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Service Properties (SVC) Risk Analysis
Risk Overview Q1, 2026
Source: the company's latest filing for the period ended Mar 31, 2026, filed May 06, 2026
Risk Change Over Time
- Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1If we were to experience an ownership change under Section 382 of the IRC, the resulting limitations on tax losses and tax depreciation will strain our ability to meet applicable REIT distribution requirements and adversely impact our cash flows and financial position.
The scale and composition of our April 2026 equity offering brought us closer to (but did not cause us to exceed) the threshold for an "ownership change" as defined under Section 382 of the IRC. If we were to experience such an ownership change (for example, through secondary market trading of our shares),?then we would be (1) severely limited in our ability to use our net operating losses incurred prior to the ownership change, (2) required to reduce severely our tax depreciation deductions for the five-year period following the ownership change and (3) generally unable to use recognized asset sale losses as offsets to taxable gains during the five-year period following the ownership change (for example, with respect to applicable taxable gains from our anticipated asset dispositions). In turn, these limitations could result in significantly higher taxable income than projected, potentially impairing our ability to satisfy REIT distribution requirements and adversely impacting our cash flows and financial position. Although we have enforced and intend to continue to enforce the ownership limitations and transfer restrictions contained in our bylaws to mitigate the risk of an ownership change, such measures may not be successful.
Risk Highlights Q1, 2026
Risk Word Cloud
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 61
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1Our management structure and agreements and relationships with RMR and RMR's and its controlling shareholder's relationships with others may create conflicts of interest, or the perception of such conflicts, and may restrict our investment activities.
RMR is a majority owned subsidiary of RMR Inc. The Chair of our Board of Trustees and one of our Managing Trustees, Adam D. Portnoy, is the sole trustee, an officer and the controlling shareholder of ABP Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc., the chair of the board of directors, a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR. RMR or its subsidiaries also act as the manager to certain other Nasdaq listed companies and private companies, and Mr. Portnoy serves as a managing trustee, director or trustee, as applicable, of those companies, and as chair of the board of trustees of those Nasdaq listed companies. Christopher Bilotto, our other Managing Trustee and President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Donley, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Jesse Abair, our Vice President, are also officers and employees of RMR. Mr. Bilotto is also a managing trustee and the president and chief executive officer of Diversified Healthcare Trust, or DHC, and Mr. Donley is also the chief financial officer and treasurer of Office Properties Income Trust, or OPI, both of which are REITs managed by RMR. Messrs. Portnoy, Bilotto, Donley and Abair have duties to RMR, Mr. Bilotto has duties to DHC and Mr. Donley has duties to OPI, as well as to us, and we do not have their undivided attention. They and other RMR personnel may have conflicts in allocating their time and resources between us and RMR and other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide services. Some of our Independent Trustees also serve as independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services. In addition, we may in the future enter into additional transactions with RMR, its affiliates or entities managed by it or its subsidiaries. In addition to his investments in RMR Inc. and RMR, Mr. Portnoy holds equity investments in other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of these companies have significant cross ownership interests, including, for example: as of December 31, 2025, Mr. Portnoy beneficially owned, in aggregate, 1.2% of our outstanding common shares and Mr. Portnoy is the controlling shareholder of Sonesta, and we own 34% of Sonesta's outstanding common stock. Our executive officers also own equity investments in other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services. These multiple responsibilities, relationships and cross ownerships may give rise to conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, RMR Inc., RMR, our Managing Trustees, the other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result. In our management agreements with RMR, we acknowledge that RMR may engage in other activities or businesses and act as the manager to any other person or entity (including other REITs) even though such person or entity has investment policies and objectives similar to our policies and objectives and we are not entitled to preferential treatment in receiving information, recommendations and other services from RMR. Accordingly, we may lose investment opportunities to, and may compete for tenants with, other businesses managed by RMR or its subsidiaries. We cannot be sure that our Code of Conduct or our governance guidelines, or other procedural protections we adopt will be sufficient to enable us to identify, adequately address or mitigate actual or alleged conflicts of interest or ensure that our transactions with related persons are made on terms that are at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained with an unrelated person.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2Our management agreements with RMR were not negotiated on an arm's length basis and their fee and expense structure may not create proper incentives for RMR, which may increase the risk of an investment in our common shares.
As a result of our relationships with RMR and its current and former controlling shareholder(s), our management agreements with RMR were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore, while such agreements were negotiated with the use of a special committee and disinterested Trustees, the terms, including the fees payable to RMR, may be different from those negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. Our property management fees are calculated based on rents we receive and we also pay RMR construction supervision fees for construction at our properties overseen and managed by RMR, and our base business management fee is calculated based upon the lower of the historical costs of our real estate investments and our market capitalization. We pay RMR substantial base management fees regardless of our financial results. These fee arrangements could incentivize RMR to pursue acquisitions, capital transactions, tenancies and construction projects or to avoid disposing of our assets in order to increase or maintain its management fees and might reduce RMR's incentive to devote its time and effort to seeking investments that provide attractive returns for us. If we do not effectively manage our investment, disposition and capital transactions and leasing, construction and other property management activities, we may pay increased management fees without proportional benefits to us. In addition, we are obligated under our management agreements to reimburse RMR for employment and related expenses of RMR's employees assigned to work exclusively or partly at our properties, our share of the wages, benefits and other related costs of RMR's centralized accounting personnel, our share of RMR's costs for providing our internal audit function and as otherwise agreed. We are also required to pay for third party costs incurred with respect to us. Our obligation to reimburse RMR for certain of its costs and to pay third party costs may reduce RMR's incentive to efficiently manage those costs, which may increase our costs.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3Our business dealings with Sonesta comprise a significant part of our lodging portfolio and they may create conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest.
Sonesta managed 69 of our hotels as of December 31, 2025. Sonesta is controlled by Adam D. Portnoy. Mr. Portnoy is the sole director of Sonesta, and John G. Murray, an officer and employee of RMR, is Sonesta's president and chief executive officer. Mr. Murray will resign from his positions with Sonesta and RMR, effective March 31, 2026. Jeffrey C. Leer has been appointed a co-chief executive officer of Sonesta, effective April 1, 2026. Other officers and employees of Sonesta are former employees of RMR. We own 34% of Sonesta's outstanding common stock. The historical and continuing relationships which we, RMR and Mr. Portnoy have with Sonesta could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, the other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. As a result of these relationships, our agreements with Sonesta were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore, while such agreements were negotiated with the use of a special committee and disinterested Trustees, their terms may be different from those negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4We may be at an increased risk for dissident shareholder activities due to perceived conflicts of interest arising from our management structure and relationships.
Companies with business dealings with related persons and entities may more often be the target of dissident shareholder trustee nominations, dissident shareholder proposals and shareholder litigation alleging conflicts of interest in their business dealings. The various relationships noted above may precipitate such activities. Certain proxy advisory firms which have significant influence over the voting by shareholders of public companies have, in the past, recommended, and in the future may recommend, that shareholders vote against the election of our incumbent Trustees, vote against our say on pay vote or other management proposals or vote for shareholder proposals that we oppose. These recommendations by proxy advisory firms have affected the outcomes of past Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay and other shareholder votes, and similar recommendations in the future would likely affect the outcome of future Board of Trustees elections and other shareholder votes, which may increase shareholder activism and litigation. These activities, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management's attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation and business.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5Ownership limitations and certain provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and agreements, as well as certain provisions of Maryland law, may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals.
Our declaration of trust and bylaws prohibit any shareholder, other than RMR and its affiliates (as defined under Maryland law) and certain persons who have been exempted by our Board of Trustees, from owning, directly and by attribution, more than 9.8% of the number or value of shares (whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our outstanding shares of beneficial interest, including our common shares. These restrictions in our declaration of trust and bylaws are intended to, among other purposes, assist with our REIT compliance under the IRC. Further, our bylaws contain provisions that generally prohibit shareholders from owning more than 5% (in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our outstanding shares, including our common shares. This ownership limitation in our bylaws is intended to help us preserve our ability to use our net operating losses and other tax benefits to reduce our future taxable income. We also believe these restrictions in our declaration of trust and bylaws promote orderly governance. However, these restrictions may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable. Additionally, provisions contained in our declaration of trust and bylaws or under Maryland law may have a similar impact, including, for example, provisions relating to: - limitations on shareholder voting rights with respect to certain actions that are not approved by our Board of Trustees;- the authority of our Board of Trustees, and not our shareholders, to adopt, amend or repeal our bylaws and to fill vacancies on our Board of Trustees;- shareholder voting standards which require a supermajority of shares for approval of certain actions;- the fact that only our Board of Trustees, or, if there are no Trustees, our officers, may call shareholder meetings and that shareholders are not entitled to act without a meeting;- required qualifications for an individual to serve as a Trustee and a requirement that certain of our Trustees be "Managing Trustees" and other Trustees be "Independent Trustees," as defined in our governing documents;- limitations on the ability of our shareholders to propose nominees for election as Trustees and propose other business to be considered at a meeting of our shareholders;- limitations on the ability of our shareholders to remove our Trustees;- requirements that shareholders comply with regulatory requirements (including Nevada and Louisiana gaming) affecting us which could effectively limit share ownership of us, including, in some cases, to 5% of our outstanding shares;- the authority of our Board of Trustees to create and issue new classes or series of shares (including shares with voting rights and other rights and privileges that may deter a change in control) and issue additional common shares;- restrictions on business combinations between us and an interested shareholder that have not first been approved by our Board of Trustees (including a majority of Trustees not related to the interested shareholder); and - the authority of our Board of Trustees, without shareholder approval, to implement certain takeover defenses. As changes occur in the marketplace for corporate governance policies, the above provisions may change, be removed, or new ones may be added.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6Certain aspects of our business may prevent shareholders from accumulating a large stake in us, from nominating or serving as our Trustees, or from taking actions to otherwise control our business.
Certain of our properties include gambling operations. Applicable state laws require that any shareholder who owns or controls 5% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to serve as one of our Trustees must be licensed or approved by the state regulators responsible for gambling operations. These approval procedures may discourage or prevent investors from purchasing our securities, from nominating persons to serve as our Trustees or from taking other actions.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Trustees and officers are limited.
Our declaration of trust limits the liability of our Trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law. Under current Maryland law, our Trustees and officers will not have any liability to us and our shareholders for money damages other than liability resulting from: - actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or - active and deliberate dishonesty by the Trustee or officer that was established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action adjudicated. Our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements require us to indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, any present or former Trustee or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in these and certain other capacities. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Trustees and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result of these limitations on liability and indemnification obligations, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Trustees and officers than might exist with other companies, which could limit shareholder recourse in the event of actions which some shareholders may believe are not in our best interest.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8Our bylaws designate the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland as the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents.
Our bylaws currently provide that other than any action arising under the Securities Act, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (1) any Internal Corporate Claim, as such term is defined under the Maryland General Corporation Law; (2) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (3) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents to us or our shareholders; (4) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents arising pursuant to Maryland law, our declaration of trust or bylaws, including any disputes, claims or controversies brought by or on behalf of a shareholder, either on such shareholder's own behalf, on our behalf or on behalf of any series or class of shares of beneficial interest of ours or by our shareholders against us or any of our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents, including any disputes, claims or controversies relating to the meaning, interpretation, effect, validity, performance or enforcement of our declaration of trust or bylaws; and (5) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the State of Maryland. Our bylaws currently also provide that the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for any dispute, or portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not apply to any action for which the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland does not have jurisdiction. Unless we otherwise consent in writing, the sole and exclusive forum for claims that arise under the Securities Act is the federal district courts of the United States, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our shares of beneficial interest shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. The exclusive forum provisions of our bylaws may limit a shareholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, managers or other agents.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 9Our quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares is currently $0.01 per common share and future distributions may remain at this level for an indefinite period or be eliminated and the form of payment could change.
Beginning with the fourth quarter of 2024, we reduced our quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares to $0.01 per common share in order to improve our liquidity. We intend to continue to pay regular quarterly distributions to our shareholders at this rate for an indefinite period, subject to applicable REIT tax requirements; however: - our ability to pay distributions to our shareholders or sustain the rate of distributions may continue to be adversely affected if any of the risks described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K occur, including any negative impact caused by current market and economic conditions, such as uncertainties surrounding interest rates and inflation, changing tariffs and trade policies and related uncertainty, and economic downturns or a possible recession, on our business, results of operations and liquidity;- our payment of distributions is subject to restrictions contained in our debt agreements and may be subject to restrictions in future debt obligations we may incur; during the continuance of any event of default under our debt agreements, we may be limited or, in some cases, prohibited from paying distributions to our shareholders; and - the timing and amount of any distributions will be determined at the discretion of our Board of Trustees and will depend on various factors that our Board of Trustees deems relevant, including, but not limited to, our funds from operations, or FFO, and our normalized funds from operations, or Normalized FFO, requirements to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT, limitations in our debt agreements, the availability to us of debt and equity capital, our distribution rate as a percentage of the trading price of our common shares, or dividend yield, and our dividend yield compared to the dividend yields of other REITs, our expectation of our future capital requirements and operating performance and our expected needs for and availability of cash to pay our obligations. For these reasons, among others, our distribution rate may not increase for an indefinite period or we may cease paying distributions to our shareholders. Further, in order to preserve liquidity, we may elect to, in part, pay distributions to our shareholders in a form other than cash, such as issuing additional common shares to our shareholders, as permitted by the applicable tax rules.
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