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Ashford Hospitality Trust is a self-administered real
estate investment trust listed on the NYSE (symbol:
AHT) that invests in the hospitality industry across
all segments and at all levels of the capital structure,
including direct hotel investments, first mortgages,
mezzanine loans, construction loans and sale-leaseback
transactions.
Ashford
implements two successful strategies to manage
its growth and deliver shareholder value: a Portfolio
Management Investment Strategy and an Internal
Growth Strategy.
Ashford's
Portfolio Management Investment Strategy
seeks to maximize returns while minimizing performance
risk. Investments must meet targeted return requirements
utilizing market research underwriting assumptions.
Each investment is then evaluated on the relative
contribution to the overall investment portfolio
in terms of total return and volatility. This
capital allocation strategy focuses on achieving
optimal total return performance at any given
point in a cycle by having the right asset mix
given Ashford's ongoing analysis of micro market
trends as well as lodging and capital market fundamentals.
While Ashford's dominant strategy is direct hotel
investments, supplemental strategies involving
structured finance and loans enhance returns.
The core objectives of the Portfolio Management
Strategy are value creation and dividend growth
via investment allocation, an efficient capital
structure and risk/reward balance.
Ashford's
Internal Growth Strategy utilizes a variety
of techniques to increase hotel performance and
recycle capital. Each investment typically has
one or more of the following strategies: hotel
brand change, price segment repositioning, capital
expenditure upgrade, margin improvement via expense
controls or top-line growth, outsized market recovery,
initial high yield or capital recycle via sale
of non-core assets from a portfolio transaction.
The goals of the Investment Growth Strategy are
RevPAR growth, market penetration, and margin
improvement to increase EBITDA and per share metrics.
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