Avis Budget Group has slipped into the red this year with a further $6 million loss for the quarter, compared with a profit of $15 million in the same period last year, but says that they have seen a stabilisation in the market.

For the first six months of this year Avis have recorded results reaching $55 million. “While we continued to face sharply reduced demand for vehicle rentals in the second quarter, rental volumes did stabilize,” said Ronald Nelson, Avis Budget Group Chairman and CEO.

“We also made significant progress in several other areas. Our cost saving initiatives continued to deliver substantial benefits.”

Total revenue for the second quarter dropped to $1.3 billion, 17% down from the same period last year, with half-year revenue down to $2.5 billion, 17% down on last year.

Number of rental days for the company dropped by 21% to 22.7 million, from 28.6 million for the April to June period.  Overseas markets held up better compared with the US, recording only a drop of 10% and 22% respectively.

“Demand for car rental seems to have stabilized in the second quarter,” said Avis about the results.

“Third quarter demand, especially in the leisure segment, appears to be modestly stronger than recent trends, allowing some upward pressure on pricing to continue as our fleet levels remain in line with demand.”

Avis still hesitated to predict results for the full year saying that conditions were challenging.

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