Avis Budget Group reported "weaker than expected"
commercial volume for 2015, but ridesharing apps were not a factor, executives
said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call.
The company's commercial volume declined 3 percent year over
year during the fourth quarter, including a 2 percent decrease in the United
States, president and CFO David Wyshner said. "Not surprisingly, our
customers in the energy sector have curtailed their travel the most, but the
softness certainly extended beyond just oil and energy," he said.
That decline does not, however, reflect a loss of business
to ridesharing, he said. The rental types most susceptible to those businesses—one-day
rentals and low-mileage rentals—make up only about 3 percent of Avis Budget's rental
volume, and that percentage stayed flat year over year. Additionally, total
volume in cities where Uber and its competitors have the biggest penetration
increased 2 percent year over year in 2015, consistent with overall growth.
Avis Budget also interviewed 100 corporate travel managers,
who largely said ridesharing was a potential replacement for taxi services but
not for their companies’ car rental needs, according to Wyshner.
International pricing has been difficult, CEO Larry De Shon
said. Time and mileage revenue per day for rentals outside the Americas
declined 17 percent year over year to $31.68 per vehicle during the fourth quarter,
owing largely to currency exchange effects; absent those, the decline was 6
percent. Within the Americas, that figure declined 2 percent year over year to
$38.60.
Even so, executives said 70 percent of the commercial
accounts renewed during 2015 signed at either flat or increased rates,
consistent with the previous year's performance.
Net revenue increased 0.8 percent year over year to $1.9
billion during the fourth quarter. For the full year, net revenue hit $8.5 billion,
up 5 percent year over year in constant currency and a record high for the
company, De Shon said.
Avis Budget reported a $5 million loss in the fourth
quarter, compared with a $23 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2014, due
in part to acquisition and integration costs. For the full year, net income was
$313 million, up 28 percent year over year. The company acquired Italian car
rental company Maggiore Group, as well as licensees in Scandinavia and Poland.
Avis Budget plans more than $50 million in
incremental investments this year, including expansion of self-service rental
technology, according to De Shon.