The Boca Raton owner-operator of class A resorts, however, is refuting speculation that Raymond James & Associates Inc., a St. Petersburg, FL, investment banking and securities firm, published in a recent stock market report.
"We have no plans to be taken out at all," Ron Castell, a Boca Resorts senior vice president, tells GlobeSt.com.
That doesn't dissuade William A. Crow, a Raymond James lodging industry analyst, from his opinion, however. "As far as a takeout goes, it just makes sense," Crow tells GlobeSt.com. "But it wasn't going to happen prior to them selling the hockey team."
It's not just the $101 million sale of the Florida Panthers professional hockey team in late July to a private investment group that intrigues Crow. There is also the $335 million closing last December on the sale of the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa to KSL Recreation Corp.
"They now have a small but very high quality portfolio of assets located in a single state-- most of which are unencumbered by franchise flags or brands," he says. Then there is the company's recent earnings performance, Crow says.
At a time when many lodging providers are foundering in a soft economy, Boca Resorts closed the fourth quarter ended June 30 with an 8.1% increase in total revenue per available room and a 3.1% increase in hotel room occupancy.
Excluding extraordinary expenses and income taxes, the company also exceeded a fourth-quarter earnings forecast of four cents per share by one cent, as tracked by First Call/Thomson Financial. It met the year-end consensus estimate of eight cents a share.
Not including the potential for an insider buyout, maybe even led by H. Wayne Huizenga, Boca Resort's chairman, Crow has identified three possible suitors, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Host Marriott Corp., Canadian Pacific Ltd. and Six Continents Plc (formerly Bass Plc).
The resort company's Florida-based portfolio, and positive increase in RevPar, could weigh heavily on the minds of lodging industry executives who are looking for ways to improve shareholder value--especially for companies like Host Marriott.
"Their only positive RevPar growth was in their Florida properties," Crow says about Host Marriott's recent financial performance.
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