2023-11-01 21:27

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust (REIT) Host Hotels & Resorts (HST.O) raised its full-year outlook for adjusted funds from operation (FFO) on Wednesday, helped by healthy hotel occupancy rates. A recovery in international travel has lifted the quarterly results of hotel operators, as post-pandemic flexible work arrangements encourage more Americans to fly overseas for leisure and business. The company, which owns luxury and upscale hotels operating under brand names such as JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton, now expects adjusted FFO per share in the range of $1.90 to $1.95, compared to prior expectations in the range of $1.82 to $1.89. Host Hotels expects full-year RevPAR (revenue per available room) to be 5.6% above pre-pandemic 2019. "Despite the impact of the wildfires in Maui, we maintained the midpoint of our previous full year comparable hotel RevPAR growth at 8%," said CEO James Risoleo. The company, which owns about 72 properties in the U.S. and five internationally, reported an adjusted FFO per share of 41 cents for the third quarter ended September 30, compared to 38 cents last year. Comparable hotel revenues were down slightly year-on-year to $1.18 billion from $1.19 billion due to lower room rates. Shares of Host Hotels & Resorts were up 2% in trading after the bell. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/host-hotels-resorts-raises-full-year-adjusted-ffo-outlook-higher-hotel-occupancy-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 21:25

HOUSTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Marathon Oil (MRO.N) on Wednesday posted a third quarter profit that fell 44% from a year ago as energy prices fell, but results beat Wall Street analysts' forecasts on higher than expected oil and gas production. Net production for the quarter rose nearly 20% to 421,000 barrels of oil and gas per day (boepd) from a year ago and was up about 6% from the prior quarter. Prices for its crude oil were 13.6% below and gas prices were 70% below the year-ago quarter. But average realized prices for oil gained 11.6% and natural gas was 20% above the quarter ended June 30. Marathon Oil also said it expects to post total oil and gas production and capital spending for the year at the higher end of previous guidance ranges. It had previously forecast net production of 385,000 boepd to 405,000 boepd, and capital spending on projects at between $1.9 billion and $2 billion. A recently signed liquefied natural gas sales agreement that has prices linked to the European natural gas market should lead to significant improvement in its Equatorial Guinea gas business next year, the Houston-based company said. Adjusted third quarter profit was $466 million, or 77 cents a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 71 cents per share, according to LSEG data. The company posted a profit of $832 million, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/marathon-oil-profit-tops-analysts-estimates-higher-production-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 20:50

ACAPULCO, Mexico, Nov 1 (Reuters) - For the past week, 22-year-old Maria del Rosario Saravia has waited for news of her mother, two brothers and young son since she lost contact with them the night Otis, a Category 5 hurricane, devastated the Mexican coastal resort of Acapulco. Saravia has been camped out on the Paseo del Pescador on Acapulco Bay desperately seeking news of her family after they were lost in the record-breaking storm that killed nearly 50 people and shattered livelihoods last Wednesday morning. "We'll be here until we have found our relatives," she said, scanning the horizon for signs of her mother Maria Hilaria Delgado, 55, her four-year-old boy Luis Alberto Lopez and brothers Luis Sebastian Herrera, 9, and Alejandro Marcelino Herrera, 31. Saravia is one of dozens of people trying to locate loved ones since Otis slammed into Acapulco, severing communications and leaving the city of nearly 900,000 people incommunicado. Authorities have been gradually restoring power and phone service, but food, water and cash are still scarce and thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed to help recovery efforts in the biggest city of the southern state of Guerrero. Saravia said she last heard from her mother at 11.40 p.m. local time on Tuesday, shortly before Otis swept into Acapulco, capsizing boats on the city's iconic waterfront, and ripping roofs and sidings off homes, hotels and other businesses. Her mother, younger brother and son had been with her father, a fisherman and sailor, on his boat when the storm hit, sinking the vessel, she related. "He said he had them, but the pressure of the water and force of the wind took them away from him," she added. Her elder brother, a boat captain, was on a separate vessel of which there has been no sign since the hurricane, she said. The missing relatives went to the boats because they had orders from their bosses to look after them, Saravia said. "It's a horrible feeling not knowing where they are," she added mournfully. "We haven't had any support from any authority either, from the government, nothing." The Mexican government's civil protection authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Authorities said Otis was the most powerful hurricane ever to strike Mexico's Pacific coast. The storm gathered strength with unusual ferocity, wrongfooting initial forecasts. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at the weekend Mexico had been "lucky" the human cost was not greater, and on Wednesday launched a $3.4 billion rescue plan for the city. Still, the number of people reported missing has been steadily ticking up, and authorities have so far given few details about the dead and injured in Acapulco. On Wednesday, the Guerrero state government said 58 people were unaccounted for since the hurricane roared in. Saravia is trying to remain hopeful that she will find her family. "I hope to see them again soon," she said. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/three-generations-mexican-family-go-missing-acapulco-hurricane-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 20:44

Nov 1 (Reuters) - APA Corp (APA.O) on Wednesday beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit as the U.S. shale producer benefited from a rise in production and healthy crude oil prices. U.S. WTI crude prices climbed around 28% in the July-September quarter after top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia extended output cuts, but they remained below last year's multi-year peaks when Russia invaded Ukraine. APA said its quarterly total average price for oil fell to $86.15 per barrel from last year's $97.81 per barrel. "Good execution and strong well performance in the Permian Basin were the primary drivers of APA’s third-quarter results," CEO John Christmann said in a statement. Production for the July-September quarter rose about 8% to 412,252 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from a year earlier. The company expects total production to be down slightly in the current quarter from the third, citing downtime in the North Sea and a decline in natural gas volumes. APA, which hold interest in Suriname's Block 58, also confirmed an estimated recoverable oil resources of 700 million barrels of oil at Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries. French energy major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) operates Block 58, with a 50% working interest, while APA holds the other half. Suriname's oil potential is closely watched as some of its fields are adjacent to the Stabroek block in Guyana, where an Exxon Mobil-led (XOM.N) consortium has made more than 25 discoveries since May 2015. Houston-based APA posted adjusted earnings of $1.33 per share for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with the average analyst estimate of $1.09, according to LSEG data. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-producer-apa-beats-third-quarter-profit-estimates-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 20:35

BOGOTA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The board of directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Wednesday approved a $415 million credit line, with an initial disbursement of $50 million, to finance Bogota's second metro line, the Colombian capital's mayor said. The underground Line 2 will connect to the city's west, said Mayor Claudia Lopez, who finishes her term this year after overseeing initial construction on Bogota's long-awaited first metro line. "This line of credit adds to the $50 million signed this year with the European Investment Bank and to the $255 million framework financing agreement signed with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF)," said Lopez, adding that the financing reflects investor confidence in funding sustainable transport in traffic-clogged Bogota. At a price tag of 34.9 trillion Colombian pesos ($8.5 billion), Line 2 is expected to benefit nearly 2.5 million inhabitants and stretch 15.5 kilometers (9.63 miles) connecting 11 stations. The line will be awarded via a tender process next year. Line 1, currently being constructed by Chinese companies Harbor Engineering Company and Xi'an Metro Co., extends 23.9 kilometers overground - despite opposition by President Gustavo Petro, who wanted part of the line to be constructed underground. The first line's total cost is estimated at 13.8 trillion pesos. The metro is considered critical to reducing the chaotic traffic in the capital of more than eight million residents and will complement the existing TransMilenio bus system. ($1 = 4,108.40 Colombian pesos) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/congested-bogota-secures-415-million-idb-credit-second-metro-line-2023-11-01/

2023-11-01 20:28

ROME, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Wednesday that he will attend the COP28 climate conference starting next month in Dubai, the first time a pontiff will be at the U.N. environmental meeting since they began in 1995. The pope told Italy's state-run RAI television TG1 news in an interview that he expected to be in Dubai Dec. 1-3. The conference runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. In Dubai, the pope is expected to drive home his recent appeal for action to curb global warming. "We are still in time to stop it," Francis said in the interview, speaking of global warming. "Our future is at stake, the future of our children and our grandchildren. A bit of responsibility is needed." Francis, 86, has made protection of the environment one of the hallmarks of his papacy and met last month with COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber. In a major document on Oct. 4, Francis appealed to climate change deniers and foot-dragging politicians to have a change of heart, saying they cannot gloss over human causes or deride science while the planet "may be nearing the breaking point". The document, known as an Apostolic Exhortation and titled Laudate Deum (Praise God), was a follow-up to Francis' 2015 encyclical on the environment "Laudato Si" (Praise Be). Laudate Deum was prompted by recent extreme weather events and mentioned the challenges facing COP28 several times. Failure in Dubai, Francis said in the document, "will be a great disappointment and jeopardize whatever good has been achieved thus far". Heads of state usually attend only the opening sessions of the conferences and make keynote addresses. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke at the start of the last two meetings at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year and Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. Such conferences are also occasions for bilateral meetings. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/pope-says-will-attend-cop28-climate-summit-dubai-first-by-pontiff-2023-11-01/