Marriott International posts profit

Marriott International Inc., the largest U.S. hotel operator, on Tuesday turned a quarterly profit after a loss the year before, saying it saw some signs of an upturn in business travel.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 2, net income was $169 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with a loss of $37 million, or 15 cents per share, a year before, when the company took a substantial charge for discontinued operations.

Wall Street analysts, on average, had been looking for Marriott to post a profit of 61 cents per share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.

The results included 12 cents per share from its synthetic fuel operations, a business it invested in for its tax benefits. The prior year's results had included a 14-cent-per-share lift from synthetic fuel.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $2.87 billion

Other major hotel operators have already given mixed views on the outlook for a substantial hotel industry turnaround this year, but Marriott said current booking patters gave it confidence for the year ahead.

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"We are encouraged by the signs of improving trends and look forward to business travel demand building throughout 2004," Chairman and Chief Executive J.W. Marriott said in a statement.

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Looking to 2004, Marriott backed a forecast given in October for revenue per available room, or RevPAR, to rise 3 percent to 4 percent at its North American hotels.

Marriott also backed its previous forecast for first-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 38 cents to 42 cents per share.