Marriott Posts Third-Quarter Profit

WASHINGTON—Marriott International reported third quarter profits in line with Wall Street’s expectations as its peripheral synthetic fuel production business offset a travel slump. The company also raised its profit outlook for the rest of the year because of expected improvements in RevPAR and better-than-expected synthetic fuel production, a little known Marriott business that accounted for more than 20% of the companys third-quarter earnings. Marriott reported a third-quarter profit of $103 million or $0.41 per diluted share, up from $101 million, or $0.39 per share in the quarter a year earlier. The companys total sales were $4.8 billion, and its revenue per available room fell 6.8% for the quarter. The results matched Marriotts forecast of earnings per share in a range between $0.41 and $0.43. Analysts polled by research firm Thomson First Call had expected on average a profit of $0.42 per share on revenue of $2.4 billion for the quarter. Going forward, the company said it expected fourth-quarter earnings per share to reach between $0.65 and $0.69, which make its fiscal year profit between $1.88 per share and $1.92 per share. Fourth-quarter revenue per available room is expected to be 8% to 10% above last years level, which suffered in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. For 2003, Marriott forecast earnings per share in range between $2.05 and $2.15, with RevPAR flat to up 4%.