By Melodie Warner
Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc.'s (RHP) second-quarter
earnings rose 29% on an income-tax benefit, masking the lodging
real estate investment trust's weakening revenue and fewer group
bookings.
Shares were recently down 4.3% to $34.91 as a key performance
metric and other results fell short of consensus estimates.
Ryman, formerly known as Gaylord Entertainment, owns four
conference-focused resorts, destination-hotel assets that are
managed by Marriott International Inc. (MAR) and holds a number of
media and entertainment assets, such as the Grand Ole Opry.
Marriott acquired the Gaylord brand and the hotel-management
company in October for $210 million.
"We continued to face near-term challenges in the second
quarter, as the headwinds related to the management transition to
Marriott, as well as overall weakness in the group sector, impacted
our results," said Chairman and Chief Executive Colin V. Reed.
The company raised its full-year estimate of adjusted funds from
operations--an important profitability measure for REITs--to a
range of $3.81 to $4.17 a share from its prior forecast of $3.65 to
$3.84 a share.
Ryman reported a profit of $11.5 million, or 18 cents a share,
up from $8.95 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier. The most-recent
quarter included a $4.87 million loss on call spread modification
related to convertible notes.
Revenue dropped 3.2% to $245.2 million and FFO fell to 70 cents
a share from 74 cents a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast
per-share earnings of 50 cents on revenue of $253 million and FFO
of $1.05 a share.
Operating margin fell to 11.8% from 12.5%.
Gross advanced group bookings for all future periods decreased
42% and net advanced group bookings for all future periods dropped
61%. Hospitality revenue per available room, or RevPAR fell 3.9%
and occupancy shrank to 73.9% from 76.8%.
Write to Melodie Warner at melodie.warner@wsj.com
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