Good volume growth, continuing competitive pricing and higher fleet costs are some of the results that Avis Europe, has unvealed on its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2006. Other operating highlights…
Good volume growth, continuing competitive pricing and higher fleet costs are some of the results that Avis Europe, has unvealed on its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2006. Other operating highlights include:
- Re-structuring programme benefits ahead of expectations; exceptional costs lower
- Revenue management investment assisted further utilisation improvement
- Customer service initiatives to improve speed, transparency and choice
- Further strong Avis licensee results
- Budget turnaround continues
vNew web-site launched; internet reservations at 28.7%, up 4.4%
Financial Highlights
- Revenue up 4.8% to €1,337 million
- Avis billed days up 5.9%, revenue per day 1.4% lower
- Underlying* profit before tax increased to €38.9 million (2005: €37.8 million)
- Net exceptional pre-tax charge of €28.9 million – primarily restructuring costs. Certain re-measurement items and
- economic hedges net gain of €0.7 million
- Total profit before tax €10.7 million (2005 **: €20.1 million)
- Underlying* earnings per share 3.0 euro cents (2005: 3.4 euro cents)
- Total earnings per share 0.5 euro cents (2005 **: 1.5 euro cents)
- Overall expectations for 2007 remain broadly unchanged
* Underlying excludes exceptional items, certain re-measurement items and economic hedges. Underlying is not a defined term under IFRS, and is not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measures of profit.
** 2005 restated following the application of the amendment to IAS 21
Murray Hennessy, Group Chief Executive, said: We are making good progress in implementing our strategy, which comprises: reducing cost; implementing revenue management to improve price, yield and utilisation; targeting our most profitable customer groups; and tight control of fleet.
Market conditions in the industry remain difficult. However, we believe we have the right strategy and are making good progress implementing our key initiatives. This progress has helped us to deliver results ahead of expectations for 2006 and our outlook for continued progress in 2007 remains unchanged, he added
However, looking further ahead, the external environment has been, and is expected to continue to be, more difficult than we assumed two years ago and no longer supports the guidance we gave in 2005 regarding margin improvement, he concluded.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
