Strong start to 2018 boosts Hilton's forecast
A strong first quarter of the year has resulted in Hilton boosting its full-year forecasts for 2018.
Net income for the global hotel group's first quarter was $163m (£117m), up from $48m (£35m) in Q1 of 2017, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was $445m (£319m), an increase of 9% from the same period in 2017.
For the three months ended 31 March 2018, revenue per available room (revpar) also increased 3.9% on the same period last year, driven by increases in both average daily rate and occupancy, particularly in Europe.
As a result, Hilton raised its projections for its full-year EBITDA from $2.03b and $2.08b (£1.45-1.49b) to between $2.06m and $2.1m (£1.47-1.5b), reflecting growth of 8-10%.
The group also revised its revpar growth forecast from 1-3%, to 2-4%. Net income is projected to be between $794m (£569m) and $823m (£589m).
Christopher J Nassetta, president and chief executive of Hilton, said: "We are thrilled with the strong start to the year. As a result of our strong performance and positive outlook for the remainder of the year, we are raising guidance for the full year."
The company approved 25,700 new rooms for development during the first quarter, growing Hilton's development pipeline to 2,340 hotels (355,000 rooms), and opened 75 hotels (10,600 rooms) in the first quarter.
Hilton also repurchased 1.3 million of its own shares for $110m (£79m) during the first quarter, and then a further 16.5 million shares in April for $1.17b (£837m) as part of HNA's full divestiture of its investment in Hilton.
Hilton set to repurchase 10 million shares from HNA >>
