Avis Budget Group reported record rental days, transactions and revenue for its Americas division during the third quarter, “highlighting robust travel demand,” ABG CEO Joe Ferraro said on a Thursday earnings call.
That demand has continued into October, Ferraro said, “which looks to be the busiest on record with solid mid-week commercial demand, coupled with leisure activity that supports the weekend.” He added that the company sees strong growth in both commercial and leisure into the fourth quarter.
Outgoing CFO Brian Choi concurred: “We’re encouraged by the strong corporate demand we saw in October and believe that will continue into late November.”
However, Ferraro noted a “significant strain” in the international segment, primarily from U.S. customers traveling to Europe. The segment reported a rental rate growth of 1 percent versus the high single-digit rental rate growth projected for the quarter.
Ferraro credited a recovery that started later in Europe than in the Americas, but also noted “unprecedented travel disruptions with labor strikes and flight cancellations, civil disruptions and protests in key markets, and … an economic environment with high energy prices, surging borrowing costs and waning export demand all negatively impacting European consumer confidence and spending.”
Avis Budget Q3 Metrics
ABG reported roughly flat third-quarter revenue of nearly $3.6 billion, which still was a quarterly record, compared with more than $3.5 billion a year prior. Both domestic and international revenue segments also were flat. Net income was $627 million versus more than $1 billion in Q3 2022. The company had more than 754,000 cars in its fleet for the third quarter, up 6.7 percent from a year prior.
Third-quarter Avis revenue was more than $2 billion, up 4.3 percent year over year. Budget reported revenue of more than $1.3 billion, a 4.2 percent decline from Q3 2022.
Total quarterly revenue per day was $72.28, down 5.5 percent year over year. The Americas RPD was $76.87, down from $80.89, while international was $59.83, down from $64.62. The company reported a total of 48,830 rental days for the third quarter, up 5.1 percent year over year.
