Marriott International Inc., the largest U.S. hotel operator, on Tuesday turned a quarterly profit after a loss the year before, saying it saw some signs of an upturn in business travel.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 2, net income was $169 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with a loss of $37 million, or 15 cents per share, a year before, when the company took a substantial charge for discontinued operations.
Wall Street analysts, on average, had been looking for Marriott to post a profit of 61 cents per share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
The results included 12 cents per share from its synthetic fuel operations, a business it invested in for its tax benefits. The prior year's results had included a 14-cent-per-share lift from synthetic fuel.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $2.87 billion
Other major hotel operators have already given mixed views on the outlook for a substantial hotel industry turnaround this year, but Marriott said current booking patters gave it confidence for the year ahead.
"We are encouraged by the signs of improving trends and look forward to business travel demand building throughout 2004," Chairman and Chief Executive J.W. Marriott said in a statement.
Looking to 2004, Marriott backed a forecast given in October for revenue per available room, or RevPAR, to rise 3 percent to 4 percent at its North American hotels.
Marriott also backed its previous forecast for first-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 38 cents to 42 cents per share.
