Car rental firm Avis Europe posted its best first-half results in five years, swinging to a profit on new contract wins and cost controls, and signalled growth in markets in Asia and the Middle East.
Trading in the July-August peak months showed good pricing performance, with volumes turning positive in recent weeks, chief executive Pascal Bazin said.
"We are delivering strong results and starting to recover and come back to growth, so I think it is very positive for the future," Mr Bazin said.
Avis Europe expects to use the proceeds from a recent €181 million rights issue and €375 million revolving credit facility to repay debt and develop new markets, Mr Bazin said, adding he plans to expand in Asia and the Middle East.
"We're seeing people start to travel for business and for leisure and all the volumes we lost in the last two years will come back. So clearly we'll (add) more fleet to satisfy that," he said.
Mr Bazin said the firm's largest shareholder, Belgian car distributor D'Ieteren, had officially said it had no plans to sell its stake in Avis Europe.
Belgian media reported in July that D'Ieteren had said a stake sale in Avis Europe "could make sense".
Mr Bazin said D'Ieteren, which owns about 60 per cent of Avis Europe, had fully participated in the recent rights issue.
January-June underlying pretax profit was €300,000 compared with a loss of €13.9 million a year ago.
Rental income rose 1.1 per cent to €539 million, and net debt dropped to €786 million at end-June.
Shares in Avis Europe, flat year-to-date, were up 0.25 per cent in London today, after earlier rising as much as 3.5 per cent.
Reuters