Hilton Worldwide swung to a fourth-quarter loss, due in part to restructuring costs, but earnings still beat Wall Street estimates.
The company reported a net loss of $382 million, or $1.17 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2016, compared to a profit of $816 million for the year-ago quarter. The loss reflected an aggregate tax charge of $513 million related to the restructuring executed before Hilton spun off its Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations units in January.
But earnings adjusted for non-recurring costs came to 70 cents per share, topping analysts’ estimates of 66 cents.
Revenue increased to $2.92 billion, compared to last year’s $2.86 billion, as Hilton benefited from higher occupancy rates and revenue per room.
“For the quarter and full year, performance met our expectations,” Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said in news release. “We also continued to increase our development activity this quarter and surpassed development records this year, approving 106,000 new rooms and opening nearly one hotel per day, contributing to net unit growth of over 45,000 rooms.”
“With completion of the spin-offs, Hilton is a fee-based, capital-efficient and resilient business, with meaningful cash flow that we intend to be very disciplined in returning to stockholders,” he added.
In the fourth quarter, Hilton opened 105 hotels consisting of 15,700 rooms, leading to net unit growth of 15,100 rooms. During the full year 2016, it opened 354 hotels consisting of 51,500 rooms, achieving net unit growth of more than 45,000 rooms.
The company last month launched its 14th brand, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, which is aimed at the growing upscale segment. The first Tapestry is expected to open by the third quarter of 2017.
For 2016, Hilton reported profit of $348 million, or $1.05 per share, and revenue of $11.66 billion.