Avis Europe plc Pre-Close Update

Avis Europe plc, a leading car rental company in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, gives the following trading update ahead of its close period.

 

As a result of continuing positive trading trends, the Group's expectation for underlying profit before tax for the year ending 31st December 2007 has improved somewhat. The good volume growth experienced in the first eight months has continued through the rest of the year, driven by improvements in both rentals and rental length.

 

We previously reported an improving trend since Easter in overall rate per day from continuing activities, benefiting from revenue management actions. This trend has continued, with pricing on average positive in the second half. We now expect the overall rate per day from continuing activities for the full year to be slightly ahead of 2006. This improvement has, to some extent, been offset by higher than anticipated overall fleet costs.

 

Looking ahead to next year's trading, our planning assumptions are that rate per day should continue to improve, particularly benefiting from the full deployment of revenue management capabilities, as well as continued volume growth, but with ongoing cost pressures expected. Consequently, we maintain our expectation of making good progress next year, provided that there is no material change to the underlying economic environment.