Choice Hotels Reports First Quarter 2009 Diluted EPS of $0.27, Domestic Unit Growth of 5.7%
SILVER SPRING, Md., April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc., (NYSE: CHH) today reported the following highlights for first quarter 2009:


-- Diluted earnings per share ("EPS") for first quarter 2009 were $0.27,
compared to $0.29 for the same period of the prior year.


-- Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation ("EBITDA") were $29.9
million for the three months ended March 31, 2009, compared to $36.1
million for the same period of 2008. Operating income for the three
months ended March 31, 2009 was $27.8 million compared to $34.1
million for the same period of 2008.


-- Domestic unit and room growth increased 5.7 percent and 5.6 percent,
respectively, from March 31, 2008.


-- Domestic system-wide revenue per available room ("RevPAR") declined
10.3% for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period of
2008.


-- The effective royalty rate increased 8 basis points to 4.26% for the
three months ended March 31, 2009 compared to 4.18% for the same
period of the prior year.


-- Franchising revenues declined 14% from $59.4 million for the three
months ended March 31, 2008 compared to $51.0 million for the same
period of 2009. Total revenues for the three months ended March 31,
2009 declined 11% compared to the same period of 2008.


-- New domestic hotel franchise contracts for the three months ended
March 31, 2009 declined to 60 compared to 133 contracts executed in
the same period of the prior year.


-- The number of domestic hotels under construction, awaiting conversion
or approved for development declined 9% from March 31, 2008 to 896
hotels representing 70,381 rooms; the worldwide pipeline declined 7%
from March 31, 2008 to 1,007 hotels representing 79,495 rooms.

"While we remain in the midst of an incredibly difficult environment, we once again were able to achieve significant domestic system growth on account of our range of value-oriented brands that appeal to both developers and consumers," said Stephen P. Joyce, president and chief executive officer. "However, RevPAR continues to deteriorate and the credit markets remain challenging. These macro-level factors have impacted our domestic franchise development efforts and our relicensing transactions. In this current downturn, we are working closely with our franchisees and providing them a wealth of tools and resources to enhance their operations. We are also aggressively and intelligently investing in marketing and reservations delivery efforts to drive guests to Choice-brand hotels."

Outlook for 2009

The uncertainty around the current economic environment and credit market conditions and their impact on travel patterns and hotel development activities makes it difficult to predict future results, particularly as it relates to underlying assumptions for RevPAR, new hotel franchise and relicensing sales and interest and investment income and expense.

The company's second quarter 2009 diluted EPS is expected to be $0.41. The company expects full-year of 2009 diluted EPS of $1.68. EBITDA for the full-year of 2009 are expected to be approximately $175.5 million. These estimates include the following assumptions:

-- The company expects net domestic unit growth of approximately 3.0% in
2009;
-- RevPAR is expected to decline approximately 16% for the second quarter
of 2009 and


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