Andrew M. Sims, Chairman and CEO of SoTHERLY Hotels Inc. (SOHO), Interviews with The Wall Street Transcript
67 WALL STREET, New York - June 18, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its REITs Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Acquisition and Financing Costs - Pricing Power Outlook - Residential and Commercial REITs - Inexpensive Access to Capital - Apartment, Lodging, Self-Storage and Office REITs
Companies include: SoTHERLY Hotels Inc. (SOHO) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the REITs Report, the Chairman and CEO of SoTHERLY Hotels Inc. (SOHO) discusses company strategy and the outlook for this vital industry:
TWST: You are focused on the southern U.S. region markets. Has that always been the case, and why stick to that particular area?
Mr. Sims: We've been focused on the Atlantic states, but more recently we've become more enamored with the Southland. We believe that the long-term demographic trends will show that the Southland is going to outperform all other regions of the country. We also believe that it makes perfect sense to concentrate our growth in major Southern cities that will create a synergistic flow of business by and between the hotels. So that's really the thesis that we have. We believe that there is a group of folks in the South that travel by and between all these major cities, and we're going to try and capture those travelers as our primary customer base.
TWST: Tell us a little bit more about what sort of qualities and characteristics that you look for in the markets and the properties that are in your portfolio and that you'll be looking for, since you did mention that one of your goals was to start buying again this year.
Mr. Sims: Our property-specific goal is that we definitely want to have the A location within the market that we're buying in. We're less concerned about the physical plant, because that's really our area of expertise, to reposition the box. I guess the way we look at is if it's a fixable box in an A location, that's the kind of asset that we're looking for because we can generally buy that at a discount to what the market would expect if the subject hotel was fully functioning and fully renovated. Again, that's our value proposition.
In terms of markets, we're focused on markets that are going to generate demand for our existing hotels. A good example of that would be a market like Atlanta. Atlanta is a major producer of revenue for our hotels in places like Jacksonville; Tampa; Savannah; Raleigh; Wilmington, North Carolina. We've already got those hotels. We've had a sales presence in Atlanta but we've never owned a hotel in Atlanta, so that's the type of market that we're very interested in...
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
