AVIS Europe claims that a 14.3% rise in pre-tax profit to £41.2m for the first half of the year was driven by growth in the leisure rental sector. Revenue was up by 20.4% to £305.5m in this period.
Chief executive Mark McCafferty said there had been a rise in intra-European leisure rentals, particularly from the outbound markets of the UK and Germany into Spain, Portugal and Greece.
Leisure revenue rose by 12.9% to £100m in the first half of 1999. The leisure sector represented 34% of Avis’ total revenue in this period.
McCafferty said Avis had managed to increase rental rates by 1%-2% in the UK.