Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (STWD) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Saturday, December 31, 2016

Exhibit 99.1

For Immediate Release

Starwood Property Trust Reports Results for the

Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2016

– Quarterly GAAP Earnings of $0.49 and Core Earnings of $0.50 per Diluted Common Share –

– Deploys $1.2 Billion of Capital in Lending Segment During the Quarter –

– Completes Inaugural Senior Unsecured Notes Offering –

– Declares Dividend of $0.48 per share for the First Quarter of 2017 –

GREENWICH, Conn., February 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: STWD) today announced operating results for the fiscal quarter and year ended December 31, 2016.  The Company’s fourth quarter 2016 GAAP net income was $121.3 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, and $365.2 million, or $1.50 per diluted share, for the full year.  Core Earnings (a non-GAAP financial measure) for the fourth quarter was $122.6 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, and $502.5 million or $2.09 per diluted share, for the full year.  Excluding the write-off of unamortized costs associated with the early retirement of the Company’s term loan due 2020, GAAP and Core Earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.52 and $0.53, respectively.

“We continued to generate strong results driven by the successful execution of our business plan, as evidenced by the $6.4 billion of capital we deployed in 2016 across our diversified platform. The fourth quarter was actually the most active of the year for our largest business, our lending segment, and that momentum has continued into the first quarter.  We also expanded our capital sources, highlighted by the completion of our inaugural senior unsecured notes offering, which brought our maximum total borrowing capacity to $10.2 billion. As a result of these efforts, we received a corporate credit rating upgrade which is an important endorsement of our ability to maintain an attractive risk return profile with our high credit quality standards. As we look ahead to 2017, we expect to continue to capitalize on our robust pipeline of opportunities in order to deliver attractive total returns for our shareholders.”

Dividend

On February 23, 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.48 per share of common stock for the quarter ending March 31, 2017. The dividend is payable on April 14, 2017 to common stockholders of record as of March 31, 2017. 

2017 Outlook

Given its current outlook, the Company is confident that it will generate Core Earnings in excess of the dividend and expects to maintain a $1.92 per share distribution for the full year.