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Rental car company Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group posted a 15 percent increase in its second-quarter results.

Published: 05 Aug 2009

Rental car company Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group posted a 15 percent increase in its second-quarter results.

The company earned $12.4 million compared to a profit of $10.8 million in same period a year earlier. Rental revenue fell 10.6 percent to $399.6 million during the quarter.

The company said it expects the second half of the year to remain challenging as economic conditions continue to weaken consumer confidence and travel demand.

Looking ahead, Dollar Thrifty narrowed its prior 2009 revenue guidance saying it expects a decline between 8 percent to 10 percent.

“Our focus for 2009 is on maximising revenue per day, reducing expenses, de-leveraging our balance sheet and diversifying our fleet investment, all in order to properly position the Company for an expected economic recovery in 2010,” said Scott Thompson, CEO and president of Dollar Thrifty.

Meanwhile, Avis Budget Group swung to a second-quarter loss - its sixth loss in the past seven quarters - on lower volumes, but the car-rental company said volumes stabilised in the period.

“While we continued to face sharply reduced demand for vehicle rentals in the second quarter, rental volumes did stabilize, and the actions we took to keep fleet levels in line with demand allowed us to achieve a stronger-than-expected seven percent increase in domestic time and mileage revenue per day,” said chief executive Ronald Nelson.

For the latest quarter, Avis reported a loss of $6 million compared with a profit of $15 million a year earlier.

Revenue dropped 17 percent to $1.31 billion and expenses declined 15 percent to $1.31 billion.