US hotel operator Hilton Worldwide topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by a steady demand for its rooms in the United States.
However, the owner of Waldorf Astoria and Conrad hotel chains lowered the high end of its 2019 outlook for revenue per available room (RevPAR) – an important performance metric for the hotel industry – amid slowing global economies.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its estimate for global growth in 2019, as trade tensions and Brexit uncertainties erode business confidence and weaken investment spending.
This slowing growth directly affects travel budgets of corporates.
Hilton said it now expects full-year RevPAR to increase between 1 per cent and 2 per cent, down from an earlier rise of between 1 to 3 per cent.
The company now expects adjusted earnings for 2019 between $3.78 and $3.85 per share, compared to their previous forecast of $3.74 to $3.84 per share.
Hilton's net income attributable to stockholders rose to $260 million (Dh954.8m), or 89 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $217m, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Hilton earned $1.06 per share in the quarter beating analysts' average estimate of $1.02 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Revenue rose 8.4 per cent to $2.48 billion.
