Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results
The Company reported a net loss attributable to RLH Corporation of $2.8 million or $(0.11) per share in the second quarter as compared to a net loss attributable to RLH Corporation of $2.3 million or $(0.10) per share in the prior year period. The year-over-year change in operating results was primarily due to lower revenue from Company-owned hotels, versus theyear-ago period, as a result of the sale of hotels sold during 2018, partially offset by reductions in selling, general, administrative and other expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA, which is adjusted fornon-cash and certainone-time items, was $3.7 million for the second quarter as compared to $6.6 million in prior year period. The change in Adjusted EBITDA primarily reflects the growth of the franchise business offset by $2.6 million of EBITDA contribution from the hotels sold in 2018; a $900,000 decrease in year over year hotel segment performance, partially offset by a $100,000 improvement in franchise EBITDA and $500,000 reduction in SG&A.
Royalty fees increased 1.7% to $5.9 million primarily due to the Knights Inn acquisition. Marketing, reservations and reimbursables revenue, which are fees from franchised properties associated with the Company’s brands and shared services, increased 8% to $7.6 million due to an increase in transaction and reservation fees.
Selling, general, and administrative expenses, which include franchise sales, operations and corporate costs, continued to decrease with a 21% year-over-year decline to $6.5 million, reflecting the Company’s continued focus on leveraging technology, cost controls and payroll reductions including a decrease in stock-based compensation.
The Company executed 40 franchise agreements in the second quarter, 5 upscale and midscale hotels and 35 select service hotels, up 38% from executed franchise agreements signed in the prior year period.Year-to-date, the Company has signed 96 contracts including 13 upscale and midscale hotels and 83 select service hotels. Of the 96 contracts signed to date, 30 are for new locations that will be joining the RLH platform over the next 24 months. Our upscale and midscale franchise contracts typically contain future royalty rate increases, which allows our revenue to increase as our internal costs stay stable. For instance, midscale and upscale contracts are expected to contribute approximately 30% of our royalty revenue in 2019. With contractual rate changes, these same contracts will increase their future royalty revenue contribution by over 15% in 2020 and over 40% over the next three years.
BALANCE SHEET AND LIQUIDITY
RLH Corporation finished the second quarter with cash and restricted cash of $23 million including $6.1 million of cash and cash equivalents held by the joint ventures and debt of $56.5 million comprised of a corporate term loan of $5.0 million, a $10 million revolving line of credit and $41.5 million of hotel mortgages. As of June 30, 2019, the Company had a low net debt to trailing 12 months Adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.6 times. Adjusted free cash flow for the six months ended June 30, 2019 was approximately $5.4 million as compared to the prior year period of $545,000 and $(15.1) million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018.
2019 EXPECTATIONS
The Company is providing updated guidance with respect to the number of franchise agreements and a reduction in Corporate Selling General and Administrative expenses. Revised expectations for 2019 do not contemplate incremental sales of the owned hotels. However, the Company expects that in the event of any sales of the remaining hotels, there will be a reduction in the Company’s profitability in 2019. As each sale closes, the Company will disclose the material terms of each transaction in an 8K filing including the historical Adjusted EBITDA relating to the sold hotel. In addition, the Company will provide updated guidance to account for the sales of hotels at the time it reports quarterly results.
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