Published:
Avis Budget Group Comments on Operating Environment and Expected Results for Second Quarter and Full Year 2008
PARSIPPANY, N.J., July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avis Budget Group, Inc.
(NYSE: CAR) today commented on events and trends impacting the vehicle
services operating climate and the Company's financial performance.
"While our cost-saving efforts related to our Performance Excellence
initiative are accelerating as planned, the second quarter has turned out to
be a significantly more challenging operating environment than expected. As
with our entire industry, we are confronting rising fuel costs,
weaker-than-expected enplanements, lower commercial travel volumes and lower
time and mileage rates per day," said Ronald L. Nelson, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Avis Budget Group. "As a result, our second quarter
results will be below last year's."
"We believe that vehicle rental demand in the summer months may outpace
supply, as we and others in the industry have trimmed peak fleet levels. This
should result in favorable pricing comparisons and our advance reservations
would support that view. But the recently announced capacity reductions by the
airline industry are expected to contribute to a more difficult fourth quarter
operating environment," said Mr. Nelson. "Given these dynamics, we expect
that full-year earnings will be below our 2007 results. In particular, while
it is difficult in the current environment to accurately forecast our future
results, we currently estimate that our 2008 EBITDA will be approximately $350
million and our 2008 pretax income will be approximately $140 million,
excluding any unusual items."
"We remain focused on operating the business in the most efficient manner,
including optimizing fleet levels and implementing aggressive cost controls,
while continuing to execute our long-term strategy. Our experience selling
vehicles in the second quarter was favorable, and our Performance Excellence
process improvement initiative continues to help us in our efforts to offset
rising costs," said Mr. Nelson. "In addition, we continue to expect to
generate significant free cash flow as a percentage of pretax income in 2008,
and we will consider deploying cash to reduce indebtedness or to repurchase
stock, as both alternatives appear remarkably attractive."
The Company anticipates releasing second quarter financial results after
the market close on August 6, 2008, and will provide more details at that
time.
About Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) is a leading provider of vehicle rental
services, with operations in more than 70 countries. Through its Avis and
Budget brands, the Company is the largest general-use vehicle rental company
in each ofNorth America,Australia,New Zealand and certain other regions
based on published airport statistics. Avis Budget Group is headquartered in
Parsippany, N.J. and has more than 30,000 employees. For more information
about Avis Budget Group, visit www.avisbudgetgroup.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Statements preceded by, followed by or that
otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends",
"projects", "estimates", "plans", "may increase", "may fluctuate", "forecast"
and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will",
"should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature
and not historical facts. Any statements that refer to expectations or other
characterizations of future events, circumstances or results, including all
statements related to quarterly or full year 2008 expected results, future
costs and cost-saving initiatives are forward-looking statements.
Various risks that could cause future results to differ from those
expressed by the forward-looking statements included in this press release
include, but are not limited to, the high level of competition in the vehicle
rental industry, greater than expected cost increases for new vehicles,
disposition of vehicles not covered by manufacturer repurchase programs, a
downturn in airline passenger traffic, an occurrence or threat of terrorism, a
significant increase in interest rates or borrowing costs, fluctuations
related to the mark-to-market of derivatives which hedge our exposure to
interest rates and the Company's ability to accurately estimate its future
results and implement its strategy for growth. Other unknown or unpredictable
factors also could have material adverse effects on Avis Budget Group's
performance or achievements. In light of these risks, uncertainties,
assumptions and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press
release may not occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no
date is stated, as of the date of this press release. Important assumptions
and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements are specified in Avis
Budget Group's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007
included under headings such as "Forward-Looking Statements", "Risk Factors"
and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations". Except for the Company's ongoing obligations to disclose
material information under the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes
no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking
statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated
events unless required by law.
The Company's Share Repurchase Program may be suspended, modified or
discontinued at any time without prior notice, accordingly, there can be no
assurances that any additional repurchases will occur.
This release includes references to EBITDA and free cash flow, which are
non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules. EBITDA represents
income (loss) from continuing operations before non-vehicle related
depreciation and amortization, any goodwill impairment charge, non-vehicle
related interest and income taxes. We believe that EBITDA is useful as a
supplemental measure in evaluating the aggregate performance of our operating
businesses. EBITDA is the measure that is used by our management, including
our chief operating decision maker, to perform such evaluation. It is also a
component of our financial covenant calculations under our credit facilities,
subject to certain adjustments. This release also includes references to
EBITDA and pretax income, excluding any unusual items, which are also non-GAAP
measures. We exclude such items as they are not representative of the results
of operations of our businesses and due to the difficulty of estimating such
items as well as certain tax items, we are not providing a reconciliation to
estimated net income for such measures. Free cash flow represents net cash
provided by operating activities adjusted to include the cash inflows and
outflows relating to (i) capital expenditures and GPS navigational units, (ii)
the investing and financing activities of our vehicle programs, (iii) asset
sales and (iv) the change in restricted cash. We believe that free cash flow
is useful to management and the Company's investors in measuring the cash
generated by the Company that is available to be used to repurchase stock,
repay debt obligations, pay dividends and invest in future growth through new
business development activities or acquisitions.
SOURCE Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Copyright © 2009, PRNewswire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
Daily News
Tags: ,AUT,TRN,TRA,LEI,ERP,NY-Avis-Comments-Q208