Service Properties Trust (NASDAQ: SVC) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.20), $0.15 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.05). Revenue for the quarter came in at $483.78 million versus the consensus estimate of $481.23 million.

• Net Income (loss):Net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 was $33.7 million, or $0.20 per diluted common share, compared to net income of $225.8 million, or $1.37 per diluted common share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 includes a $6.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted common share, net loss on the sale of real estate, $5.0 million, or $0.03 per diluted common share, of unrealized loss on equity securities and a $16.7 million, or $0.10 per diluted common share, loss on asset impairment. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 includes a $159.5 million, or $0.97 per diluted common share, gain on sale of real estate and $21.0 million, or $0.13 per diluted common share, of net unrealized gains on equity securities. The weighted average number of diluted common shares outstanding was 164.4 million and 164.3 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
• Adjusted EBITDAre: Adjusted EBITDAre for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 declined 0.4% to $195.1 million.
• Normalized FFO:Normalized FFO for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 were $123.1 million, or $0.75 per diluted common share, compared to Normalized FFO of $144.6 million, or $0.88 per diluted common share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

John Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of SVC, made the following statement:

“While the travel industry and certain service retail businesses, particularly theaters, fitness centers and casual dining restaurants, are experiencing unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we entered this crisis in a solid financial position. We continue to believe SVC has the ability to withstand the current economic downturn because of our strong balance sheet, liquidity and agreements with our hotel operators and net lease tenants.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken significant and difficult steps to preserve capital until economic conditions improve. These included reducing our quarterly dividend and deferring non-essential capital spending. We have no debt maturities until 2021 and $500 million of availability under our revolving credit facility, which we amended in May 2020 to obtain waivers from compliance with certain financial covenants through March 2021.

Our earnings for the first two and a half months of the first quarter met our expectations, but the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the last two weeks of the quarter was acute and continues. We remain committed to working closely with our hotel operators to identify ways to optimally reduce operating costs. We are also working with our net lease tenants, especially those whose businesses are temporarily closed due to government mandates or guidelines, by generally considering requests for rent relief and we have agreed to rent deferrals which will be payable beginning in September 2020 in 12 equal monthly installments in order to help them withstand the crisis. As of May 7, 2020 we have agreed to defer an aggregate of $8.6 million of second quarter 2020 rent for tenants representing approximately 6.4% of our annual minimum returns and rents.

We are a large, diverse, well-capitalized REIT and we believe we are well positioned to manage through this crisis.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Service Properties Trust (SVC) click here.