Logo courtesy of Marriott Hotels & Resorts
Marriott International remains on schedule to acquireStarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide by mid-year. And on Wednesday the company revealed some more encouraging news.
Marriott reported its first quarter 2016 results this week, revealing an adjusted net income of $226 million for the three-month period ended March 31, signaling a nine percent increase over the same period in 2015. It should be noted that the adjusted net income didn't take into account the $10 million in expenses tied to Marriott's purchase of Starwood.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter 2016 reached $0.87, a whopping 19 percent increase from the previous first quarter.
First quarter revenue also jumped seven percent to nearly $3.8 billion.
In a statement, Marriott president and CEO Arne Sorenson said "adjusted diluted EPS was meaningfully ahead of expectations."
The figure also exceeded expectations on Wall Street by $0.03, according to USA Today.
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"Demand for our brands remains strong," Sorenson added. "Our development pipeline increased to more than 275,000 rooms in the first quarter compared to 240,000 rooms in the year-ago quarter."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the company's flagship brands, Marriott and Courtyard currently account for more than 35 percent of Marriott's worldwide pipeline.
But the future also looks extremely bright for Marriott's latest brands with its seven newest accounting for more than 15 percent of its pipeline.
READ MORE: Marriott Looks Back on Impressive 2015
Looking ahead to the remainder of the year, Sorenson said "North American managed full-service group revenue pace is up seven percent, with particular strength in the second and third quarters."
With the Starwood transaction still pending, Marriott said it will not yet provide full year EPS guidance for 2016.
However without taking the impact of the Starwood acquisition into account, the company said it anticipates full year 2016 operating income could total between $1.52 billion to $1.585 billion. Those figures would represent a 13 to 17 percent increase year-over-year.
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