La Quinta Holdings Inc. Reports Results For Second Quarter 2016

IRVING, Texas, Aug. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- La Quinta Holdings Inc. ("La Quinta" or the "Company") (NYSE: LQ) today reported its second quarter 2016 results.

Second Quarter 2016 Highlights

• Cash flow generation remained strong, as demonstrated by $105.4 million of Total Adjusted EBITDA
  
  
• Adjusted Earnings per Share increased by $0.02 to $0.21; GAAP Net Income per Share was $0.13, including the impact of a non-cash impairment charge of $0.14 per share
  
  
• Adjusted Net Income decreased 0.3 percent to $24.1 million; GAAP Net Income was $14.8 million, including the impact of a non-cash impairment charge of $16.2 million
  
  
• System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 0.2 percent, ADR increased 1.5 percent and occupancy decreased 91 basis points; excluding properties located in STR-defined "oil tracts", RevPAR increased 1.6 percent
  
  
• Opened 11 franchised hotels totaling approximately 1,100 rooms, including a location in New York City at Central Park West
  
  
• Increased franchise pipeline to 238 hotels, representing over 21,500 additional rooms, including new franchise agreements for our first location in El Salvador and our second location in Alaska
  
  
• Completed a second $100 million share repurchase program, acquiring a total of $75 million of shares as of June 30, 2016, bringing total shares outstanding at the end of the quarter to 116.8 million.

Overview
Keith A. Cline, President & Chief Executive Officer of La Quinta, said, "During the quarter, we continued to advance our strategic initiatives which are designed to drive consistency in our product and in the delivery of an outstanding guest experience, and to drive increased engagement with our brand. On the development front, we continued to see a tremendous amount of interest in growing the La Quinta brand from our franchise partners. This allowed us to grow our current and future footprint in the second quarter by opening eleven new hotels, including a key location in New York City at Central Park West, and by signing 26 new franchise agreements, including our first location in El Salvador and our second location in Alaska, bringing our total pipeline to 238 hotels."

Mr. Cline continued, "Also during the quarter, we delivered positive results in several markets where we experienced double digit and high single digit RevPAR growth.  Additionally, the impact of the significant pullback in oil production has moderated in terms of year-over-year RevPAR comparisons, and our hotels in the oil markets have improved their overall market share. However, these hotels continue to lag that of the rest of the system, and excluding the hotels in these oil markets, our second quarter system-wide comparable RevPAR would have been up 1.6 percent as compared to last year, an impact of 140 basis points.  We remain confident that the strategic priorities and initiatives we are executing will drive brand performance as well as continued strong cash flow generation and long-term shareholder value."

The results of operations for the Company for the three months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 include the following highlights ⁽¹⁾ ($ in thousands, except per share amounts):

Development
During the second quarter, the Company opened 11 franchised hotels, including two temporary franchised hotels related to formerly owned hotels which are in the process of leaving the system, representing approximately 1,100 rooms and resulting in net franchise units growing by eight. As of June 30, 2016, the Company had a pipeline of 238 franchised hotels totaling over 21,500 rooms, to be located in the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, and El Salvador. The Company believes this pipeline represents a significant embedded growth opportunity for the brand.

The Company's system-wide portfolio, as of June 30, 2016, is located across 48 states in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Mexico and Honduras. The portfolio includes:

Owned Hotel Portfolio
During the third quarter of 2015, the Company entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement for the sale of 24 of its owned hotels. Of these 24 hotels, 14 have closed as of the end of the second quarter, and the buyers are currently contractually obligated to close the remaining 10 before the end of the third quarter of 2016.  During the second quarter of 2016, the Company closed the sale of additional owned hotels located in Orlando, Florida and Greenville, South Carolina, and entered into definitive purchase and sale agreements for the sale of three additional owned hotels located in Charleston, South Carolina, Georgetown, Texas, and Huntsville, Texas.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity
As of June 30, 2016, the Company had approximately $1.7 billion of outstanding indebtedness with a weighted average interest rate of approximately 4.3%, including the impact of an interest rate swap. During the second quarter of 2016, the Company repurchased 6.1 million of its shares for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $75 million, for a year-to-date total of 8.1 million shares for approximately $100 million.  Total cash and cash equivalents was $64.1 million as of June 30, 2016.

Outlook
Based upon management's current estimates, the Company is revising its guidance for full year 2016. This revision reflects the Company's second quarter performance and adjusted expectations for the remainder of the year, as well as the impact of changes in the timing of owned assets leaving the system.  

This outlook does not reflect the impact of any additional sales of owned hotels beyond the 10 remaining properties from the group of 24 properties previously discussed under "Owned Hotel Portfolio" above.

Please see the schedules to this press release for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Adjusted Net Income Attributable to La Quinta Holdings' stockholders.  A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the closest GAAP financial measure is not available without unreasonable efforts on a forward-looking basis due to the high variability, complexity and low visibility with respect to impairment charges, gains or losses on sales of assets, and secondary offering expenses excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures.  These items could have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on our future GAAP financial results.

Webcast and Conference Call
La Quinta Holdings Inc. will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2016 results on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Participants may listen to the live webcast by dialing (877) 407-3982, or (201) 493-6780 for international participants, or by logging onto the La Quinta Investor Relations website at www.lq.com/investorrelations. Participants are encouraged to dial into the call or link to the webcast at least fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

A replay of the call will be available from approximately 8 p.m. Eastern Time on August 2, 2016 through midnight Eastern Time on August 9, 2016. To access the replay, the domestic dial-in number is (877) 870-5176, the international dial-in number is (858) 384-5517, and the passcode is 13629955. The archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's website for a limited time.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding the performance of our business, our financial results, our liquidity and capital resources, the outcome of our strategic initiatives and other non-historical statements, including the statements in the "Outlook" section of this press release. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in our filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margins, Segment Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share. Please see the schedules to this press release for additional information and reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures.

About La Quinta Holdings Inc.
La Quinta Holdings Inc. (LQ) is a leading owner, operator and franchisor of select-service hotels primarily serving the upper-midscale and midscale segments. The Company's owned and franchised portfolio consists of more than 880 properties representing approximately 87,500 rooms located in 48 states in the U.S., and in Canada, Mexico and Honduras. These properties operate under the La Quinta Inn & Suites™, La Quinta Inn™ and LQ Hotel^TM brands. La Quinta's team is committed to providing guests with a refreshing and engaging experience. For more information, please visit: www.LQ.com.  

From time to time, La Quinta may use its website as a distribution channel of material company information. Financial and other important information regarding the Company is routinely accessible through and posted on our website at www.lq.com/investorrelations. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about La Quinta when you enroll your email address by visiting the Email Notification section at www.lq.com/investorrelations.