BHR - Braemar Hotels & Resorts Reports Third Quarter 2019 Results

DALLAS, Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: BHR) ("Braemar" or the "Company") today reported the following results and performance measures for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.  The comparable performance measurements for Occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR), Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), and Hotel EBITDA assume each of the hotel properties in the Company's hotel portfolio as of September 30, 2019 were owned as of the beginning of each of the periods presented.  Unless otherwise stated, all reported results compare the third quarter ended September 30, 2019, with the third quarter ended September 30, 2018 (see discussion below).  The reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures is included in the financial tables accompanying this press release.

STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

• Focused strategy of investing in luxury hotels and resorts
• Targets conservative leverage levels of 45% Net Debt to Gross Assets
• Highly-aligned management team and advisory structure
• Dividend yield of approximately 7.0%

FINANCIAL AND OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS

• Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the quarter was $11.9 million or $0.37 per diluted share.
• Comparable RevPAR for all hotels decreased 2.0% to $234.81 during the quarter.
• Comparable RevPAR for all hotels not under renovation decreased 1.4% to $250.48 during the quarter.
• Adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) was $0.29 per diluted share for the quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDAre was $28.6 million for the quarter.
• During the quarter, the Company announced the planned opening of The Clancy, an Autograph Collection property, in downtown San Francisco. The re-branded property, a conversion of the Courtyard San Francisco Downtown, is expected to officially open in early 2020.
• During the quarter, the Company announced the opening of The Notary Hotel, an Autograph Collection property, in downtown Philadelphia. The re-branded property is a conversion of the Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown hotel.
• During the quarter, the Company announced it had completed an extension of its mortgage loan for the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas.
• During the quarter, the Company refinanced its mortgage loan for the 142-room Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West, Florida.
• Subsequent to quarter end, the Company announced a plan to dispose of the Ashford Inc. shares it owns.
• Subsequent to quarter end, the Company announced the opening of The Maple Grove Presidential Villa at the Bardessono Hotel & Spa in Yountville, CA.
• Capex invested during the quarter was $35.5 million.

UPDATE ON BUSINESS INTERRUPTION INCOME
During the quarter, the Company recognized $4.0 million of business interruption ("BI") income for the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas related to lost profits for the period of June 2019 through August 2019 due to the impact of Hurricane Irma.

The Company will continue to work with its insurers on the claims at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. The property is scheduled to reopen late in the fourth quarter of 2019.

PLANNED OPENING OF THE CLANCY
On July 11, 2019, the Company announced the planned opening of The Clancy in early 2020. Located in San Francisco's vibrant South of Market district, the Courtyard San Francisco Downtown is undergoing an approximately $30 million renovation to rebrand the property as The Clancy. The hotel will join Marriott International's Autograph Collection Hotels, a diverse portfolio of independent hotels around the world that reflect a unique vision, design, and environment.

OPENING OF THE NOTARY HOTEL
On July 17, 2019, the Company announced the opening of The Notary Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. This is the new branding for the former Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel underwent a $20 million renovation and rebranding of the former Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown, and now joins Marriott International's Autograph Collection. 

OPENING OF THE MAPLE GROVE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA
On October 3, 2019, the Company announced the opening of The Maple Grove Presidential Villa at the Bardessono Hotel & Spa in Yountville, CA. The spacious Presidential Villa is available in its entirety, offering 3,705 square feet of space including three bedrooms at a published rate of $9,000 per night.  The Presidential Villa is also available as three separate large, one-bedroom suites: the Flint Villa, the Jaspe Villa, and the Quartole Villa. Each separate suite boasts a distinctive great room, stately king bedroom, spa bathroom and courtyard.  

CAPITAL STRUCTURE
At September 30, 2019, the Company had total assets of $1.8 billion and $1.1 billion of mortgage loans of which $49 million related to its joint venture partner's share of the mortgage loan on the Capital Hilton and Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines.  The Company's total combined mortgage loans had a blended average interest rate of 4.3%. 

On August 6, 2019, the Company announced that it had amended and extended its mortgage loan secured by the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas.  The amended $42.5 million loan has a two-year initial term with three one-year extension options, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions.  The loan will continue to bear interest at a rate of LIBOR + 4.95%.  Upon the re-opening of the hotel as a Ritz-Carlton, which is planned for later this year, there is the potential for the spread on the loan to be reduced.  If the appraised value of the hotel results in a loan-to-value ratio between 65% and 70%, the spread will be reduced by 0.50%.  If the appraised value of the hotel results in a loan-to-value ratio less than 65%, the spread will be reduced by 1.00%.

On October 2, 2019, the Company announced that it entered into a stock purchase agreement with Ashford Inc. (NYSE American: AINC) ("Ashford") under which Ashford purchased 19,897 shares of its common stock for $30 per share, resulting in total proceeds of approximately $0.6 million to the Company. The purchase price reflected a premium of approximately 20% based on the closing price of Ashford common stock on October 1, 2019.  Due to the parameters of the private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service received by the Company, Ashford was only able to acquire the shares held by the Company's taxable REIT subsidiary.  Additionally, the Company announced that it plans to distribute the remaining 174,983 shares of Ashford common stock that it owns on a pro-rata basis to Braemar common shareholders and unitholders. The pro-rata distribution of Ashford shares is expected to be completed on November 5, 2019 to shareholders of record as of October 29, 2019.

On October 3, 2019, the Company announced that it had refinanced its mortgage loan for the 142-room Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West, Florida, which had an existing outstanding balance of $70 million, a floating interest rate of LIBOR + 2.25%, and a final maturity date in March 2020.  The new, non-recourse loan totals $80 million and has a five-year term. The loan is interest only and provides for a floating interest rate of LIBOR + 1.85%.  The Company's next hard maturity is not until April 2022.

On October 28, 2019, the Company announced that it had entered into a new $75 million secured credit facility, which replaced the Company's previous credit facility that was scheduled to mature in November.  The new credit facility provides for a three-year revolving line of credit and has two, one-year extension options.

PORTFOLIO REVPAR
As of September 30, 2019, the portfolio consisted of thirteen properties.  During the third quarter of 2019, nine 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 13 hotels) and comparable not under renovation basis (9 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 decreased 2.0% to $234.81 for all hotels on a 0.7% increase in ADR and a 2.6% decrease in occupancy.
• Comparable RevPAR decreased 1.4% to $250.48 for all hotels not under renovation on a 0.4% decrease in ADR and a 1.0% decrease 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.  To help investors better understand the substantial seasonality in the Company's portfolio, 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 thirteen hotels are provided in the table attached to this release.

COMMON STOCK DIVIDEND
On September 12, 2019, the Company announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per diluted share for the Company's common stock for the third quarter ending September 30, 2019. The dividend, which equates to an annual rate of $0.64 per share, was paid on October 15, 2019, to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2019.

"During the quarter, we continued to diligently execute on our strategy," said Richard J. Stockton, Braemar's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We opened The Notary Hotel, an Autograph Collection Hotel, in Philadelphia and announced the branding for the conversion of our Courtyard Downtown San Francisco Autograph conversion, which will be called The Clancy and is scheduled to open in early 2020.  We also completed The Maple Grove Presidential Villa at the Bardessono and the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas is expected to complete its renovation and reopen later this year.  Looking ahead to the remainder of 2019 and into 2020, we believe our portfolio is well-positioned and has unique aspects that are expected to result in opportunities for RevPAR performance that may not necessarily track the broader market.  With our recent refinancing activity, we have pushed out our debt maturities, lowered our cost of debt, and we will continue to look for opportunities to maximize value for our shareholders."  

INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL AND SIMULCAST
Braemar will conduct a conference call on Thursday, October 31, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. ET. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (201) 493-6725. A replay of the conference call will be available through Thursday, November 7, 2019, by dialing (412) 317-6671 and entering the confirmation number, 13694102.

The Company will also provide an online simulcast and rebroadcast of its third quarter 2019 earnings release conference call.  The live broadcast of Braemar's quarterly conference call will be available online at the Company's web site, www.bhrreit.com on Thursday, October 31, 2019, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.  The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately one year.

We use certain non-GAAP measures, in addition to the required GAAP presentations, as we believe these measures improve the understanding of our operational results and make comparisons of operating results among peer real estate investment trusts more meaningful. Non-GAAP financial measures, which should not be relied upon as a substitute for GAAP measures, used in this press release are FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAre, and Hotel EBITDA.  Please refer to our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more detailed description of how these non-GAAP measures are calculated.  The reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP measures are provided below and provide further details of our results for the period being reported.

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Braemar Hotels & Resorts is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in luxury hotels and resorts.

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 federal securities regulations.  Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, among others, statements about the implied share price for the Company's common stock.  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 Braemar'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 conditions 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 Braemar's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release.  The Company can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will be attained or that any deviation will not occur.  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.