Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2024 Results

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (NYSE: RHP), a lodging real estate investment trust (“REIT”) specializing in group-oriented, destination hotel assets in urban and resort markets, today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

First Quarter 2024 Highlights and Recent Developments:

• The Company generated first quarter net income of $42.8 million and net income available to common stockholders of $43.1 million or $0.67 per diluted share.
• Reported consolidated revenue of $528.3 million, driven by Hospitality revenue of $461.5 million.
• Achieved consolidated operating income of $96.4 million and consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre of $161.1 million.
• During the first quarter, the Company booked over 287,000 same-store Gross Definite Room Nights for all future years, at a record first quarter average daily rate (ADR) of $265, an increase of 5.6% over Q1 2023 ADR for future bookings.
• The Company prepaid its Rockies Term Loan with a portion of the net proceeds of a new issue of senior unsecured notes, and, together with cash on hand, repaid $200 million of its corporate Term Loan B, and, in April 2024, repriced its Term Loan B, reducing the applicable interest rate margin on SOFR loans from 275 bps to 225 bps.
• The Company increased its full year consolidated net income and adjusted funds from operations guidance to reflect the impact of refinancing activities and the Company’s strong visibility into forward bookings.

Mark Fioravanti, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ryman Hospitality Properties, said, “Our first quarter results were solid, even with ongoing renovation disruptions and a challenging comparison to the first quarter of 2023 when we set several first quarter records. Our same-store Hospitality portfolio delivered record first quarter ADR and strong banquet and AV contribution per group room night, which is a positive indicator of group spending and overall segment strength. We were particularly pleased to see these results even with the timing of the Easter holiday, which shifted some group demand from the first quarter of 2024 into the second quarter of 2024. In the second half of the quarter, we did experience some softness in transient demand in several of our markets; however, we remain confident in the long-term growth outlook for the markets in which we operate and our outlook for the remainder of 2024.”

First Quarter 2024 Results (as compared to First Quarter 2023):

Note: For the Company’s definitions of Adjusted EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAre margin, Adjusted EBITDAre, excluding noncontrolling interest in consolidated joint venture, Adjusted EBITDAre, excluding noncontrolling interest in consolidated joint venture margin, FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders, and Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders, as well as a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure Adjusted EBITDAre to Net Income and a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders and Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders to Net Income, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” “EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Definition,” “Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Margin Definition” “FFO, Adjusted FFO, and Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders Definition” and “Supplemental Financial Results” below.

Hospitality Segment

Note: For the Company’s definitions of Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) and Total Revenue Per Available Room (Total RevPAR), see “Calculation of RevPAR, Total RevPAR, and Occupancy” below. Property-level results and operating metrics for first quarter 2024 are presented in greater detail below and under “Supplemental Financial Results—Hospitality Segment Adjusted EBITDAre Reconciliations and Operating Metrics,” which includes a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures Hospitality Adjusted EBITDAre to Hospitality Operating Income, and property-level Adjusted EBITDAre to property-level Operating Income for each of the hotel properties.

Hospitality Segment Highlights

• Same-store Hospitality portfolio achieved record first quarter average daily rate (ADR) of $245, an increase of 2.9% from Q1 2023, demonstrating continued pricing momentum.
• Same-store Hospitality banquet and AV revenue had the second-best quarter ever, trailing only Q1 2023.
• JW Marriott Hill Country delivered strong first quarter performance as we are beginning to see operational efficiency improvements from our asset management capabilities.
• Same-store incentive management fee expense increased to $7.5 million in the quarter, up from $6.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
• On a same-store basis, cancellations in the year for the year decreased by 62% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023, and attrition and cancellation fee collections declined to $7.9 million in Q1 2024 from $9.7 million in Q1 2023.
  

Gaylord Opryland

Gaylord Palms

Gaylord Texan

Gaylord National

Gaylord Rockies

JW Marriott Hill Country(1)

Entertainment Segment

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, and 2023, the Company reported the following:

Fioravanti continued, “Our Entertainment business delivered strong performance considering severe winter weather in Nashville in late January, which impacted demand at our Nashville assets, as well as ongoing construction disruption associated with Category 10 and renovation of the W Austin Hotel at Block 21. Our Ole Red venues performed well, including our newest venue, Ole Red Las Vegas, which has opened to an encouraging start.”

Corporate and Other Segment

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, and 2023, the Company reported the following:

2024 Guidance

Fioravanti concluded, “We took advantage of market conditions to refinance the Gaylord Rockies Term Loan with senior unsecured notes, and in April 2024, we repriced our corporate Term Loan B, which has immediate interest savings in 2024. Our refinancing activities, together with our strong forward bookings position, support our confidence in our outlook and enable us to raise our guidance for full year net income, funds from operations and adjusted funds from operations. We remain excited about the investments we are making across our portfolio, which we believe will continue to create value for our stockholders in the years to come.”

The Company is updating its 2024 business performance outlook based on current information as of May 1, 2024. The Company does not expect to update the guidance provided below before next quarter’s earnings release. However, the Company may update its full business outlook or any portion thereof at any time for any reason.

Current full year 2024 guidance includes the following assumptions:

• Disruption from planned capital investments is estimated to result in a negative impact of approximately 215 basis points to same-store Hospitality RevPAR growth and approximately 160 basis points to same-store Hospitality Total RevPAR growth. In addition, the Company expects disruption to result in a negative impact of approximately $18 million to $21 million to Consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre, including $10 million to $11 million to same-store Hospitality Adjusted EBITDAre and $8 million to $10 million to Entertainment Adjusted EBITDAre.
• Capital expenditures are estimated to be $360 million to $440 million.

Dividend Update
The Company’s dividend policy provides that it will distribute minimum dividends of 100% of REIT taxable income annually. It is the Company’s current plan to distribute aggregate minimum dividends for 2024 of $4.40 per share in cash. Future dividends are subject to the Board’s future determinations as to amount and timing.

Balance Sheet/Liquidity Update
As of March 31, 2024, the Company had total debt outstanding of $3,377.8 million, net of unamortized deferred financing costs, and unrestricted cash of $465.3 million. As of March 31, 2024, there were no amounts drawn under the Company’s revolving credit facility, $22.0 million was drawn under OEG’s revolving credit facility, and the lending banks had issued $4.3 million in letters of credit under the Company’s revolving credit facility, which left $738.7 million of aggregate borrowing availability for borrowing under the Company’s revolving credit facility and OEG’s revolving credit facility.

Earnings Call Information
Ryman Hospitality Properties will hold a conference call to discuss this release tomorrow, May 2, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. ET. Investors can listen to the conference call over the Internet at www.rymanhp.com. To listen to the live call, please go to the Investor Relations section of the website (Investor Relations/Presentations, Earnings and Webcasts) at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call and will be available for at least 30 days.

About Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. (NYSE: RHP) is a leading lodging and hospitality real estate investment trust that specializes in upscale convention center resorts and entertainment experiences. The Company’s holdings include Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center; and Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, five of the top seven largest non-gaming convention center hotels in the United States based on total indoor meeting space. The Company also owns the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa as well as two ancillary hotels adjacent to our Gaylord Hotels properties. The Company’s hotel portfolio is managed by Marriott International and includes a combined total of 11,414 rooms as well as more than 3 million square feet of total indoor and outdoor meeting space in top convention and leisure destinations across the country. RHP also owns a 70% controlling ownership interest in Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), which is composed of entities owning a growing collection of iconic and emerging country music brands, including the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM, Ole Red, Nashville-area attractions, and Block 21, a mixed-use entertainment, lodging, office and retail complex, including the W Austin Hotel and the ACL Live at the Moody Theater, located in downtown Austin, Texas. RHP operates OEG as its Entertainment segment in a taxable REIT subsidiary, and its results are consolidated in the Company’s financial results.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements as to the Company’s beliefs and expectations of the outcome of future events that are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the future performance of the Company’s business, anticipated business levels and anticipated financial results for the Company during future periods, the Company’s expected cash dividend, and other business or operational issues. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These include the risks and uncertainties associated with economic conditions affecting the hospitality business generally, the geographic concentration of the Company’s hotel properties, business levels at the Company’s hotels, the effects of inflation on the Company’s business, including the effects on costs of labor and supplies and effects on group customers at the Company’s hotels and customers in OEG’s businesses, the Company’s ability to remain qualified as a REIT, the Company’s ability to execute our strategic goals as a REIT, the Company’s ability to generate cash flows to support dividends, future board determinations regarding the timing and amount of dividends and changes to the dividend policy, the Company’s ability to borrow funds pursuant to its credit agreements and to refinance indebtedness and/or to successfully amend the agreements governing its indebtedness in the future, and changes in interest rates. Other factors that could cause operating and financial results to differ are described in the filings made from time to time by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and include the risk factors and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and subsequent filings. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements made by it to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Additional Information
This release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Copies of our reports are available on our website at no expense at www.rymanhp.com and through the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval System (“EDGAR”) at www.sec.gov.

Calculation of RevPAR and Total RevPAR
We calculate revenue per available room (“RevPAR”) for our hotels by dividing room revenue by room nights available to guests for the period. We calculate total revenue per available room (“Total RevPAR”) for our hotels by dividing the sum of room revenue, food & beverage, and other ancillary services revenue by room nights available to guests for the period. Hospitality metrics do not include the results of the W Austin, which is included in the Entertainment segment.

Calculation of GAAP Margin Figures
We calculate Net Income available to common stockholders margin by dividing GAAP consolidated Net Income available to common stockholders by GAAP consolidated Total Revenue. We calculate consolidated, segment or property-level Operating Income Margin by dividing consolidated, segment or property-level GAAP Operating Income by consolidated, segment or property-level GAAP Revenue.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We present the following non-GAAP financial measures we believe are useful to investors as key measures of our operating performance:

EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAreand Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Definition
We calculate EBITDAre, which is defined by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”) in its September 2017 white paper as Net Income (calculated in accordance with GAAP) plus interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, gains or losses on the disposition of depreciated property (including gains or losses on change in control), impairment write-downs of depreciated property and of investments in unconsolidated affiliates caused by a decrease in the value of depreciated property of the affiliate, and adjustments to reflect the entity’s share of EBITDAre of unconsolidated affiliates.

Adjusted EBITDAre is then calculated as EBITDAre, plus to the extent the following adjustments occurred during the periods presented:

• preopening costs;
• non-cash lease expense;
• equity-based compensation expense;
• impairment charges that do not meet the NAREIT definition above;
• credit losses on held-to-maturity securities;
• transaction costs of acquisitions;
• interest income on bonds;
• loss on extinguishment of debt;
• pension settlement charges;
• pro rata Adjusted EBITDAre from unconsolidated joint ventures; and
• any other adjustments we have identified herein.
  

We then exclude the pro rata share of Adjusted EBITDAre related to noncontrolling interests in consolidated joint ventures to calculate Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture.

We use EBITDAre, Adjusted EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture and segment or property-level EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre to evaluate our operating performance. We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors regarding our operating performance and debt leverage metrics, and that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when combined with the primary GAAP presentation of Net Income or Operating Income, as applicable, is beneficial to an investor’s complete understanding of our operating performance. We make additional adjustments to EBITDAre when evaluating our performance because we believe that presenting Adjusted EBITDAre and Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture provides useful information to investors regarding our operating performance and debt leverage metrics.

Adjusted EBITDAre Margin and Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Margin Definition
We calculate consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Margin by dividing consolidated Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture by GAAP consolidated Total Revenue. We calculate consolidated, segment or property-level Adjusted EBITDAre Margin by dividing consolidated, segment-, or property-level Adjusted EBITDAre by consolidated, segment-, or property-level GAAP Revenue. We believe Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture Margin is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because this non-GAAP financial measure helps investors evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by presenting a ratio showing the quantitative relationship between Adjusted EBITDAre, Excluding Noncontrolling Interest in Consolidated Joint Venture and GAAP consolidated Total Revenue or segment or property-level GAAP Revenue, as applicable.

FFO, Adjusted FFO, and Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders Definition
We calculate FFO, which definition is clarified by NAREIT in its December 2018 white paper as Net Income (calculated in accordance with GAAP) excluding depreciation and amortization (excluding amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts), gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets, gains and losses from a change in control, impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciated real estate held by the entity, income (loss) from consolidated joint ventures attributable to noncontrolling interest, and pro rata adjustments for unconsolidated joint ventures.

To calculate Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders, we then exclude, to the extent the following adjustments occurred during the periods presented:

• right-of-use asset amortization;
• impairment charges that do not meet the NAREIT definition above;
• write-offs of deferred financing costs;
• amortization of debt discounts or premiums and amortization of deferred financing costs;
• loss on extinguishment of debt;
• non-cash lease expense;
• credit loss on held-to-maturity securities;
• pension settlement charges;
• additional pro rata adjustments from unconsolidated joint ventures;
• (gains) losses on other assets;
• transaction costs on acquisitions;
• deferred income tax expense (benefit); and
• any other adjustments we have identified herein.
  

We present Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders per diluted share as a non-GAAP measure of our performance in addition to our net income available to common stockholders per diluted share (calculated in accordance with GAAP). We calculate Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders per diluted share as our Adjusted FFO (defined as set forth above) for a given operating period, as adjusted for the effect of dilutive securities, divided by the number of diluted shares and units outstanding during such period.

We are discontinuing the presentation of Adjusted FFO available to common stockholders and unit holders (excluding maintenance capex) because our dividend policy no longer references this measure.

We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors regarding the performance of our ongoing operations because each presents a measure of our operations without regard to specified non-cash items such as real estate depreciation and amortization, gain or loss on sale of assets and certain other items, which we believe are not indicative of the performance of our underlying hotel properties. We believe that these items are more representative of our asset base than our ongoing operations. We also use these non-GAAP financial measures as measures in determining our results after considering the impact of our capital structure.

We caution investors that non-GAAP financial measures we present may not be comparable to similar measures disclosed by other companies, because not all companies calculate these non-GAAP measures in the same manner. The non-GAAP financial measures we present, and any related per share measures, should not be considered as alternative measures of our Net Income, operating performance, cash flow or liquidity. These non-GAAP financial measures may include funds that may not be available for our discretionary use due to functional requirements to conserve funds for capital expenditures and property acquisitions and other commitments and uncertainties. Although we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures can enhance an investor’s understanding of our results of operations, these non-GAAP financial measures, when viewed individually, are not necessarily better indicators of any trend as compared to GAAP measures such as Net Income (Loss), Operating Income (Loss), or cash flow from operations.