an indication of our financial performance or b) GAAP cash flows from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity, nor are such measures indicative of funds available to satisfy our cash needs, including our ability to make cash distributions.  However, management believes FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, and Hotel EBITDA to be meaningful measures of a REIT's performance and should be considered along with, but not as an alternative to, net income and cash flow as a measure of our operating performance.

Ashford Hospitality Prime is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in luxury hotels located in resort and gateway markets.

Ashford has created an Ashford App for the hospitality REIT investor community.  The Ashford App is available for free download at Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store by searching "Ashford."

Certain statements and assumptions in this press release contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements about the implied share price for the Company's common stock.  These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties.  When we use the words "will likely result," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe," "intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements.  Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside Ashford Prime's control.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation:  general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of our common stock; changes in our business or investment strategy; availability, terms and deployment of capital; availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and the market in which we operate, interest rates or the general economy; our ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions, and manage our planned growth, and the degree and nature of our competition.  These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in Ashford Prime's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  EBITDA is defined as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.  EBITDA yield is defined as trailing twelve month EBITDA divided by the purchase price.  A capitalization rate is determined by dividing the property's annual net operating income by the purchase price.  Net operating income is the property's funds from operations minus a capital expense reserve of either 4% or 5% of gross revenues.  Hotel EBITDA flow-through is the change in Hotel EBITDA divided by the change in total revenues.  Hotel EBITDA Margin is Hotel EBITDA divided by total revenues.  Funds from operations ("FFO"), as defined by the White Paper on FFO approved by the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") in April 2002, represents net income (loss) computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), excluding gains (or losses) from sales of properties and extraordinary items as defined by GAAP, plus depreciation and amortization of real estate assets, and net of adjustments for the portion of these items related to unconsolidated entities and joint ventures. 

The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release.  Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.  We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, changes in expectations or otherwise.

ASHFORD HOSPITALITY PRIME, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except share amounts)
(unaudited)
					September 30,		December 31,
					2016		2015
ASSETS
	Investments in hotel properties, net				$                1,018,889		$              1,091,479
	Cash and cash equivalents				128,625		105,039
	Restricted cash				41,098		33,135
	Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $73 and $68, respectively				17,527		13,370
	Inventories				1,401		1,451
	Note receivable				8,098		8,098
	Deferred costs, net				139		755
	Prepaid expenses				4,495		3,132
	Investment in securities investment fund				-		48,365
	Investment in Ashford Inc., at fair value				9,286		10,377
	Derivative assets				3,012		753
	Other assets				1,623		2,543
	Intangible asset, net				22,920		23,160
	Due from Ashford Trust OP, net				7		-
	Due from related party, net				454		371
	Due from third-party hotel managers				6,554		10,722
		Total assets			$                1,264,128		$              1,352,750
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Liabilities:
	Indebtedness, net				$                   766,030 Werbung Mehr Nachrichten zur Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. Common Stock When Issued Aktie kostenlos abonnieren E-Mail-Adresse Bitte überprüfe deine die E-Mail-Adresse. Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE (Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise) -1 Vielen Dank, dass du dich für unseren Newsletter angemeldet hast. Du erhältst in Kürze eine E-Mail mit einem Aktivierungslink. Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte. Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News 02:00 - PR Newswire Kasei Digital Assets Plc - Half-Year Results 25.04.24 - PR Newswire Premier Miton Global Renewables Trust Plc - Dividend Declaration 25.04.24 - PR Newswire Moonpig Group Plc - Holding(s) in Company