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Marriot International Inc, the biggest United States hotel operator, said fourth-quarter earnings fell seven percent after the company slowed production at a division that produces fuel.

 

Bloomberg News reported that net income declined to US$220 million, or 52 cents a share, from US$237 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier. Revenue increased six percent to US$3.86 billion, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said yesterday in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

 

Earnings dropped in the quarter even as hotel revenue rose. The company curtailed operations of four synthetic-fuel plants it bought in 2001, reducing tax credits it received for producing an alternative energy source.

 

"They got into it for tax reasons," Michael Paladino, a New York-based analyst with Fitch ratings, said of the fuel business. "It was more of a tax protection. It's certainly not a driving segment of the business." He rates Marriott's senior unsecured debt BBB, two levels above non-investment grade.

 

Nineteen analysts predicted fourth-quarter profit of 49 cents a share, the average estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

 

Producing synthetic fuel, a form of treated coal that provides alternative energy, allows a company to receive federal tax credits. Marriott has said its synthetic-fuel operations accounted for 15 cents of profit in the fourth quarter of 2005.

 

The company acquired the synthetic-fuel plants from PacifiCorp Financial Services six years ago, and used the tax credits to help increase profit amid falling demand in the travel market.

 

(Shanghai Daily February 9, 2007)