Hilton Reports Second Quarter Results; Raises Full Year Outlook

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (“Hilton” or the “Company”) (NYSE: HLT) today reported its second quarter 2023 results. Highlights include:

• Diluted EPS was $1.55 for the second quarter, and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $1.63, both exceeding the high end of guidance

• Net income was $413 million for the second quarter, exceeding the high end of guidance

• Adjusted EBITDA was $811 million for the second quarter, exceeding the high end of guidance

• System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 12.1 percent, on a currency neutral basis, for the second quarter compared to the same period in 2022

• System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 9.3 percent, on a currency neutral basis, for the second quarter compared to the same period in 2019

• Approved 36,000 new rooms for development during the second quarter, bringing Hilton’s development pipeline to 440,900 rooms as of June 30, 2023, representing growth of 7 percent from June 30, 2022

• Added 14,000 rooms to Hilton’s system in the second quarter, resulting in 11,200 net additional rooms in Hilton’s system during the period

• Repurchased 3.3 million shares of Hilton common stock during the second quarter, bringing total capital return, including dividends, to $510 million for the quarter and $1,123 million year to date through July

• Launched a new extended-stay brand with the working title Project H3 in May 2023

• Full year 2023 system-wide RevPAR is expected to increase between 10 percent and 12 percent on a comparable and currency neutral basis compared to 2022; full year net income is projected to be between $1,387 million and $1,422 million; full year Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $2,975 million and $3,025 million

• Full year 2023 capital return is projected to be between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion

Overview

Christopher J. Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer of Hilton, said, “System-wide comparable RevPAR continued to expand throughout the quarter, experiencing growth across all of our customer segments and regions, driven by strong preference for our brands. Our top line performance yielded meaningful bottom line results, as we exceeded the high end of our guidance for Adjusted EBITDA and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items. We continue to drive long-term growth of our global network through the launch of strategic, new brands and have already added over 60,000 rooms to our development pipeline during 2023.”

For the three months ended June 30, 2023, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 12.1 percent compared to the same period in 2022 due to increases in both occupancy and ADR, and management and franchise fee revenues increased 16.1 percent compared to the same period in 2022. For comparison to pre-pandemic results, system-wide comparable RevPAR for the three months ended June 30, 2023 increased 9.3 percent compared to the same period in 2019, and management and franchise fee revenues increased 30.8 percent from the same period in 2019.

For the six months ended June 30, 2023, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 19.7 percent compared to the same period in 2022 due to increases in both occupancy and ADR, and management and franchise fee revenues increased 22.1 percent compared to the same period in 2022. For comparison to pre-pandemic results, system-wide comparable RevPAR for the six months ended June 30, 2023 increased 8.8 percent compared to the same period in 2019, and management and franchise fee revenues increased 28.7 percent from the same period in 2019.

For the three months ended June 30, 2023, diluted EPS was $1.55 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $1.63 compared to $1.32 and $1.29, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2022. Net income and Adjusted EBITDA were $413 million and $811 million, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2023, compared to $367 million and $679 million, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2022.

For the six months ended June 30, 2023, diluted EPS was $2.31 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $2.86 compared to $2.07 and $2.00, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2022. Net income and Adjusted EBITDA were $622 million and $1,452 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2023, compared to $578 million and $1,127 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2022.

Development

In the second quarter of 2023, Hilton opened 92 new hotels totaling 14,000 rooms and achieved net unit growth of 11,200 rooms. During the quarter, Hilton opened the Conrad Shenzhen, Hilton’s first luxury property in China’s technology hub, and surpassed 150,000 hotel rooms in the Asia Pacific region, which included nearly 50,000 Hampton by Hilton rooms in China. Additionally, continuing to demonstrate the value of our all-suites category, Hilton opened the 600th Home2 Suites by Hilton, one of the fastest growing brands in the industry.

Hilton added over 36,000 rooms to the development pipeline during the second quarter, and, as of June 30, 2023, Hilton’s development pipeline totaled approximately 3,060 hotels representing 440,900 rooms throughout 116 countries and territories, including 29 countries and territories where Hilton did not have any existing hotels. Additionally, of the rooms in the development pipeline, 217,000 of the rooms were under construction and 250,100 of the rooms were located outside of the U.S.

Spark by Hilton, our new premium economy brand launched in January 2023, had approximately 60 hotels in the development pipeline as of June 30, 2023. In May 2023, Hilton launched a new brand in the U.S. under the working title Project H3, an inventive, new apartment-style extended-stay brand positioned to serve the unique needs of the long-stay traveler, including the rapidly expanding workforce travel market.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of June 30, 2023, Hilton had $8.8 billion of long-term debt outstanding, excluding the deduction for deferred financing costs and discount, with a weighted average interest rate of 4.54 percent. Excluding all finance lease liabilities and other debt of Hilton’s consolidated variable interest entities, Hilton had $8.6 billion of long-term debt outstanding with a weighted average interest rate of 4.53 percent and no scheduled maturities until May 2025. As of June 30, 2023, no debt amounts were outstanding under Hilton’s $2.0 billion senior secured revolving credit facility, which had an available borrowing capacity of $1,940 million after considering $60 million of outstanding letters of credit. Total cash and cash equivalents were $883 million as of June 30, 2023, including $77 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents.

During the second quarter of 2023, Hilton repurchased 3.3 million shares of its common stock at a cost of $470 million and an average price per share of $141.96. During the six months ended June 30, 2023, Hilton repurchased 6.5 million shares of its common stock at an average price per share of $140.94, returning $916 million of capital to shareholders. Through July 21, 2023, since the inception of Hilton’s stock repurchase program in March 2017, Hilton repurchased approximately 59.7 million shares of its common stock for approximately $5.9 billion at an average price per share of $99.03. The amount remaining under Hilton’s stock repurchase program is approximately $2.1 billion.

In June 2023, Hilton paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share of common stock, for a total of $40 million, bringing total dividend payments for the year to $81 million. In July 2023, Hilton’s board of directors authorized a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share of common stock to be paid on or before September 29, 2023 to holders of record of its common stock as of the close of business on August 25, 2023.

Outlook

Share-based metrics in Hilton’s outlook include actual share repurchases to date, but do not include the effect of potential share repurchases hereafter.

Full Year 2023

• System-wide comparable RevPAR, on a currency neutral basis, is expected to increase between 10 percent and 12 percent compared to 2022.

• Diluted EPS is projected to be between $5.18 and $5.31.

• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, is projected to be between $5.93 and $6.06.

• Net income is projected to be between $1,387 million and $1,422 million.

• Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $2,975 million and $3,025 million.

• Contract acquisition costs and capital expenditures, excluding amounts reimbursed by third parties, are expected to be approximately $300 million.

• Capital return is projected to be between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion.

• General and administrative expenses are projected to be between $390 million and $410 million.

• Net unit growth is expected to be approximately 5 percent.

Third Quarter 2023

• System-wide comparable RevPAR, on a currency neutral basis, is expected to increase between 4 percent and 6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2022.

• Diluted EPS is projected to be between $1.49 and $1.54.

• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, is projected to be between $1.60 and $1.65.

• Net income is projected to be between $395 million and $409 million.

• Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $790 million and $810 million.

Conference Call

Hilton will host a conference call to discuss second quarter of 2023 results on July 26, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Participants may listen to the live webcast by logging on to the Hilton Investor Relations website at https://ir.hilton.com/events-and-presentations. A replay and transcript of the webcast will be available within 24 hours after the live event at https://ir.hilton.com/financial-reporting.

Alternatively, participants may listen to the live call by dialing 1-888-317-6003 in the United States (“U.S.”) or 1-412-317-6061 internationally using the conference ID 1121609. Participants are encouraged to dial into the call or link to the webcast at least fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start time. A telephone replay will be available for seven days following the call. To access the telephone replay, dial 1-877-344-7529 in the U.S. or 1-412-317-0088 internationally using the conference ID 9297768.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the expectations regarding the performance of Hilton’s business, future financial results, liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. In some cases, 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, among others, risks inherent to the hospitality industry; macroeconomic factors beyond Hilton’s control, such as inflation, changes in interest rates, challenges due to labor shortages and supply chain disruptions and recent events affecting the financial services industry; risks related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; competition for hotel guests and management and franchise contracts; risks related to doing business with third-party hotel owners; performance of Hilton’s information technology systems; growth of reservation channels outside of Hilton’s system; risks of doing business outside of the U.S.; risks associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and Hilton’s indebtedness. Additional factors that could cause Hilton’s results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found under the section entitled “Part I—Item 1A. Risk Factors” of Hilton’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and is 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 press release and in Hilton’s filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes 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.

Definitions

See the “Definitions” section for the definition of certain terms used within this press release, including within the schedules.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company refers to certain financial measures that are not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in this press release, including: net income, adjusted for special items; diluted EPS, adjusted for special items; EBITDA; Adjusted EBITDA; Adjusted EBITDA margin; net debt; and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio. See the schedules to this press release, including the “Definitions” section, for additional information and reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures, as well as the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 22 world-class brands comprising nearly 7,300 properties and more than 1.1 million rooms, in 123 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, earned a top spot on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list and been recognized as a global leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for six consecutive years. Hilton has introduced several industry-leading technology enhancements to improve the guest experience, including Digital Key Share, automated complimentary room upgrades and the ability to book confirmed connecting rooms. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 165 million members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can’t buy. With the free Hilton Honors app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit stories.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on facebook.com/hiltonnewsroom, twitter.com/hiltonnewsroom, linkedin.com/company/hilton, instagram.com/hiltonnewsroom and youtube.com/hiltonnewsroom.

Contacts

Investor Contact
Jill Chapman

+1 703 883 1000

Media Contact
Kent Landers

+1 703 883 3246

Read full story here