Jeffrey Fisher
Analyst · JMP Securities
Thanks, Jerry. Good morning, everyone. Before we get into the details of our third quarter results, I’d like to express our best wishes for many of you who have been impacted by Superstorm Sandy. I’d also like to commend the efforts of many of our employees and employees of our hotels in the Northeast who remain dedicated to serving our guests in the best possible way during these difficult times. We thank all of you for your commitment.
With large exposure to the Northeast, approximately 20 of our hotels within Chatham and the JV were affected by Sandy and without power for a period of time. Having said that, we are thankful to say that damage was relatively minor and as of today, power has been restored to all hotels and we are open for business in all markets including Atlantic City and Long Island.
From an operations perspective, we expect Superstorm Sandy to adversely impact Chatham’s fourth quarter RevPAR by 100 basis points to 200 basis points. From a profit perspective, our hotels will be incurring additional expenses to repair the damage made to the hotels and we will have to make capital expenditures as well.
Despite the drop in revenue and increased expenses, cash flow will not materially be impacted, since insurance will cover these items. We do not yet have a sense of what our claims will total at this time, but we’re busy working on that.
As the Northeast gets its relief and rebuilding efforts get underway, our hotels may, in fact, benefit. Of course, most of our hotels in the Northeast and elsewhere are extended-stay hotels and as many of you know, our extended-stay hotels have rooms with kitchens, which make them very attractive for long-term guests. Additionally, most of these hotels provide free breakfast and an evening meal or reception. These perks are attractive for the guests in need of a place to stay while away from their home or in the area to assist the rebuilding efforts.
Time will tell as to how much FEMA or other insurance business will come to these hotels in this fourth quarter, but I will tell you, from historic operating precedent that Residence Inns and Homewood Suites have always benefited due to these kind of unfortunate events. So although initially we’re calling for some kind of adverse impact here, particularly on RevPAR, we are working in each market and in each hotel to book business that in some cases, perhaps will allow us to exceed the last year’s results, certainly substantially for those hotels in that area.
As you’ve seen in the release, we are pleased to announce the completion of the amendment to our line of credit, which improves our capital structure while decreasing costs. We continue to improve the earnings power of the company to aggressive asset management that is driving strong operating performance as you’ve seen in the release and disciplined capital decision making. Dennis will talk more to this in detail, but, again, wherever we can improve our FFO, and improve our ability to pay dividends and increase shareholder return is where our efforts are devoted.
This translates to a well-diversified portfolio, properly capitalized, that produces industry leading cash flow and dividends. The cash flow is the result of strong margins and our premium RevPAR and enhances our ability to pay meaningful dividend and grow these dividends as these metrics also grow. Dividends drive total returns over time and our dividend is strong, our cash flow is growing and our dividends will continue to grow.
Shifting gears to our third quarter results, we generated adjusted FFO per share of $0.46, in line with consensus estimates, up almost 40% over the third quarter 2011. We were able to drive FFO through strong operating results at our 18 hotels, as well as great returns from our Innkeepers joint venture that we closed in the fourth quarter of 2011.
RevPAR growth was 5.8% in the quarter, one of the top performers of all lodging REITs with rate increases making up more than half of the growth. ADR was up 3.6% to $132 and occupancy was up 2.1% to 86%. We expect that rates will be the primary driver of RevPAR growth as we move through 2013. Occupancy in the competitive sets of our 18 hotels is now 75%, which ultimately allows us to drive rates and continue growing our already strong margins.
Speaking of which, third quarter GOP margins were up 180 basis points and hotel EBITDA margins were up 110 basis points to 46.2% and 39% respectively. Our operating model is very efficient at driving revenue growth to the bottom line. We refer to that as operating leverage.
In the third quarter, we were able to drive an increase in comparable hotel EBITDA of 9.7% for the 18 hotels on RevPAR growth of 5.8%. This equates to a very strong 1.7x flow-through multiple for the quarter.
Year-to-date is much the same with 1.7x flow-through on an increase in hotel EBITDA of 14.1% on RevPAR growth of 8.1%. As the cycle matures and as a larger component of the RevPAR increase is driven by ADR increases, our ability to generate excess cash flow and increase our dividend increases.
Interestingly, we just passed the one-year anniversary of closing our joint venture investment with Cerberus to acquire the Innkeepers hotels out of bankruptcy. It has been an eventful and very profitable first year to say the least. The JV has returned over half of our initial investment through a major refinancing, asset sales and strong cash flow from operations as a result of excellent performance in the portfolio. Asset sales are progressing as planned and proceeds are within the range we expected when we closed the transaction in the 2011 fourth quarter.
On the operation side, RevPAR growth in the JV’s core 51 hotels was 9.7% for the quarter and 10.7% year-to-date. So obviously, those are industry-leading numbers and we are very excited about those results in the JV.
Looking inside the JV portfolio, most of you will recall from our Innkeepers’ days that we have a significant presence in Silicon Valley with 8 extended-stay hotels in fantastic, irreplaceable locations. RevPAR in the Valley continues to significantly outperform national growth for the last 3 years with RevPAR up almost 50% since 2009 in those hotels.
Budgets preliminarily look good for 2013. Rising demand will continue to drive premium RevPAR growth through ADR increases in 2013. Within the JV hotel, EBITDA margins were up 300 basis points in the quarter and for the year, are up 330 basis points to almost 39%.
But peak EBITDA margins were in the mid-40%, so there’s still plenty of room for growth in that portfolio. Certainly, that investment has proven to be a fantastic investment and opportunity for Chatham to participate in.
Before I turn it over to Dennis, I’d like to confirm that management of all 6 hotels previously operated by Hilton, the Homewood Suites have been moved to Island Hospitality and Island is managing these hotels under the same general fee structure as Hilton.
RevPAR at the 6 transitioned hotels was up 6.3% for the third quarter, so the transaction is not negatively impacting performance and we look forward to further enhancement as Island gets their arms around those hotels.
With that, I’d like to turn it over to Dennis for more details.